Audubon Republican. [volume] (Audubon, Iowa) 1894-1925, 1896-10-15


ident by popular vote. Those, 1t Is
thought, are questions of expediency
rather than Of vital principle. But an
other proposition-that the veto power
be abolished-is looked upon as revo-
lutionary adjustment Of an important
and rarely abused presidential power.
1t clearly means that it is the purpose
Of the Popocratic party absolutely to
control legislation without any check
from the executive or from the supreme
court.
ut is also the purpose of the Popo-
cratic party to reach the supreme court
by changing the manner Of appointment
and by limiting the term to a certain
number of years The judges are to be
elected for fixed term. That, of course,
involves o change in the organic law,
and it is the intention Of this new party
to persevere until this change shall be
accomplished. 1t is this proposition
which contains the most revolutionary
of the purposes Of the party. There is
not lawyer here who has read of this
purpose who hesitates to declare that
if it be accomplished the value and au-
thority Of the supreme court will he
greatly impaired. That branch of the
government, as Mr.. Coudert points out,
has been the saving institution of the
republic, in the opinion of all the Eu-
ropean students of the American fern
of government from De Tocoueville
down to Bryce.
1.-THE inevitable result would be to
take from the supreme court in fact, if
not in name, the power to determine
constitutional questions, and, with the
veto power abrogated, the initiative, as
well as the final authority of legislation,
would be in congress. With the senate
elected by the people, practically within
the immediate control of the people. the
president crippled and the supreme
court subordinated, those conservative
checks which the experience of other re-
publics taught the fathers of our own
were necessary for the preservation of q
republican democracy would be abol-
ished. 1t is only within few weeks
that the bar of this city and state has
fully appreciated the full scope of the
revolutionary purpose which is in the
Chicago platform. And today it is safe
to say that the momentous gravity of
this threatened political revolution
causes far more anxiety than the mere
proposition to open the minis to the free
coinage of silver Mr.. Coudert sees be.
hind it O movement in favor of almost
pure democracy.
In fact, it was pointed out by ex-
Judge Davis, for many years chief JUS
tice of the supreme court and an able
jurist, that another confessed purpose of
the Popocratic party, as stated by Judge
Clark, is of itself convincing proof that
something like pure democracy is the
ultimate aim of the Popocratic party.
For Judge Clark says that the party
will, if in control of congress, so legis-
late as to pass over to the government
the ownership of all trunk lines of rail-
way and the telegraph. Of course, there
are some incidental purposes, as, for in
stance, imposition of an income tax
not restrained, as would be any one now
constitutionally levied, SO as to be free
from observation-disclosures as to confiscate
by taxation as large portion Of the
property of those who have possession
as any congress might see fit. There
would also be legislation which would
prevent probably any combination of
capital such as has made the industrial
development of the United States pos.
sible and so splendidly advanced since
the civil war.
lit is this appreciation of the momen-
tous gravity of the purposes which are
really animating the revolutionary
movement that induced Justices Brown
and Clement to decline denomination
for the supreme court bench, declina-
tions which will probably be followed
by several others. The free coinage
proposition, if it stood alone and were
the single issue of the Popocratic party,
might not have impelled these jurists to
take this step.
but they see, as the ADLER lawyers of
the bar have seen within few weeks,
and, especially since Judge Clark's ar
ticle was published, have been fully
able to understand, that free silver is
only an incident, almost mask for the
real purposes of this party"