Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1909-02-25

| h9 III WGllii-De champions rave dic ~
a loss 10 know what it is all about,
"'hcy have not asked fo" this lcSisia-
| ton; there was and is no reason why
they silould ask for it. The majority
Of the committee if | may voice their
cnrvit ticns, felt that they would not
| therefore DC justified in recommending
the pas5ua, OF tlis resolve. The ma
,crity Of The committee felt that the
great constitution under which We
have lived ard prospcrcd 50 long
should lie kept intact, unchanged e%-
cept the demands for Il change are i'm
pcrat.ve ana overwhelming.
| renew my motion.
| Mr.. KNOWLTON of Piscataquis:
Nh. President: l certainly feel that no
subject has come before us at this SEES
sion of SO much Importance as this
one. We have lived since 1890, under
a Constitution that has subscrved
every purpose and want, and our state
is satisfied with the condition OF things
| 1t is one of the rules of the Good Max
| err above us all that when He has made
a thing He lets it alone and develops
| it, 1t is one of the rules of business
| that when a man has anything in
property that serves a good purpose
he lets it alone, and goes on in that
line
| 7 admire the idea of the old Greeks
When they built a temple and adorned
il and bcautiled it, if it did not please
them. they tore it down-they never
patched it up. Putting new cloth on
an old garment is always wrong and
| disastrous. I object to it, Mr.. Presi-
|
| ground.
| If you read history correctly. YOU
| Will discover that. away back years
ago. in the middle of Germany. there
| vas tribe Of people called SaNons-
| a peculiar People. called of God, I be
| ievc. as truly as were the Israelltos,
| to perform u great work in this world
| of ours. A portion of them went over
| into England. \ portion of them went
down to France. Now that Saxon tribe
| lived in England. They fought the
| Picts and Scots and Norsemen and
Romans. They were conquered and
| reconqucrcd. and yet, they ruled-the
| conquered ruled the conQuerors; and
| that Saxon race started, in their early
| beginnings, to be a representative
tribe They never made their own laws.
| They selected wise men who lcSislated
| for them: ana when they came over TO
| Engi.nd they did the same thing, when
| king Alfred called for help to repcl
| the Norsemcn. It was these Saxon
| men-not coming together as mass.
| but sending representatives to KING
| Alfreo-and those representatives had
| conference with the King and made an
agreement; and then the men came up,
| following their representatives., ana
| they repealed the Norscmcn. That same
| Saxon tribe went down into France,
after the fall of the Roman Empire,
| and France today is what she is above
| those other Romance nations, simply
| because the Saxon blood was infused
| into her; and that makes France to-
| ddv n representative democracy.
| That Saxon race dominated England.
| William the Conqueror. | know, over
| ran it; bat the Saxon blood dominated,
and that gives us the Parliament OF
| England today, and q representative
! one Those people came over to Amer
| lea and gave us q representative gov
| ernnlCnt-nOt a pure democracy, IKE
| Athens, that lived and died forever.
Now this Saxon race is bound, in
| inc nature Oh tlJHSS, ~ iuiV tH'''
world of ours; and that race every
wherc-wherever they have predomi-
nated-have agreed upon and lived
| under a representative democracy. our
| fathers brought their blood with them
that idea, to establish our Constitu-
ton here as a representative one; ana
we are here today, Gentlemen of the
Senate, simply on that ground. repre-
| senting somebody. If the people had
not wanted us, they would have sent
| somebody else. We represent them
and I venture to say right here before
this Senate that if the people that sent
us here could have the right today to
vote on all these little, petit measures
that come before us, from a mud pond
to the building of q State House they
would not do it. They send us here to
do it and that is what we are for; and
that old ghost Of "the peoples rights
comes up like Banquo's once in a
while and all we have to do is to say:
"Down," to it, and keep it down.
No man living has greater respect
for the people, as the people are all
over this State Of Maine, than I. re-
spect them and regard them; but that
little. unruly minority that is always
bcbbing up somewhere and wanting
something new, and which is never
satisfied with what is, / have no re-
spect for. In these days they are try