Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1912-03-09
Speaks on the Recall.

The President in his speech here an
swered the propaganda for the recall OF
judges and for the more recent proposal
for the recall Of the judicial decisions His
topic was THE Judiciary and Progress"
He made no direct reference to Col.
Theodore Roosevelt nor to the latter 8
speech at Columbus. but referred freely
to some Of the policies that were enun-
ciated by the former President before the
Ohio constitutional convention.
The President spoke as follows:
I'm the last year or two we have heard
much Of radical methods of changing the
judiciary system. If we would properly
consider these proposals and stand on
solid and safe ground we must re-ex-
anime the fundamental principles of sta
BILE popular government. The history OF
the world seems to show that our form OF
government is more enduring and salts
factory than any other. We began as a
small Union of thirteen states. strung
along the Atlantic coast. of three million
of people, and under the same Constitu-
ton we have enlarged to be a world pow
er of forty-eight sovereign states, bound
into one, of more than ninety millions OF
people, and with humane guardianship
of ten millions more-nine in the Pacific
and one in the Atlantic. We have fought.
beginning with the revolution, four for
eign wars, and we have survived a civil
war Of the greatest proportions recorded
in history. and have united the battling
sections by an indissoluble tie. From
our body polite We have excised the can
Ger of slavery. the only thing protected
by the Constitution which was incOn-
sistent with that liberty the preservation
Of which was the main purpose of estab-
fishing the Union. We have increased our
business and productive activities In
every direction; we have expanded the
development of our natural resources to
be continent wide. and all the time we
have maintained sacred those inalienable
right Of private property. and the right
to the pursuit of happiness.
For these reasons, we believe in popu-
lar government. Government is a human
fundamentally to secure the greatest
good to the greatest number. and the
greatest happiness to the individual. Ex-
perience, and especially the growth of
popular government in our own history,
has shown that in the long run every class
Of the people, and by that / mean those
cure attention to their welfare than any
other class, however altruistic the latter
class may be. OF course this assumes
that the members Of the class have rea-
sonable intelligence and capacity for
knowing their own rights and interest.
Hence it follows that the best govern
ment, in the sense of the government
most certain to provide for and
protect the rights and governmental
needs of every class, is that one in
which every class has a voice.
Without Voice in Government.
'In recognition Of this. the tendency
from earliest times in our history has
been the enlargement OF the electorate
to include in the ultimate source Of gov
ernmental power as many as possible OF
electorate Is not more in number than
one-fourth OF the total number of those
who are citizens of the nation and are
the people for whom the government is
maintained, and whose rights and happi-
ness the government is intended to Sc
cure. More than, this, government by
unanimous vote Of the electorate is i'm
possible. and therefore, the majority OF
the electorate must rule. We find, there
fore, that government by the people is,
under our present system government by
q majority of one-fourth of those whose
rights and happiness are to be affected
by the course and conduct of the govern
ment by the whole people We have ever
had.
"Womans suffrage will change this.
and it is doubtless coming SIS soon as
the electorate can be certain that most
women desire 1t and will assume its
the electorate will only be part Of the
whole people. In other words. the cleo
torate is q representative governing body
for the whole people for which the gov
eminent was established and the con-
trolling majority of the electorate Is a
body still less numerous. 1t Is thus ap-
parent that ours is a government of all
the people by a representative part OF
the people.
Protection Of the Minority.
Now, the object of government is not