me new ones all the while.
But every state was independent in a way, and in a way it was united
with all the rest. Nobody knows just how much independence there is
and how much union there is. Nobody knows but the judges, and they
only know in the particular case. They can say this goes or this does
not go; nobody can tell until they get there. (Laughter). What comes
within the state province and what comes within the national province
nobody knows, nor ever did know. The states are individual and
separate to make laws for themselves. Each one of them has a law
factory of their own, and they are all busy; and the United States
Government has another big law factory, and they have all been
grinding out laws for a hundred years and not only that but the courts
have been telling us what they mean and what they don't mean; so it
has been pretty busy for the lawyer.

Then they decided that they should have a congress, which consisted of
the senate, where men were selected for six years, not by the people
but by state legislatures, and a congress where men were elected for
two years by the people. But these congressmen elected for two years
didn't take their seat for a year after they were elected, and time to
forget all about the issue on which they were elected. (Laughter). And
not satisfied with that, they had to have a Supreme Court to tell us
what congress or the senate meant, and the Supreme Court was appointed
for life and not beholden to anybody; and they are generally about a
hundred years old apiece. (Laughter). And then they had a president,
who was elected for four years, and who had a right to veto anything
that congress and the senate saw fit to pass, and if he vetoed it you
could not pass it except by a two-thirds majority of both houses. And
there you have got it, so far as the United States Government is
concerned. But that is not nearly all.

So if you want to pass some important law, let's see what you have to
do. Of course, little laws don't count, for you can't keep up a
factory unless you do something, pass laws one year and repeal them
the next, or some little thing like that, to save the job. But take an
important thing, an issue coming up from the people, one ultimately
meaning the taking of the earth. Nothing else is important. It may be
in one form or another, but it must have that purpose, or it won't be
important, because you can't regulate things that belong to other
people very successfully; y