The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1906-04-24
ROOSEVELT LEARNING FROM
JEFFERSON AND BRYAN.

4 ne me- man IN -A+.l@iHt w. $50 &S+t
critfcise the supreme Court Of the
United states for it, income tax de-
c.siou was the late senator Vest. Of
Missouri. q great lawyer, whose ex-
coriation IN the United states senate
! recalled the u-tterauces Of Thomas
Jefferson when John MARSHALL was
| doing more 10 destroy the rights Of
| the states by claiming power thai din
| not belong 10 the judiciary than Alex
| anaer Hamilton had been able t+~do
| il mis- long fight to ~galFanize the re-
public into Il monarchy The National
! Democratic Convention declared IN
| favor Of the income tax an1 Demo-
cratic speakers were not careful to
/ use houeyed words in referring TO
Judge shiras, and. nay. my, what d
| protest went up 10 the effect that Mr..
| Bryan ought to be defeated because
| the party had dared TO critlcise the
| Supreme Court. It had not been 50
| severe "a Senator Vest or as Justice
Browns dissenting opinion. but the
| trust m4gnates seized upon the criti-
| ciem Of the court "as a bugaboo TO
| ifl2illtil tlIIIIfl stIEIl- iHF ~
! the court" Of which We heard 50 much
was in fact criticism Of only four
| Judges and the firth judge who, to
quote Senator Vest. voted on both
; sides OF the question. The men who
| made the Democratic criticism Of tn"
! court the objectionable sins We're not
| disturbed because Of the criticisms,
! but they were disturbed because they
knew that if Bryan should be elected
President a way would be found to
! compel them to pay tax ON their big
| incomes. 1t was another case of
, Great is Diana Of the E~phesians."
Within less than ten years Wa fino
Mr.. Theodore Roosevelt. Who in 1896
| joined the cry OF the plutocrats that
| Mr.. BRYAN ought to be defeated be
cause Of Democratic "criticism Of the
courts" sending a message to Congress
hat affords another v~indicatiOn Of
MT. Bryan and the Democracy Of 1906.
These vindications are coming daily
! from the White House, from Congress,
from the great newspapers n a in
| 1896 did not then see the evils against
which Mr.. Bryan protested. He was
| Just ten years ahead of them, but they
are coming rapidly to his platform.
\ few days ago Mr.. Roosevelt sent
to Congress a message urging the leg
| islatiVe branch to pass an act to pre-
vent any more immunity decisions by
which beef packers and others violat-
ing the antitrust law can do 50 with
impunity. It was a message that the I'LL
tr~a-conServative lawyers, who crawl on
| their bellies before any man who
writes Judge" in front of his name,
! will condemn. But the American peo-
! pie, who are heartily tired of judicial
, repeal of laws and judicial decisions
that release rich %litigants and crimi-
nails. will thank Mr.. Roosevelt for
voicing what the best lawyers and
other good citizens are saying. The
message is the most vigorous and SEN
sational ever sent to Congress. In it
Mr.. Roosevelt declares that the decis-
ion of Judge Humphrey was a mis-
carriage of Justice" He declared that
such Interpretation of the law as that
placed on it by Judge Humphrey
comes ~measureably near making the
law a farce" and he added:
Furthermore. it is very desirable
to enact a law declaring the true con-
struction OF the existing Legislation so
far as it affects immunity. | can
hardly believe that the ruling of Judge
Humphrey will be followed by other
judges; but if it should be followed,
the result would be either completely
to nullify very much and possibly the
major part of the good to be OBJ
| tanned from the Interstate Commerce
law and from the law creating the
Bureau of Corporations in the Depart
ment of Commerce and Labor; or else
frequently to ObStruct an appeal to the
criminal laws by the Department of
Justice.
In offenses of this kind ii is at the
best hard enough to execute justice
upon offenders. Our system of criminal
| Jurisprudence has descended to us
from a period when the danger was
lest the accused should not have his
rights adequately preserved, and 1t is
admirably framed to meet this danger.
But at present the danger is just the
reverse; that is, the danger nowadays
is, not that innocent men will be con-
victed Of crime, but thai the guilty
man will go scOtt-free. This is eSpec-
tally the case where the crime is one
. of greed and cunning perpetrated by a
man of wealth in the course of those
business operations where the code of
conduct is at variance not merely with
the code of humanity and morality,
but with the code as established in the
law of the land
Mr.. Roosevelt goes on to say that
this Interpretation by Judge HLlEI,h-
rey of the will of the Congress as OK
pressed in Legislation is such as to
make that will absolutely abortive."
!, When Judge Shiras chopped over"
and saved the big rict, from the in
! come tax. Mr.. Roosevelt was not much
concerned because the will of Con-
gress as expressed in legislation" was
thereby rendered absolutely abOr-
tive" But that was when he had
been so stepped in worship of the
teachings of Alexander Hamilton and
john Marshall that he couldn't see the
logical result of their un-American