Hopkinsville Kentuckian. [volume] (Hopkinsville, Ky.) 1889-1918, 1908-04-18

forgetting tne american MAXIM LbdJ
our object should be to attain the
greatest good for the greatest number.
incur the penalty which other people
have paid, rather let us hold ever in
mind that those who framed our gov
eminent believed in the equality Of
the people and that the chief aim of
government is to maintain that
equality.
Under our system of government
the nation has reached a material de-
velopment hitherto unknown. The
people have prospered beyond the
dreams of those who lived a century
ago. But with the development of the
country and changes in economic con-
ditions, and particularly with the
growth of great private corporations,
performing many Of the functions of
government, has come the necessity
for the exercise of strict governmental
control, and rigid enforcement of all
the laws enacted to restrain the rich
and powerful from encroaching upon
the natural and legal rights of the
poor and weak.
The constitution of the ancient re-
public of Rome, which for 500 years
had recognized the voice Of the people
as supreme, was expanded by execu-
tive Interpretation and contracted by
executive administration, until Rome
had so completely outgrown its demo
cratic conditions as to become only
q tragedy and a tradition. Let us i'm
plore the aid of Him on high to pre-
serve us from the errors which ruined
Rome, by the avoidance of which
America may travel on to that destiny
and realize that fulfillment which will
be the inspiration of right-thinking
men of all ages yet to come.
Our government is divided into
three separate and distinct co-ordi-
nate branches: the legislative, the
executive and the judicial. Danger
will surely come to this republic when
any Of these departments of govern
ment attempt in the slightest degree
to usurp the functions of the other.
And while now and then it may be
that a court of the land, in constituting
the constitution, may nullify a section
of it, have the faith to feel that the peo-
pie of the country will rise above the
fallibility of judicial tribunals and
assert and preserve their own rights.
Our duty it not to criticise the execu-
tive, the legislature or the judiciary.
Very recently there has come from
the highest judicial tribunal in the
land a decision of vital interest and
concern to the American people, be-
cause it has established a principle,
as stated by one member of the court,
which would work a radical change
in our governmental system and would
inaugurate a new era in the Ameri-
can judicial system and in the rela-
tons of the national and state gov
ernments 1t would enable the subor-
dinate 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 infer
icrity never dreamed of when the con-
strutior was adopted OF when the
eleventh amendment 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 repub-
lie, because the very theory of our
government is based upon the right of
the states TO control absolutely their
own domestic affairs
If, then, our whole system of gov
eminent is changed, have we not only
retarded the progress of the republic,
but have we not gone back a century
toward a centralized form of gov
eminent which is not to the advan-
tage of the people? What this gov
eminent needs is not more power.
What it needs today is to so dis
tribute the privileges under the gov
eminent that all citizens will have
equal opportunity. America has been
called the land of opportunity. But
American opportunity should not
mean a granting of special privileges
to any class, but should afford all alike
the means for culture, education, pros
perity and contentment.
For nearly a century and a half
America has presented to the world
the spectacle of a happy, prosperous
and intelligent people, maintaining a
pure democracy founded upon their
supreme will The hallmark of a de-
mocracy is that the powers of gov
eminent are close to the people.
Throughout the world, wherever de-
mocracy is advancing, it's progress is
marked by greater measure of self
government TO each community. viii
the American people turn to the set
ting rather than the rising sun? Shall
we now, because some laws are found
irksome by a class and interfere with
their selfish aims, commence to de-
prive our sovereign stNtes OF that
measure Of home rule which until now
they have seen fit to reserve to them
selves? ! cannot believe it. Upon