Okolona messenger. (Okolona, Miss.) 1900-current, 1908-04-15
johnson At SHILOH.
MINNESOTA EXECUTIVE MAKES
NOTABLE ADDRESS.
QUESTION oFsTATE RIGHTS
Does Not Approve Of Commemorative
Being Made subservIent to In
ferIor Federal Courts--WouId
Uphold Constitution.

Gov. John A. N&ohnson Of Minnesota
delivered at the dedication OF the Min.
nesota monument on Shiloh battle
field April TO- an address that will
rank as one of the ablest public de-
liverances of recent times. Spoken
on a battlefield that may be taken as
the symbol Of the great war for the
union, the governor took occasion to
tell Of the peril that threatens our fed
eral form of government. This peril
was emphasized by the recent deci-
sion of the supreme court in the rail-
way cases going up from Minnesota
and North Carolina, which practi-
cally makes the state governments
subservient to the inferior federal
courts. The significance of these de-
cisions is widely understood, and they
have given rise to general discus
| sion of the question of the rights of
the states, and Gov Johnsons speech
will rank as an important contribu-
ton to that discussion The dedica-
tory address in part follows:
Representing the people of the com
monwealth of Minnesota, we are as
sembled on one of the historic battle
fields Of the civil war to pay our trib-
ute of respect and affection to the
memory of the sons Of Minnesota
who here yielded up their lives that
this might continue to be united ma
ton. Their sacrifice was not for per-
sonal gain, but was in response to
duty, and contribution to the civ
iliZation of the age, and for the pur-
pose of perpetuating the institution Of
human liberty.
l appreciate that nothing which
can say will add to or detract from
the glory of their achievement, which
in itself is an enduring monument to
the patriotism and heroism of the
American soldier. Their sacrifice,
however, was not different from that
which has been made throughout all
of the ages by those lovers of liberty
who believe in a government which
might give to all the people the right.
to life, liberty and property. The
love of liberty was not born in this
country of ours; it was Graded along
the Danube and about the shores Of
the Baltic, even when Rome had
reached the limit of her imperial
grandeur Increasing in intensity
with the passing of the centuries, it
found its highest expression in the
older countries in the great English
charter of civil rights, which forever
guaranteed to the people of that land
immunity from the despotism of those
who claimed to rule by virtue of Di-
vine right.
One hundred and thirtyvtwo years
ago the great contest of humanity was
transferred from the old world to the
new, and here, because of the isola-
ton of this country, because of the
high character of the man who es-
poused the cause of liberty, and be-
cause of the signal victory achieved
by them in that struggle, an opportu-
nifty was afforded to crystalline into
written law the aspirations of the, pa
triots of all the ages. The men who
built the foundations Of this govern
ment were those who had submitted
to the supreme test Of patriotism, for
those who inspired the constitution of
the United States were the same who
had pledged their lives, their proper
ties and their sacred honor to the
cause of independence.
While the primary object of writ
ic 20 doEnn
mental powers and to limit govern
mental departments, the overwhelm-
ing necessity for such an instrument |
is to prevent insidious encroachments
upon the rights OF the individual citi-
zen, both from those in Office and
from those who by reason Of their
wealth and power have an influence
far greater than that possessed by the
average citizen And SO the constitu-
ton OF the United States was regarded
by its trainers as an instrument Of the
most sacred import, an alteration Of
which could only be made by the peo-
pie themselves in whom all ultimate
power is vested and then only after
the fullest discussion and widest pub
licity.
Under the 1beneflcent government so
established the nation has prospered
and the people are happy One great
cloud came upon the nation in the
form of an awful civil war, in which
two sections Of the country were in
conflict with each other The heroes
who rest here gave their lives that
this nation might be maintained as 1t
came from our forefathers. on another
of that war, Abraham Lin
coin said: 1T is for us, the living,
rather, to be dedicated to the I'M
finished work they have thus far SO
nobly. carried on. 1t is rather for US
TO be here dedicated to the great task.
remaining before us; that from these
honored dead we take Increased devo-
ton for that cause for which they here
gave the last full measure Of devotion;
that We highly resolve that these dead
shall not have died In vain: that the
nation shall, under God, have \ new
birth of freedom, and that the govern
ment ~ the people. BY the people, for
ne people, shall not perish from the
sarth.~