The sun., 1919-10-19

this bargain with Europe and Asia, and
to drive It through before the American
people shall have the opportunity at
any election to express their will in
regard to it. tApplause.l
Haste, haste, haste is the cry.
DO 1t now, do II at once, do 1t without
| debate, do II without consideration My
| countrymen. you never saw a man yet
| trying to dispose of a gold brick who
didn't want to make a quick bargain.
| The man who has the pure gold of the
mine, without alloy, is willing to submit
| II to the 'assayer, and to give the pur-
chaser ample opportunity of examina-
| ton. The man who has a political
| proposition of merit need not be In
great hurry, because he can trust the
American people after full discussion to
decide the question right. Why this
haste? A word now in regard to 1t.
Told Not to Change II.
you we're told--we were told-that
we must accept without the dotting of
an 1 or the stroking of t. the orig
| inal so-called Constitution of the League
of Nations. When the President first
brought 1t back to this country he as
sembled the Democratic National Com
| mittee. He told them first that this
was not a political question, and SO he
had called together a political commit
| tee. He told them, second, as the John
| the Baptist of the millennium and the
archangel of eternal peace and good
will. that II he had his way he would
| like to see hung upon gibbets as high as
Heaven. but pointed in the other direc-
| ton, every Senator who dared oppose
| his will as expressed in the League of
! Nations. He did that in the interest of
| democracy and free speech. He made
that remark evidently for the purpose
! of encouraging a free expression of
opinion and an untrammelled exercise by
the representatives of the people OF the
constitutional duties imposed upon them
| And so, in the same spirit, other
Evangels of the~day of eternal and COM
plete love have gone about declaring that
everybody who does not agree to their
view is narrow headed; that they are
shortsighted that they have no vision
and that they cannot hear the voices in
the air. And they have gone to the ex-
tent of intimating. II not saying, that the
man who Is not willing to surrender
with the pen what Washington gained
with the sword is a pro-German.
"In my opinion. we might as we'll
| spend tonight a few minutes getting
| back to first principles. What is this
Government? interruption from some
one in the audience 1 wish you would
not interrupt by even a friendly sug-
gestion. This is an enormous audience
and perfect quiet is to be desired and
| while you mean to. encourage me and
applaud me. before 1 get through, you
will find may need ability, but do not
need encouragement.
Not One Man Government.
Let us spend a few minutes getting
back to first principles. What is this
Government? Is this a one man Gov
eminent? [Cries of "Noi"l or is it a
110.000.000 men Government? What are
these public officers? They are but
people taken from the body and mass
of the people. They are no better than
the rest of the people. They are selected
by the people for what purpose? AS
bosses, as autocrats. as kings as en-
perors. as nobility? If that be the
American conception, then instead of
democratizing the world We had better
democratize ourselves IApplause.l
II have been taught to believe that
this is Government by the people, Of
the people and for the people, trite old
phrase, but every word Is as holy as the
soul of the great man who uttered II.
And, that when you set up a govern
ment, you name some men not to boss
you, but to be bossed by you. You name
not masters, but servants. And, when
|
had sense enough to know that you
could not trust any man born of woman
with autocratlc power. So they wrote
the Constitution and reserved to them
| selves great rights that no Congress and
| no President and no court could take
| away from them.
They did not trust government to
| one man, for though he might be the
! best man on earth he might be mis-
fnlr
| whether they had the best man on
earth or not until they tried him out
and he had done the damage. So they
provided for Congress as their rep
resentative and as their Spokesman.
You elected one branch of that every
two years, so that if that Congress-
! man elected from small district did
not do the bidding and the veal of the
people, in a short twenty-four months
you could pull him down and elect an
other in his stead You provided in
later years for the direct election of
the Senate, so that they would be re-
sponsive to your will. and you provided
! that scheme by which at the end Of
| six years at the longest you could re-
move any of them from power. You
provided a limited term for the Presi-
dent, so that IL he did not obey your
will, at the end Of four years at the
longest you could put another in his
stead who would do your will. And
then you provided a court, the great
judiciary headed by the Supreme Court
Of the United States, with authority, II
a Congress violated your rights or
trampled upon your Constitution, or the
President violated your rights or
trampled upon your Constitution, that
the Supreme Court could declare null
and void their unjustifiable acts.
Government OF the People.
This, then. is a government OF the
people, and II the Ser ate of the United
States or the Congress were to under
take by threat or by any other means
to interfere with the President exer-
cising the powers conferred upon him
they would not be so much interfering
with the rights OF the man who hap
rened to be President as they would
be interfering with the rights of the
sovereign American people; and SO, In
turn. If a President undertakes by CO,
, ercion. by threat, or by any Other
means. to interfere with the free ex'
erclse Of the powers conferred upon the
Senate by the people, 1t is not the
Senate need complain so much as the
p 'ople. for the powers of the people are
} hAing usurped. Let us, therefore, with
, these fundamental thoughts in mind
, ,f'roach this question.
Now, in regard to the matter o.
, haste, FIRST you are told in a campaign
: that is being financed by some of tn,
, great ness-nternational business