The Denison review. [volume] (Denison, Iowa) 1867-current, 1902-10-07

manv lnjustices of which they have
been guilty but in this instance we be
iieve them to be right and we believe
it the height of impudence in the rail
road presidents to demand that the
government protect them from the
wnirlwind they have sown. 1t was the
same course of reasoning hich created
the Fugitive Slave law, which while
an act of terrible injustice did as much
as anyone other thing to arouse the
conscious of the north.
The coal operators with their
public be damned" utterances, are
arousing the people, They are teach.
ing more socialism than could the most
pronounced theorists They bring the
people face to face with the danger of
large private property interests and
show how they can be used to the de-
triment of the public and to the de
gradation and misery OF those immedi.
ately effected.
The President is to be congratulated
upon his we'll meant and earnest efforts
to end the strike. He has proven him
self the boldest and most fearless of
Presidents. If he should be defeated
which he will not be, it will be through
combination formed between pluto
Gratis of the Pierpont Morgan type and
the demogogues of the type of Bryan.
In dealing with this great question
as in dealing with the trust question,
the negro question, the question of
marriage and divorce and almost any,
one of the great questions of to day the
President and Congress have found
| themselves confronted and confused by
the limitations of the constitution.
While wedeeply reverence the ability
OF the trainers of this great document,
while we acknowledge the enormous
debt of the republic to the instrument
itself, we believe the constitution as it
exists today is a menace to the peace
and happiness and welfare of the people
of this republic. If we wish to protect
the home by the passage of national
marriage and divorce laws. we are con.
fronted by the restraints of the consti-
tuition. The wheels OF justice are con-
tinually clogged and thousands of crimi-
nails avoid punishment each year on
account OF our clumsy system of inter
state extraditlon and requisition.
brought upon US by constitutional limi-
tations. If we make move toward the
protection Of our citizens. whether
black or white. the constitution holds
US in unholy chains. If we vince un-
der the encroachment of monopoly. the
| law makers of New Jersey laugh in
our faces and point TO the constitution,
If foreign country comes to US demand
ing protection for its citizens in return
for the protection afforded ours while
on their soil, we are obliged to acknow-
ledge our utter impotence on account
OF the constitution. The document
which was intended as the guarantee
of our rights and liberties is fast be-
coming but fence for criminals, a
refuge for those who would despoil us,
cloak for those who threaten the life
of the republic.
AS one of the greatest of historical
documents we honor the constitution,
as the instrument which gave liberty
to our fathers we cherish it, but as the
means of restricting the just rights OF
the people of today we wish it were
preserved in the archives of our gov.
ernment as q precious relic of the past
rather than kept before US as a con.
stant check upon national progress and
individual prosperity. 1t would be alb
surd for the English people to govern
themselves by the provisions of the
Magma Charta. What was good in it
they have preserved in their laws but
that which has grown unnecessary,
obsolete or oppressive has been an.
nulled by later enactments.
Liberty in comparative term.
What would have surpassed the wild
est dreams of the serfs of centuries
ago would be to US the most servile
slavery. The constitution was a ire
mendous step in advance of the old
confederation, just as that was tar
cry from the days of colonial misrule,
The demands of our present civiliza-
tion with its complicated problems are
far beyond the relief afforded by the
many limitations of the constitution.
The American people should be free
free to enact national legislation to
pemedy present evils. The people
should be free to protect the home by
national laws, the hand of justice