The Columbia herald. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 18??-1935, 1908-07-24
EXECUTIVE ENcRoAcHmENT.


For the first time in the history {
Maury county it is boldly asserte
that the chief qualification for cand
dates for the General Assembl
should be absolute accord with tn
Governors will.
1t is announced that no Democrat
no matter how blameless his life o
how faithful his services to the part.
and to his country, should have any con
sideration as a candidate for the Leg
islature unless he is willing to vot'
as the Governor shall direct upon al
issues that may be determined by the
House.
This position is in direct conflict
with the spirit of American institu
tons. 1t is undemocratic and if per
sisted in and acted upon would be
absolutely destructive of our form OF
government.
The government of Tennessee is a
nice system of checks and balances.
Patterned upon the British govern
ment, which is the embodiment of the
wisdom and experience of the centu-
ries, it has proven to be the wisest
and best plan for the government of a
free people ever devised by the mind
of man.
Divided into three coordinate but
separate and Independent branches,
the executive, the legislative and the
judicial, the system has stood the test
of more than century. One branch
has been check upon the other one
has been balance for the other.
Neither is superior to the other and
any effort of one department to usurp
the functions of another has always
aroused the people.
The surest and safest guarantee of
the perpetuity of our institutions is
the preservation inviolate of the in
dependence Of the three branches of
government For this principle the
Democratic party has always stood
like a stone wall, and against the en-
croachments of the executive it has
set it's face like flint.
If the Governors will is to be the
prime consideration why have Leg
islature at all? If the fathers had in
tended the General Assembly merely
to register formal approval of the i'm
perial will of the Governor why was
it created?
Such an argument is a contradiction
of the whole spirit of our institutions.
Followed to it's logical conclusion it
would mean an autocracy and despot-
ism, where the will of the Governor
would be the supreme law of the land.
The trainers of our constitution
were exceedingly jealous of the rights
and prerogatives of the law-making
power. The veto power of the Gov
ernor was so limited that it requires
no more votes to pass the bill over
his disapproval than it did upon the
original passage. The constitution
also reflects this spirit in it's inhibi-
ton of the appointment of any mem,
Der of the Legislature to office by the
executive.
The members of the Legislature
should reflect the will of the people
whom they serve No Legislator
should bow submission to any earthly q
throne of power save the people 1
whose commission he bears.
No Democrat is worthy seat in l.
,he Legislature who has not the cour-
age and the manhood and the strength L
% encroach upon the rights and pow u
'rs of the legislative department.
Any Senator or Representatives a
Who votes for a measure merely to u
egister the will of the Governor vio-
ates his oath Of Office and is false to is
he institutions of his country. OF
The new theory now advanced by u
he administration was never before u
INVOKED by any of Gov. Patterson's 10
reater and ADLER and more patriotic pi
Predecessors. No Governor before lie
ne present executive ever sought to IN
xercise powers not only not conferred ST
pom him but expressly vested in a re
coordinate branch of the government. Sc
Truly the Democratic party has TIC
lllen upon evil days in the proud
d Volunteer State. an
of
The fact that Harry Thaw is to be Sc
Gated as any other prisoner In the is