The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1893-07-29
LIBERAL DAVID B. Hill
The Senior Senator of New
York Discourses on Per
SoIlal Liberty"
FALLACY OF PROHIBITION
his Address Greatly Pleased the
New York Hop Growers. Whose
Guest lie Was.

ROME. N. Y, July 20. IS93.-At the pic
mic OF the Hop Growers Association at
Sylvan Beach today, Senator David |.
Hill made an eloquent address, his sub
jeet heing personal Liberty" Senator
Hill spoke in part as follows:-
personal liberty. as 1t is generally un-
derstood, especially in It's best. If not the
broadest, sense, means the largest meas
ure OF liberty which 1t is possible TO con-
fer upon the Individual citizen not
injurious to the real OF substantial inter-
! ests of the whole community.
'It may be safely asserted as a general
wear whatever hi pleases, aud that he
may sow and reap in his fields whatever
they will grow, and that he may manu-
| facture ia his shop whatever his skill
| may invent. These are natural rights
| which he possessed before governments
were founded or constitutions framed.
| rights which he never surrendered, aud
| rights which constitutions anu laws Can
not justly take away.
ABUSE OF PERSONAL LIBERTY.
.sIhe abuse of personal liberty by the
citizen ID always made the plausible prs-
text for its prohibition or restriction.
| You are familiar with the old ~threadolrs
argument: Men indulge their appetites
to excess, therefore the good OF the COM
mupity requires that the manufacture
aud sale of what they eat an d drink must
be prevented or repress ed by stringent
and offensive laws.
.The fallacy, to.a large extent. OF this
argument Is apparent when it Is reh scted
that the abuse of any right furnishes no
l~.adeuuate reason for Its destruction.
How many absolute rights would be
permitted to remain IL the reasonable
aud Just exercise thereof at lli times Was
the Imperative condition of their exist
encef Who will assert that the freedom
Of the press is not frequently a0sused.
and yet who Is prepared 10 declare that
ii, therefore, should be abridged?
ssTne air is filed with the noise OF dis
graceful religious dissensious upon ABB
stract questions of orthodox doctrine,
and prosecutions or trials for alleged
heresy among most respectable demon
nations are becoming so frequent that it
is impossibIe for We poor miserable sim
ners to determine what Is herssy a
what is not, yet a total denial of the lib
erty of conscience would scarcely be
tolerated in this land of boasted religious
freedom.
UABEAs CORPUS N JCR TRIAL.
GLOW often is the privilege OF the writ
of habeas corpus invoked III trivial
cases. aud in cases without merit. and for
the purpose of delaying justice, or at the
instance Of INSCRIPTIONS legal advocates
for the justihable ends or upon insuH1cl
ent grounds, yet these conceded abuses
are hardly sufficient to warrant the de-
struction of that most valuable wril
which has always justly been regarded
as the sheet anchor of our liberties, and
the denial of which would be the very es-
seuce of tyrany itself.
"rhe guaranty of the right of trial by
jury has always been most sacredly
guarded, yet how many mlsearriages Of
Justice are believed to occur through
such trials, how susceptible the juryme r
to The influence OF popular passion, how
many wrong verdicts are rendered
how many decisions reached
through ignorance. prejudice
Partially and sometimes even
through corruption, and now many YER
diets OF jurles are set aside by higher
courts composed of learned Judges. YET
Notwithstanding the existing defects and
iuirmities in the administration OF JUS
rice, serious though they are, it is ex
tremely doubtful whether the substitu.
tim of any other method OF trial would
prove as acceptable. 1
1--WE may we'll conclude that no per.
i sonal rights of the citizen should b.
abolished or abridged simply because i
is liable to abuse. A contrary doctrine
destroys the free moral agency of MAJ
diminishes personal responsibility, in
Il fGSk6 II 4Sal VIVA IA "a 49, w
1t is opposed to the spirit power Of OF
free Institutions.
EXTREMISTS.
"There are those whose views are SO ex
treme that they would o ppose the raisinI
of hops because such production faciir
tates the manufacture of bser. The,
seem deaf TO the fact that hops must b.
deemed to be a participant in whatever
evils pertain to the inordinate use of any
article into whose manufacture they
largely enter. They forget the further
fact that hop raising is an honorable oc-
cupatien and a vast industry, which fur
nishes employment 20 thousands of peo'
Pile and absorts much capital In The
transaction of its business In the mar
kets of the world.
SIT may be suggested that to beconsis
ent in their Inconsistency that the
should go further aud insist upon som
restrictions on the raising or sale of ry
aud core because they constitute soine o
the Ingredients which enter into tn
} manufacture of liquors, aud are necel
sAriiy furnished with or la some degre
responsible for the evils which pertain t
, the Incorporate use of LIQUORS.
Continuing, Senator Hill spoke on pc
sonal liberty in regard to labor aud u
c commercial world. setting forth his W.
known views on the money question,
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