Evening star., 1924-06-07
ORATORS HEAR COOLIDGE CITE
RESPONSIBILITY OF AMERICA
President Delivers address at Opening of National
Contest in Memorial Continent HaE-W orld
DemOcrdtizdtiOn Urged

fully appreciated perhaps as it ought
to be, but which the future will rec
ognize as epoch making.
Americans in particular cannot
but be impressed with the thought OF
a great responsibility which is upon
them, because of their leadership in
this work of characterization. 1t is
only a century and third since the
thirteen colonies, following their war
of independence, set up here the first
government among men that was
based on written constitution. That
Constitution contained series Cof
specific rights to the states and to
the individual citizens of the states;
and these were protected through our
ingenious system of checks and bal
ances The Legislative, executive and
judicial departments of the govern
ment were made independent of each
other, and yet given status which
assured against usurpationS by any
one or two of them. The Constitu-
tion set up the mechanism Of our dual
government. under which the states
controlled in affairs of a local and
limited concern, while the nation was
supreme as to all interstate concerns
and national interests. Looking back
from the condition of those men of
1887, we can realize how startling
was the experiment which they pro-
posed should be undertaken here in
a new country by scattered popula-
they chartered has grown to power.
wealth and authority in the world;
even more than all this, 1t has come
to know itself, to have confidence in
it's institutions, to appreciate the
genius for democracy which is inher-
ent in liberty-loving community of
which was founded in this noble.
courageous experiment has had its
struggles, and bitter ones, to vindi-
| nnf No ri irao
been struggles at home. as we'll as
abroad. But through them all the
way of advancement has been stead
fastly and confidently pursued. Crises
have come and have been dealt with
in a fashion which has firmly estab-
sible for a democracy to be strong
enough to sustain itself. and yet not
too strong to conserve the liberties Of
it's people. This, we may fairly as
sumo, was the great test of the
American experiment. Wise and ex-
perienced men, devoted to the ideal
of human liberty, had entertained
profound misgivings as to whether
this thing could be accomplished
There was a vast fund of human ex-
these misgivings. The republics and
the pure democracies of older times
had left historical records which
could not but arouse doubts. The
ldCHefS Oh the CONSTITUTION confronted
the task of making a structure strong
enough to support itself against at
taeks from either within or without,
and yet that would not interfere with
the reasonable and proper liberty Of
the citizens.
Series of Compromises.
Our Constitution, as it was put
,, into operation 135 years ago, was the
result Of the long series of compro-
misses, accommodations, concessions
and adaptations that were necessary
in order to meet all these conditions
1t represented the first successful ef-
fort of men to set up such a balanced
and adaptable scheme of institutions.
Our constitutional system has
justified itself not only in our own
history, but in the fact that it has
been accepted as the model upon
which so many later experiments in
democratic. republican institutions
have been based. If imitation is the
sincerest f1attery, then the men who
forged the basic institutions of our
government out of their consciences,
their aspirations for liberty and their
devotion to the ideals of order and
permanence, surely would be su-
premely gratified to know Of the
progress which democracy the world
over has built upon their foundations
But, impressive as have been the
results of our experiment, gratifying
a have been the tributes which imi-
tation has paid. we realize that our
system is not yet perfect. All forms
of human organization must forever