Ashland tidings. [volume] (Ashland, Or.) 1876-1919, 1912-08-26
FROM ROOSEVELTS CONFESSION
OF FAITH.
(Third Installment.)

4 Ii NhC tOnlcSl NHlCn CulMlQdI6C
six weeks ago in this city | speedily
found that my chance was at mini.
/ mum in any state where | could not
get an expression of the people them.
! selves in the primaries. | found that
If | could appeal to the rank and file
of the republican voters | could gen
orally win, whereas, if | had to ap.
peal to the political caste-which in
cludes the most noisy defendants OF
the old SYSTEM generally lost
Moreover, | found, as a matter OF
fact, not as matter of theory, that
these politicians habitually and un-
hesitatingly resort to- every species
! OF mean swindling and cheating in
order to carry their point 1t is be-
) cause OF the general recognition of
thls fact that the words politics and
politicians have grown to have a sim
lster meaning throughout this coun-
try. The bosses and their agents in
the national republican convention
at Chicago treated political theft as
a legitimate political weapon. II is
instructive to compare the votes of
states Where there We're open pri-
marles and votes of states where
there were not. In Illinois, Pennsyl-
Vania and Ohio we- had direct pri-
marles, and the Taft machine was
beaten two to one. Between and bor-
derlng on these states were Michigan
Indiana and Kentucky. In these
states we could not get direct pri-
marles, and the politicians elected
two delegates to our one. In the
flrst three states the contests were
absolutely open, absolutely honest.
The rank and file expressed their
Wlshes, and there was no taint OF
fraud about what they did. In the
other three states the contest was
marked by every species of fraud and
violence on the part of our oDpo-
nents, and half the Taft delegates in
the Chicago convention from these
states had tainted titles The entire
wall street press at this moment is
vigorously engaged in denouncing
the direct primary system and uD-
holding the old convention system,
or, as they call it, the "old represen-
tative system. They are so doing
because they know that the bosses
and the powers of special privilege
nave tenfold the chance under the
convention system that they have
when the rank and file of the peopte
can express themselves at the pri-
maries. The nomination of Mr.. Taft
at Chicago was a fraud upon the
rank and file of the republican par
ty; 1t was obtained only by defraud-
ing the rank and file of the party of
their right to express their choice;
and such fraudulent action does not
bind single honest member of the
party.
Cases Should Be Exceptional.
Well, what the national committee
and the fraudulent majority of the
national convention did at Chicago
in misrepresenting the people has
been done again and again in con-
gress, perhaps especially in the SEN
ate and in the state legislatures.
Again and again laws demanded by
the people have been refused to the
people because the representatives of
the people misrepresented them.
Now my proposal is merely that we
shall give to the people the power,
to be used not wantonly, but only in
exceptional cases, themselves to see
W II ChuI JuC SONcl
taken in their name is really the ac-
ton that they desire.
The American people, and not the
courts, are to determine their own
fundamental policies. The people |
should have power to deal with the |
effect of the acts of all their gov
ernmental agencies. This must be |
extended to include the effects of |
judicial acts as well as the acts of |
the executive and legislative repre-
sentatives of the people. Where the |
judge merely does justice as between |
man and man, not dealing with the |
constitutional questions, then the in
terest of the pubic is only to see
that he is wise and upright Judge. |
Means should be devised for making |
it easier than at present to get rid |
of an incompetent Judge; means |
should be devised by the bar and the |
bench acting in conjunction with the
various legislative bodies to make |
justice far more expeditions and
more certain than at present The |
stick-in-the-bark legislation, the leg
islation that subordinates equity to
technicalities, should be recognized
as a potent enemy of justice. But
this Is not the matter of most con-
Germ at the moment. Our prime con-
Germ is that in dealing with the fun
damental law of the land, in assum-
ing finally to interpret it, and there
fore finally to make it, the acts of
the courts should be subject to and
not above the final control of the
people as whole. deny that the
American people have surrendered to
any set of men. no matter what their
position or their character, the final
right to determine those fundamen-
tai questions upon which free self
government ultimately depends The
people themselves must be the ulti-
mate makers of their own constitu-
tion, and where their agents differ
in their interpretations of the con-
stitution the people themselves
should be given the chance, after full
and deliberate judgment, authorita-
lively to settle what Interpretation it |
is that their representatives shall
thereafter adopt as binding.
Easier Amendment Proposed.
Whenever in our constitutional
system of government there exist
general prohibitions that, as inter
preted by the courts, nullify, or may
be used to nullify, specific laws
passed, and admittedly passed, in the
aW.N