Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1891-03-14


or conduct, established by authority
Whether we know the rule or not, yet the
law is established in every department Of
human life and action. We are everywhere
and all the time under the reign OF law.
Not only our civil relations to each other,
but our physical, moral and social life has
fixed regulations for our government. 1t is
certain that our human happiness depends
upon our knowledge Of these laws and our
obedience to their every requirement. In
our moral life man has the ability given
him, without the aid of education or the
slow process of human reasoning, to know
right from wrong-a conscience that inheres
in his very being to point out the right and
the true way.
If he refuse to obey the voice of this monitor
within, be not only loses the joy that comes
from obedience, but he feels the smart and
sting, and has to endure the shame that
promptly comes from wrong doing. If he
would have his own selfrespect and the ap-
proval and confidence of all about him, he
must obey the moral lava law that he
knows by intuition.
IF he would have light heart and
cheerful spirit, he must thus have con-
scIousness of the rectitude Of this life-the
constant assurance that he is living in COM
| plete harmony with his higher and better
nature. In Leckey's History of Morals,
in considering this subject OF conscience,
the writer says: "Its power may be lnsig-
nifcant, but its title is undisputed, and if it
had the might as it has the right, it would
| govern the world" 1t is this faculty, dis
tinct from and superior to all appetites,
| passions and desires. that makes the supreme
law of life, and ADDS imperative character to
the feeling of attraction that it inspires.
''It is this which was described by Cicero as
| the God ruling in them; by the Stoics, as the
sovereignty of reason; by Saint Paul, as the
law of nature; by Butler, as the supremacy
of conscience"
The Love of the Right.
If the moral law can command obedience
and is honored, the civil law and the social
and physical laws will not be resisted.
When a man is living in harmony with
himself he will not be found to be dis
cordant element in society or the State. The
love of the right so ennobles and magnifes
human existence that vice becomes vulgar
and crime horrible to the eyes of. him who
yields obedience to the domination of con-
science. To all such, obedience to the civil
law is not burden, but a continual delight.
To obey the moral law is to have happiness;
to know and follow the laws of hygiene
gives health, and to obey the civil law
brings peace and protection. The only
safety to the State and to society is to have
all laws made for the civil government of
humanity rigidly observed, not only in let
ter, but in spirit.
II there be tolerated a half compliance
with the statute, or if the rank or riches of
any protect them against the penalty of vio-
f0r 10 tat to
and the seeds of disorder and anarchy are
planted, and a harvest OF lawlessness and
disorder may be the result
Laws are enacted to meet the wants and
needs of organized society, and are the in
dex of the virtue and Intelligence of the
people for whom and by whom they are
made. The book of statutes of every age
is fairly good guide to knowledge Of the
civilization of the times in which they were
enacted, and the true criterion Of the condi-
ton of public sentiment on all questions
affecting social or civil life.
An Important and Responsible Position.
As in this free Government of ours every
voter is a sovereign, the young man holds |
most important and responsible position. |
He must first learn to govern himself, and |
then he must be an example of obedience to |
all law; and, in addition, must have the |
manly courage to assail existing wrongs;
must be an ective factor in elevating public |
sentiment; must be ceaseless in his efforts to |
purify and reform our American politics, |
so that the legislators may feel that public |
opinion will sustain him in making a more
vigorous assault on existing evils.
The blatant, blathering demagogue NAV |
foment frothy fury among the ignorant |
and unthinking, but the steady, solid public
sentiment is made by the honest, sincere
men, who are moved only by the high pur-
pose to promote the public welfare.
All laws that are made in obedience to
heated public clamor, are but too often |
found in antagonism to the calmer public
opinion, and have to be amended or re-
pealed. 1t is better that-it should be done
speedily. No law should remain on the
statute book dead letter.
A dead law will impair the health and
life of all law, as a dead carcass will pro-
duce disease. Laws, therefore, should not
be hastily made.
The legislator should not only have suf-
fcient intelligence to understand fully the
subject which he is proposing to regulate by
law, but he should have comprehensive
knowledge of the opinion of his constituents
in regard to the matter in hand. Will the
statute when enacted SO commend itself to
the better judgment of the great majority
that they will not only yield cheerful
ODeQle0Ce tHtmSelfeS, UuL Will most I'M
peratively demand of the courts and iures
that all violators Of The law shall promptly
pay the penalty?
Higher Degree of Virtue.
To make law requires a higher degree of
virtue and broader intelligence than to
obey its requirements.
All legislation for the benefit OF classes,
or to promote special interests at the ex-
pense OF the great mass, or to secure mere
partisan advantage, without reference to
the public welfare, is pernicious and ought
not to be tolerated.
Such legislation is unjust and oppressive;
it creates collective opposition to its en-
forcement, and destroys all reverence for
the majesty of the law, and creates spirit
Of retaliation that may result in still more
obnoxious legislation.
There could be no Anarchist found among
intelligent Americans if justice presided in
all law making bodies. and the promotion of
the highest good to the greatest number were
the sole motive of the lawmaker.
So that it is the first duty of the young
citizen to be right himself, and both by pre-
,ept and example aid in purifying the foun-
;ain from which all laws come, SO that no
ust cause may exist against the enforcement
If law.
Better men will give us better laws, and
With just and impartial administration of
he same will come purer civilization and
/, L..,lo of !