The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1898-08-14

the Supreme court bench. Alexander
| Hamilton was not the greatest Secretary
| of the Treasury. But Federal authori
| ty, Capitalization. abSolutism. and. i
you please, imperialism owe more t
these than any other two men, anC
hence they stand out boldly and promi
nently in the perspective of our history
They were Federalist to the core. They
sincerely believed in the government oi
the many by the few. They conScienti
ously doubted the ability of the people
rs mass to govern themselves. They
| believed i'll n strong central government
| welding vigorous powers. They were
not willing to trust the States or the
plain people Of the land. They believed
not only in the sacredness of property
| but in the natural right of wealth Il
control the destinies of the nation.
Between these on the one hand anC
jefferson and his school on the other
there was an irreconcilable conflict. II
/ has been commonly supposed that .Ieffer
son and his school won, and that alb
solutism in this republic was forever
made impossible by the growth of that
| democracy whose .cXpounder and author
| was Jefferson.
'Jefferson's criticisms of the Federal
| judiciary received little attention until
| the amazing decisions of the Federal
| courts in the last few years recalled
these criticisms. II is true, rs stated by
Judge Taft. that the people acquesced
III Marhal's Judgment which evoked
Jefferson's denuncation. The Ameri
can people are prone to acquiesce in the
decisions of their courts, and Will do so
as long rs these courts will obey the
| law which limits their jurisdiction, and
as long as these courts Will obey the
| rights of the weak. as well US the strong.
| But there are unmistakable signs of pro,
| found public dissatisfaction at the more
| recent attitude of the Federal judiciary
! toward some of the most burning ques-
| tionS of the hour. A number of gov.
| errors of States have sent messages to
| their legislatures declaring that the Fed
cral courts have seized the republic and
ut least one legislature has memorialiZcd
Congress. 'reciting the grievances of the
people of it's State against the Federal
Judiciary and asking q cnrtaiment of
the powers unlawfully assumed by
them (Iudge Taff's address. % Am.
LAW Rev. G41.l 1t is not exaggeration to
say that the vast majority Of the people.
and probably of the bar. believe that tho
Federal courts have uSurped powers not
lawfully theirs, and have. by their de
cisions invaded the constitutional rights
of free men in behalf of railroads and
other forms of corporate monopoly. This
ma ority is growing. 1t is they who
are recalling and repeating Jefferson s
prophecy.
almost all of the Federal decisions
which have grieved and alarmed the pub
lie have been in cases where corpora
tons organized in one State and doin.
business in another have resortel to the
Federal courts of the latter on the
ground that they We're citizens of Il DIFF
ferent State 1t will be remembered that
the Supreme court of the United States
first declared that corporation was not
Il citizen within the meaning Of the
Federal Constitution, and that the Fed
eral courts had no jurisdiction of cases
to which corporations chartered by other
States were parties unless all their stock
holders We're also non residents. But
this decision was overruled by the same
court that rendered it. In other words,
the Supreme court of the United States
is its own critic when. at the instance of
corporate wealth it overthrows its
solemn Judgment and yields all which
these suitors claim. Witness. by way
of parenthesis, the double shuttle in the
income fax. where this court. | will
not say summersaulted. but Shirased. in
a few weeks. overthrowing judicial pre-
cedent of many years and denying the
power of the Federal government to
make the wealth of the country bear
some of its due proportion of the public
burdens.
by overruling their own decisions,
therefore, the Federal courts have be-
come the foreign corporations city of
refuge Hence the Southern railway in
vades the commonwealth of Georgia,
buys up competing lines and amalga-
mates them into what is in some parts
of the State one monopoly Of tranpo"ta.
ton. defies the Constitution of Georgia
in its prohibition against railroad monp-
poly and snaps its fingers in the faces cf
the people and rushes to the Federal
courts, which throw their powerful arms
around it and prevent Gcorgia's court.
from interpreting and enforcing GeOr-
gia's Constitution.
'orhe Chicago Times Herald of Sep
TENDER 10, 1897, published a four-page
symposium on the subject Of injunction
III iaDbE disputes. u hiS ~ hl'oSihh WIZ
sisted of the opinions of fifteen judges
on the bench and fourteen opinions of
other jurists and prominent laymen.
The Springfield Republican, published at
a point far removed from the local col
oring inseparable to such controversies,
analyZing these answers, declares that
only six unqualifedy indorsed the recent
extension of the injunction power to Ia
Dor troubles; seven were, in the main,
non-cOmmittal; while fifteen were out
spoken in their hostile criticism. Fifteen
judges returned replies, and we find that
of these only two We're unqualifedly for
what is popularity known as government
by Injunction six were non-committal,
while seven were more or less emphatic
in denouncing cor criticising the recent
extension of the injunction power.
Judge Gibbons of the Circuit court
of Illinois, declares that lin their efforts
to regulate or restrain strikes by iniunc-
ton they are sowing dragons teeth and
blazing the path of revolution The
chief justice of the Illinois Court of Ap-
ped1s predicts that unless this usurpati0n
of power by the courts is promptly check
ed we shall within a few years see cleo