The Portland daily press., 1900-07-05

drink IN life from the upper air. From
this 1t grew towards perfection of form
and completeness of symmetry and with
the vigor Of life in every branch.
Nor have the great passages in our
history been without effect upon this
progress OF growth. | need only
refer to the age Of the formation and
adoption of our federal constitution, to
the marvellous legal learning and skill
which We're expended IN framing and
faction, reconciling clashing interests,
and IN securing the reluctant consent of
the angry and most hostile States and to
the later, and / had almost said the
greater age of the expoundlng of the
constitution when the great truth was
declared and settled that the constit ution
was not a mere agreement TO be deter
mined at the viii of either of the con-
tracing parties, but the organic law of
new nation, the eternal basis of the
cOmblna ton of local self government in
the states with an imperial unity in the
nation, the vast system of federalism by
which alone an extended republic is pos
slble. This great principle was developed
and established and laid away In the con-
seriousness. of the nation, and it held us
together when the scene of conflict was
changed from the Senate to the battle
field, when the imprisoned winds were
let loose and the sorrow of our times
ripened to its harvest in the Civil war.
Under the protection Of a strong and
benign government the resources of the
and We're developed the industries -four
ished and wealth increased. The fathers
had not only made their Declaration of
Independence but they had founded q
government which crowned the land
with the victories of peace and which
could bear the strain Of war.
In America there can be no sovereignty
except that OF the law and this must be
supreme. The unit d Judgment and
VIII of the people, legally and cOnstitu-
tionally expressed, must control at
whatever cost. Liberty without law
without law that holds IN storm as we'll
as IN sunshine, is savagery, not civiiiza-
ton. Far distant be the time when the
will of an intelligent people, enacted
into law, shall fail to control in this
equally far distant be the time when
that Will shall declare against anything
bat truth and justice for all
II all pr operty rights are to be exam
ined by our critical and inquisitive
age in the light of the general advantage
as the only basis Of their existence, it is
by no means clear that the boundaries of
private right in property Will always re-
main what they are now. l doubt whether
any such right Of private kproperty Will
IN the more enlightened ages OF the flu
6ure be recognized as Will enable a few
try or the mineral resources of a country
metals or Goals, or the great highways of
travel and transportation, OF grains or
any OF the necessities of life, which
should be, within defined limitations,
and subject only to such exclusive or SUI
perior private rights as have a solid basis
to stand upon, the common stock of the
entire community.
l recognize the immense difficulties to
be overcome in defining and maintaining
the true right OF property, what Is vital
and essential IN 1t, and at the same tine
restraining from actual excess, on the one
hand, which is sometimes, the lawless
and defiant discomfort OF labor, with the
EhrOng1ng abuses of ignorance, idl5ness
and pretense which march in its train
and on the other hand the enormous
power and elasticity of accumulated and
aggregated capital. But if there is a real
danger here, If it is manifest that the two
/ tendencies, of labor and capital, each to
/ combine, cannot go on selfshIy, reck lessly
and for an indefinite time without
danger of a collision which Will disturb
the very foundations of the state, are
there not resources in the progressive
enlightenment and experience of our age
and country that can meet the danger
and, by the forces OF public sentiment
shaped into law, assign the limits with
In Which these immense forces can safely
move and which neither shall exceed?
liz JtOD1Cfu 10 Ot1l16 JQo true line
upon which public and private interests
may meet, to which it is safe for the
exclusive right of private property to go,
and beyond which it should note pass.
may be Il difficult one, but 1t is one which
demands no sudden solution and which
experience and enlightenment should
slowly solve. AN abrupt change in any
direction may be the greatest danger and
evil to be met with in the whole field
When we consider how wide is the
scope of legislative authority in America
in the regulation of the enjoyment OF
property, even within the range Of con
StltuJlOna1 provisions, and, moreover
that constitutional provisions were never
designed to be and cannot be, in tn is
country, any barrier against the fixed
ard continuing will of large majority of
the people, but only against the hasty
and inconsiderate action of temporary
majority, and must themselves in the
END yield to the constant will OF the
people; when we reflect upon the acceler
atlng tendency of the legislature to en-
large it's own jurisdiction and to make
what should be the co-equal and co-ordi-
nate branches Of governmental authority
but shadows Of themselves absorbing
into the legislative body the substance
OF all power, it would seem to follow that
III reference to righs OF property as in
reference to other matters OF vital in
terest, we have ventured out in this
country and are at1Oat upon the will OF
the controlling majority, upon it's judg-
ment OF what the public interest and gen
eral advantage may demand, and that
rights of property must be, in the end,
such as commend themselves to the
general intelligence and Judgment in
order to be perma lent and secure.
We ordinarily think of the ruling mo-
tive OF the law as conservative. We hard
~ appreciate what radicalism there is in
or may be in it in America. A single line
OF statute, without institutional change,
might l suppose take away all right OF
Inheritance; or might extinguish all
power to dispose of property by will, so
that when any citizen died, all his prop
erty must by force Of law escheat to the
state
Is not such a change as that radical
enough to suit the ordinary reformer?
But that is within the quiet range OF the
law. All you have to do is to persuade
an Anglo Saxon community that it would
be good thing to have that done and
your task as reformer is accomplished
a4NH FS.~f 1.