Albuquerque morning journal. [volume] (Albuquerque, N.M.) 1903-1926, 1920-09-17
CONSTITUTION IS
OUR PROTECTION
FROM MASTERS,
HARDING STATES
Republican Nominee UShers
in First Observation OF
4'COnStitution Day" With
Attack On Its AggreSSorS.
PEOPLE MUST DECIDE
IF IT SHALL ENDURE
They Shall Determine If Al
tempt to Subject LegiSIa-
tive to Executive Powers
Can Succeed He Says.
sy MORNING .oussA, .sso... LEASED WIS,

ter MORNING JouRhA. SPECIAL LEASED WiFHl
Marion, O., Sept. 16.--Intended to
usher in the observance of "Consti-
tuition day" in his home state, SEN
ator Harding tonight issued a state
ment in which he asserted that IF
by some tragic dispensation of fate
this constitution should cease to be
the door would no longer be closed
against the stealthy appropriation
of autocratic power and the grad
ual absorption of the peoples SOW
ereignty." Tomorrow Senator
Harding will deliver front porch
address on constitutional govern
ment to a delegation of central
Ohioans.
Beginning his statement, thes m
ator declared: There is abroad in
the land n spirit which seeks to
weaken the adherence of the peo-
pie to their constitution and which
recklessly challenges its worth
"WiH Have No Master"
After discussing the necessity for
respect of the basic law of the ma
ton, he asserted that so long as
it endures, the people will never
have a master, but will rule them
selves, subject to no compelling
force but their own authority and
the will OF God"
His statement follows;
'rEhere is abroad IN the land
spirit whiciI seeks t5g ~e&Ken the
adherence of the people to their
constitution which recklessly chal-
lenges its worth. It is well, there
fore, to have one day in the year
set apart for the clearing Of our
vision and the regeneration of our
faith.
ITO assail or belittle the flag Isl
to invite and incur the lust and
passionate resentment of all coun-
try loving men, but the constitu-
ton may be attacked or dispar-
aged with impunity and. all too of
ten, with approval. And yet the
one is but symbol while the other
is the very warp and woot of our
national existence.
Safety in Constitution.
at has sometimes been asserted
that the constitution was imposed
upon the masy for the benefit of
the few. On the contrary, it is the
one thing, above all things in our
politics, which both in origin and
expression is universal in it's democ-
racy. A statute rests upon the del
egated authority of a small Off
cial group but the constitution Isl
the direct fiat of all the people.
1t is their mandate-expressing not
their wishes, but their will-fixing
the immovabIe boundaries of power
beyond which their servants who
administer their government are
forbidden to go. IT Is declared to
be the supreme law of the land
with which every other law and
every official act must coincide or
fall.
"America Must Decide"
"It is an ever standing proclama-
ton of the right of the people to
speak as the sovereign power OF
the nation whose body and soul
they are. If by some tragic dispen-
sation of fate this constitution
should cease to be, the door would
no longer be closed against the
stealthy appropriation of auto
cratic power and the gradual ab-.
sorption OF the peoples sover-
eighty.
80 long as 1t endures the peo-
pie will never have a master. put
will rule themselves. subject to no
compelling force but their own au-
thority and the will of God.
whether it shall endure Will pe
for the men and women OF Ameri-
ca to determine.
"Our people must set themselves
to the task of ending the attempt
to subject the legislative power 70
the control of the executive ana OF
restoring the substance OF consul
tutional government under whlch
the several departments are sep.
arate but co-equal, answerabie nov
to one another but each TO tne
people from whom alone 1t derives
its nnwer To be or to act at al.