Evening star., 1924-09-07
Member of the Associated Press.
In Defense of Fundamentals.

q, President Coolidge's address yester.
day at Baltimore on the occasion of
the unveiling of a monument to the
memory Of Lafayette was a forceful
appeal to the country to stand firmly
in defense of the Constitution against
the attacks that are being made upon
it in the name Of ''progressivism."
Without mentioning any political or
sanization or candidate, he has taken
this occasion, which was appropriate,
to direct public attention to the fact
that in this present campaign is in
volved a movement which seeks to
destroy one of the vital principles Of
our national organization, the pro-
vision of judicial Interpretation of the
laws with reference to the funda-
mentals of constitutional government.
The American Constitution was
unique in it's provision for a third in
dependent department of the Govern.
ment, the judiciary, vested with the
power to interpret and declare the
Constitution and the law. Somewhere,
says the President. must be lodged
the power to declare the Constitution.
II it should be taken away from the
court, as now proposed, it must go
either to the legislative or the execu-
tive branch. Those who advocate the
change propose that it should go in
whole or in part to Congress. To place
it with Congress is to make that body
the interpreter Of it's own legislative
acts and to place with a temporary
minority power that may at any
time be used to destroy the basic prin-
ciples of the American Government.
Should, as is now demanded by the
Progressive party, the Constitution be
amended to remove the power of in
depreciation from the court to the
Congress stability of Government
would be endangered. A legislative
body, elected by the people, subject in
personnel and in composition to the
whims and passing feelings of the
body polite, cannot establish per-
manent lines of procedure, cannot es-
tablish definite and lasting principles.
Change is the essence of legislatures,
and changing views and actions are
the result. In the court alone prin-
ciples prevail rather than political
expediencies, and responses to waves
OF public sentiment. that rise and sub
side quickly, are not the governing
factors Of Interpretation and enforce
nlent.
The charge that the Supreme Court
Is tyrannical in its exercise Of abso.
Lutte power of declaration and inter-
pretation is one Of the supreme alb
surdities of extreme radicalism. There
is no tyranny in judiciary organized
from among the people. withdrawn
and aloof from politics, subservient to
no interest and representing the Ma
tion through wise selection by the
Executive from time to time. In such
a body lies the preservation of the
highest principles of our Government,
and to such a body can the people
most confidently look for the main
1enance of our Government in the
form in which it was conceived and
on the basis upon which it was estab.
1ished.
President Coolidge's plain speech on
this subject should 60 to the under
standing of the people. 1t presents
most effectively the case of the Con-
stitution versus radicalism that is
masking under the name of progress.
sivtsm, an organization that if sue
cessful at the polls and in subsequent
performances of promise would under
mine this Government and prepare
the way for it's destruction.