The Birmingham age-herald., 1924-09-07
RED FLAG ISSUE IS ACCEPTED Y <. BY PRESIDENT .sases # s.rt TsnnaE Constitution Upheld As
 Safeguard Of Amer ss @gs, ican Liberty FRANCE TO BE PAID; GERMANY RESTORED Chief Executive Urges :, :, Policy Of Magnanimity a,i, Toward Europe
:. By RAYMOND CHAPTER
 .tLaased Wire to Age.HeraId)

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 WASHINGTON, Sept. G. Declaring that "majorities +-are. notoriously Irresponsible, !" President Coolidge, in dedicat- ing the Lafayette monument at Baltimore Saturday, stated what he regards as the funda- mental issue of this campaign in these words:
 s...sc:.'Thes question is whether sAmer,ica will allow itself to be degraded into comr11unistic and socialistic state, OF wheth- ger it. will remain American. fThose who want to continue to enjoy the high estate of < sAmerican citizenship will re- sist all attempts to encroach sIpon their liberties by en- scroaehing upon the power of rthe courts" ,"
 ! Thus the President has, set out on the path opened byGeneral Dawes in his attack on La Toilette as a radical. -s.Though the President failed to men lion Ia Toilette by name, he obviously had him in mind as he spoke. Coolidge 4itated his case with passionate az gressiveness which has not before been in evidence in his public utterances. As q political document. the speech IS the most important he has made.
 sr.. Foresses Devastation
 $ s.JTnIess we can maintain our insti, htutions of liberty unimpaired,' he said at one point, "they (the common peo- pIe) will see their savings swept away, their homes devastated, and their chli. .dren perish from want and hunger. }sto It is clear from these statements that the President is willing to throw aside sail other issues and fight the campaign out with La Toilette on the one ques- ton of checking the powers Of the su. ipreme court An important eftect or .g,lch strategy would be to further oD- ,literate the disctinctions between the Z two old parties and emphasize more aReutely the division between ,Gpnserva- tive. and radical. It has been the re- publican strategy to ignore Davis ana .fhe. democrats as much as possible ana raise the issue of the red flag in an satempt ,tp Acare the electorate away : from LaFonette. e..S
 Coolidge .indulged in a brief discus x;oh of foreign policies, declaring that fRe United States desires to lay the role of good samaritan to the world, but will not sign away her independ- ence. He also said that the war IS over and that while France must De paid, the world, can best work toward that end by assisting in the restora- tien of the German people.
 s.I, want to see America aset tho domestic and foreign relatipns. oi Hagiianimity," he said. urging tnaI the hyphen be wiped out Ai the s.Tjnited States and that all citizens
 regardless of their ancestry, be given .the confidence and fellowship of all.
 But the Presidents speech was chief 1v devoted to the defnese Of. the su- preme |, court and lis attack on those who would curb it. He did not mention the La Toilette proposal specifically, which is for a constitutional amend ment by which congress could, by a two-thirds vote of both houses, repass laws over the head of supreme court, when they are declared unconstitu- tional.
 Somewhere must be lodged the pow CT to declare the constitution" the President said. If it be taken away from the court, it must go either to- the executive or the legislative branch of the government. No one, 50 far as know, has thought that 1t should go ito the executive. All those who ad- vocate changes propose, l believe, that it should, be transferred in whole or in part to the congress. have high regard for legislative assemblies. We have put a very great emphasis upon representative government. It is the only method by Which due deliberatie
 can be secured, That is a great safe guard of liberty. But the legislature is not judicial, It is to be- remembered also that under recent political practice there is a strong tendency for leglsa- lures to be very much influenced by the executive. Whether we like this practice or not, there is no use denying that it exists With dominant execu- tive and a subservient legislature, the opportunity. would be very inviting to aggrendizement and ,veryS dangerous to liberty. That way leads toward inn -perialism. s. 'N
 To Protect Minority
 Some people do not seem to under stand fully the purpose of our con stitutional restraints. They are not for protecting the majority, either in or out of the Congress. They can protect themselves with their votes. We have adopted written. constitution in order that the minority, even down to the most insignificant individual, might have their rights prOteeted. So long as our constitution remains In force, no mjority, no matter how large, can deprive the individual of the right of ,A~kxr