The Bourbon news. [volume] (Paris, Ky.) 1895-19??, 1907-12-24

OF Wnlcn ne was the head, built the
broad highway upon which the Nation
has advanced to its present position
OF power and strength and unity.
There are some, Mr.. President, who
think they see dark clouds upon the
horizon Of our future, and express
grave apprehension as to the stability
or the government ordained by the
people Of the United States and estab-
llshed by the Constitution. In popu-
iatlOn OF ninety millions, comprising
people from all parts of the earth,
many of whom have no proper concep-
OF of liberty regulated by law, nor
any just regard for the rights of
others, who must expect to find many
who indulge in gloomy forebodings as
TO the future of the country, and who
seem to cultivate the habit of predict
ing disaster. Such people are quite
unhappy when the facts do not justify
them IN believing that verything is
going wrong. But there is no occasion
for alarm. The American people,
knowing that eternal vigilance is the
price of liberty will take care that no
harm shall come 20 the Government.
At all times since the organization of
the Government they have shown
y,
however, sudden or startling, which
involved the safety of our free insti-
tutionS. They may seem, at times, to
tolerate false, visionary and mischevi-
Gus views, but in the end they surely
recognize the dangers of the situation,
whatever they may be. and do what
prudence and patriotism require at
their hands. Their final deliberate
judgment upon public questions is
quite certain to be the best of all con-
cerned.
What, let me ask, are some of the
grounds upon which the pessimist of
these days bases his fears for the
safety of our institutions? He per-
suades himself to believe that the
trend IN public affairs to-day is to-
wards the Capitalization of all govern
mental power in the nation and the
destruction of the rights of the
States. If his were really the case,
the duty Of every American would be
to resist such a tendency by every
means IN his power. A National Gov
| eminent for national affairs, and State
government for State affairs, is the
foundation rock upon which our insti-
buttons rest. Any serious departure
from that principle would bring disas-
ter upon the American people and upon
! the American system of free Govern
ment.
But the fact is not as the pessimist
alleges it to be. The American people
are more determined than at any time
IN their history to maintain both
National and State Rights, as those
rights exist under the Union ordained
by the Constitution. l say the people
of the United States, for although the
Constitution was accepted by the sep
arate action of the people in their re-
spective States, they moved together,
IN their collective capacity, as one
people, in creating Nation for GER
tain specified objects of general con-
Germ. They will not patiently consider
any suggestion or device that looks to
Union upon any other basis. They
will maintain, at whatever cost ,and in
all their integrity, both National and
State Rights.
The best friends of State rights, per-
nit me to say, are not those who
habitually denounce as illegal every
thing done by the General Govern
ment, but those who recognize the
Government of the Union as possess
| ing all the powers granted to it the
Constitution, either expressly or by
necessary implication for, without a
General Government possessing such
powers in relation to matters of
national concern, the States would be
in perpetual conflict, and lose their
prestige before the world. with equal
truth, it may be said, that the best
friends of the Union are those who
hold that the States possess all gov
ernmental powers not granted to the
General Government, and that are not
inconsistent with the Constitution of
the United States or with Republican
form of government. The people of
the United States cherish, and will
compel adherence, to the fundamental
doctrine that the States are vital parts
of the American system of govern
ment; AID they will equally insist
upon the recognition of the just pow
ers of the States-to be exerted alway
in subordination to the Supreme Laws
of the iand-aS essential to the preSer-
walton of our liberties. The Supreme
Court of the United States has again
and again declared. upon full consider
ation, that close and firm Union was
essential to the liberty and happiness
of the American people, and that
without the States In union there
could be no such political body as the
United States.
If then the matchless government
devised by the fathers and ordained ny
rhe people of the United States is to
be preserved and handed down intact
70 posterity. National power and
State power must go hand in hand in
harmony with the Constitution. If
those powers clash, the paramount
authority of the Union within its pre-
scribed spere of action must prevail.
Such is the expressed mandate TO the
Constitution, and such, cur common
sense and experience tell us, must
always be the case, if liberty regulat-
ed by law is not to perish from our
land. The Nation is supreme within
the sphere of its action as defin