Evening star., 1926-06-01

There have been more applications
! for tickets of admission to the Ma
tional Oratorical Contest upon the
| American Constitution than double
the capacity of the Washington Audi
torium, where the contest will take
place this week Most of the. popular
| interest lies in the crossing of swords
of the youthful gladiators and the
| thrill which oratOry. as such. still
gives the receptive soul rather than a
general hunger for new information
! on the subject.
| 1t has been the fashion in recent
years TO declare that the day Of elo
/ quence has passed. Even Congress is
| often pointed to as demonstration
! that more votes are changed in com
mittee discussion than by the forensic
! influence of the orators in open seS-
sion. Many Of the most fiery speeches
are delivered into the Congressional
Record, hut listened to by empty
chairs and almost as empty galleries.
Yet oratory is not dead and great
crises find the public still moved by a
! modern Demosthenes or Patrick
Henry.
1t takes the bravery of youth to at
tempt to stir new thrills by discussing
such threadworn topic as the Amer
lean Constitution. yet. doubtless. facts
will be brought out in this weeks ora
tions which will surprise statesmen
and college graduates.
For example: few days ago a
graduate of a leading university ex-
pressed personal satisfaction in re-
lating how State had elected a So
cialist to the House Of Representa-
~,I koI u raf, TO
him. Then his district had reelected
the same man with a larger majority
and again the. House had refused to
admit him. Finally, he was elected a
third time. for the voters were de
termined to teach Congress a lesson.
by showing Congress that 1t had no
right to refuse any Representative
they chose to send-it was none of
Congress- business
The university graduate-a practic
ing lawyer--was greatly surprised
upon being told that the Constitution
made it very much the business Of
each branch of Congress to decide
upon the qualifications of it's members,
and that it held the sole power so to
decide as to what sort of a man the
constituents might send. and what
sort they could not project into the
National Congress. He was curious
to learn where such a clause might be
found in the Constitution.
Within the last year. in the debates
of the United States Senate, more than
one grave and reverend seigneur"
argued that a Senator is not national
official but a representative only Of
his State which sends him. What Con.
gress needs. according to some critics
in the galleries, Is more oratorial con-
tests based upon intensive research
saving the United States Supreme
Court the odium of declaring so many
laws unconstitutional. James A.
Froude observed. Nations are but en-
larged schoolboys."
The United States is one of the
very few governments which have
ever had a written constitution.
In a republic such as the United
States. the original and absolute
source of power lies in the people
not in the Government. The people
have delegated only certain powers
to the States and to the National Con-
gress. executive and judiciary. Power
comes from below, up to the Govern.
ment; in kingdoms it descends from
the ruler. by his graciousness down
to his subjects.
Lest the representatives of the
sovereign people of the United States
the extent Of their commits
sions, they are given written orders
called the Constitution-and they are
powerless outside of the limits of
those written orders. The people re-
tain their sovereignty and all rights
and liberties not delegated to their
servants in Office.
1t is often claimed that Great Brit
ain is as democratic as Is the United
States, but the British Parliament
makes it's own constitution and un-
makes it. without the participation
of the masses of the people. The per.
sonal motto of Edward vi was Itch
dien"-but that was said in German,
mt English