Evening star., 1925-04-19

1 OF the Nat10n-th6. CONSTITUTION OF the
| United States. The general recogni
| ton by the peoples of the world of
| the inalienable rights Of the individual.
! referred to in our Declaration OF In
| dependence and guaranteed by the
| Constitution of the United States.
| is the basis Of civilization. Our
| Constitution has removed from the
realm Of public conflict those rights
! of the individual, the ,reasonabieness
| and necessity for which have been
/ demonstrated by warfare as old as the
world itself
Protection for Individual.
Their establishment through the
ages has cost the blood of untold mil
lions. BY our Government under the
| Constitution the individual Is pro-
tected in the right to peacefully pur-
| sue any proper avocation, the right
to worship in the way his conscience
may dictate, the right o. trial by
jury, the right to own property and
| such rights as protect him in the
peaceful pursuit of happiness. No OPP
| posing power, either within or with
| out his Government, can deny him
| these rights.
THE rock upon which representa-
| tive constitutional government rests
| is the fact that the ultimate Judgment
our forefathers knew that in the proc
ess of forming ultimate judgment
| public opinion must pass through a
series of changing and temporary
| phases, A temporary phase OF pub
| lie opinion, If it was habitually to de-
| termine governmental attitude, would
result in the destruction of the In
alienable rights of the individual.
| What has destroyed free democ-
in hiQfn 10
| that kind of government, temporary
| phase of public opinion would deter
mine governmental attitude. Gov
ernmental action having been wrong
| ly taken in response to a temporary
| phase Of public opinion the ultimate
right judgment of the people would
come too late to correct the mistake.
Blu our Constitution, with its system
of checks and balances, 1t is rendered
| certain in this Nation of ours that
| only the ultimate right and sound
| Judgment of the people crystalizes
/ into law.
Our Constitution, therefore, estab
| lished the rule of the people as dis
! tinguished from the rule of the mob
| Our Government can survive only as
| long as its policies are generally de-
| termined by the ultimate sound judg
| ment of the people and not by the
|
| guished from ultimate public opinion.
And the final guardians of the inalien-
able rights of the individual, .includ-
| ing freedom of the press, the rights
of property and religious tolerance,
are the courts of the United States.
| which interpret the laws passed by
Congress in relation to those indi-
| vfdual rights upheld by the Constitu-
| ton.
we carry with us from the celebra-
/ ton Of the sacrifices, bloodshed and
heroism of our Revolutionary ances-
| tors be to cherish in our hearts re-
spect for the Constitution of the
| United States, which for 1873 years has
| given us as a people the best govern.
ment which the world has known. Let
| us alos remember the solemn warming
of George Washington in his farewell
! address:
/ Toward the preservation of your
| Government and the permanency of
your present happy state it is requisite
not only that you steadily discounte-
nance irregular opposition to its ac.
| knowledged authority, but also that
you resist with care the spirit of inno-
vation upon its principles, however
! specious the pretexts. One method Of
assault may be to effect in the forms
| Of the Constitution alterations which
will impair the energy Of the system
and thus to undermine what cannot
| be directly overthrown.'
Tribute to New England.
But there is one other beacon light
which still shines in this country and
| of which we may well speak in New
| England in the Old North Church
| the beacon light of the old New Eng
| n Qc
people, immense and diversified as is
our population, enormous as Is our
national wealth, serious as have been
| the inroads upon the old standards
of discipline upheld in the daily life
1 of our forebears, amplified and COM
plex as are our problems when COM
pared to those of the days of Paul
Revere, we may well lift our eyes to
| that old beacon light, and all the more
so because the American people,
measured in history, is yet a young
people with their character still in the
making. =
I'VE know what the power of the
| American people is and what 1t will
grow to be. We know our great wealth
and what 1t will grow to be. We
know the material achievements which
are ours and which still lie before us.
| But of that incomparably more I'M
portant thing. the composite moral
| character of the coming generations
of our people, we can but guess.
History brings US example after
example of a people who. in suffering
| and adversely, by seif-discipline, fru.
| gality and industry have raised them
| selves to a position of wealth and ma
terial prosperity only to be destroyed
because their character could not
| stand that ultimate and crucial test
| which advancement in wealth and
material things always brings. And