The daily sentinel., 1908-07-09

llIlltdtlOIS anu tne safeguards OF the
Constitution. he has done more to
| inculcate contempt of law than all
the mobs that have claimed victims
for their violence in all the states
The President is upon an eminence
If he violates the law men every
where know it. If he does not him
self respect it to the full extent. he
robs 1t of the reverence that might
be willingly bestowed by others. In
this same overbearing spirit he has
placed and kept in office men who
We're not appointed by and with the
advice and consent of the Senate. He
has influenced or attempted to in
fluence courts and juries in the ad-
ministration of public justice. not
only by deciding who should and who
should not be prosecuted, but by
making known his personal feelings
or sympathies between the prosecu-
ton and the accused. He has scold-
ed judges for their interpretations of
the law. 1t was. therefore, timely
and appropriate that the Republican
party at Chicago should have declar-
ed that it will uphold at all times
the authority and integrity of the
courts He has constantly cried out
for more power on the part of the
Federal government at the expense
of the powers reserved to the states
In his speech at Harrisburg, in Oc-
tober, 1906, he told of easy methods
for increasing the power of the Fed
era1 government. The method pro-
vided in the Constitution was too
cumbersome, slow ana uncertain for
Lin. There he lets the country into
the secret of his short cut to ircreas-
ing the Federal power in theSe
words:
We need through executive ac-
ton, through legislation. and through
judicial Interpretation and construc-
ton to increase the power of the
Federal government
Mr.. Root, who the president is
said to have called My Secretary
followed this Harrisburg expression
by speech in New York. in which
he said:
Sooner or lattr construction will
be found to yes. power where it will
be exercised by the National govern
ment.'
"Of course many people are not
surprised at any opinion tho Presi-
dent utters; he has so many of them
and has expressed them or so many
conceivable and non-preconceivable
occasions. Now, Secretary Root is
an able lawyer and a man of trained
and deliberate habits of thought.
Nothing shows more plainly the de-
moralization wrought by the Presi-
dent than the fact that this trained
lawyer, in the very front rank of his
grsat profession. should advocate the
organic law of the Union by construc-
tion to be found'-and to be found
by whom? BY the men who are to
exercise the power. The insidious
proposition of Mr.. Root, following up
the suggestion of his chief, is that
where authority is not granted,
which in the opinion of the execu-
tive, ought to have been granted, this
authority is none the less to be ex-
ercised, and is no other basis for it
can be found. it is to be based upon
construction to be found In other
words, if the Constitution has not
conferred the power upon the execu-
tive, then the power is to be vested
in him by construction to be found
organic law of the Union
Representative institutions must
be preserved. Our federal govern
ment of delegated and limited powers
must be maintained in all of its re-
serve powers of the Union and the
states-one indissoluble and the other
indestructible.
Let us confidently hope that the
time will never be ripe for the change
of the Constitution by executive ac-
tions' and by judicial interpreta-
tions.' If such a time should come
than government of law will per-
ish from the earth and government
of caprice will be created on the
ruins of one established by a written
constitution.
Democratic Duty.
We know there Is a brighter pros
pect. If the love of country and
liberty is still strong in the hearts
of the American people; if an oath
TO support the Constitution is now
considered by them as binding; If the
people are in earnest in their pro-
tests against the rule of insolent
wealth, the unauthorized and baleful
influence of corporations and the ex-
actions of the trusts: If the manli-
ness of the fathers have been trans
mitted to the sons, the fourth of next
March will mark the advent of the
gladstone light of Democracy and the
beginning of the return to Consti-
tutional government honestly and
economically administered
ITO the banner we raise here we
invite to repair all citizens of our
common country who revere the
nobler traditions of the past and who
deplore the grave alterations of the
present.
Let us see to it that this stand
ard shall once again float over a
government resting secure on last
ing foundations.
"Mr. Chairman. delegates and fell
low countrymen, the time and the
occasion in our national affairs i'm
pose duty we cannot, If we would,
evade. We must go out from this
hall with one heart and a determina-