The daily morning journal and courier., 1897-02-01
FREEDOMS PRESENT PERIL
Continued from First Page.l

Continued from First Page.) consider an arbitration treaty which is favored by all the best sentiment of the community.
 "The framers of the constitution did their duty splendidly and provided against the dangers to liberty of that time. They provided in the constitu- tion against the dangers to liberty from violence and executive usurpa- tion of power, but violence is not the danger of free institutions to-day, nor Is the danger of monarchy, unless it be by reaction against the power of the boss
 What we have to fear is not vio- lence, but subtlety; not things, but frauds; not the executive usurpation of power, but legislative.
 Our constitution is not framed to prevent legislative usurpation of pow CT, but monarchical usurpation of pow CT.
 Tn our system an act of executive usurpation is quickly lighted but it takes a long time to counteract legis- lative usurpation of authority, and 1t is sometimes years before 1t Is finally decided by the courts.
 ''The danger to our institutions comes out in two ways. First, in the greater or less number of bad legislation, and second, in the activItv of legislative in reference, so as to deprive the indi- vi0ual of power But you say, Why ies bad men get into the legislature? The answer to this would be that jt woulti take all the time of the good citizen to keep them out.
 "The professional politician is at an enormous advantage over the amateur, just as in olden times a class of sol di2rs were gradually differentiated from the class of laborers, SD 3oW we have differentiated a class of professional politicians from common citizens.
 "A man. who devotes all his time to politics has more influence in the elec- tion of a legislator than ten other citizens, and he generally elects his candidate.
 MT. Platt controls New York poli- tics, and he does because he under stands better than others how to do it.
 How is this to be stopped? The opportunity is given to the legislators of making new laws. Now the judges can tell what new laws are needed, and can say that it was part of the old. It is very seldom that the legis- lature can be of any help in forming new laws.
 '"rhe legislature uses this power of framing new laws to a great extent in passing private acts, and this power to legislate the lower class of politicians use to establish their authority.
 ",The passage of private legislation renders a lobby almost necessary to a legitimate business. This is a great danger.
 What can be done? In the first place something can be done to re- strict the legislative power and in this the judiciary is most efficacious and can be relied on.
 Tn the second place: Give the ex- ecutive relatively more authority and the legislative relatively less. In mu- nicipal matters we find the greatest competition where the system of gov ernment is most intricate and where responsibility is separated from au- thority to a great extent by boards, b. partisan commissions and the like.
 Third: We can sharpen the dis tinction between national and loca government. In this we have made g beginning already in the breaking 1T of party lines in local affairs. But more than anything else, we must seek to educate the people so that they vii have higher ideals of what success consists in. You can't prevent the pro fessional politician from having an ad. vantage over you, but you can per haps educate the people to highe, ideal of success than the present per verted one, and the true hope of the country is that higher kind of success which can only be obtained by serving the people and preserving the spirit o1 freedom and the constitution"