Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1922-10-07

painted a Confederate banner. AS
soon as had it completed l mounted
it on the gate post of our front yard,
secured a goodly pile of rocks. and
mounted guard on the other gate post.
Upon my fathers return at noon
his eye lit upon my belligerent and
disloyal arrangement. and he took my
banner down, gently furled it and
called me into the house and told me
that the war had settled forever the
questions about which it had been
fought and that the South had come
back into the Union, that when he
went to Washington and received his
pardon from President Andrew john
son, he had taken an oath of al
legiance to the flag of the Union and
that it was now his flag and mine.
| was taught to honor and love it,
and as | reached manhood's estate
was a part of that new South which
knew no section Of the Union. but
which yielded to no other in its 10y
atty and devotion to our Constitution
and to our flag.
Our forefathers bequeathed to us a
representative republican form of
government. They also bequeathed to
the American people a saving grace
of common sense, which has saved
them in the many crises through
which that government has passed,
and which we still hope and believe
will carry our great nation through
the troublous times of the present
and the future. 1t is our duty never
thcless to take frequent stock of our
selves, our tendencies, and of the
constant agitation for changes in our
laws, our courts and our constitution.
jefferson said of the members of
our Constitutional convention that
they were so wise as to seem demi-
gods. The instrument which they
framed and gave to us as the Con-
stitution OF the United States is said
to be the greatest human document
ever penned, yet there is constant
agitation to change it and load it
with amendments which are inner
entity no part of organic law, but sub
jccts Of statutory regulations.
For every evil which manifcsts it.
self our undouhtcd tendency is to
change our system rather than to cor
rect the evil.
Our constant tendency has been to
get farther and farther away from
the idea of representative govern
ment and approach nearer AMI nearer
to a pure dcmocracy-which in my
mind means the rule Of the unthink-
ing masses, who can by no pcssibl-
ity be sufficiently educated in the
science of government as to salts
factorily take the place of trusted
representatives, elected by and re-
sponsiblo to them.
Groups of politicians having formed
rings for the purpose of controlling
our many political conventions, have
made small effort to correct the evil,
but started and carried through an
agitation TO change the system and
adopt the direct primar election sys-
tom. In the old convention it was
possible for the chosen delegates to
take counsel one with the other. and
called upon good men who were in no
sense candidates or Office seekers to
run for Office.
Under the direct primary election
:
Office seekers, or at least to those who
are willing to enter the struggle for
tho nomination.
Imagine what this system, applied
TO the nomination Of candidates for
President Of the United States would
lead to"
Alcoholic beverages, long rccog-
nized as the greatest enemy of the
human race. became the object of at
tack of the most determined set of
reformcrs that ever banded them
selves together for a common cause,
but the subject was handled in the
most unScicntific manner Imaginable,
and we now have the 18th amend
ment. and the Volsted law, costing us
many millions yearly.
"A fit subject for statutory enact
mcnt grated onto our Constitution.
perhaps, decreasing to some extent
, the amount of alcoholic beverages
| consumed. but clearly decreasing in
sary respect for the charter Of our
liberties which must be maintained if
our country is to survive
The fifth amendment to the Con-
stitution provides that no man shall
be deprived Of his life. liberty or
property without due process of law,
vet whom stirling labor unions began
10 picket the property of their en-
ployer and deprive him Of his prop
erty, by preventing him from using
1t, and were restrained from clearly
= n w n Ts h.
our great citizens raised the CRY that
I we are opposed to government by
Injunction and from that day there
has been a constant, steady ands in
crcasing effort to deprive the courts
OF their power TO protect the citizen
in the enjoyment of his rights of
property. Ii the day ever comes
when right of private ownership of
property cannot be protected by law
our government will fall.
The attacks on our judicial system
have eliminated in the proposed
amendment to the Constitution de-
priving the supreme court of the
right to declare an act of Congress
unconstitutional.
Daniel Webster called the supreme
court the keystone Of the arch Of our
governmental system. Cripple it by
depriving it Of it's powers under the
Constitution and you leave the arch
ready to fall at the first impact
The Press is not only the voice of
the nation, it is its guiding spirit.
No man can everest innate its great
influence. The Constitution guaran-
tees its freedom, and the genius of