The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1906-08-29


er peoples have experienced, we have
enjoyed a very large measure of free
dom, feeling only that sight restraint
upon Individual action which the ordi-
nary elementary principles Of govern
ment have always conceived to be
reasonable and necessary 1t has hard
" beer. noticeable and but slightly felt
The customary is always easy, and SO
we have only in small degree realized
that we move daily along a road which
Is within another road, and that the
beaten paths of the two are sometimes
not easy to distinguish The American
citizen is thus doubly responsible, and
to the extent that the state and the ma
tionaI government make rules for him,
the ..shrinkage" of which Maeterlinck
speaks undeniably results.
But, gentlemen. legislation is not
only the adoption of positive rules of
conduct, but it IS, if l may so express
it, experimentation. It Is feeling the
way; exploring paths that may or may
not lead to the right goal; burning up
fuel which may produce neither heat
nor light, and yet shall we say it was
wasted? The inventor vainly tries
many mechanical combinations before
he happily brings forth the workable
machine. The chemist, the astrono-
mer. the searcher, whatever may be his
passion, patiently fails and fails again,
until at last his purpose is accomplish
ed. In the same way, the attainment
Of permanently beneficial results by
legislation is generally marked by sue
cessive efforts and failures. Wheth er
those who make laws have the moral
right to thus practice and experiment
upon those who are to be governed by
them is another question; but it GER
tainly would not be fair to hold law
makers responsible for all their fail
ures, particularly in a system where 1t
is asserted and generally believed, that
heir only proper function is TO carry
out the will of the people. It is certain
that many bad laws are enacted many
unnecessary ones, and many exceeding
~ foolish ones=but, on the whole, do
we not move along toward better
things? Undoubtedly. we have too
much legislation, but is not that largely
the fault of our system, and is not our
system, even with the danger of over
legislation. a wise ana good one in its
great essential features? I think so,
and I believe that, in a way which Is
larger than we can grasp in its entire
", we are carrying out the "increas-
ing purpose" which Tennyson de-
clared runs through the ages.
Due to Activity of Mind.
1t has often been pointed out that we
are leaving the simple manners and
methods OF our fathers, and that over
legislation is the great and dangerous
evil OF the times. Indeed, there is u
certain foundation for this charge, but
II mas D6eIl somewhat exaggerated
and its dangers magnified. The old-time
simplicity of a small population, prin-
cipally engaged in agriculture, cannot
be expected in a nation of eighty mil
lions. Whether the homely plainness of
life in the early days of the Republic
was good or bad for US, it has undoubt-
eddy gone forever. We have grown
enormously in wealth. owing to condi-
tions which favored US above all other
nations but the main factor in bring
ing about the changed methods of living
and of carrying on the daily affairs of
the people, has not been wealth, nor
legislation, nor any infirmity in our sys-
tenn of government but the tremendous
activity of the human mind in the di-
rection of science.
It would, perhaps, be more accura te
to say that the great increase of wealth
and it's accumulation in colossal for
tunes are themselves the result, and the
inevitable result, of the scientific ten
denotes which have been so active in the
past half century When the capacity
of a spindle or a loom has been ouadru-
pied by the happy thought of some in
telligent workman, step has been ta-
ken toward luxury and wealth-perhaps
not for the workman himself, but for
his employer and for other employers
who gradually possess themselves of
the secret and finally for all. Rrooding
upon the hidden law of some metallic
of chemical action. the truth-Which,
perhaps, was concealed by the mere fact
that it was so enthusiastically bursts
upon the tired brain of a thinker, and
straightway an Industrial ans economic
revolution begins its onward course. At
ter all. in determining ultimate respon-
SfbflitleS, the scientific spirit, the inVen-
tive energy which has dominated mod
ern thought, must be counted most to
blame for present conditions If, indeed
anyone Is to blame Shall we say that
Fulton and Stephenson were disguised
enemies of their race, and Edison and
Marconi dangerous foes to free institu-
tions? The great intellectual develop
ment of the nineteenth century-thc
greatest in all history-took the direc-
ton of scientific research, and the result
has been a transformation of the modes
of living, of the aims and aspirations
OF men, and, necessarily, of the scope
and purpose of legislation.
Among the practical EN- barrass-
ments which confront US a all times IT
dealing with such questions. IS oul
double system of government. The
people of other nations have found i
sufficiently difficult to conform to the
requirement of one homogeneous Sc
of laws but every citizen of the United
States is under the sway of two soyer,
eighties, each supreme within it:
Jurisdiction The American either
must obey both, and IS not given th'
privilege OF taking his choice between
them. Both governments are legislat
ing at the same time, and frequently
upon the same subject, and it is wise
man who can rightly determine jus
where he stands, when these two SOW
ereignties differ, as they sometimes do
in their commands. OF course, thu
temptation to over legislation and th'
opportunity for Indulgence in it. is in
creased perhaps almost doubled, b!
this dual system Of government. F'oi
the suppression or regulation of ever.
supposed evil tendency or condition
which arises in our comm rcial, socia
or political life. there is a race between
the state and the nation for the happ.
chance of first graphing with it, TIT
constitutional line which separates Thu
fields of state and national supremac!
is not always plain to the people, or t
legislators, or-let it be sorrowfulll
admitted-to the courts themselves
And so, lawmaking goes on in the ma