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The Commoner
Hi
APRIL, 1922
wprwi
rtv" for wliich lie had longed. The father be
cSwcd upon him more than hen could ash and
we leave this returned wanderer in the midst of
friends, his father rejoicing that his son who was
dead was alive again.
There are yokes in variety and in great abund
ance We come under the yoke of society be
fore the yoke of government is substituted for
the yoke of the parents. And soon after ma
jority "we usually come under the marriage yoke,
a yoke fashioned Tor two which enables us to
multiply life's joys and divide life's sorrows.
In every Christian land the individual chooses
between the yoke of the devil and the yoke of
Christ., It is a matter of choice and the vote is
uot unanimously for -Christ's yoke, although it
ought to be. The .devil may not .have invented
the promissory note, but he uses it. Give him
your allegiance and he will promise anything,
but his promises are worse than worthless. His
service begins with pleasure and ends in pain
"the dead are there' It is always noon when
you put on the devil's yoke the day Js not as
bright afterwards. The sum descends as one
travels the devil's way and the path ends in an
impenetrable forest shrouded in darkness.
Christ's service begins with duty and ends in
joy "his delight is in the law of the Lord and
ia His law doth he meditate day and night." It
is always morning when we put on Christ's yoke
and the day grows brighter as we pursue our
journey. And the way? "It is as the path of
the just, which shineth more and more until the
perfect day."
Christ's yoke 3s the easy yoke for the individ
ual and His bruden is light for a nation. The
civilized world has been wearing the devil's yoke
and it carried the devil's hurden until the burden
became unbearable. The devil is the world's
war god. He deluded even the most enlightened
nations with a false philosophy that pictured pre
paredness as a preventative of war. Nations en
tered into rivalry in the building of fighting
craft. One nation would huild a battleship and
advertise that it could sink any other battleship.
A neighboring nation would then huild a dread
naught and announce that it could sink the
aforesaid battleship. Then the first nation would
design a super-dreadnaught that could sink a
dreadnaught and then they all hetook themselves
to the dictionary to find prefixes for battleships .
as they built them larger and larger. They
raised armies to correspond with their battle
ships; they filled the waters with submarines
and the air with bomb carrying planes. They
mixed the elements to form poisonous gasses and
liquid fire. 'Finally war became so expensive
that the nations looked into the abyss before
them and saw there universal bankruptcy. "War
is so hellish that the world is turning away from
it. And to whom else can the world turn, but
to the One whose yoke is easy and whose burden
is light?
When the learned have about made shipwreck
of the world we are rescued by One reared in a
carpenter shop. Who will say that a pigmy Christ
can meet the requirements of the world today.
Only a full statured Jesus Christ can save the
world from the perils that confront it. No man
aspiring to be a God is sufficient it requires a
uod condescending to be a man. Those who
have sought to belittle the Man of Gallilee will
retire into, the obscurity from which they came.
1 hey will be abashed by the brightness of the
new day. May our faith 'enable us to join in the
song when the chorus of the angels at Bethle
nem becomes an international anthem.
i DlessGd word. It describes the fulness
or the love which God requires of us; it de
scribes the completeness of the Power with which
jurist has been invested; it describes the uni
versality of His call. Christ for all and for ever!
There is but one safe course for progressive
democrats. See that your primary candidates
are men who have been riglit in the past, and
Hf0"ow stand for the observance of the con-.
Butution, and the laws. No Democrat who is not
Btwnl t0 pledse bimself to stand by the Vol
nn i should receive your vote for congress,
una no Democrat whose recor I is the best pledge
J i is future conduct should be placed in charge
oi departments of state. The Democrats of the
tn SU8 states have the opportunity of a decade
win a 81nasliing victory in November-, but they
nr i ,neitu,er deserve nor get it if their candidates
are not the right men,
thoH?Vm,g Prvided a large fund, running into
n?Mrti ous for loaning to the farmers of the
to n ? West' the men wuo ha things they want
thAv V thom at a lrofit arQ acting as though
eamL m ard the formers as very ungrateful be
"uso tuey don't borrow more of it so that they
have something to spend.
