The Montgomery advertiser., 1905-03-29
GOv.. FOLKS SPEECH
MISSOURI EXECUTIVE AT NEW
 YORK BANQUET.
If q Law Be i3ad, Remedy is to Re- peal, Not to Ignore ft, He Tells Hearers--Characfer of
 CitiKemshfp.

New York, March Ex-Governor Joseph Folk of Missouri was tho guest of honor and the principal speaker at a banquet of the Missouri Society at the Waldorf-Astoria tonight. At the right of the Governor sat District. Attorney Jerome. who also made brief ad- dress.
 Dr. Henry W. Pritchett. President of | the Massachusetts Institute of Tech nology. and William Hepburn Russell were among the other speakers.
 Governor Folks address was. in part, as follows.
 "rhe Missouri idea means the en- forcement of law. and that if the law be bad. the remedy is to repeal. not to ignore 1t. There Is entirely too little | respect for law in America. In every State we find a nullity for policy's sake. Such thing is unknown in any other land. Disregard of one law breeds dis respect for alL In allowing some laws to go until enforced we reap harvest in having all laws broken. The law may not be to ones liking, but the an : swer ft is the law should be sufficient for the aw-abiding. Good men will observe even bad laws, but bad men will break even good laws. It should be that all men. good and bad. be com pelled to keep all laws. good and bad. because 1t is the law. How careless people usually are as to whether laws gives rise to civic evils. Indeed. in nearly every case public wrongs grow out of the indifference of the people. There are many who thrill with patri- otic fever at the thought of going to war and risking their lives for their country, but who forget to vote on election day. The patriotism of peace is just as necessary as the patriotism of war. The patriotism of ballots Is even more necessary in a free country than the patriotism of a bullet. Plenty of men will die for their country. but the man who will live for his city and State every day is the man good gov ernment needs. There is a constant conflict between evil and good. and evil must always be fought against, else the good will be overcome. The useful grain the farmer sows does not grow and ripen by chance. but must be cared for and protected. while the thistle, scattered by chance and cared for by accident. will flourish anywhere. So good government does not exist by ac- cident. The seeds must be sown and the plant nurtured and defended. elso the weeds will grow up and choke it.
 '"The government never neglects the people unless the people first neglect the government. No government, city. State or national. was ever better than the people made 1t. or worse than they suffered 1t to become. The people are the ultimate source of governmental power They are the state. and the public life of a nation is but refec- ton of its private life. Good citizens make good laws. but no law can make good citizens. When the people grow lax in the discharge of their civic ob- lIgations the government grows cor rupt and the very fountains of na- tfonal life are poisoned, justice is thwarted and iniauity Is enthroned. The greatest and gravest dangers which beset a free nation proceed not from without but from within.
 States and cities do not consist of
 mortar and brick and stone. but of the character of their citizenship. We must preserve that civic character our forefathers left to us else our nation
 will go as others have gone before us"