University of Virginia - Corks and Curls Yearbook (Charlottesville, VA)

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could have been ratified, if we could have taken the vote in the early months. If there had been a cloture rule, and the votes could have come, the treaty of Versailles could have been ratified, and America would have taken her seat at the head of the international table, and directed the affairs of the world, and brought peace and reconstruction of fallen humanity. Yet the power of a few stood as a wall in the way, andithe treaty of Versailles failed, and European countries suffered. Small wars, difficult financial conditions, trade destroyed, and men unable to build themselves back to the peaceful walks of life; and it is only within the last few weeks, while we are resting in our tents at home, that the great powers of Europe have met and made the first real treaty of peace since the Great War. The last scene of all was a banquet in Madison Hall, at which good fellowship, which Mr. Quarles had listed as a ilJeff cardinal Virtue, was illustrated as of oldenot quite, perhaps, for the toasts were dry. The wit of Toastmaster Dobie left nothing to be desired, for-added to its intrinsic goodnesseit induced a How of genial oratory from Judge Duke, President Quarles, Professor Eager, Mr. O. A. Kirkman, Jr., of North Carolina, and Mr. R. C. Taylor, of New York;-and so the end, all participants sharing in this hope of President Alderman- I hope those in this great University of 2,000 will. see that you are carrying, and have carried forward for a century, a great constructive piece of teaching in the University, which has passed out into the nation and the w0rld, - and sending a greeting across the years to the sons of llJeff when they meet in 2025 to recount and banquet in celebration of another century of achievej ment. , JOHN S. PATTON. PRESIDENTS OF JEFFERSON SOCIETY

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; woas i a 3 E2 E! 1' .,m A V W , ti vjl,di71t bl. i Cl? ' i1 LCQ Y in 77W, . AW t .H F: i . .l-x-iiii tir-KIXYIXI!-Ktl;lllrjl-1111111 T WWW 8 WW t w whit -me-x Senator Underwood delivered the address in chief. uJefferson promulgated to the American people the way to think the truth, and speak the truth, and live the truth. It is the only safeguard in any wall: of human existence, and particu- larly in our national life. uWe do not contend, of course, that Mr. Jefferson was the beginning and the end of the great principles he proclaimed, because principles grow up, rather than are found. They develop with the life, are necessities of the world in human existence, but Mr. Jefferson proclaimed live truths in government as no other man in all history has done; and the only regret I have is that often we find in our government merely the lip service to the truth of those great principles he taught and gave to us, and not the actualities in legislation and in government. nI know of no greater truth that he gave to you than that the men of your Society who have occupied commanding places in the national life have followed and buckled to themselves as an armor of successethat is, that the government that governs least, governs bestethe government that governs best governs least. And yet to you who are to follow this banner in the battlefields of life I fear that you enter upon the stage today when it may be proclaimed that government today as enacted has invaded more of the lives of the citizens, put more limitations to their op- portunity for freedom of life and freedom of business and freedom of existence than has ever occurred in the history of our government from Jefferson's time down to the present day; and why? Because we have drifted to an era and a time when class and clan are seeking special privileges, and no man stands in the vway to prevent the greed and desire of the inner circle who seek to absorb government and the fruits of government, for individual advantage. Yet, in the l end, as much as you may proclaim the ideals for some particular class or clan, when privilege is a a granted the great mass of the people of any government must always bear that privilege on their 7 shoulders as a burden to be paid for by themefar, far from the ideals of the great statesman when he proclaimed that that government which governs least governs best. Senator Underwood discussed the need of cloture in the United States Senate. . Go back, he said, to the patron of your Society, the man whose name you bear-Mr. Jefferson. One of the greatest books on parliamentary law that has ever been printed in the English language is Jefferson's Manual, written while he was Vice-President of the United States. It is still the law of the House of Representatives and the Senate, except where their rules con- flict; and under Jefferson's Manual the right to move the previous question or, in other words, for the majority to say when the main question should be put, is recognized as fundamental, sound, parliamentary law. For some unknown reason after Mr. Jefferson became President, and left the chair of Vice-President, the Senate dropped that portion of the rule and provided that there should be no clotune'r'rule in the Senate thereafter. . . .. You may call the roll of Adams, Madison, Monroe, and on down the list of great men that organized our government and no one, in all the heated debates and controversies from which the Constitution of the United States sprung, no man was so bold as to say that less than a majority should rule. . . . Why should it be necessary for a leader, charged with great governmental endeavor, to consult the wishes of a few as to their particular desires in order that he might accomplish the governmental result in which the people were interested. . . . I could name a few great issues that a filibuster has decided. I don't know whether you would agree with the proposition or not. Years ago there was what was known as the Blair Education Bill. A very heated argument was made as to whether the United States Government should contribute to the education of the people. ' That was long ago, but it was defeated by a filibuster that lasted over three months; and again we recognize that there was a day and time when partisan power endeavored to put the yoke of an ill-considered franchise on the necks of the southern people, and to our good it was de- feated by a filibuster. But I am not sure, if it had come, that the reaction of the American people would not have been more beneficial to us than the fact that we destroyed it by a filibuster. uAnd again, when the Treaty of Versailles making the peace of the world came before the Senate of the United States, I had the honor to move its unconditional ratification; and yet it l221 .ndzmim $b'Hl i'dh-h W s ab

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M9246 t Summer Term Oh, Oxford many-pinnacled I love, Her quiet rivers, tennis greens, and teas; But, 0 Virginia, still how far above I prize thy colonnades and lawns and trees! Virginia, where a man is more than mind, You come, I think, some nearer to the truth; And what more beauty dare man hope to 1?nd Than your white-pillared paradise of youth? When Oxford puts her summer beauty on, Then, my first love Virginia, to thm But thee can I compare her, and thy Lawn Where honeysuckle and wistaria bloom! ARTHUR KYLE DAVIS, JR. tReprinted from the University of Virginia Magazinet l24l