Pine Bluff daily graphic., 1896-08-03
LINCOLN ON THE
 SUPREME COURT.
Freedom of Speech In Po-
 litical Discussions.
THE INCOME TAX DECISION.

Abraham Lincoln's Opinion as to the Ex-
 tent to Which Supreme Court Decisions Are Binding Upon the Public-The Chi cago Convention In No Mood For Re- fined Rhetoric.
 The fierceness with which some of your gold contemporaries denounce the plank of the Democratic platform de- claring for an income tax notwithstand- ing the decision of the supreme court adverse to the recent law imposing such tax recalls the historic debate between Mr. Lincoln and Judge Douglas in 1858. In the course of that debate Judge Douglas charged Mir. Lincoln and his party with resisting what WAS known as the Dred Scott decision, and in an- swer to that charge Mir. Lincoln thus states his view of the extent to which 8 supreme court decision is binding upon the public "as ruler of political &C., tion !"
 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 &C., cording to circumstances. If the Dred Scott decision had been made by the unanimous concurrence of all the judges, and without any apparent partisan bias and in accordance with legal expecta- tion and the steady practice of the de- partments throughout our history, or if it had been before the court more than once and had there been affirmed and reaf6rmed through a course of years, it might then be faetious not to acquiesce in it as a precedent. But when, as is true, we find it wanting in all these claims to the public confidence, it is not factious, it is not even disrespectful to treat it as not having yet quite estab- | lished settled doctrine for the country.
 ''This same court once decided 8 na- tional bank to be constitutional, but General Jackson, as president of the United States, disregarded the decision and vetoed bill for a reeharter of the bank partly on constitutional grounds. Again and again I have heard Judge Douglas denounce that decision and ap- plaud General Jackson for disregarding it. The sacredness which Judge Doug las throws around this Dred Scott de- cision is a degree of sacredness that has never before been thrown around any other decision. never heard of such thing. We believe the Dred Scott de- cision to be erroneous. We know that the court that made it has often over- ruled it's own decisions and we shall do what we can to have 1t overrule this. We do not resist it. If I wanted to take Dred Scott from his master, that would be resisting the decision, but I am doing no such thing as that. sim ply refuse to obey it as political rule. "
 Here we have MT. Lincoln's opinion as to how far the public is bound to fol low supreme court decision politically. The income tax decision Is certainly less entitled to public confidence on the record than that of the Dred Scott case, for not only was it made by bare ma jority of divided court, but it was flat reversal of an elaborate judgment of the same court on the same law.
 The platform does not, however, Gre sist" the decision as 1t stands. If it were proposed to levy and collect an income tax under the law declared to be uncon- stitutional. that would be resistance" to the court, and hence revolutionary, but nothing of the kind is contemplat- ed. It must be remembered that the American people reserve the right to ex- press their views in respect to all branches of the public service. The su- preme court enjoys no exemption from this rule. Whether the language of the platform is sufficiently reverential to- ward the court is more matter of good manners than of civil or political her esy. But the convention was in no mood for the refnements of rhetoric or the fnesse of the parliamentarian Its dec larations are resentful protest against what 1t deems the oppression of the people by trusts and monopolies, and the language used Is, as it should be, straightforward and determined. Free dom of speech in the discussion of pub lic affairs is part of the unwritten law of the country and tends to the be- neficence and stability of the govern ment Those who would deny or re- strict this right to a representative body like the Chicago convention are either ! thoughtless or insincere. A Republican in New York Journal.
 High priced money and low prices for