The Montgomery advertiser., 1909-01-18
A coon sUGGnsTIoN.

ously considered. Tt is high time. 1t remarks. that number of Ameri- can patriots deliberately set them selves the task of expounding to the people of this country the relations now existing between them and their consequences are sure to follew--we have 2,00e,000 working mon in this country who hold the time worn tra- dition that the power of self govern ment still resides In the people, that the Constitution is still in authority over us and that the President Is But Alexander Stephens pointed out in the early '70's that the executive was usurping new powers, that the dicta- torial authority conferred by the Con- stitution in time of war was being held over in peace and that we had become something more than a repub- lie with a gradual progress away from old ideals"
 Unfortunately, 1t Is a fact that the people at large of this republic do need to be awakened to the need of studying and needing the cardinal and vital principles upon which our gov ernment was founded They need to have brought to them a realizing sense of how far the executive powers have been stretched and twisted and wrenched from what was designed by the wise patriots who laid the founda- ton and builded the structure we call the United States of America. They need to have borne into them the fact that this is fast changing from "a government of the people. by the peo- pie and for the people" to g one-man government, and that man one least qualified to be trusted with an un- usual degree of power.
 It Is not imputing ignorance to the people to say that they need arousing to proper sense of what Is going on in connection with the public affairs of the country. It is more of apathy citizen argues to himself that it is none of his business what the Presi- dent does, provided he himself Is not affected by 1t, and thus practically all the people fail to be interested. It is possible that if Roosevelt had begun his term of office seven years ago by at once assuming to himself all the powers of a dictator and sub stituting his own will for the Consti- tuition and laws of. the land the eoun- try would have been aroused to the danger to our institutions. but his encreachments and his usurpationE have come by gradual approaches, growing constantly more outrageous and more dangerous until all the people should be aware of the lengths to which he has gone.
 We have at times been in doubt as to whether Roosevelt Is lacking in mental balance. brought about by the possession of powers too great for him to properly handle, or whether he is controlled by the spirit of the bully who delights in showing his power and resents any interference from whatever source it may spring. That he has on various occasions violated both the letter and spirit of the Con- stitution is well known. That he has disregarded the law and shown con- tempt for the courts of the land Is also well known; and it is also shown at various times been guilty of using public funds without warrant or au- thority of law. All these acts, go un- worthy a President and so detri- mental and dangerous to good gov- ernment. have followed each other in regular succession. growing more ram corous and disoreditable with each passing day
 It is the sincere hope of the coun- try that new and better regime will begin on the 4th of March, and that President Taft will give the country a constitutional and creditable admin istration, but none the less the people of the whole country should be awak- ened to a sense of the danger of one- man government as we'll as to the evil effects of had nrecedeuts If cootrarv to general belief and expectation, Judge Taft should allow hinsatf con- trolIed by the lust of power. and should get his own consent to follow the evil examples set by the present incumbent. no one can foresee where it will end. We repeat that 1t Is not believed that he will initiate Roosevelt in usurpation and disregard for both law and common official decency. but 1t would be well if the people could have made plain to them how Tar the executive has departed from the in- tentions of the founders of the re- public and the dangers that must fol- low a departure from the examples set by the better Presidents of the past. No harm can come from keep ing informed regarding the wrongs that have already been done, or from warning of possible dangers in the future
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