The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1912-03-15
THE JUDICIARY
and PROGRESS
President Taft Expresses Views
: At Toledo, Ohio.
GOVERNMENT BY THE PEOPLE
Checks and Balances Of the constitu,
tlon-Duties of the Executive
Enforcement of the Laws
by the judiciary. ..

Following is the speech delivered
BY President Taft at Toledo, Ohio.
Friday evening:
In the last year or two we have
heard much of radical methods OF
changing the judiciary system. II
we would properly consider these pro-
posals and stand on solid and safe
ground we must re-examine the fund-
smental principles of stable popular
government. The history OF the world
seems to show that our form of gov
eminent is more enduring and salts.
factory than any other. We began as
a small union of thirteen states,
strung along the Atlantic coast. OF
100000 people and under the same
constitution we have enlarged to be a
world power OF forty eight sovereign
states bound into one OF more than
10000, 600 OF people and with human
guardianship Of 100000 more, nine
in the Pacific and one in the Atlantic.
We have fought. beginning with the
revolution, four foreign wars, and
we have survived civil war of the
greatest proportions recorded In his
tory and have united the battling
sections by an indissoluble tie. From
our body polite we have excised the
cancer of slavery, the only thing pro-
tected by the constitution which was
inconsistent with that liberty, the
preservation of which was the main
We have increased our business and
productive activities in every -direc-
ton. we have expanded the develop
ment of our natural resources to be
continent wide and all the time we
have maintained sacred those inalien-
able rights Of man, the right of liber-
ty, the, right Of private property and
the right TO the pursuit Of happiness.
Greatest Good to Greatest Number.
For these reasons, we believe in
popular government Government is
ahunan instrumenity-to secure the
greatest good to the greatest number
and the greatest happiness to- the in
dividual. Experiences, and especially
the growth of popular government in
our own history, has shown that lin
the long run every class of people, and
by that mean those similarly stu
ated,: are better able to secure atten-
ton 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
reasonable intelligence and capacity
for knowing their own rights and in
terest. Hence. it follows that the best
government, in the sense of the gov
eminent most certain to provide for
and protect the right and government
tal needs OF every class. is that one
in which every class has q voice.
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
governmental power as many as pos.
sible of those governed. But even
today, the electorate is not more I'm
number than one fourth of the total
number OF those who are citizens of
the nation and are the people from
whom the government is maintained
and whose rights and happiness the
government is intended to secure.
More than this, government by unani-
nous vote of the electorate is i'm
possible, and therefore the majority
must rule. We find, therefore, that
government by the people is, under
our present system, government by
majority of one fourth of those whose
rights and happiness are to be affected
by the course and condition OF the
government This is the nearest to a
government by the whole people we
have ever had. -. + ~-.'..:
Wonan's Suffrage Coming.
woman's suffrage will change this,
and it is doubtless coming as soon as
the electorate can be certain that most
women desire it and will assume it's
burden and responsibility. But even
then the electorate will only be part
Of the whole people. In other words,
the electorate is a representative gov
erning body for the whole people for
which the government was establish
Gu, anu Cuc CoutiOliluS IuaJOrlty OF
the electorate Is body still less mum.
erous. 1t Is thus apparent that ours
is a government Of all the people by q
representative part of the people. Now
the object OF the government is not
only to secure the greatest good to
the greatest number, but also to do
this as near as may be by securing
the rights of each Individual in his
liberty, property and pursuit of hap
piness: hence it was long ago recog-
nized that the direct action of tenn
porary majority of the existing cleo
torate must be limited by fundamsn.
ftal law---that is, by constitution in
tended to protect the individual and
the minority of the electorate and the
non-voting majority of the people
against the unjust or arbitrary action
OF the majority of the electorate. This
made it necessary to introduce into
the constitution ce"tain declaration,
as to the rights of the individual
which twas the purpose of the whole
people to maintain through the gov.
eminent against the aggression of any
temporary majority of the electorate