Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1904-07-16

surplus, in a fortuitious market at a
price less than was charged in the reg
uiar nome market, that circumstance
aloae IN the eyes of a prejudlced pub
nc Is conclusive guilt.
All these questions to be rightful-
~ decided. must be decided upon the
evidence fairly understood and fairly
interpreted, and the conclusions OF TACT
ne correctly drawn, ii correct decision
may be had
n the many complex questions aris-
ing between labor and capital, the most
olilcult and trying problems are thus
presented for correct solution by the
Dench and the bar of the country.
Men devoted to professional studies
and pursuits, are necessarily compelled
4 70 decide the most intricate questions
OF manufacture and commerce, whose
involved and complex facts require the
training of the specials, to understand
ana to rightly weigh and consider.
And as If the common law were not
complex enough to tax the highest abil-
lty and the most earnest endeavor,
every legislative body in the country
Is busy adding to the complexity by
statutory enactments always vague,
|
The powers of the courts of equity
are derived from and applied upon the
principles of sound public policy and
it would seem that where court OF
equity cannot find warrant to act,
legislative body, whose guide should
always be the public good, should hesi-
tate to interfere.
Legislation usually receives Its in
itial force from popular demand, and
every such demand is in favor of some
selfish interest
Such legislation can scarcely avoid
the reefs and breakers of class pre-
ferment and class advantages.
Judicial decisions also, are not free
from the influence Of popular clamor,
/ and in so far as they are Influenced in
this manner, they are little less objec-
tionaDle than class legislation.
"a decent regard for public opinion
lis at all times commendible, but the
bench and the bar, trained in the law
and skilled in the logic of events should
hesitate to adopt any public clamor, or
be swerved by it, or be led to create
precedents that will make for future
embarrassment.
1.-THE natural trend and tendency of
the labor union, as view it. is towards
socialism, effacing individuality, max
ing of the individual man but one OF
the atoms, that to go make up to make
the social unit, the labor organization
It relieves individual responsibility,
checks individual development, retards
individual growth, discourages indivld-
ual excellence, discounts skill, indus
try and devotion to the interestso of the
employer. and in everything is levell-
ing in it's effects.
"These are the natural tendencies
SO long as selfishness constitutes so
large an ingredient of human charac-
ter.
"The great combinations Of capital
! in the industrial and productive pur-
suits of life, have the same marked
tendency, proceeding from different
| initial point, but tending to the same
common result, the effacement OF all
individualism.
"The tendency Of legislation and ju.
j dicial precedent in dealing with these
matters it seems to me has been along
the same line, and its natural result
toward the same end accelerating this
| tendency
1.-THE encroachments upon personal
/ liberty, the restrictions upon personal
action, the multiplication of those
! things one may not do, without run
ming counter to the thus saith the
law all tend directly to the efface-
ment of individuality, making Of man
not a personal unit, but an atom. in
the great social organism the state,
which is the only unit known to or
recognized by the law in its final re-
suits.
"It has appeared to me for a long
time, that these policies and these ten
denotes are dangerous, and that the
extreme limit has been reached, if we
are to preserve mans individuality
and to avoid the dead-level of social
istic stagnation.
Il do not know that I am able to
point out remedy. A policy that will
check these tendencies is difficult to
outline, but it has occurred to me that
it were radically better to return lit.
tie nearer to nature, and away from
the artificial in government.
ut passes current, that too much
; legislation is 3 evil; that men may
be governed too much. A necessary
corallary of this axiom is, that too
much law made by astute, refined and
, profound judicial Interpretation, may
. not be for the best.
: "When e law protects our persons
, and property from violence enforces
contracts, guards us against fraud
mistake and casualty, it has done its
work, and answered its purposes, but
when it enters into the domain of the
future, limiting or enhancing prospec.
tive profits, regulating every clash and
conflict Of interest that may arise
among a busy, restless, selfish and
ambitious people, we pass upon dan
ger ground, and the precedent thus es
tablished returns to plague us al unex
pected times and in unlocked for stu
ations. Future profits, and the right
to buy at any given point in the future
are always problematical, and these
benefit remote and speculative.
ITO prohibit strife and struggle fol
supremacy, is to stifip progress, re
tard growth, deccy individual excel
! lence, and to secure e dtad-level Of
medioccity.