The Montgomery advertiser., 1908-05-27

Amendments, we are told that these principles are of no binding force and tnat they have no authority which a Government at Washington is bound m us sovereign pleasure to recognize or: obey: Weare told that the doctrine or consent, of the governed is merely an eighteenth century. theory, that the law or nature and that men are created Tree and equal fin tn cir rights to life, liberty and the products of their labor, have no place in the fundamental law Of our land; that the inherent rights of the. people never have exicted; that the sovereignty which we supposed resided Tn the popie has bcome a. prerogatiVe or the Government; that our Govern ment' has all the sovereign power Of the greatest world powers and empires among the nations; that the powers Of the Government even extend beyond the limit and Jurisdiction of the con- stitution which created 1t; and that the flag of Government dominion has gone to subject colonies where the constt- tuition embodying tn e fundamental will of the American people may not go except as permitted and extended | piece-meal and in part by a Govern ment which assumes to be superior to the people and, therefore, supreme in | Its assumption of sovereign powers.
 Mflestones of Liberty.
 | Magma Charta and the Bill of Rights, the charters and. constitutions of the American Colonies. the Declaration Of | Independence. the North West Ordf- nance of 17S7 and the Constitution or the United, States. Washington's Fare we'll Address and Lincoln's Gettysburg Address, the Doctrine of Monroe ana the Proclamation of Emancipation. and last, but not least, the Constitutions Of the forty-six states of the American | Union-these are the milestones and | NA -Av-,, ~lr. -A A -N l guaranties and bulwarks of American | justice and equality, the Old and the | New Testament of the religion of hu- | man freedom in the Western Hemis- | phere and a beacon of liberty and pro- | gress of the world. Whatever may be the legal basis and origin of the prin- ciples of this document-whether de- | rived from the law of nature and of | natures God or handed down as the historic birthright of the American people; whether based on Anglo Saxon | charters, constitutions and customs, or born of the philosophic principles and | bitter experience of free men and en- | slaved men In all times; whether its doctrines are an institutional and legal outgrowth of a priori and ephical crea- tion; whether its possession is based | on the hard and mundane rights of war | or derived from the teac:~~a; of tnB Sermon on the Mount and the Gospel of the Prince of Peace. 1t little matters | so long as its possession is sure, SO | long as we preserve its principles un- tarnished and so long as We and the government on which 1t rests stands firm and true to its high standard"
 Governor Johnson declared the pro- gress of the republic as guided by the landmarks of constitutional liberty is opposed by two dangers. One is a ten dency of the Federal government to a centralization of power and the as- sumption of sovereign powers and dele gated to 1t by the constitution and be- longing to the states and to the peo. pie. The other Is the power of cen. tralized and predatory wealth. fos- tered by special privilege and defiant of both the public welfare and the law of the land.
 The existence of these two danger: is not only contemporary" he said "but in measure cooperative. Both threaten the liberty and power of tht people and the untarnished perpetuity of our institutions. Although the prof. itable development of the great indus
 trial trusts of today is largely due first. to the special privileges of tn, Federal government and especially tt unreasonable and unjust tariff laws which those in control of. the govern
 ment, refuse to abolish or amend; and second, to gross favoritism in admin
 istration and to lax Interpretation ant enforcem ent of. the constitution anf the. laws, the very existence of these trusts is today urged as the reasor why still further powers should be cen
 tralized in the Federal government tn, States deprived of their constitutions rights and powers and the guarantee. of the constitution still further en
 croach ed upon, evaded- and broker down. In spite of statutes which de. clare industrial trusts and conbina. tions in restraint of trade to be illeRa, and statutory outla'ws in the land, the government today maintains a tarir system avowedlys for the protection and profit of the enterprises in which these trust outlaws are interested and en gagged. These tariff laws are them selves in restraint of the trade of the American people and the discriminat. Ing taxation of this trade is admittedly ' one of the chief sources of the divi. dends and interest coupons for which these trusts exist and on which they grow and prosper. And whenever at any time the American people demand a reform of these tariffs and their ex. tortions the answer Is that the tarif must De revised by its friends. which interpreted means by the trusts bene- hciaries.
 l Inherent Power in People
 The inherent powers of this repub- lie not delegated to the Federal Gov ernment reside in the State and the people. They are the original sources of sovereignty, and yet the present ad- ministraton maintains the doctrine of inherent sovereignty in the Govern. ment. It claims that 1t possesses a Jurisdiction broader and outside the constitution, the powers to rule sub, ject colonies and subject peoples un- restrained by the constitution and be- yond the territorial limits where the constitution and its guarantees may go. Today the Government of the Unit ed States denies the existence of the constitution and it's immuntties to onl island territories. It denies to the Ha. waiians the right of trial by jury ahd to the Filipino the constitutional re. quirement both of trial by jury and equality of taxation The people ot these islands are. subject to the power and allegiance of the United States liable to civil and criminal prosecu- tions under its laws, and they are en- titled in all justness ito the privileges of a fair and speedy trial at its hands the same as any other person or cit izen under the American flag. The right yielded. by: King John nearly 70C / years ago and the privilege which Ger man and Scandinavian barbarians en' toyed in the dark ages before the dawT of civilization. It is claimed that fl the governsent at Washingtin Is re
 strained in it's functions by the princi ples of the Declaration and the guar antees of the constitution, the Amer fcan Government cannot assume among the nations of the earth it's prope
 station as a world power. My answe
 is, that If the people Of the united