The Brattleboro daily reformer. (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1913-1955, 1921-01-19

tutions as exempliied by the constitution
! of Vermont was expressed by Vice Presi-
dent-elect Calvin Coolidge in his address
before the Vermont Historical society in
Montpelier last evening. The address in
full follows:
The State House of Vermont holds an
interest for me that no public building can
ever exceed. This hall of the House of
Representatives has a fascination that is
unapprOachable. Here my father sat as
member of the legislature and his father
before him. At an age SO early that my
memory holds no previous recollection, L
was brought here by my mother and my
grandfather to visit my father, and,
among other experiences, seated in the
chair of the chief executive, with yenera-
tion which has forever marked for me the
reverence due that righteous authority
which is vested in a government over
which the people are supreme. Compared
with that visit no other journey will ever
seem of equal Importance. No other ex-
perience will ever touch in like manner
and in like degree my Imagination. Here
/ first saw that sacred fire which lights
the altar of my country.
These surroundings make a proper set
ting for the Vermont Historical society,
for there is nothing which 50 shadows
forth the mighty and enduring influence
/ of the past as the institutions of that form
! of government which are represented by
the states of the American Union. You
A. have chosen for your own particular prov
! ince the record of the experience and at
! tainments of a state, which is not only
dear TO me in a way which no other land
can fill, but which had about her rugged
! beginnings a romance of action and tradi-
4 ton which Will forever endear her to every
enquirer who possesses soul that res
ponds to the spirit of the sturdy pioneer,
who met the trials of those bOisterouS,
turbulent years, which marked the found
ing of Vermont. Those years are greatly
worthy of the painstaking Investigations
that you and your associates and cO-labOr
ers past and present have lCvished upon
| them.
They tell the story of men with a self
| reliance that cannot be eXcelled. 1t would
never have occurred to them to look to
government for support. They expected
and invited the government to call on them
for support. And they did not fail to re
spond instantly and effectively. They
founded a state that declared the princi-
pies of absolute freedom of the person.
While they recognized and secured the
personal right to acquire and hold prop
erty, they disregarded il as a qualification
for the exercise of the franchise, which
they based wholly on character, resulting
in manhood suffrage. Their constitution
proclaimed the supreme sovereignty of the
people and provided adequate safeguards
for their rights and liberties. Most lib
eral of states they only needed a slight
increase of religious liberation. long since
granted, to make freedom here complete.
IT is not my purpose to enter into de-
ScriptiOn. however brief, of the Declare
ton of Rights the form of government
of your constitution. The substance of
it's provisions is we'll known to all. 1t
constitutes q noble structure supporting
free government diffusing the blessings
of the most enlightened civilization. rep
resentative of the best spirit of an Ameri-
can commonwealth, functioning as a re-
public, with a simple dignity, passing the
pomp of kings.
Theory of Equality and Sovereignty.
That which was represented in the es-
tablishment, support and perpetuation of
the institutions of Vermont is the develop
ment in its purest form of the theory of
the equality and sovereignty of the people,
in principle the ultimate condition, toward
which it has long been our contention the
whole human race is tending.
The superlative fact for Us is that when
there was a people ready to adopt and
cherish such institutions there were those
lready to propose them. 1t has been 50
: throughout all human experience, and
, is partly shrOuded in mystery, in and of
while it is phenomena the reason for which
/; itself il lends a sanction TO the institutions
: of government and society. as they have
existed in the past or exist now. not on
the assumption that they are perfect or
, have been perfect, but that they Were and
are the best that human conditions at that
: time could produce, and that they are
i. working toward perfection. The results
, of this position are twOfOld. 1t lays on
| society, first the necessity in behalf of
+ the general welfare of supporting and de
Tending our institution, and in the second
! place of striving diligently for their prac-
= teal improvement. The ground for OPP
8 umiSm lies not in the fact Of past or pres
ent perfection, but in the hope and belief
. that progress has been made and will be
, made, in spite of many calamitieS. and
: many seeming disasters. which at present
appear inscrutable to the understanding
: of finite beings.
J. The soundneSs of this position | believe
, is demonstrated by history. and the JUST
= ticatiOn of those institutions so typically
American, here 50 rcS0lutely adopted in
: the beginnings of this state. and ever since
so stoutly maintained, if made at all. will
I be made out of the knowledge of past hui
: man experience. 1t Is this which pre-emi-
y nently juStites the study of history and
5 the formation of historical societies. 1t
is by an understanding and comprehension
{ of the past that we judge of the present
. and the future.
:. History is to be studied and applied
not for the purpose of advocating reaction.
; 1t is not the accurately informed who con
: tinually appeal to the good old times Ia
: the diSparagement of the present. That
: is characteristic of those who substitute
: fable and haZy tradition for fact and re-
: liable record. True history which in
cludeS all the records of the past how
: ever obtained and wherever recorded.
!, earth by the ceaseleSs shifting of air and
water, or transmitted by written signs on
:, tablet and parchment, or through oral
repetition handed down from sire to son,
. or that most indelible of records the ac-
cumulated experience of generation after