East Saginaw courier., 1866-08-16
plated the indefeasable rights of

rot lead all its fellow-Republican
taS into this middle-age darkness
d. Thee are Republican journals, lik,
the chicago Tribune, which manfully
asserI the right of oil men to trade
feelyand we are happy to RECORD
the fac that the North Amer,can Re
v'so, uarterly journal which in gen
eral upolds the political principles
OF the Rpublican prrty, utterly refus.
q. es to sufain the narrow-minded, in.
tolerant and oppressive sumptuary
Legislation which the Tribune is bigoted
and Hnorant enough to defend.
Inan article Of its July number,
reviewing John Stuart Mills treatise
'Or Liberty" Whose arguments,
tough often challenged to do so, the
fib,me has prudently RETAINED from
pblishing or graphing with), and
pamphlet by b. F. Clark, entitled
Fohibition of the Sale of Intoxica-
hg Liquors Impracticable; the Maine
: hw a failure; a Stringent License
hw the True Policy" the North
lmerican discusses the whole subject
d sumptuary laws in mastery man
pr, as the following quotations will
SOW:
J "a more exact determination Of the
Shere and duties of government may
istly be held as one Of the hap
pest results of modern investigation
b ethical science; but the relations
)etween the government and the in
ividual are still often grossly miscon-
beiyed. Few men, whether in the
legislature or out of it, have ever
formed to themselves clear concep-
zion of the proper limits of the law
making power. Most persons, if de-
initely questioned about it would
probably confess that they had never
hought of any limits but those inn
posed by the constitution, or by pub
.ic opinion, or by defect of opportunity.
There is vague notion, we fear, that
the majority has a natural right to
frame any laws which are only not
Unconstitutional. Especially, ifsome
moral and social evil presses heavily
upon the community; and cannot read
lily be removed ordinary methods, there
are many well-meaning persons who
will insist that the law should take
ouch cases in hand Individual liber-
ty is to them as nothing when it seems
to stand in the way of the public good.
The short argument of such persons
is, that because it is desirable to get
rid Of the evil, therefore the most
speedy and summary measures to eff
aect e !, this object are justifable. What
course to decide.
The attempts which have been
made by various nations, in various
stages of civilization, to regulate the
expenses Of their citizens on dress,
food, furniture, or the like, furnish
instructive illustrations Of the folly
and injustice of seeking to do by leg
islation what properly belongs to an
entirely different department of hu-
man energy. Sumptaary hies are M
stance Of legislative departure from the
proper prorince Of government. Yet both
in antiquity and in modern times,
sumptuary laws have been regarded
as falling within the rightful scope of
legislation, and as not only justified,
but demanded, by due concern for
the moral welfare of the people.
"Sumptuary laws are laws regulat-
ing private expense. They proceed
on the assumption that the govern
ment has right to check extrava-
gance and restrain luxury, even by
direct interference with purely per-
sonal and household economy. They
profess, indeed, to have an eye to the
public good in this interference. Lux
ury in individuals is presumed to be
corruption of the State, and, as such,
to need and authorize the correcting
hand of the State. Now we cannot
and need not deny that individual
extravaganza and waste are an injury
to the community. They waste the
products of labor. They enervate
character, and thus make men less fit
to discharge their duties to the public.
They divert others, according to the
degree Of the individual influence,
from the highest and purest aims in
life. And they deprive the poor of
the assistance which proper economy
would have secured them. But do
these and many other obvious evils
Justify the Intervention of law P
There are still some important pre-
vious question: to bo entertained. Is
1t in the power Of legal enactments to
abolish these evils? Can this power
be exercised without< causing more
harm than goodp That right has the
government to lay its hand upon matters
of prtcate concrnment and conscience p
The spwa Of personal liberty protests
against such inrasions Of prirats life
Samptuary ldrs and all their kindred are
repsgnant TO the spirit Of this age, because
re hold personal liberty too sacred TO be
lightly mfrmgcd, eren for the largest al
legged benefit to the State. 1t was not
always so and the notions of an
tquity concerning sumptuary laws
| WSiO DdStu ou tic uoouuip th"e
the good Of the State is not only of
supreme Importance, but may be Sc
cured at the cost Of the liberties of the
individual"
Passing under review the sumptu-
ary laws of Sparta, Of Rome, both
arising out of the. theory of the an
cient State, that the State was every
thing, the individual nothing-a the
ory which was fitly embodied in the
fining of q king for marrying too
small wife-the review next dis
cusses the Puritan Legislation which
reversed so notably the modern idea
of the State with its narrow sphere
to enforce justice between man and
man, and to guard the perfect liberty
of each bounded only by the equal
liberty of all.