The Oakes times. [volume] (Oakes, N.D.) 1906-current, 1912-02-29

Columbus. Ohio. Feb. 21.-In HE
address before the Ohio constitutional
convention. in session here, ex-Presi
dent Roosevelt spoke substantially
as follows:
Mr.. President. and Members Of the
Ohio Constitutional Convention:
am profoundly sensible Of the
honor you have done me in asking
me to address you. You are engaged
in the fundamental work of self-gov.
ernment; you are engaged in framing
a constitution under. and In accord,
ance with which the people are to get
and to do justice and absolutely to
rule themselves. No representative
body can have higher task. To
carry it through successfully there is
need to combine practical common
sense of most hard-headed kind with
. spirit of lofty idealism. Without
idealism your work will be but sor-
did makeshift: and without the hard
headed common sense the idealism
will be either wasted or worse than
wasted.
shall not try to speak to you Of
matters of detail. cannot touch
upon them all; the subject is too vast
and the time too limited; If any one
of you cares to know my Views Of
these matters which u do not today
discuss,;I win gladly send him a
copy Of the speeches l made in 1910,
which think cover most Of the
ground.
believe in pure democracy. With
Lincoln. l hold that "this country,
With its Institutions. belongs to the
people who inhabit 1t. Whenever they
shall grow weary Of the. existing
government, they can exercise their
constitutional right Of amending it. J"
We progressives believe that the peo.
pie have the right. the power, and the
duty to protect themselves and their
own welfare: that human rights are
supreme over all other rights; that
wealth should be the servant, not the
master. Of the people. We believe
that unless representative govern
ment does absolutely represent the
people 1t is not representative govern
ment at all. We test the worth OF
all men and all measures by asking
how they contribute to the welfare
Of the men. women and children OF
whom this nation. is composed. We
are engaged in one Of the great bat.
ties Of the age-long contest waged
against privilege on behalf Of the
common welfare. We hold it q prime
duty Of the people to free our. gov.
ernment from the control Of money
In politics. For this purpose we ad.
vocate. not as ends in themselves. but
as weapons In the hands of the peo
pie. all governmental devices which
will make the representatives of the
people more easily and certainly re-
sponsible to the peoples will
Constitution and the People.
am emphatically believer in
constitutionalism. and because of this
fact no less emphatically protest
against any theory that would make
Of the Constitution means of thwart
ing instead of securing the absolute
right Of the people to rule themselves
and to provide for their own social
and Industrial well-being. All consti
tutions. those Of the states no less
than that Of the nation, are designed
and must be Interpreted and admin
istered, so as to fit human rights
Lincoln so interpreted and admins
tered the national Constitution. Bu
chanan attempted to reverse, attempt
ed to at human rights to. and limit
them by. the Constitution. It wal
Buchanan who treated the courts as g
fetish. who protested against and con
demned all criticism Of the judges
for unjust and unrighteous decisions
and upheld the Constitution as an in
strument for the protection Of priv
ilege and Of vested wrong. IT was
Lincoln who appealed to the people
3 against the Judges when the Judge,
went wrong. who advocated and se
cured what was practically the recall
sof the bred Scott decision, and who
treated the Constitution as Twins
force for righteousness. We stand
for applying the Constitution to the
issues Of today as Lincoln spilled i,
to the issues Of his day
Il hold It to be the duty OF every
public servant. and Of every man who
1n public or in private life holds /
position Of leadership IN thought ol
action to endeavor honestly and fear
1essly to guide his fellow-country
men TO right decisions: but ] snphat
3cally dissent from the view that Il q
e1ther wise o. necessary, - m . de