Speech #450005938

I de not wonder. in one respect. that the Senator from Ohio feels troubled in regard to this measure. for I have observed that whenever any communityor class of people acquire "the habits of civilized life." as this bill proposes. they generally abandon democracy and vote for republicanism. .It is not the fault of the committee that the Senator from Ohio has not heard of this bill before. It was introduced early in the session. acted upon by the committee. reported with amendments. and has for some time been upon the Calendar of the Senate. and if the Senator does not take the trouble to observe what is done here and occasionally inspect the Calendar. he cannot reasonably blame those who bave charge of the public business. He refers. as one particular ground of objection to the bill. that it inaugurates what he is pleased to term a new policy. and he quotes from the fourteenth article of amendmetts to the Constitution of the United States to show that all persons born or naturalized in the United States and subject to the jurisdiction thereof are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. The Senator will observe that this bill is not. therefore. the declaration of a new principle. butis merely an effort on the part of the Senate to render that amendment to the Constitution operative. Thereis no principle better established than this. that constitutional provisions do not of themselves become operative. and that in very many oases it is necessary to adopt legislation for that purpose. .