The Birmingham age-herald., 1908-04-11
Strong Address Made Al Dedi- cation of Monument
 At Shiloh
.ROOSEVEtT'S BUREAUCRATIC
 IDEAS ARE CONDEMNED
Governor Johnson Declares That Dan. ger Will Come to the Republic When State and Nation
 Clash In Powers.

Shiloh. Tenn, April 1O.-A plea for state self-government and a protest against the Roosevelt idea of standardization was the keynote today of the first public address delivered by Gov. John A Johnson of Minnesota since he came into the public eye as a candidate for the democratic nomination.
 The occasion was the dedication of the monument at Shiloh erected by the state of Minnesota in honor of the soldiers of the state who fell in battle there.
 Governor Johnson spoke as follows:
 Representing the people of the com
 monwealth of Minnesota. we are assem-
 bled on one of the historic battlefields of the civil war to pay our tribute of re-
 spect and affection to the memory of the
 sons of Minnesota who here yielded up their lives that this might continue to be united nation Their sacrifice was not
 for personal gains but was in response to
 duty, and a contribution to the civilza- tion of the age, and for the purpose of perpetuatng the institutions of human I liberty.
 'I appreciate that nothing which l can say will add or detract from the glory of their achievement, which in itself Is an
 
 the 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 believed in a government which might give to all the people the right to lire. liberty and property. The love of liberty was not born in this country of ours; 1t was cradled 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 tl1e l p-ssing of the centuries in the great Eng
 fish charter of civil rights which forever
 guaranteed to the people of that land im-
 munity from the despotsm of those who
 claimed to rule by virtue of divine right. l From the beginning of civilization man | has ever struggled against the despotic 1 power of the strong and has never hesi- l tated to mix his blood with the soil of his ] land when by this offering he might leave 1 to his posterity and those dear to him a legacy of freedom and while the im- mediate result has not always been the triumph of the right, none of the great battles of history could have been fought unless there had been upon one side or the other those who were willing to sac rfice their own lives for the common good and for the permanent establishment of those principles of liberty which men have ever cherished
 contest or r1umdnltys
 "One hundred and thirty-one years ago the great contest of humanity was trans ferred from the old world tc the new, and here, because of the Isolation of this country, because of the high character of the men who espoused the cause of liberty and because of the signal victory achieved | by them in that struggle, an opportunity was afforded to cryStalize into written law { the aspirations of the patriots of all the | rnn l,t,flf he. tions of this government were those who | had submitted to the supreme test of pa- triotsm. for those who inspired the con stitution of the United States were the
 same who had pledged their lives, their l' properties and their sacred honors to the 1 cause of independence
 "The scheme of government devised by our forefathers was adopted after most ] mature deliberation, and after fullest | investigation; and only when they were l satisfied that in the distribution of the powers of the government, the rights of ! the people would be represented. It was ! founded upon the theory that the right | existed in the people to make, alter and modify their form of government, and to tnls end the several states in constitutional convention agreed upon and adopted a l constitution which the foundation upon whics this nation rests. But, as Washington said, the constitution which
 
 explicit and authentic act of the whole people, is sacredly obligatory upon all. The further heritage of the power and right of a people to establish government presupposes the duty of every individual to obey the established government The original sovereign states which, through their representatives in 17S7, united to form a federal government for certain specified purposes, were careful to have those powers which were delegated to 1t expressed in the constitution then agreed upon.
 Object of Constitution.
 While the primary object of written constitution is to define governmental powers, and to limit governmental de- ;; partments, the overwhelming necessity for such instrument is to prevent insidous ' encroachmentS upon the rights of the individual citizen, 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 constitution of the United States was regarded by it's framers instrument of the most sacred import, alteration of which could only be made by the people them selves in whom all ultimate power is vest ed, and then only after the fullest discus sion and widest publicity
 Under the benefcent 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 eacn other, The heroes who rest here gave their lives that this nation might be main taned as it came from our forefathers On another battlefield of that war Abra- ham Lincoln said; It is for us, the liv- ing, rather, to be dedicated to the un- finished work they have thus far so nobly carried on. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining be- for us that from these honored dead we take increased devotion for that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion; that we highly resolve these dead shall not have died in vain; that the nation shall, under God, have new birth Tn <srn