Fair play., 1908-04-18
JOHNSON 1t SHILOH
MINNESOTA EXECUTIVE MAKES
NOTABLE ADDRESS.
QUESTION STATE RIGHTS
Does Not Approve OF commonwe alths
Being Made Subservient to In
ferior Federal courts-Would
Uphold Constitution.

Uphold Constitution.
Gov. John A. Johnson 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 es
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 governmen. 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. Johnson's speech
will rank as an important contribu.
tion 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 a united ma
tion. Their sacrifice was not for per
sonal gain, but was in response to
duty, and a contribution to the civ
ilization of the age, and for the pur
pose of perpetuating the institution of
human liberty.
One hundred and thirty-two 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
ten constitution is to define govern.
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-
tion 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 beneficent 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 it
came from our fOrefathers. On another
battlefield of that war, Abraham Lin.
coin said 1T is for us, the living,
rather, to be dedicated to the un-
finished work they have thus far so
nobly carried on, II is rather for us
to be here dedicated to the great task
remaining before us; that from these
honored dead we take increased devo-
tion 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 Of the people, by the people, for
the people, shall not perish from the
earth"
Our concern is not of the past, nor
wholly with the present, but much
with the future. If the destiny of the
republic is in the hands of the Amer
lean of to-day, then it becomes him to
oo guided and governed only by patri-
otic impulse and the desire to do that
which will most largely contribute to
the permanency of republican institu-
lions. Advancing our civilization so
that we will not, by recognizing the
false claims of selfish interests, and
forgetting the American maxim that
our object should be to attain the
greatest good fer the greatest number.
incur the penalty which other people
have paid. rather let US hold ever in