The Columbia herald. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 18??-1935, 1921-12-09
DUTY 3.
OF GOVERNMENT
TO ENFORCE LAW
DECLARES HON. GUY o. GoFF, AS.
sisTANT ATTORNEY GEN.
ERAL OF THE U. s.
TO LAW ENFORCEMENT, LEAGUE
Not Within the Province OF Any
Court or Executive to Say Whether
the Law Is Good or Bad, But Sole
! Duty Is Its Enforcement
Special to The Herald.


WASHINGTON, Dec. San elo-
quent and impressive appeal for obedi-
ence to and enforcement of the laws
was made here today by Hon. Guy D.
Golf, assistant attorney general of the
United States, in an address to the ma
tional law enforcement convention.
Mr.. Golf spoke in part as follows:
, 1--WE are guided and governed by
the eternal laws Of justice to which
we are subject. We may bite our
chains as we will, but we shall be
made to know ourselves and be taught
that man is born and governed by law,
and he that will substitute will in the
place of it is an enemy to God. No
man in this country is so high that he
is above the law, even though he may
regard the rule or regulation as a
personal affront. No officer Of the law
may set that law at defiance. All the
officers OF this government, from the
highest to the lowest, are but the crea-
lures of the law and are bound to obey
it, Government is trust, and the Of
ficers of the government are trustees; ;
and both the trust and trustees are
created by the people for the benefit
of all the people. There is no greater
evil today than the non-enforcement
by public officials of laws which they
have sworn to uphold.
1T is not for an executive, state or
federal to say whether law is good
or bad. He should enforce 1t or con-
fess failure and resign. Therefore,
behind every public Office stands a
power which creates it, and to which
it is responsible. That power under
our form of government is the sover-
eign will of the people. No govern
ment can be maintained without a
principle of fear as well as of duty.
Good men will obey the latter, bad
men will obey only the former. The
underlying evil in the administration
of our public affairs is simply dishon-
esty Our public Offices are too often
held by dishonest men-and too often
used for dishonest ends. The error is
rooted in a mistaken and immoral the
DRY as to the nature of the position
they hold.
"In law and morals, public office
is but an agency of the people. They
fix it's duties and supply it's salary
Few deny its truth, but practically it
is contradicted' every day in all parts
of the union. To have good govern
ment, we must have good citizens
and always, continuously, a warfare
without truce or quarter against those
who violate the law. 1t is strange but
true-tfat bad men are combined
and good citizens are divided-and
that therein lies the cause of law
breaking If the good would join
hands the lawless could do nothing
because they constitute but small
proportion of the entire population.
Burk's we'll known words cannot be
too often quoted: There never was
long a corrupt government of virtuous
people" When we find any self-gov
erning people afflicted with fhisgov-
eminent we cannot safely believe that
they do not deserve better fate.
obedience to law is not confined
to any form of governmental any
race, or to any period in the worlds
history: If the laws are ignored, there
is no government at all Disregard for
one law breeds contempt for all laws.
This leads to corruption, and ultimate
" to destruction of all order. Respect
for the law belongs to men of charac-
ter who are not only the conscience
of government, but in every well gov
erned state its best motive power 1t
is the moral qualities in man and
state that rule the world. The
strength, the industry and the civiliza-
ton of people all depend on indi-
vidual character, and the very founda-
lions of civil security rest upon it.
Laws and institutions are but its out
growth.
The first century of the English oc-
cupation of this continent, being the
second century after the discovery of
the new world, was the period in
which the citizenship Of our republic
was created. Whether he came to
New England or Virginia, the Briton
brought all the rights of personal man
hood that had been written with
strong hands and stout hearts into the
very text of the Magma Charta. But
while he brought the rights of the COM
moner, he did not bring the burdens
of an inherited and traditional aris-
tocracy. From the very beginning. all
that was freest and best in English
custom and English law had here a
full course and fair field, and thus
was laid the first, the deepest. and the