The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-11-17
Notable Address Before the New York Chamber
 of Commerce
URGES DEFENSE OF
 THE CONSTITUTION
Has no Sympathy With the Modern Talk ia Favor of Initiative, Referendum and
 Recall

graduate you Tn tnlS country that you have had less of these troubles which have been worrying the world than any other nation, said Ambassador James Bryce tonight at, the annual banquet of the New York Chamber of Commerce.
 The speaker referred to the political and social unrest and declared 1t not as acute as in European countries.
 You amongst all nations are the least liable to suffer from the shock of the jarring interests of different classes" he went on. Least liable because you have in the capitalists and the wage earners q large class or voters who are able and intelligent enough to hold the balance fairly and to recognize that the interests of all classes are in the last analysis inter- woven with one anotherand that whlch is an injury to one is an injustice ana an injury to all.
 Governor o'Neal of Alabama, another speaker. devoted the greater part or his address to the consideration of the initiative and referendum. He regretted the fact, he said, that the spirit or socialism appears to be gaining Tn all parts of the country.
 The matter of Legislation should be removed from popular passion, said the governor, and the acts Of those
 
 to the hue and cry of those who inn agine themselves to be discontented."
 The Governors Speech
 Governor O'Neai said:
 Permit me to express my sincere ap- preciation of the honor conferred upon me and the state I represent by your grl- cious courtesy in giving me this oppor- tunity to raise my provincial voice under tho auspices of this ancient assoclatlon' Yet the high compliment which your lh- vitation conveys does not prevent me from recognizing my incapacity to do jas tice to this subject and occasion, or ex- enipt me from a sense of humility Tn being accorded the privilege of standing in the place made memorable by orators, soldiers and patriots whose great names have made the rolls of your guests ros- ter of distinguished honor
 From the far off day when shilling a plate supplied the meager furnishings of your banquet board to this good hour, this association has stood for those prin- oirles of business probitf and conserva- tive government upon which are based the growth and power of the republic. Is therefore consistent with all of US history that in this hour of political 'uz1- rest and threatened change it should in- vite q defense of that scheme of govern Inent which has in the past stood as a bulwark of defense against the encroach- ments of arbitrary power and the op- pressions of the inconstant numerical majority.
 ''ro no enlightened people can any sub feet be of more vital moment than the making of the laws under which they are to live and under which they eX- pect to enjoy those rights and liberties not only necessary to human happiness but essential to a developing civilization.
 Must Re I,awmakinp Body
 'The empiricism of political doctrinares and the vicious experiments of political charlatans have ever been the deadly foes of wise stable and salutary legislation. Yet there must be lawmaking body, composed either of the people themselves acting directly in their organic capacity or through chosen representatives. Fully recognizing this fact the wise men who framed the constitution of the United States after mature reflection, thorough investigation and debate, unanimously discarded the system of direct legislation and established a representative republic ns contra-distinguished from a social or pure democracy. The warning lessons of history had taught them that the so called republics of ancient and modern times. through the absence of the repre- sentative principle had eyer been found, as Madison declared, 'Spectacles of turbu- lence and contention, incompatible with personal security or the rights of property, and had in general been as short in their liye; as they had been violent in their deaths.'
 Tt has been fashionable of late years for many who masquerade under the title of progressives to speak in sneering terms of the men who established our system of free government Yet these men had genius for constitution making ln- equalled in any other age of the world. They were not only profound students of history, but were free from party bias, passion or prejudice. They had ac- compshed successfully revolution against the greatest military and naval power of the world They were of Eng fish stock. but bred under new condi. tions, and they had inherited as their birthright a love of liberty and hatred of oppression
 Tt has been truly said that no body of men ever gathered together in his tory who had a subimer trust in the wisdom and eternal capacity of the people for self government. Yet they were pro- foundly impressed with the conviction that there never was' popular govern ment as formerly constituted which had not terminated its fugitive and turbu- lent existence with the destruction of liberties of the people. They agree with the sentiment expressed by Wilson, when he declared that the doctrine of repre- eebldtloH III government which was alto gether unknown to the ancients was es- sential t1 every system that can possess the qualities of freedom. wisdom and energy. They had repounced the divine rights of kings, ard were unwilling to establish the divine rights of maiorities Direct action by the people they depre- cated.
 Monument for all Times
 They were seeking to erect govern ment to endure for all time; govern ment of laws and not of men. In em- bodying in the constitution the guaran- tee of republican form of government they could have had no other purpose than to interpose barrier against ;he encroachments of such revolutionary po- litical vagaries as the initiative and ref erendum I. therefore, unhesitatingy as- sert that a study of the history of our government clearly establishes that those who claim that they are inspired by a wise spirit of progress and are merely seeking to restore popular government by the introduction of the system of the initiative and referendum, are reaction aries guilty of the folly of attempting to revive the doctrines discarded and |. unanimously repudiated by the wisdom { of the fathers.
 They seek not merely change Of laws or established policies. which if unwise could be repeated. They under take to so alter the fundamental law