The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1896-08-16

prejudices by their transfer to the
bench. The general character Of a
judge, his special idiosyncrasies, his
personal jealousies even, may affect his
decisions of the greatest constitutional
questions
This is not the first time that the ac-
ton of the supreme court has been the
subject of public comment The noted
bred Scott decision was discussed i'll
political gatherings all over the land.
Even Abraham Lincoln was charged
with resisting" the decision Of the
highest court of the land, and he
stated his view of the extent to which
supreme court decision is binding upon
the public las ruler of political ac-
ton" as follows:
LINCOLN ON THE SUPREME
COURT
Judicial decisions have two uses;
first, to absolutely determine the case
decided, and, secondly to indicate TO
the public how other similar cases will
be decided when they arise. For the
latter use they are called "precedents"
and are Of greater or less authority,
according to circumstances If the
bred Scott decision had been made by
the unanimous concurrence Of all the
judges and without any apparent par
ttsan bias, and in accordance with legal
expectation and the steady practice
of the departments throughout our
history, or if it had been before the
courts more than once and there had
been affirmed and re-affirmed through
a course of years, it might then be fac
tious not to acquiesce in it as pre-
cedent. But when, as is true, we find it
wanting in all these claims to the pub
lie confidence, it is not factious, it is
not even disrespectful to treat it as
not having yet quite established a
settled doctrine for the country.
This same court once decided a ma
tional bank to be constitutional, but
General Jackson, as president of the
United States, disregarded the decision
and vetoed a bill for re-charter of the
bank partly on constitutional grounds.
Again and again 1 have heard Judge
Douglas announce that decision and
applaud General Jackson for disre-
garding it. The sacredness which
Judge Douglas throws around this
bred Scott decision is a degree of sa-
credness that has never before been
thrown around any other decision. 1
never heard of such a thing.
We believe the bred Scott de-
cision to be erroneous. We have
known that the court that made
it has often overru1ed its own decis-
ions, ard we shall do what we can to
have it override this. We do not re-
sist it. If wanted to take bred Scott
from his master, that would be resist
ing" the decision, but I am doing no
such thing as that. L simply refuse to
obey it as a political rule"
The platform might justly have spo-
ken more strongly than it did.
CRITICISMS BY THE JUDGES.
The dissenting opinions filed by the
minority of the court are unsparing in
denunciation Of the decisions of the
majority of one. Mr.. Justice Harlan
said:
1.-The practical effect of the decision
today is to give to certain kinds of
property a position of favoritism and
advantage inconsistent with the funda-
mental principles Of our social organ
ization. and to invest them with power
and influence that may be perilous to
that portion Of the American people
upon whom rests the larger part Of the
burdens of the government, and who
ought not to be subjected to the do
minion of aggregated wealth any more
than the property of the country should
be at the mercy of the lawless."
JUSTICE BROWN DECLARED
TtkaT:
GAS it implies declaration that
every income tax must be laid accord
ing to the rule Of apportionment, the
decision involves nothing less than a.
surrender of the taxing power to the
moneyed class. I hope it may not prove
the first step toward the submergence
of the liberties of the people in a sordid
despotism of wealth. AS [ cannot es-
cape the conviction that the decision of
ba in, n &c COS i- f7-a11 cr6t
with immeasurable danger to the fu-
ture of the country, and that it aQ-
proaches the proportions Of a national
calamity, I feel it my duty to enter
my protest against it."
Evidently if the Chicago plank on the
income tax is revolutionary, the same
is true of a minority of the supreme
court, and the same should be true of
the rest Of US.
LABOR RECOGNIZED.
The platform denounces a govern
ment by injunctions and calls attention
to the fact that American labor should
be protected by preventing the impor-
tation of foreign pauper labor to COM
pete with IL in the home market, and
it declares that 1.-The value of the home
market to our American farmers and
artisans is greatly reduced by vic
the prices of their products below the
cost of production, and thus deprives
them Of the means of purchasing the
products of our home manufactures
It insists that the absorption of wealth
by the few, the consolida ton of our
leading railway systems and the for
nation of trusts and pools require adj
ditional laws and stricter control by
the government.
PENSIONS.
The convention recognized the justice
of the claims of deserving Union sol
diers for pensions and said: We heart
lily endorse the rule of the present COM
missioner that no names shall be arbi
trarily dropped from the pension roll,
and that the fact of enlistment and
service should be deemed conclusive
evidence of disease and disability be-
fore enlisting."
MAY BE TRUSTED.
The platform favors the admission of
the territories, denounces a third term,
declares against life tenure in public
service except as fixed by the constitu-
ton. extends sympathy to suffering /
Cuba and appeals to the people for sup