The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-11-24

independent judiciary was established to see that neither the executive nor the leg isative branches of the government en- croaehed on the guaranteed right of the individual ....,t. .--.tssas Some Assured Rights l..4
 Lest we forget, let us recall some of the rights assured to the citizens by con stitutional mandate.
 Congress shall make no law respecting an established religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof or abridging tile freedom of speech, or of the press !. :. The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses. papers, and eff fects. against unfeasonaple searches and seizures, shall not be eioiated.' No person shall be held to answer for 8 capital or otherwise infamous crime un- less presentment or indictment by grand jury Nor shall any person be subject for the same. .offense to be twice put in jeopardy of life and limb. nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be witness against himself; nor be de- prived of life, liberty, or property, with out due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation
 The right of trial by jury shall be preserved ....
 Excessive bail shall not be required. nor excessive fines imposed nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted
 Tt is evident that the framers of the constitution were unwilling to trust a se-
 ected legislative body, held in check by the veto power of the executive; fearing even then an unbrdled abuse of power, they established constitutional guaran- tees of liberty that d majority of the people could not trample upon or the government itself destroy.
 Some may say that a majority of the people will not endanger the liberties and rights of the individual. I wish that this were true. but the history of every gov ernment has shown that at times the peo- pie, when unchecked by constitutional guarantees. have destroyed individual rights and individual liberty
 Tt is now proposed by some that we shall in part abandon the representative government enacted by our revolutionary fathers, and adopt system that in the end would establish a direct democracy, when the ultimate power to make laws would be placed directly in the hands of all the people, and the Independent ju- diciary intended to protect the constitu- tional guarantees of individual liberty, would become subservient to the will of the majority through political compulsion.
 Jefferson's Idea
 We may forget that Madison and Ham, ilton, soldiers in the war for American Independence, brought their great minds and mature judgments to the framing of the constitution of the United States, but there is one whose sincere judgment will not be doubted as to the value of a rep resentative government as compared with a direct one, even by those who doubt the sincerity of purpose and the honesty of opinion of other men.
 In speaking of the equal rights of man. Thomas Jefferson declared Modern times have the signal advan- tage too of having discovered the only device by which these rights can be se- cured, to~wit-aovcrnmen by the people, acting not in rerspn, bat by representa- | tives chosen by Il lenselves.' .rhe author of the Declaration Of In- dependence. Knowing that all popular government before his time, resting on the direct decisions of the people, had failed and ultimately had reverted into uncontrolled despOtism, iejoiced that the hour had come when representative government could express the Will of l free people.
 | Tt is flow proposed to abandon the rep | resentative principle of government estab- | lished by our fathers and revert to the l direct action Of the people, to the prin- ciples of an AtLenap democracy adapted | to modern conditions.
 | "Our representative government was | esta DllSlieu to guard dSdiIlot the oAScS'So which had brought the ancient direct pop ular government to destruction, and be- cause our government does not at all l times immediately respond to public sen | timent, there are some who insist that l the principle of government is at fault
 and must be changed They do not reflect
 that at times they play msjudge real public sentiment, that at other times the instrument of the government (the repre- | sentative whom tl,e people can change at
 recurring periods Is at fault. and not 1.-the basic, principle of the government lsitself.
 ' Respond to Matured Sentiment
 My experience as legislator leads me Ito believe that the Congress of the United States will always ultimately respond to
 the enightened and matured sentiment of the people.
 l with the changing tides of public sem l'tilnent. we have repeatedly experienced
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