The Sauk Centre herald. (Sauk Centre, Stearns County, Minn.) 1886-current, 1904-11-17
CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENTS.
I'M IL

erroneous impression, that no per.
SON unless he is exceedingly learned
in the law, can by any means
understand the Constitution of the
United States, or comprehend the
meaning of its terms. Erroneous
because it is the simplest and
plainest written document in exist
ence, except the Sermon on the
Mount. 1t is simply sinful neglect
that the people of this nation are
not more familiar with it. Not
one person IN a hundred has ever
read it in its entirety. This condi-
ton of things in land of educa-
ton, schools and colleges is
absolutely inexcusable. No pupil
of high school, college or univer-
sity should receive diploma unless
he could repeat the Declaration of
Independence and the Constitution
of the United States by rote. Yet
in spite of the general ignorance in
regard to it the veneration, of all
classes of our citizens for the
Constitution is something that the
people of other countries cannot
comprehend, and this veneration is
we'll merited.
1t is the most wonderful docu-
ment ever produced by human
minds. Search all the records of
antiquity and you can find nothing
that approaches it. Compared with
anything produced since, its luster
only grows the brighter. l do not
think 1 could have improved on it
much if l had written it myself.
1t was intended for, was, and
is, the fundamental law of the
land. Every law passed by the
Congress or the legislatures of any
of the states must be squared by its
provisions and if it does not measure
up to the rule it is no law at all.
1t is marvel of simplicity as well
as of wisdom. Written by lawyers
when Latin may be said to have
been the language of the law, it
contains but two latin terms, sex
post fscto" and '.habeas corpus"
and so common are they that they
convey the meaning desired very
much better than their English
equivalents. Written at a time
when pollysyllabic utterances and
high sounding phrases were sup
posed to be sign of erudition it
is marvel of simple words and
terms. There is not, word or
phrase of doubtful meaning or an
ambiguous sentence in it. Volumes
of commentary have been written
upon it, but it is and will always
remain its own best commentator.
Definition or attempted definition
of its terms only cloud their COM
prehehsion. 1t means what it
says. Let a farmer who never
opened law book he given a
complicated legislative enactment
and after he has compared its terms
with the provisions of the Con-
stitution it is a hundred to one
that the highest court in the United
States would sustain his opinion as
to its constitutionallty, and should
the court disagree with him in his
construction, it is more than an
even chance that the farmer would
be right and the court wrong, for
as Dooley says, "The court often
follows the election returns"
By some it is regarded as a
fetich-a sacred thing-and any
addition thereto or detraction there
from is the worst form of sacrilege.
Others treat it in the same manner
that many professed Christians do
their Maker. Each Sunday in a
rented pew on plush covered
cushion they bow in the deepest
humility and reverence, confessing
their sins, asking for pardon, and
then deliberately raise the devil all
the rest of the week so they will
have something to confess the next
Sabbath. Some men are great
mouth advocates of the constitu-
ton, in the national halls of legis-
latlon; they pose as its defenders,
and work themselves into perfect
agony of apprehension lest it be
changed by amendment, or lest
legislation be enacted in violation
of its provisions, and then go back
to their respective states and nse
all their influence to secure the
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