The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1929-01-17

4
support the Constitution, and the
statute should further provide that
any public officer who has taken this
oath and has been found guilty of
wilfully violating the enforcement
act while in office is also guilty of
perjury as defined in the act and in
addition to the other penalties to be
imposed, shall be liable to forfeiture
of his office, which shall thereupon
Immediately become vacant, and that
as a result of a second conviction
he shall be ineligible to hold any Of
flee of trust under the laws of the
| United States or any of the states
This oath is taken now without any
thought of the solemn obligations it
involves, and certainly Congress has
the power to provide punishment
for the violation of a duty which the
Constitution imposes. No man can
be said to support the Constitution
who violates a statute passed to en-
force the Constitution. This is to
simple to discuss, and there can be no
question as to the Constitutionality
of such statute. There are so many
men and women anxious to take the
place Of offending officials that their
, conduct would then be continually
under the scrutiny Of the public and
they would be very careful to walk
the chalk line The prohibition laws
would then be no longer a matter for
jest, derision and violation to those
in high and low places, whose clear
duty it is to enforce them. If it be a
crime for a private citizen to have
liquor in his possession, it is a great
er crime for governor or congress-
man or other public official who has
taken a constitutional oath to uphold
the law, and he ought to suffer
greater penalty. This is but elemen-
tary justice, and yet public senti-
ment has been so debauched in some
places that often officials have the
effrontery to boast of their disre
gard of the law which they helped
to pass, or at least have sworn to
uphold and on account of which so
many humble citizens have to suf
fer punishment.
Upon the passage of such a statute
the official society of Washington,
New York, Boston and Chicago.
would soon become as dry as Sahara
and the great army of federal and
state employees in the Capital and
throughout the nation would submit
to the prohibition laws. The wet
press of the country would then lose
It's chief arguments against the eff
fectiveness of the Amendment and
public opinion would rally rapidly
around the Constitution. | may be
mistaken in the belief that the adop-
ton Of this suggestion will success
fully solve the grave problem con-
fronting America, but | do know
that it cannot be solved unless some
thing be done along these lines to
quicken the conscience of official So
clety and awaken all Americans to
the conviction that submission to the
supremacy of the Constitution is the
first qualification and a necessary
qualification for holding office. There
can be no respect for law if the
public are to continue to believe that
the oaths of legislators, senators,
congressman, courts and all state and
federal officers are but unnecessary
forms and shallow mockery.
Second
My experience has convinced me
that the federal district courts and
state courts of general jurisdiction in
their charges to the grand jury can
exercise tremendous influence on
the public sentiment of the communi-
ty. Therefore | suggest that all
judges, federal and state. whose duty
1t is to charge grand juries, be re-
CURED by an Act of Congress, in
their charge to call special attention
to the sixth Article Of the Constitu-
ton Of the United States and the OBJ
legation Of all, legislative, executive
and judicial officers to support the
Constitution and to the proposed Act
heretofore suggested, and also that
they be required to emphasize the
supremacy and peculiar sanctity of
every provision of the Constitution.
Third
AS part of the plan to develop
sentiment in favor of the observance
of the law, | suggest that Congress
pass statute by which all schools,
public and private, be required to
give instruction regularly on all the
provisions Of the Constitution of the
United States and to inculcate in the
students Of America the conviction
that every citizen owes a duty to OBJ
serve every provision of that Consti-
tuition and the laws passed for their
enforcement, and that failure to OBJ
serve the law is violation of the
obligations of good citizenship, so