dence with good common sense, will usually insure a good degree of success. Only the communist and the demagogue will ignore these truths. More than all other influences, the teacher, the press and the pulpit can impress upon the young those principles of honesty, honor, self-reliance, perseverance and economy, which will insure a competency to all. CORPORATE WEALTH. In this State the relations between capital and labor have always been pleasant and satisfactory. There exists harmony and good feeling and a reciprocity of interest between all classes and all vocations. This should be encouraged by every good citizen. The evils of monopoly and the power exerted by consolidated wealth, injuriously felt in some communities, are not likely to gain any dangerous foothold among an intelligent people, and where the ownership of land is so largely and well distributed as it is in Maine. The general intelligence and virtue of the people will stand as a barrier against any unjust oppression arising from any source; and it will protect the ownership of property, and the rights of every individual, with the single purpose of doing justice to the citizen, whether rich or poor. Let every concession be made and all laws be passed, which will elevate those industrial classes and interests which add so much to the dignity, importance and material advancement of our State. In the routine of business life there cannot be absolute security from wrong practices, neither can justice be meted out equally to all classes and vocations. There should, however, be an intelligent watchfulness on the part of the less favored communities and their representatives who, by the nature of their vocations and the laws which regulate business, can never accumulate large fortunes, so that justice, as far as possible by law, may be secured; the real object of popular government being to secure to all the greatest good and the widest field for effort. Popular opinion should not only be enlightened, but the public conscience should be kept alive by high standards of excellence. A popular judgment based upon such high ideals will purify and elevate politics, will demand true reforms, National and State economy in expenditures, the abolition of unnecessary offices, and will tolerate only such taxation as is essential to the public welfare. Such an intelligent and conscientious public sentiment will demand that every possible safeguard be placed about the ballot-box; will demand an untrammeled ballot and will hold the faith of the State sacred. Such a public sentiment will maintain that sound and exalted morality, that observance of the sanctity of the Sabbath and religious institutions which characterized our forefathers. It will eradicate demagogism and will entrust the public affairs to those men who, by devotion to the common interests, have shown themselves worthy of confidence. Such a public sentiment, such exalted patriotism and such devotion to the well being of all classes, will make us a living illustration of the great truth. "Righteousness exalteth a nation." THE SAFEGUARD OF POPULAR GOVERNMENT. During the past few years, issues have arisen and controversies have taken place in the State government, which have not only been discreditable to the State, but are calculated to bring official authority and law into contempt. It is idle now to enumerate these dissensions or their causes. It is better to point out remedies. Popular government will maintain the respect and regard of the people so long as elections are fairly conducted, votes are honestly counted, and the different departments of the government exercise their constitutional functions without trenching upon the others. The Executive shall take care that the laws are faithfully enforced, but the people have declared in the late election, that the Governor must not ignore the Executive Council, by removing officers without that advice and consent which is necessary to create them. Moreover, the people by a decided majority have declared that the Executive branch of the government is as much bound to conform its action to the opinion of the Supreme Court, when promulgated in obedience to the constitution, as private citizens are to obey its mandates. This decree of the people is in harmony with the letter and spirit of the Constitution and the precedent since the foundation of the State. Such a Supreme Court as Maine has had from the beginning, men of integrity and purity of character, and learned in the law, is not a tribunal which will transcend its constitutional limits. The late election in which differences of opinion upon this question were prominent issues, ought to settle them for all time. The condition of the State is elevated and universal society protected, when the decisions of upright and conscientious judges are acknowledged by honorable treatment, when intended to give constitutional justice to a State and constitutional expression to the will of the sovereign people. The repeated lesson of history should not be disregarded. The times are perilous and fraught with mischief when the public mind becomes influenced and debauched by purely personal aggrandizement, by the appeals of the selfish, however eloquent and talented. To be in fact, as in name, a government of the people, elections should not only be free and fair, but the votes should be honestly counted. All strained interpretations of law, all legal hair splitting by which a different result may be secured than that which the ballots cast and counted show, or appear to have been intended to show, by those who deposited them, are crimes against popular government of the magnitude of treason, for such that offence must be held, by which the will of the majority is set aside and that of the minority substituted. The people of a State and Nation will cordially acquiesce in the result of a free election, and an honest count. On the other hand, any restraint upon the freedom of the citizen to vote as he chooses, the tampering with ballot boxes, fraudulent counts and returns, and tricky tabulations suppressing or changing results in elections, will be followed by further abuses and if long continued will end in anarchy. CONCLUSION. Fellow citizens of the Legislature: Upon us has been conferred the highest honor, and to us have been confided the most sacred trusts. To us has been confided the care of a State that has made an illustrious record. We are proud to be her sons; we cherish her history; we glory in her institutions and achievements; we have the fullest faith in her future. In every other part of the country her sons rise up to call her blessed. Two score of shot-torn battle flags in the hall below tell us of the heroism and devotion of her sons. She has never been without true patriots and wise statesmen to serve her. Her escutcheon comes to us without a stain. This goodly heritage we owe to fathers who founded our free schools and our civil and religious institutions by patriotic effort and sacrifice. It is not only a high privilege but a sacred duty to serve such a State. Forgetting that we are partizans, or that we represent this or that section, let us show ourselves worthy of our ancestors, and mindful of the glorious past of the Dirigo State, by devoting ourselves with singleness of purpose to promoting the welfare of the whole State and all her people. In such an exalted endeavor I pledge you my hearty co-operation. We meet at a time when the departure of the old and the beginning of the new year warns us of the flight of time and the decreasing opportunities for public and private usefulness; let us, then, make use of present opportunities and meet present responsibilities. For the truer life draws nigher Every year; And its morning star climbs higher Earth's hold on us grows slighter, And the heavy burden lighter, May the blessing of God attend the Legislature of 1883. FREDERICK ROBIE. GOVERNOR ROBIE'S MESSAGES. EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT, To the Senate and House of Representatives: I transmit here with a list of the Acts and Resolves passed during the present session of the Legislature, and approved by me to and including the present date, numbering 352 Acts and 97 Resolves. I have no further communication to make at this time. FREDERICK ROBIE. EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT, Augusta, August 29, 1883. To the Senate and House of Representatives: I transmit herewith a list of Acts passed at the adjourned session of the Legislature and approved by me to-day, numbering 5 Acts. I have no further communication to make. FREDERICK ROBIE. |