The copper era and Morenci leader., 1913-05-23
american Cl1zxeushzp|
Address by Hon. Reese M. Ling to The Clifton High
School Thursday May 18th, 1913
My Country It's of Thee,
Sweet Land of Liberty,
OF Thee / sing

pared, l do so with the hope that the
result may be that there may be
some among you who will be awaken
ed to a greater consciousness of the
duty. dignity and responsibility of
citizenship.
You who now stand upon LIES
threshold are the coming rulers of
this country. Upon your shoulders
will soon rest the cares of state. It
| is meet that you ponder we'll and
deeply the questions involved in the
/ government of our land.
/ 1t may be that some of the things L
say shall not be as popular as the
eXegencies of the times appear to de-
mand. 1t is admitted that the styles
of thought change as do the styles
! of the ladies' gowns, and that sanity
| in political thought is as loudly ex-
coriated, and in as bad form as (shali
say sanity in gowns?) or other
things not in style.
Most of us forget that our fore
fathers loved liberty and sought these
shores as a refuge from oppression.
They established this governm ent be-
cause they sought to escape from the
oppression and power of a monarchy
The intolerable conditions of the unity
of the legislative, judicial and exec.l-
| tive authority of the government in
one person gave birth to the apostles
of freedom.
To prevent this concentration Of
power in a single man or single au-
! thority, the constitution has made a
! separation of the three branches of
government, making each independent
and co-equal.
7 AS long as this independence is
maintained, each will be check upon
the other, and there will be no danger
of a hurtful or destructive concentra-
fiOn of mower in single hands
Manifestly the first step in this di-
rection must be the impairment or the
destruction of the dignity and re-
sponsibility of representative govern
ment.
When this independence is destroy
ed or seriously impaired, the way is
made easy for any capable, ambitious,
or constituencies executive to add to
the executive power, by establishing a
supremacy over the legislative power,
just as Napoleon established his.
The maintenance of the coordinate
branches of government rests with the
people. They have the right to and
should resent any mans arrogance in
attempting to assume to both make
and execute the law.
Great emphasis is nowadays laid
upon the forms of government, as if
! all we all needed was but form OF
government.
4 l venture the assertion, even with
7 the horror of being classed as re
actionary," that the form of govern
ment, in any state in this Union Is
sufficiently good to give good gov
eminent. 1t is the men who admin
lister the forms of government that
make the government good or bad.
In the language of Mayor, GaYnor
Good men will give good government
even with bad laws, while bad men
will not give good government even
with good laws"
/ / have always been an optimist, and
for my part, while we are talking
1 about the dangers which beset the
republic on every hand, do not think
there is great cause for alarm. But I
do think it is a good thing to have it
occasionally proclaimed from the
:. house tops that the pillars of the re-
/ public are about to fall. 1t makes us
! sit up and take notice. Eternal vigil
/ ence has ever been the price of Lib
] erty.
| It is not a surrender to pessimisln
Ito admit that for several years the
4 civilized world has been facing per
haps the most crucial period of its ex-
! iStence.
Dissatisfaction with existing condi-
tions is UNIVERSAL. Men seek relief
from intolerable conditions 1t is
small wonder that people grooming
under a yoke as irksome as that
! which ever brought to knee the sub
/ jugated captive of Roman exploita-
ton, hail with loud acclaim the clap
trap and folderoll of the charlatan
and demagogue as a panacea for ex-
listing evils.
/: Those who toll find the struggle for
existence an unequal one. The right
to live has grown to be fight against
unequal odds for bare subsistence. A
gradually increasing cost for the bar
I est necessities, without any apprecia- |
BILE increase in earning capacity, has
produced a dissatisfaction among our
people, creating palpable excuse for |
the eSpousal of revolutionary rene |
dies.
1t is easy for the snug representa-
tives of boarded wealth, with the mag
nificence of a modern Caesar, to decry |
the tendencies of the growth of popu- !
| lar denunciation of a system under |
which the present intolerable condi- |
| lions have arisen.
! 1t is not surprising that that day |
may be counted lost whose low de-
scending sun looks not upon the birth
! of at least one new political panacea |
or cure-all.
We are living in an age from which /
little is sought to be gained by retro |
spection. The tendencies of the
times are all for greater development
of the future Let no man think he /
is not concerned, In the strife for |
more money--more power, there is |
little time for thought In the mad |
struggle no obstacle has barred the
progress to the goal of financial great |
ness. No, nor has any hurdle been
too formidable to cause a pause in he |
vaulting ambition of those seeking PC
litical preferment. 1t is easy for
most of us to be able to distinguish |