Albuquerque morning journal. [volume] (Albuquerque, N.M.) 1903-1926, 1907-09-22
At
JAMESTOWN
SHOW v
INDEPENDENT LIBERTY A
RIGHT, NOT A PRIVILEGE
Governor Folk Believes Cause
of Popular Government in.
This Country Never Had a
Brighter Outlook than Today.

Norfolk. Sept Missouri day
was celebrated at the jamestown ex-
position today with Governor Folk as
the central figure of interest. Cover
nor Folk delivered an address on the
subject of Liberty of the Individual a
Right, Not a Privilege He said in
part:
The magical age in which We live
is the result of the idea that the lib
erty Of the individual is a right, not
privilege. From this principle has
come universal education and the rec
ognition of the rights of the masses as
opposed to the privilege of the classes.
The nearer we keen to this idea, the
more real progress we shall make,
and the further we get from It, the
more removed we shall be from the
ideal republic, towards which those
who believe in the liberty of the in
dividual as a right, not as a privilege,
are striving
"Our civilization differs from those
that have gone before in that 1t Is a
civilization of the individual: a civili-
zaton that demands the education of
all, not of a few; a civilization of
equal rights instead of privilege Our
material prosperity and progress in in
Vention are the outgrowth of the prin-
ciples of liberty and individual rights.
When we depart from these moral
principles, our nation will go as others
have gone during the flight of time
through the ages. The nations that
have tottered off the stage of the
world into oblivion did not die for lack
of wealth, for many of them were
richer when they fell than ever before
but they ceased to exist for lack Of
men. They died not for lack of mon
ey, but for lack of moral wealth. The
many had no right; the few had ALL
Vice followed; then decay. The perpe-
tuity of this government rests not on
the great wealth of the few. but upon
the morality and integrity of the aver
age individual.
Liberty as a right of the individual,
not a privilege, does not mean that
each person may do as he pleases
without limitation. The liberty that
was guaranteed by the founders of
this government is liberty under the
law. When the sentiment of a minor
ity anywhere is not in accord with the
sentiment of the majority which
makes the laws, ii Is the duty of the
minority to acquiesce until it can Sc
cure a majority on its side and cause
the repeal of the law. In order that
the individual liberty of the majority
to make laws may be effective, those
laws must be respected
"The greatest enemy to the liberty
of the Individual is privilege-the
privilege of lawlessness, the privilege
conferred by law and the privilege OF
monopoly There has been a great
awakening of the public conscience
during the past few years as to the
privilege of lawlessness. This public
conscience goes marching on day by
day, correcting some evil; day after
day remedying some wrong.
There are some who see danger to
our institutions in the agitation result
ing from the exposures Of wrongdo-
| ing in official and business life, To
my mind, the hope for the perpetuity
of this government by the people was
never brighter than now. This awak-
ening of the public conscience does not
proceed from a spirit OF discomfort,
| but comes from the quickening of the
! moral sense of the average individual.
1t is simply a determination to stamp
/ out the stains of distrust in public life
and the things that Cypress In private
| life: firm resolve that the govern
ment shall be representative of the lib
erty of the people, not Of the privilege
/ of special interests. The great COM
| binations of capital that have grown
up in the past few years require
stricter rules of regulation as to their
conduct then were needed In years
gone by In relation to individual ac-
| tion. In exposing and prosecuting the
/ ,uel. Of fhaGn apnFaUutlnnE nI
wealth the liberty Of the average indl-
yidual Is being protected. The attack
on corporate wrongdoing Is not an as
sault on legitimate industry. The man
who would retard legitimate Industrial
development is as much a public EN-
emy as he who would crush the people
| beneath the heel Of monopoly. No
man or corporation doing an honest
| business need fear the arousing of the
\ conscience of the people against
wrongdong Those whose business
methods will not stand the light Of
publicity have no right TO complain. IL
! they persist In wrongdoing and are
hurt. they are not injured by the peo-
ple. but by the wrong which they do.
| / do not believe there is any enmity
anywhere In this country to legitimate
industry. It Is not railroads nor In
surance companies the people COM
plain OF, but the breaches Of trust on
the part OF those running railroads or
Insurance companies. While some rail-
road men and some Insurance men are
crooked, II does not follow that all
railroad men or all Insurance men OF
all public officials are without honor.
The eradication of lawless privilege
from business helps rather than hurts
legitimate industry. Insurance policies
are more valuable today by reason OF
the elimination Of grating on the part
of some insurance officials. We can
eat our meat with more satisfaction
since abuses in the beef packing busi-
ness we're stopped When rallroe ds
and other special interests are COM
PEELED to obey the law, II viii not re-
tard their development nor inJure
their real progress but will put them
on more secure and substantial
basis.
I'm the fight against the privilege
OF laWlessness there have arisen ques-
tlons between the federal and state
governments as 10 the construction Of
the powers of each. II the people Of
the states cannot be trusted 10 enact
valid laws with respect TO corpora
tlons. by what process OF reasoning
can a be assumed that they have the
capacity to legislate for the individual
citizen. The states create the corpora
lions. Shall they be denied the con-