Workmen's advocate. (New Haven, Conn.) 1883-1891, 1889-09-21

branches OF the law, They lose interest
for anything lying beyond the narrow
limit of their pursuit, the same as the
man who spends his life putting on the
heads of pins. And yet you find law
yers monopolizing public offices. They
are making our laws; and it is absurd
beyond measure that no executive Off
Ger, in purely administrative matters,
can do without the advice Of counsel in
law.
Further, Judges make law for the
people, What are the precedents, men
toned above, which make by far the
laws we are governed by, and which in
this country alone are manufactured at
the rate of one hundred volumes
yearly? They are nothing but Judge
made laws Our national constitution
provides that no State shall pass any
law impairing the obligations of con-
tracts. Chief Justice Marshall, by the
lawyers surnamed 1.-THE great decided
in the celebrated Dartmouth College
case that this provision should be so
construed as to prohibit the people from
altering charters and withdrawing priv.
ileges granted by themselves to corpora
tons, and such is the law since that
great deCisiou was promulgated.
This extraordinary power of the
judges to make laws has yet another
effect. The peoples representatives
pass a certain law. The people obey it
and act under it, and afterward Judge
declares this law unconstitutional, say
ing to a victim thereof you were pre-
sumed 70 know that. When you acted
under n,1e =, this his so-colIed law you did it at
Horatio Seymour said in an article in
the North american Rerie1r: "The great
distinguishing feature of our govern
ment, where we stand alone among the
peoples Of the EARTH is placing the judi,
ciary above the executive and the law
making power
Yes, and above the people in their or
ganic capacity. The fate of the consti-
tuition which the people of California a
few years ago adopted may lead us to
doubt if it is possible for the people, in
their primary capacity, to frame an or
ganic law that will not be so miscon-
strued by judges as to defeat the very
purposes they sought to accomplish.
Against lawyers and judges. then, the
people are a cipher Let the people sig
Nifty their will in way they think can
not be misconstrued, and the judges come
with their dignifed countenances, say
ing, "You people do not know what you
will, for you will quite the contrary of
what YOU have said" The danger Turk
ing behind this system of administration
Of justice is great to the public welfare,
for it is subject TO play or caprice.
In summing up | wish to emphasize
that we shall only then harvest the re-
suit Of the intellectual progress of our
time, when we have erected the society
structure upon that basis, 4. e., when
we arrange our social affairs with the
intention that no one in lif shall be left
to chance; that all shall find the protec-
ton through the social conditions that
are necessary to assure existence without
anxiety. All, under proper influences,
will prove useful to society. and thus
ETY. interests. With this light the present
criticism on the social factors: home,
family, school, politics, press, church,
and the administration of Justice, is
applied. If / am justified in my criti-
cism by the perverse nature of all these
factors of to-day, the view set forth of
what ought to be, then you will con-
celve the immensely Of the task before
us. We demand wholesome conditions
for existence from the first inception Of
life throughout its duration. When
ever, for any cause, the opportunities
! for maintaining life are insufficient,
then in the attempt at corrections IN
| order to assure existence, we are eXer-
cising our supreme mandate.
The right to live is more sacred than
any right that men have proclaimed.
| 1t is absolute 1t dare not be violated
| or in any way INSTRUCTED with lmpumty.
| Consider the violation of this most sa-
cred right when opportunities are denied
! to you, because the selfish interest of
others demand that your rights shall be
infringed upon, and such transgresSion
is yet designated as justice. Monstrous
absurdity ! We have nothing but con-
| demnatiOn for it. We shall not suffer
| these abnormal conditions to prevail,
| because they came to us from our pred
| eCeSsOrs. We are responsible for our
time, and because our light permits us
| to see the relations of things in their true
connections, we object to what is wrong.
We are responsible for what we trans
NIT to those who come after us. We
must, i'll consonance with our under
standing of today, which has in many
ways changed the conditions of life for
us-and in particular and primarily con,
slider the technical appliances OF to day,
as has been pointed to in this lecture
we must, | say, in accord with it, en-
large and readjust our relations. Our
understanding is our guide. 1t embodies
the wisdom OF the past united with oul
own experience. If the revelations OF
life assume now greater extent, this is
in the nature OF evolution, the law OAR
win eXpounded
What better title to life is there than
our ability to constantly create anew
! the means of lifay Is there HIGHER