Governor Denney's
Letter
tvt tt Wilmington, Del., March 18, 1922.
Mr. Homer C. Simmons,
Clerk of Council,
"Wilmiugton, Delaware.
Dear Sir:
I acknowledge the receipt of your letter of
JJJ1rcUl3lh'. transmitting to mo by direction of
wi .Counci1" of The Mayor and Council of
Wilmington a certified copy of the resolution
adopted y "The Council" on March 9, 1922.
After making certain recitals of facta (with
the accuracy of which I am not at the moment
concerned further than to say that many good
people 6E the State and Nation are in pronounced
disagreement therewith), the resolution pro
ceeds to declare it to be the sense of "The Coun
cil," "that the Congress of the United States of
America aud the State of Delaware, amend and
modify existing prohibition laws under their re
spective jurisdiction and within their proper
powers which will permit the manufacture, sale
and distribution of wholesome beers and light
wines, and that all governmental revenues de
rived from such permission be set aside ns a sep
arate fund for the payment of bonuses to ex
service men." The resolution then directs that
a copy thereof be transmitted, among others,
to the Governor of Delaware and declares that
"in the event the Governor of the State of Dela
ware will call an extraordinary session of the
General Assembly, he shall include and make a
part of such call the subject matter oxpressed
in and by this resolution." 4
The fact that the resolution is directed to be
sent to me with the suggestion contained in the
last paragraph (just quoted) regarding a special
session of the General Assembly, prompts me to
do more than make a simple acknowledgment
of its receipt.
The Constitution in its Eighteenth Amend
ment provides as follows:
"Section 1. After one year from the ratifica
tion of this Article the manufacture, sale, or
transportation of intoxicating liquors within, the
importation thereof into, or the exportation
thereof from the United States and all territory
subject to the jurisdiction thereof for bevnrago
purposes is hereby prohibited.
"Section 2. The Congress and the several
States shall have concurrent power to enferco
this Article by appropriate legislation."
The amendment was duly ratified by thirty
six states, being the' requisite three-fourths of
the whole number of states, which fact was duly
proclaimed Jan. 29, 1919.
One year after said date the amendment, un
der its terms, became effective. My recollection
is that since then, the number of ratifying states
has been increased to forty-six, leaving only two
that have not ratified.
The amendment thus becoming a part of the
fundamental law of the land, the Congress un
dertook to enforce the article by legislation
which it deemed appropriate by the enactment
of a federal enforcement statute. And the State
of Delaware, having concurrent power with the
Congress, likewise enacted legislation which- in
the judgment of the General Assembly was
deemed appropriate to give force and effect to
the amendment within the state.
It is this enforcement legislation which I as
sume "The' Council" desires to have modified to
the extent, at least, of allowing "wholesome beer
and light wine" to be manufactured, sold and
distributed. And "The Council" further de
sires the Governor of the State, if the oppor
tunity arises, to join in furthering this desire.
It may be trite to say so, yet it would appear
necessary to state a simple elementary truth
which I fear many people -are ignorant of or,
knowing it, are impervious to. It is this that
Se Constitution of the United States is the
supreme law of the land. f No federal statutes,
no treaties and no legislative enactment in the
states can either nullify or impair it All fed
eral and state officials are sworn to obey it and
every citizen is not only legally but morally
bound to respect it.
Now the Constitution prohibits the manu
facture, sale or transportation of "intoxicating
5acli', -Dnn nnd wine have always been re-
mxi?: "intnTirfltinir liquors. Courts every
where throughout the
carded as intoxicating liquors. Courts eve
garaea a haye repeatedly
wnere IU1UUB-W-. cannot by
lPrislatiVo definition make them otherwise. So
!h?t when ''The Council" advocates a proposal
I!1 J W, Sfte should legalize the manufacture,
safe and dfstdbuUon of beer and wines, it In
substance advocates a violation of the Consti
tution of the United States. "The Council"
may, if it sees fit,-champion such a proposal. I
shall not.
