The times., 1901-05-30
Circulation Statement.
4 Day of Mourning.

The disastrous results arising from
the conflicting decisions Of the Supreme
Court in the constitutional cases, due to
the intellectual eccentricities of Mr.
Justice Brown, can only be measured II
the future. At present what chiefly
concerns us is the fear that decisions SC
arrived at and handed down viii
create in the minds Of the American
people a profound contempt for the
highest court in the land, which, as it
is now developed, is capable of uproot-
ing the precedents and practice of a
century at the mere whinn- of one man.
For more than a hundred years, TO
the people of this country, the Constitu-
ton has been what the solid earth is TO
the human race. It has been something
to stand upon confidently, reliantly, and
defiantly The destruction of this Ark
of the Covenant must of necessity pro-
duce in the American mind about the
same feeling that would imbue COM
munity overcome by an earthquake
without moments warning.
ProvidentiaIly. there is a buOyancy in
man which enables him to sustain ca
Iamity, the loss of those nearest and
dearest to him, and the loss of his
birthright as citizen, without sue
cunbing to grief But when the earth
goes from under a man, and, as far as
he can see, he is plunged into space, phi
losophy is no longer available to anne
liorate his Ills. About what the English
people would feel if the British Consti-
tuition, the result of five hundred years
of legislation and experience, should be
destroyed. is what the American people
must feel when they see their most
cherished possession ruthlessly taken
away from them. and the faith and doc
trine Of the fathers of the country, as
expounded and confirmed by American
jurists like Jay, Marshall, and Story,
made null and of no effect.
Had the Supreme Court, unanimous
ly, or by vote OF seven TO two, or even
six to three, fixed upon a decision such
as that in the Downes case, the effect
of which is TO reverse the dicta and de-
crees of the great men we have men
toned, it would have been accepted, sui
lenly perhaps, but after all accepted in
good faith as the deliberate Judgment
of the Supreme Court of the United
States. But the Downes decision can
only be received as that Of a single in
dividual. who, two hours before he read
it. had read another decision which con-
tradicted it at every point
The American people have not for
gotten that, seven or eight years ago,
Bfr. Justice Shiras joined in majority
opinion that the income tax law en-
acted by the Fifty-third Congress was
constitutional Afterward he joined in
another majority opinion that 1t was
unconstitutional. But it required several
months. and, we presume, some refec-
tion. to effect this change of mind
Melancholy as the exhibition referred to
must be considered, it pales before the
example now set Dy Air. Justice Brown,
who, at noon of May p, 1901, decided
that the Constitution was supreme over
all things American. and two hours
later decided that it contained no pro-
visions which Congress, its creature, is
bound to respect.
II is q commonplace Of recent history
thai the Shiras incident did more TO
iCNe4 11S '7NpAeillS CouiI III liie respect
Of the country than anything which to
that time ever had happened in the
course Of its career. What shall be
said, then, Of the work of institutional
destruction performed on Monday last
by NJ. Justice Brown?
All oger the land today millions of
flags are floating at half-mast 1t viii
be thought by many that these signs
of mourning bear reference solely to the
consequences OF civil war But the
more observing viii find food for sor-
rowful reflection in the idea that these
emblems are half-masted also in doleful
recognition Of the death of the Consti-
tuition, which happened on the twenty
seventh Of May on Capitol Hill.