The representative. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1893-1901, 1896-09-02
EX- HARRfSON'S
SPEECH

OulcdRO platform cenSuring the Su-
preme Court Of the United States for
its course In revising its own decisions
for fifty years and declaring the H.
come tax law Institutional.
Mr.. Harrison is not great man,
but he is an exceedingly adroit and
plausible speaker. He puts on his
grandfather's hat and talks from the
holy Of holes; and we can see the
ends of the halo OF sanctity sticking
out from under the rim Of that veneer
able piece Of hcad-gear.
He said:
MY friends, our fathers who framed
this government divided its great
ments-thc legislative. the executive
and he judicial. 1t sought to make
these independent, the one Of the 9TH
err, so that neither might overshadow
or destroy the othe. The supreme
court the most digniiied judicial body
in the world. was appointtd to inter
pref the laws and constitution, and
when that court prOnounCes Il decree
as to the powers OF Congress or as to
any other constitutional question,
there is but one right method, il we
disagree, and that is the method
pointed out by the constitution-to
amend it to conform to our views.
That is the position today. MIR. Hill
said in his speech on his assault upon
the court: THAT provision, il it
means anything means that it is the
duty Of Congress to reconstruct the
supreme court of the country. 1t
means and now note his words
land it was openly avowcd that it
means the adding Nf additional mem
bcrs to it on the turning out Of office
and rccOnstructing the whole court.
l will not follow any revolutionary
step as that
Nou are TO answer them, my fellow
citizens, in all the gravity OF great
crisis, whether you will sustain par
" that proposes to destroy the balance
which cur fathers Instituted in our
form OF government, and wherever a
tumultuous congress disagreeS with
the supreme court and a SubSeryient
president is in the White House that
the Judgment of the courts shall be
rccOnsidered and reversed by increas
ing the number Of Judges and packing
the court with men who will decide as
congress wants them to. | cannot eX-
aggerate the gravity and the impor-
lance and the danger of this assault
upon our constitutional form Of gov
eminent.
One Of the kndest and most dis
eliminating ora OrS who ever wrote
with the foreign pen about American
affairs. Mr.. Bryce, in his "American
&C Commonwealth" pointed Gus this
danger that the constitution did not
Judges and it was possible for reck-
less executive to subordinate and
practically destroy the supreme court
by the process | have just described,
and tile Erglishman, after speaking
OF this, says: NV hat prevents such
assaults on the fundamental law:
Nothing but the fear OF the people,
whose broad good sense and attach
ment to the principles OF the consti-
tuition may be generally relied on to
condemn such a perversion OF its pew
ers." (Applause.)
All this is exceedingly adroit, but
Mr.. Harris son Omits to call attention
to the fact that when the Supreme
Court Of the United States decided
that slavery was right and that "a
black man had no rights which a
white man was bound to respect the
Republican party, Mr. Harrison's own
party, under the leadership Of the i'm
mortal Lincoln. packed that same SUI
preme court and reversed the pro-
slavery ruling of the court, and sets
its utteranceS on the side Of liberty.
And still later, when the lawyers
tried to obtain ruling from that
court that Congress had no right to
issue paper money in time Of peace,
thus giving a monopoly Of the bust
ness to the banks, the Republican
party again packed that court, to pro-
tect the government, from the mach
nations Of its enemies: and president
Harrison never opened his head to
protest against such course.
1t is true, as Mr.. Harrison says, that
"Our fathers framed this govern
ment and divided its great powers be-
tween three great departments-the
Legislative, the executive, and the
judicial. 1t sought to make these in
dependent the one Of the other, sc
that neither might overshadow or de-
stroy the ether"
But what is the condition that to-
day starcs us in the face? The judi
clal branch is "overshadowing" both
the legislative and the executive. 1t
claims the right to take the acts Of
Congress, ali Of them, and veto all
those that do not meet with its ap-
prevail. No such pouer ros erel qiren
them by tie constitution. and Thomas JEFF
ferson to his last hour protested
against their exercising it; but they
continue to exercise it. They are now
the ultimate seat Of power in this
country;-they decide what laws are
valid and what are not. They have
assumed thereby the legislative func-
ton; and by their blanket injunctions
they have usurped the powers of the
executive. And now Mr.. Harrison
argues that if that court is success full
ly packed by the corporations or the
rings, the seventy million free people
of the United States must submit I'M
til death weeds out the venerable
frauds. The doctrine is actually
absurd.
And he quotes from the English
man, Mr.. Bryce, in favor Of his posi-
tion. Why did he not tell his audi
ence that England would not submit.
for one hour, to the power Of a court
to override and set aside an act of
parli q mento Such a tHipo nnvor ,y, ,