The Universalist. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1884-1897, 1888-03-03
Suecia1 Contributors.
SOME OF THE DANGERS OF THE
REPUBLIC.
BY REV. EDGAR LEAvITT.
Oshkosh, Wis.,
I.-Crime and Criminals.

For few years in its early history as
an independent nation, the United
States, as compared with the most pow
erful nations of Europe, such as the
British Empire, France, Russia and
even Spain, was weak. 1t was, to be
sure, favored by the 5000 miles of
ocean which separated it from the Old
World, but it could never have won its
independence in the revolution, nor
again successfully maintained it in the
war of 1912 had not jealousy caused
the nations of continental Europe to
come to our aid. But during the years
that have since elapsed, we have
grown so wonderfully and become so
strong that, though we court no armed
conflict with foreign powers, we are
almost perfectly assured against their
attacks. Our dangers were from with
out, though there have always from
the beginning been sufficient elements
to cause some anxiety within.
But while our dangers from without
have practically passed away, there
has been an increase of certain internal
elements of danger which are more to
be dreaded and more carefully to be
watched and guarded against and over
come than any external dangers. We
shall only call attention to certain OF
them without pretending exhaustiyely
to cover the field.
Il" righteousness eXalteth nation;
but sin is a reproaeh to any people,"
prov. xiv. 34.l By righteousness un-
derstand we mean justice simply;-jus-
tice all round; Justice to God and man;
by sin we mean the opposite of this
injustice.
The hardness and lack of justice in
the administration of the law has passed
into a prOverb. Many are the COM
plants against law and lawyers, and
the administration of the law which
we hear on every hand; and many are
the remedies that are proposed for this
state of things. Some have proposed
to entirely abolish lawyers as profess
ion, abolish all technicalities in plead
ing, make the laws SO plain that they
need no interpreting, and take the
short and straight cut to substantial
justice without passing through the
circumlocution Office and the entangle-
ments of red tape. Revolutions have
even been attempted in other lands to
secure these results.
But the fact remains that many of
these criticisms are made by people
who only know that they have griev-
ance, but they do not always know
enough about the principles of either
law or morality to know whether their
grievance is just one or not, or wheth-
er it is one that is avoidable at all, or
avoidable without causing a greater
evil than that under which they suffer.
Human law is not capable of being
made beforehand to precisely fit every
case and do exact justice to all who
may be concerned. 1t must proceed
along the lines of great princi-
pies of justice and public policy;
and it is inevitable but that in
some instances parties should get
their cases decided as they would not
have decided them themselves, and
that even real injustice should occa-
sionally be done. But consider if every
case were left to be decided upon its
own merits simply, without any regard
to general principles or laws previously
made, what confusion and uncer-
talnty it would introduce,-what
an opportunity for corrupt action
by unjust judges, so that they
who cry out at the oppression of law
and lawyers and their technicalities,
would soon cry out to have them back
again, if they were removed.
But while teehniealities are neces-
sary, contrary to the general opinion,
work more in the interest of justice
than injustice, yet the fact remains
that unnecessary technicalities dohave
a place in our administration of law
and that they are often taken advan-
tage of to further evil purposes. 1t is
also true that the law itself needs reform
from time to time to meet the changed
conditions of growth of the people, and