This I sha.ll not do for at least two reasons.
First. I am among those who, endeavoring to
accord to the Constitution oX our country tho
fullest measure of devotion, beliore that tho
amendment in question should bo honestly forti
fied by effective legislation. I am opposed to
any scheme that would emasculate it by hostile
enactments. Of course the Congress and tho
legislators in the statos have the power, if they
choose to exercise it, to orabark upon a pro
gramme that moans a deliberate purpose to re
fuse to support tho Constitution by offectivo
laws. Having sworn to defend and support It
however, I do not think self respecting legisla
tors would pursue such a faithless course. Sec
ond. If the legislature of any state should bo
so emboldened as to embark upon such a vou
ture of practical nullification, it would attempt
the impossible, for its enactments would im
mediately fail because of their unconstitution
ality. It wo,uld be a fine specatcle to see Dela
ware, the First State to accept tho constitution,
assuming tho unonviable role among her sistor
states of being the first in tho present genera
tion to undertake its partial destruction. How
far could Delaware go in such an ignoblo and,
I may say at the same time, ludicrous endeav
or? If the State were sufficiently contemptuous
of tho supreme law of the land as to undertake
its rartial nullification, fear of becoming a
laughing stock among the other states of tho
Union, ought to restrain her from attempting
such folly.
If therefore, any one is to, lead in Delaware
in a bold assault upon the Constitution of the
United States by trying to induce tho State to
defy the Constitutional inhibition against manu
facturing and selling certain kinds of "intoxicat
ing liquor," it will not be the Governor of tho
State so long as the present incumbent occupies
that high office. If "The Council" desires to es
say the bold task of leading such a mad cause,
it is welcome to its unenviable role. When
"The Council" calls on me to jo.!n the enterprise,
however, my sense of duty to the law of tho
land prompts me to decline.
I do not know what practical effect the sort
of resolutions adopted by "The Council" can
have except to encourage that spirit of disre
gard of law which is already too prevalent
throughout the land. Inasmuch as "The Council"
has assumed to suggest to me what I ought to
do in the premises, I may perhaps be permitted
to reciprocate by assuming to make a suggestion
to "The Council." My suggestion is this that
instead of passing such resolutions as were sent
to me, the best interest of the State would better
be subserved if "The Council" should in resolu
tions declare that the Constitution and laws
ought to be honestly and conscientiously obeyed
by all citizeus everywhere, and, if the same are
not being so obeyed call upon all the people to
rally to their defense.
Yours very truly,
WM. D. DENNEY,
Governor.
N MR. BRYAN IX NEW YORK
(From. New York Times, April 3.)
Six thousand men and women at the Hip,
prodrome yesterday afternoon were thrown into
an uproar when a man Interrupted William Jen
nings Bryan's lecture on "God and Evolution"
and demanded that Mr. Bryan prove that thero
was a personal God and to say whether his con
ception of God was of male or female. Cries
of "Put him out!" came from all parts of tho
audience.
Mr. Bryan's reply was that he did not appear
at the meeting "to teach school," but declared
that if the interrupter did not believe in a per
sonal God he did not want him to teach his un
belief in the public schools.
An Indiana man was convicted the other day
of bigamy, it being proved that he-had married
eleven different women without taking tho
trouble to secure a divorce from any of them,
before embarking on the matrimonial sea again.
Which proves that it is possible to carry this
"There is no place like home" sentiment too far.
In many counties in Nebraska the farm
bureaus have named committees that will sit in
with the county boards when they have in hand
the making of tho new tax levy. It is something
of an arraignment of our system of levying taxes
when such a procedure is necessary, but it com
mends itself as a very efficacious way of getting
the desired result
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