Bryan daily eagle and pilot. [volume] (Bryan, Tex.) 1909-1918, 1911-05-29

largest numntf Snoulu ever ilHuth''
ones vote Personal ACKNOWLEDGMENT
prejudice anu revenge should be sac
rificed to the public welfare. Should
the time ever come when our people
will handle the election franchise
lightly or ignorantly, such time will
witness the beginning of national oe
cay. The causes of public corruption
and national depravity have their
origin lin a government like this) in
corrupt ballot.
q desire to say in this connection
| that our government is the wisest and
best ever ordained by man. We find
nothing like it in history. The Am
lphictyonic council of Greece, by some
compared to our government, was
more like a supreme court than a rep
resentative legislative body. Ours is
| the only government in all history
which, in all its parts, was the result
| of a wise plan thought out and de-
signed by statesmen and patriots who
| had but one purpose in view, and that
was the good of all men. They saw
the rocks and shoals upon which other
nations had been wrecked. They
sought the establishment of a govern
ment which should unite the strength
of monarchy without its tyranny,
| the wisdom of an aristocracy without
Its ambition and the independence and
equality Of a democracy without its
weakness sand folly; and while no hui
man government can be perfect, it can
not be denied that they reached the
| highest climax in governmental archi-
lecture. They distributed the power
of the government into distinct de-
|partments: provided legislative bal
ances and checks; instituted courts
composed of judges holding their Of
fees during good behavior; arranged
for representatives of the people in
the legislative and executive branches
of the government by deputies of their
own selection and defined with ac-
curacy the limitation of each branch,
and drew the lines so clearly between
them that the average citizen could
well understand them. All personal
considerations were subordinated to
the public welfare. The security OF
the peace and tranquility of all the
people and the safety and protection
of the nation appealed to everyone
who had any part in framing the
ornamental law of the republic. There
was no question respecting the inter
tests of the people that was not wisely
discussed and no right, civil or polit-
Iical. that was not protected. Party
strife. passion and rancor usually en-
Igendered in public debate gave way
to calm reason and salutary argument.
1.-THE sphere of local. state and ma
tional powers was expressed in the
constitution, and restrictions and in
hibitions were placed at every point
necessary to safeguard the rights and
liberties of the citizen.
"The great underlying principles OF
our republic, which every citizen
should know. were most fOrcibly and
clearly expressed in a few words by
one of the early presidents and the
wisest statesman, in my opinion, that
ever lived. They so far exceed in wis
dom all other interpretations of the
purpose for which our government
was ordained that | make no apology
for quoting them in full:
Equal and exact justice to all men,
of whatever state or persuasion, re-
lligious or political; peace, commerce
and honest friendship with all nations,
entangling alliances with none; the
support of the state governments in
lall their rights, as the most competent
administrations for our domestic con-
lcerns and the surest bulwarks against
anti-republican tendencies; the preser-
walton of the general government in
its whole constitutional vigor, as the
sheet anchor of our peace at home and
safety abroad; a jealous care of the
right of election by the people; mild
and safe corrective of abuses which
are Topped by the sword of revolution
where peaceable remedies are unpro-
vided: absolute acQuiescence in the
decisions of the majority, the vital
principle of republics from which
there is no appeal to force, the vital
principle and immediate parent of des-
lpotism; a well disciplined militia, our
best reliance in peace and for the first
moments of war, until regulars may
relieve them the supremacy of the
civil over the military authority; econ
omy in the public expense, that labor
may be lightly burthened; the honest
payment of our debts and sacred pres
deviation of the public faith; encour-
agement of agriculture, and of COM
merce as its handmade; the diffusion
of information and arraignment of all