Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1926-04-23
Personal Liberty Cry
(Centinued from Page one)

NSShsidS0 II0fH C0&0 0U0J
as Vital Factors in Our National Pol
ity."
THE method of doing through the
federal government what could be
done better through the states, by
slower processes. has defeated the very
ends sought" Governor Richie said.
This is amply illustrated bp PROFIT
bition. Why not face the truth? Ma
tional prohibition under the 18th
amendment has bred more interstate
discord and hypocrisies and has done
more damage to the body polite and
to our social fabric than anything
which, in my observation at least; has
ever entered our national life.
THAT is because you cannot regulate
personal conduct and practices which
differ in different localities Of varied
country with a federal yardstick, ap-
plying uniform standard everywhere.
THE attempt to do it has turned
the age-old issue of individual tenn
perance, which was fast approaching
solution, into an issue Of personal lib
| erty. And that is why. in the name
of temperance and of that personal
liberty the constitution guaranteed.
demand that the subject be turned
that each state, within constitutional
limitations, shall be permitted to set
tie it in accordance with the convic-
lions of it's own people,"
Governor Richie maintained that
the basic principles of free speech,
free worship, individual liberty, secur-
| ity of teh home and equal under the
| law still were fighting for existence
even in free America" He argued
that by processes Of amendment, sur
| render, acquiescence and indifference
we are not only weakening the state,
| but are in danger of weakening the
whole national structure, and that in
| this process we are infringing and en-
| dangering the rights and liberties O.
the Individual"
"a break has come in our tradi-
| tional right to free speech and free
press" he said. "Peaceable assemblies
| are dispersed. If your home is rea-
| sonably safe from unlawful search
| your automobile is not. Contempt
proceedings and paddock injunctions
| take the place Of jury trials. You
| can be placed in double jeopardy for
I the same offense if only the nation
prosecutes you the one time and the
state the other.
"These things are due to a variety
of causes-partly to the logic OF
events, partly to sheer inertia and
indifference on the part of the states
| and their citizenship, and partly to
| downright federal aggrandizement
and the natural tendency Of power to
! breed power.
CAUTIOUSLY enough the greatest on
slaught upon the charter Of our lib
critics must be attributed more to the
aspirations of virtue than to those OF
| iniquity. Progressive men sincerely
| solicitous for good government and
anxious to bring about social better
ment and social justice, have not had
the patience to work these out
| through the slow processes of state
action, but have sought to attain
them through the quicker and broad
| err scope of the federal government.
| They have felt that If the constitu-
ton blocked their righteous efforts,
it should get out of the way.
Gas their objects were virtuous, to
! oppose their means or their methods
was considered ubiquitous. To talk
of state rights was considered trea-
| sonable. You were supposed to think
of these questions not in terms of
law ana government but of morals.
| Inc result, OIL course, HAS peeu W vest
| in the federal government a power
that often approaches tyranny and
! to produce a degree of Capitalization
and bureaucratic autocracy that has
| no place with a free people.
/ Let me say this in conclusion: /
am fighting for the rehabilitation OF
the states; for the preservation of
their rights under the constitution;
for a larger measure Of selfgovern-
| ment and a more vital state; for
less Capitalization and for more in
naturalization; for more reality in
| politics; for more interest in govern