Watertown weekly leader. [volume] (Watertown, Jefferson County, Wis.) 1906-1908, 1908-07-10

The Democratic party VIII strike
down special privileges, whether
granted through a high protectiTs
tariff, or granted to government chart
cred corporations by permission OF
law. All trusts owe their birth and
their ability to continue existence to
one or the other of these two forms
Of special privilege. No private
monopoly, no business approximating
private monopoly, in methods or in
magnitude, can endure without one or
the other"
The recent panic and the causes
which led to the Aldrich bill were
treated exclusively, and a review
given Of the failures of congress to
pass many important measures which
were recommended by the president
Regarding the presidents failure to
call an extra session, Mr.. Clayton
pointed out that the Democratic
leader of the house, authorized by all
his party associates, repeatedly offered
to support the measures, but that Re-
publican support was not forthcoming,
and that it was simply play for Re-
publican votes. Federal ursurpatiOn
of power was severely scored in the
following language:
THE president is upon an eminence.
If he violates the law, men everywhere
know it. If he does not himself re-
spect it to the full extent. he robs it
of the reverence that might be will
ingly bestowed by others. In this
same overbearing spirit he has placed
and kept in office men who were not
appointed by and with the advice and
consent of the senate. He has in
fuenced or attempted to influence
courts and juries in the administration
Of public justice, not only by decid-
ing who should and who should not be
prosecuted, but by making known his
personal feelings or sympathieS be-
tween the prosecution and the ac-
cussed. He has scolded judges for
their interpretations of the law. 1t
was therefore timely and appropriate
that the Republican party at Chicago
should have declared that it will up
hold 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 October,
| 1906, he told of easy methods for in
| creasing the power of the federal gov
eminent. The method provided in the
| constitution was too cumbersome,
slow and uncertain for him. There
| he lets the country into tie secret OF
| his short cut to increasing the federal
| power in these words: I'VE need
through judicial Interpretation and
| construction, to increase the power of
| the federal government
"Mr. Root, whom the president is
| said to have called, my secretary
| followed this Harrisburg expression
| by speech at New York, in which he
said: Sooner or later construction
| viii be found to vest power where it
will be exercised by the national gov
eminent
| 'Of course many people are not sur
| prised at any opinion the president
| utters; he has so many of them and
| has expressed them on so many con-
| ceivable and on-preconceivable occa-
sions. Now, Secretary Root is an able
| lawyer and a man Of trained and de-
| liberate habits of thought. Nothing
| shows more plainly the demoraliza
| ton wrought by the president than the
| fact that this trained lawyer, IN the
very front rank of his great profess
sion, should advocate changing the Or
| ganic law of the union by construc-
| ton to be found; and to be found
| by whom? By the very 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 executive, ought
| to have been granted, this authority is
| none the less to be exercised, and IL
no other basis for it can be had, it is
| to be based upon construction to BE
| found In other words if the cOnsti-
| tuition has not conferred the power
upon the executive then the power Is
to be vested in him by construction
| to be found in way not provided
| for by the organic law Of the Union.
Representative institutions must be
| preserved, our federal government of
| delegated and limited powers must be
maintained in all it's constitutional
vigor, and each state must be pre-
| served with all of it's reserve powers,
and its integrity and autonomy for
ever. Therein is the safety of the
Union and the states, one indis-
soluble and the other indestructible.
| 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 protests against the
| rule of insolent wealth, the unauthor
| lied and baleful influence of corpora
| tons and the exactions of the trusts:
| If the manliness of the fathers have
| been transmitted to the sons; and the
| fourth Of next March will mark the
| advent of the Gladstone Light Of
! Democracy and the beginning Of the
return to constitutional government
| honestly and economically admins
| tered. To the banner we raise here
| we invite all citizens of our common
country who revere the nobler tradi-
| tons Of the past and who deplore the
orave alterations of the present Let