New Ulm review. (New Ulm, Brown County, Minn.) 1892-1961, 1908-04-15
came to US from the constitu tional con
vention Of 1857, and those amendments
which have been made to it by specific
will of the people.

vention Of 1857, and those amendments
which have been made to it by specific
will of the people.
The marvellous foresight of the faith
ers of this country in framing the con-
stitution of the United States is shown
by the fact that in spite of all the
changes which have occurred In indus
trial and economic conditions, in spite
of the unexpected expansion of the
country, the constitution has been
found sufficiently flexible TO meet every
emergency which has arisen. Let US
remember this, for. the danger of to-
day is that the American people may
be lulled into a false security, and,
yielding to the demands of selfish in
terests, permit the breaking down of
constitutional provisions, under which
the American people have attained
this wonderful degree of material pros
perity and have yet maintained the in
dividual liberty of the citizen.
Our government is divided into three
seperate and distinct coordinate bran
ches: the legislative, the executive and
the judicial. Danger will surely come
to this republic when any of these de-
partments of government attempt in
! the slightest degree to usurp the func-
tions of the other, and while now and
then it may be that court of the land,
in constituting the constitution, may
nullify a section OF it, | have the faith
to feel that the people of the country
will rise above the fallibility of judi
cial tribunals and assert and preserve
their own rights.
livery recently there has come from
the highest judicial tribnn al in the land
decision of vital interest and con-
Germ to the American people, because
it has established a principle, as STA
ted by one member of the court, which
would work radical change in our
governmental system and would inau-
! gurate a new era in the American judi
cial system and in the relations of the
national and state governments. It
would enable the subordinate federal
courts to supervise and control the
official action of the states as though
they were dependencies or provinces.
1t would place the states of the union
in a condition of inferiority never
dreamed of when the constitution was
adopted or when the eleventh amend
ment was made part of the supreme
law of the land. If this is the result of
this decision, it is, to my mind, one of
the unhappy incidents in the history
of our republic, because the very the
DRY of our government is based upon
the right of the states to control abso-
lutely their own domestic affairs.
i If, then, our whole system of gov
eminent is changed, have we not only
retarded the pl ogress of the republic,
but have we not gone back a century
] toward a centralized form of govern
ment which is not to the advantage OF
the people? What this government
needs is not more power. What it
needs today is to SO distribute the pri
vileges under the government that all
citizens will have equal opportunity
America has been called the land OF
opportunity. But American opportu-
nifty should not mean a granting OF
special privileges to any class, but
should afford all alike the means for
culture, education, prosperity and
contentment.