Douglas daily dispatch., 1926-04-25

the wherefores that gave us this foun-
dation for liberty, freedom and equal.
ity.
You will pardon a brief historical
reference as to the wherefore.
Shortly after the United States or
the 13 colonies which the constitu
tion later made the United States, de-
clared their independence from Eng
land, the wiser men. of the country
began to think Of ways and means of
governing and holding together these
loosely connected states. Congress
drew up the articles of confederation,
a body of laws for the people to abide
by. These did not keep the states
from quarre1ing with each other and
levying foolish taxes upon various
imports; in fact, men like Washington,
Hamilton, jefferson and Adams pre-
dicted q civil war providing things
went on as they We're going on then.
Early in May, 1887, a. number of
men, recognizing the weakness Of the
articles of confederation, grouped
themselves together in the old state
house of Philadelphia, in order to es~
tablish a more perfect union accord
ing to their own words, and started
that which will live forever. After
working earnestly and tediously for
four months, they finished the task
that will never be eXcelled any place
or any time they completed the con-
stitution of America; the written law
that is regarded as the greatest OF
the past, the present and the probable
future; the bravest document tina.
was ever put before the people.
The need of such has been shown
Soon after the masterpiece was given
to the people the effect ebgan to bH
felt and continued to be 1elt until il
has made the United States the great
est country in the world in power :.
wealth, commerce and industry. An
other effect of the constitution has
been the rapid growth of music, art,
literature and education. These have
in the last century so improved and
developed in our nation that people
from all nations come to get the hest
that the world gives in one or the
other of these things.
This constitution has stood the tesS
of century and half, and at the
present there is none to excel it.
Accepting the constitution at pres
ent, it is only probable that in the
future every nation in the world will
either have adopted our constitution
or will have constructed one Of their
own based on the principles of ours
and adapted to their needs.
England would not accept the con-
stitution of republic but continued
under a monarchy; wherein the king
had the power to do anything 50
pleasing his majesty. Now it is diff
ferent, the king is only king in name,
nothing more. England has as yet
not become a republid but she has
changed her government to limited
monarchy.
The latter part of the 18th century
brought great changes in other ma
! tions as we'll, but none was so mark
ed as the great change in France.
! France, too, had tried an absolute
monarchy but recognized it's failure
and became one of the worlds great
est republics.
It took a World war to convince
Germany that monarchy was all
wrong. Germanay is now in the tlrst
| stages of testing a republic.
| Moreover other nations, especially
| those that have formed since the
| World war; among which are Czecho-
/ slovakia, Austria, Hungary, Yugo-Sla-
| via, Finland, Palestine, Arabia ana
| many others, small or large as the
case may be. What constitution have
they adopted, either partially or whol-
ly? None other than the constitution
of the United States of America OF
which we are all so proud and OF
which we think so little, but take as
a matter of fact.
The struggles and failures of still
other nations such as China may be