Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1922-03-24
PRESERVE CONSTITUTION.
'asUncle Joe" Cannon Says There Are
Too Many Amendments.
WOULD TAKE CARE OF The ORIGINAL
Declaration of Independence and Con-
stitution to be Placed in consres'
;, sional Library as Shrine Of Patriot
iarn for, ACES to Come. ...

stitution to be Placed IN Coneres'
:, sional Library as Shrine of Patriot
lam for Ages. to Come.
''Uncle joe Cannon, who will retire
Il March 4, next, after the longest tenure
tgin the American congress Of any per-
l4son. who ever served as a national
! legislator, is making the last year OF
his public career memorable by pro-
3 ylding a place Of safety for the original
manuscripts Of the Declaration OF IN
dependence and the Constitution Of the
United States. Strange to relate, these
priceless, American documents have
issbeen subjected to hazards of fire ever
Since their adoption at the very be-
ginning of the government,
i1 BY order Of Secretary Hughes they
have been transferred to the library Of
congress from the state department
isando former Speaker Cannon initiated
Legislation for an appropriation Of $l2'=
1000 to provide proper framing, so that
the documents, for long years sealed In
9sthe archives of the state department
may not only be preserved in safety
.g,throughout the centuries to come, but
Sfnay at the, same time be, read by any
.sgisitor to the great national library for
iegeneratlons yet unborn. '"'
iH The venerable ex-speaker, sttp active
sin legislative affairs as he nears his
tseighty -sixth milestone, spoke in simple
and characteristic fashion Of his latest
!, legislative achievement and Of the les-
Z sons to be drawn from closer under
iEstanding of the meaning Of the two
fundamental documents in the Ameri-
can government. incidentally, he OBJ
served that the present tendency of
government is away from the original
Constitution. /.
Patriotism Not All Talk.
. 'I was very glad" said the former
czar of the house to the correspondent
of The New York Evening Telegram
"to report the appropriation for the
preseryationgef the Declaration Of In
= dependence and the Constitution, and
>. hope that this preservation in a way to
enable the people to see those sacred
documents will inspire more real and
active veneration for them and the
great principles embodied in them. We
all talk about the Declaration and the
Constitution without reading or trying
to understand what they mean. Lip
service is not very effective patriotism.
SyWhen these great documents are
placed in the library Of congress so
that visitors to the capital can see
them, they may pause long enough to
read and understand what they meant
to the Americans who adopted them
and feel that they should mean the
Same thing TO the Americans today,
They will be another shrine for the
people and ought to be sacred as the
tomb Of Washington or the memorial
Ito Lincoln, for they represent the
,.foundation Of the government itself.
1.-The original Constitution" continu-
~ ed Uncle Joe," may enable US better
90 understand how much we have
changed the original idea Of the found
ers of the republic by adding almost
without serious thought many amend
nents which are not in harmony with
the Constitution adopted in 1888.
"One hundred and fifty years is not
- a long period in the life Of a nation, but
in that time we have changed many of
the principles adopted in the beginning
and we have also grown almost indif-
ferent as to what. the Constitution
means. ... F.'..s.-
"When we find 1t prohibits one kind
of legislation we proceed to change the
Constitution. I hope every American
man and woman, every boy and girl
who comes to Washington in the, fu-
ture will see these precious old pareh-
ments and then go home and carefully
read the Declaration of independence
and the Constitution of the United
States, not read carelessly, but un-
derstandingly. to comprehend their
meaning" 70.
.. July 4 Day Of Adoption.
Despite the fact that July is the
great national holiday, millions of good
Americans are in the dark as to just
what happened on that memorable