Imperial Valley press., 1924-09-06
Coolidge Honors
Lafayette Today,
Statue Dedicated
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/ platform advocates submitting to
! the people an constitutional amend
! meat providing that congress may
be enacting a statute, make it eff
| fective over a judicial veto. -
Continuing his remarks on the
/ dangers threatening the constitu-
ton, Mr., Coolidge said:
..The constitution of the United
! States has for its almost sole pur-
pose the protection of the freedom
! of the people. We must combat ev-
cry attempt to break it down to
make it easy under the pretended
guise of legal procedure to throw
open the way to reaction or revo-
luton.
"To adopt any other course is
to put in jeopardy the sacred right
of life, liberty. property and the
pursuit Of happiness.
"'At time when all the world is
seeking for the adjudication of diff
ferenees between nations not by
that she sf oald limit the. ni inrisdiss-
ton of our domestic courts is reac
tionary in the highest degree.
People Always Lose
"It would east aside the progress
of generations. to begin again the
contest for supremacy between ex
ecutive and legislative. Whichever
side has won in that struggle, the
people have always lost
The president opened his address
with apersonal tribute to Lafayette.
Having portraying the French gen
eral as one who had Iabored to
procure and protect freedom, Mr..
Coolidge worked into his thesis that
the constitution was, under our gov
ernment, the chief guardian of
freedom and required vigorous, de
Tense.
"Out of long experience with
many tyrannies abroad and ineffi
cient government at home, the con-
stitution was adopted and ratified, T."
he said. ''This lesson was firmly
in the mindss of those who made
the constitution. They proposed to
adopt institutions under which the
people. should be supreme. They
did not propose to be under the
tyranny, of either the executive or
the legislature. -
The president then explained the
authority of the supreme court to
interpret the constitution and up
held this judicial power as the one
guarantee of the integrity of the
constitution.
cit is frequently charged that
this tribunal is tyrannical, ne
declared. eff the constitution of
the United States be tyranny; if
the rule that no one shall be con-
victed of crimes save by a jury of
his peers; that no orders of nobili-
ty shall be granted; that slavery
shall not be permitted to exist in
any state or territory; that no one
shall be deprived of life, liberty or
property without due process of
law; if these and many other pro-
visions made by the people be tyr
amy, then the supreme court when
it makes decisions in accordance
with these principles of our funda-
mental law is tyrannical.
Somewhere must .be lodged the
power to declare tls constitution.
If it be taken away from the
court it must go either to the ex-
lecutive or the Legislative.
Explaining that advocates of Ii
miting the power of the supreme
court usually urged the transfer of
these powers to congress, Mr.. Cool.
idge asserted Legislative body
could not be depended upon to rend-
er judicial decisions.
Briefly referring to foreign af-
fairs Mr.. Coolidge defended the
foreign policy of the Republican
administration. He pointed to the
hundreds of million donated to for.
eign cl rites, to the Washington
arms pact and the Dawes repara-
tions plans as outstanding exam
plies of the success of the attitude
toward other nations which has
marked this government interna-
tional relations during the last
three years.
Finally, the president pleaded for
a renunciation Of the hatreds of
war and appeals to Americans to
be the first to forgive their one
time enemies.
"If we want to get the hypheu
out of our country we can best
begin by taking it our of our own
minds" he declared.