The daily sentinel., 1912-07-05

a SnH
was of a poetic turn of mind. One
evening. in the cleaning. she went
walking with a man who was not the
least poetic. When they strolled
through the orchards the young lady
exclaimed. "Oh, how the trees moan
in the wind" Her escort. in a very
matter of fact way, said. We'll, any
one as full of little green apples as
those trees are has a right to moan"
Colorado has more than one hundred
million dollars worth of good things
to eat this year. Perhaps any one
so full of cantaloupes. sugar beet,
strawberries and apples and other de-
licious and nourishing products, has
a right to be restless.
We are all living in the greatest
and most wonderful age Of the
worlds history, in the greatest coun-
try on which the sun ever shone II
our mothers, when they stopped over
our cradles and looked into our Won
dering eyes, just opened on a world
of change and progress, could have
known that in our lifetime we would
see men fly through the air. telegraph
messages transmitted without wires.
pictures in which life and movement
are preserved, and other marvellous
and wonderous things familiar to
these days, they would have rejOiCed
that We were coming into an heritage
such as no king has ever known.
There are men listening to me today
who were born at time when there
were fewer miles OF railroad on this
continent than now connects us with
the neighboring town of Delta. To-
day, there are 25O,O0O miles of main
line-enough to girdle the globe 10
times. At the time the Declaration
of independence was written we had
100000 of people, less than the
present population of Texas. Now
we have more than 10000. And
great as has been our material ad-
yancement, our moral growth has
kept pace with it.
Our forefathers prosecuted witch
es; they kept the cOlored race in
slavery; they even refused to let
women vote. We have been going
forward so fast that it has been hard
to keep up. They tell a story of a
resident of Missouri who was blown
over into Kansas by cyclone which
carried him about 30 miles and drop
ped him gently down in the streets
of a country village. The people
came running up and congratulated
the stranger on his wonderful es-
capse. Providence must have been
with you" they remarked. Il don't
know who Providence is" said the
Missourian. but if he was with me-
he was going some. p" Citizens Of
this country are in a similar position.
Providence has indeed been with us,
and any other nation that has kept
pace with us has had to move pretty
lively.
The trainers of our constitution
under whose beneiiCent control we
have so greatly prOspered, had the
dismal experience of other nations
for a thousand years to guide them.
There had been other nations in the
tide of time, so-called democracies
and so-called republics, which had
attempted to safeguard the liberties
of their citizens, but all had miser-
ably failed. In the so-called pure
democracies. where the will of the
people was without restraint, ban
ishment was popular. One day an
excellent citizen would be driven
from his native land for expressing
his honest opinions and the follow
ing day his enemies might be con-
demned and their estates contiscated
The only safety was in always being
on the winning side. In the so-called
republics no man dared differ in pol
itics or religion or race from the
majority without bitter consequence
es. All who did not uphold the ad-
ministration were traitors; all who
doubted the prevailing religion were
heretics, and all who were of anoth-
er country were enemies. The ma
jority ruled, it is true, but the man
who was not of the majority gener-
ally went to jail.
The problem the trainers of the
constitution had was this: How can
we make a government here, on the
shores of the western world. so the
citizens who may honestly differ from
the rest of the nation in politics, in
religion or nationality will be sure of
a square deal so long as he is Jaw
abiding? That was the grca: prob
lem-how to preserve tde rights ~
the individual-an this is thc Wy
they did it:
Constitution Trusts the People.
They did not attempt to make a
code or a statute of the constitution.
They merely defined certain limits be-
yond which congress or the states
could not go, and then said: within
Lnese limits congress Is free to act
as it chooses" and "Within these
bounds the state may conduct their
affairs as they see fit" If you will
read the constitution carefully you
will be struck at once by the fact
that it does not fix a penalty for any
crime or say what the individual must
do or not do in civil affairs. 1t mere
ly establishes the boundaries of the
.ss.I .s..e.V F.F al
an honest certainty, leaving congress
and the states to pass necessary laws
as the occasion arises. The consti-
tuition is a grand certificate of conf
dence in the honesty and bality of
the whole people. 1t puts the re-
spOnsibility of government where it
belongs-on the governed. And
therein lies the strength of the re-
public