Red Lodge daily news combined with Carbon County news., 1934-06-06
SHALL WE APOLOGIZE FOR AMERICAN
CONSTITUTIONAL GOVERNMENT?

In a logical address on the tariff bargaining bill now
before congress, Senator William +. Borah the other day
delivered a peroration on constitutional democracy which
%exemplifies the finest traditions of the United States SEN
ate. 1t was not a partisan statement but an appeal to the
conscience of every American who still cherishes our con-
stltutlOnal government.
After declaring that the proposed legislation was a del
egating of the taxing power to the president, a ~"deegat-
ing away OF the one power upon which parliamentary
government rests Nh. Borah stated to his fellow sena-
tors: "There is no justification on earth for you and me
to be here If the taxing power is gone"
The Idaho senator then declared that "the integrity of
constitutional government has never meant so much to
the average man and woman, to those whom Lincoln was
wont to call the common people, as in this very hour. -
He pointed out that nowhere now do the peoples of the
earth enjoy liberty except in a constitutional democracy,
and characterized the growth of fascism, nazism and COM
munism as an attack on human liberty and free govern
ment. None of these systems, he added, could live in an
atmosphere of intellectual freedom. Continuing, Mr..
Borah said:
'This constitutional democracy of ours is the only
form OF government which preserves or intends to pre-
serve the rights of the individual. 1t is the only form of
government which makes personal liberty the keystone
Of the arch. The disturbing fact to me is that in the midst
of this universal onslaught upon personal liberty and
free institutions, democracy seems to become apologize,
distrustful of its own weapons Of warfare and its own
weapons of defense.
''We have an emergency and we Immediately appeal to
measures which cast a doubt upon our faith in our own
Institutions. We have an emergency and we employ in
strumentalities to discredit our faith in democratic in
stitutions.
eve need something of the ancient faith, something
of the ancient vision. =
1--WE have sufficient power. The instrumentalities of
democracy are sufficient. We have had emergencies be-
fore when the constitution was sufficient. We have had
our hours of dire peril and the nstrumentalities of democ-
racy were sufficient. At a time when the whole world
was in a turmoil and when there was little faith in free
institution anywhere Washington pinned his faith to the
efficiency of democratic institutions That steadfast soul
never wavered, never doubted.
"In the midst of internecine strife, when brother was
arrayed against brother and father against son, in the
bitterest hour of the Civil War;, Lincoln declared that the
government of the people, for the people and by the peo-|
pie should not perish from the earth.
''There is a niche alongside of these immortal defend
ers of free government for the brave American who, in
his place of power, challenges these apostles Of terror and
fanaticism, challenges those enemies of free government
and who announces his willingness to rely upon and to
preserve the integrity of constitutional government; de-
fend it against all corners, emergencies or otherwise and
at all costs and at all hazards"
Certainly now is the time when lovers of constitutional
government in the United States should cease apologize
ing for American democracy and insist that it be not
traded for something which will lead to a RECOMMENDATION
or centralized control entirely alien to the spirit of Amer
lean tradition.