Audubon Republican. [volume] (Audubon, Iowa) 1894-1925, 1895-03-21
THE LAW NUISANCE.
Edward p. Powell, in the American

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Magazine of Civics: Our Aryan ances
tors, like all other primitive peoples
grew laws, but never made them
Theirs were customs; and these in man.
cases were very fixed; but for any bod.
of men to sit in council and decree th'
reversal of custom, or even to bring
it's wisdom into question, was late
innovation. The United States begaI
its career by the curious innovation OF
a written constitution. Law in Amer
lea early began to be an effort to break
with direct tradition, and fall in with
the Hebrew theodicy. The spirit OF
the initiative grew stronger when, in
the latter part of the eighteenth CEN
fury, the spirit of religious skepticism
crossed over from France and led many
New England thinkers to adopt more
rational views of Hebrew history. The
end has been that law is no longer I'M
derstood to be eminently a body of
customs, but body of statutes, issuing
from the brains of legislators. There
is little restraint upon unlimited law
/ making, except constitutions. Draw
ing up statutes has grown to be pas
sion with us. A legislators standing
with his constituency is determined
largely by the measures" he originates.
This fertility Of legislation has led to
the next stage Of disease, a confidence
in laws as the remedy for all possible
social ills and indiYldual complaints.
The first thing refOrmer seeks Is 70
get a bill through congress. An ag-
grieved labOrer turns with about equal
confidence to the strike and to the leg
iSlature. This does not, however, i'll
dictate with any certainty growing
popular respect for law.
Meanwhile the spirit of personal lib
erty is not on the decrease. 1t asserts
certain fundamental, individual rights
with as great temerity as they were as
serted by Henry and Jefferson. 1t is
impossible to generally enforce Sun
day saloon law. Lincoln said: LET
reverence for law be breathed by every
mother to the lisping babe that pratt
ties on her lap; let it be taught in the
schools, seminaries and colleges; let it
be written in the primers, spelling
books and almanacs; let it be preached
from pulpitS and proclaimed in leglS-
lative halls, us well as enforced in
courts of justice; i'll short, let 1t be-
come the political religion of the Ma
ton" But Mr.. Lincoln's great secre-
tary was author of the popular state
ment that there is law higher than
even the highest enactment of congress
or decree of supreme court. 1t was
necessary to formulate the "higher
law" as protection against possible leg
islation of a malignant, lnhuman sort.
Mr.. Lincoln voices a very desirable
public sentiment; but the question is
rising whether laWmaking has not
gone to such an extreme that reverence
is impossible. The constitutional con-
ventiOn that spent its summer at AL
bany recognized the fact that the en-
pire state now needs nothing more
than it needs safeguards against law
A tariff can be created in one session
of congress affecting every branch of
production and every line of commerce.
1t can be displaced by the next session.
But this is not the whole of it, or the
worst of it. The popular uncertainty
as to what is to be the basis of buying
and selling has kept our whole business
world unsettled, and at least threatens
a permanent social unrest. 1t begins
to be felt by students of social economy
that it is not the character of the tariff
that most seriously affects our prosper
ity for good or evil, but the certainty
that no tariff is sure of permanent
footing. It's not hasty legislating that
we have to fear so much as SupertiuouS
the quantity is worse than
the quality.
One hundred years ago John Adams
and Marshall and Jefferson were intent
on safeguards against the executive
power of the state. History warned
them against the entertainments of
chief of the nation. 1t is interesting
to read of the elaboration of the system
of checks devised against such possible
tyranny. The tyranny of popular leg
islation had never been experienced |
outside of municipal boundaries. At
least it did not occur to them that the |
chief danger to the people in feder-
ated republic would be from themselves |
in their representatives. Congress has
when it needed, new judges,
who would be subservient to its will. |
We may be sure that whenever the con-
f1ict comes the president will be i'm
peached and the supreme court revolu-
if they stand in the way of
With this drift toward legislating
we have so far done very little to edu-
cate our beople into special capacity
for legislative government. Even our
universities have only begun to devel-
OPP culture in economics and civics.
Corruption is great danger; but there
is a greater danger in ignorance. Our
lawmakers do not know the important
part that history plays IN the enforce
ment of statutes. While great stress
should be laid on the creation of the
citizen, more must be laid on the max
ing of the legislator.