The Montgomery advertiser., 1907-08-22

era1 States. deliberately done. for their own protection and safety against in- Justice from one another.
 And their anxiety to preserve it in full force. in all its powers. and to guard against resistance to or evasion of. its authority on the part of a State. is proved by the clause which requires that the members of the State Legisla- lures. and all executive and judicial officers of the several States. Gas well as those of the General GovernmenD, shall be bound by oath or affirmation to supportTt this Constitution. This is the last and closing clause of the Con- stitution. and inserted when the whole frame of Government. with the powers hereinbefore specified, had been adopt ed by the Convention. and 1t was in that form, and with these powers. that the Constitution was submitted to the people of the several States for their consideration and decision.
 l" Now 1t certainly can be no hu- initiation to the citizen of a republic to yield a ready obedience to the laws as administered by the constituted author ities. On the contrary. 1t Is among his first and highest duties as a citizen, because free government cannot ex- ist without It.
 Nor. can 1t be inconsistent with the dignity of a sovereign State to observe faithfully. and in the spirit of sheer ity and truth, the compact into which 1t voluntarily entered when. 1t became a State of this Union. On the contrary, the highest honor of sovereignty is un- tarnished faith. And certainly no faith could be more deliberately and solemn ly pledged than that which every State has pledged to the other States to sup port the Constitution as 1t is. in all It's provisions. until they shall be altered in the manner which the Consultation itself prescribes. Tn the emphatic lan- guage of the pledge required, 1t is to support this Constitution.
 Resentment Ia Sought.
 Resentment Is sought to be arous- ed against the court because. 1t is urg- ed, 1t is wrong for one man either te suspend rate laws or finally to decide upon their validity. If there be any thing in this complaint. 1t would relate to every case in which a single judge declared a statute unconstitutional, and applies alike to State and Federal courts.
 "The complaint should be against the Constitution itself. and not against the courts it creates, to pass upon the val- ldity of laws. But there Is nothing of substance in the contention 1t over- looks the genius of our institutions. This Is a representative government. Wherever 1t lodges power in par ticular branch of the government. that branch is the organ by which the Con- stitution speaks on tnar subject. The Legislature is but an agent of the peo- pie.
 "Tha judge is an agent. too, charged with the responsibility and duty to see that the Legislature keeps within the sphere to which the Constitution con- fines 1t. Is there anything anomalous or wrong In one agent of the people passing upon the acts of other agents, when the common master imposes the duty.
 "In the cases before the court, in which the rate statutes were suspend ed. and the statute popularly known as the outlaw act was declared uncon- stitutional, that statute was passed by the agentss of two millions of people and in the discharge or constitution al duty, it was declared unconstitution- al by an agent of all the American peo- pie.
 There is nothing dangerous in the exercise of such power. It distinguishes our American system apove all others, where the judiciary have greater pow CT in protecting the citizen against invasion of his rights by legislative au- thorty. than in any other form of gov ernment on the earth. Even in the Mother Country, an act of Parliament, it is said, is as omnipotent as the voice Of God, and the courts there cannot overthrow the will of Parliament.
 whether the enactment violates what Is called the Constitution of Great Britain. is, after all, a political dues- ton rather than judicial one, and is really settled on the hustings and in Parliament. The judiciary there can not interfere.
 Tn this country the liberties of the people depend largely upon an inde- pendent Judiciary, which stands be- tween the citizens and the government and checks 1t when 1t oversteps the bounds marked out by the fundamental law. What Tefiecting citizen would have it otherwise?
 No Rights are Denied.
 "some seek to fan passion by loud assertions that the Federal Court has denied the right of the State to enforce its own criminal laws Is this cry sin cere? If these laws could be violated while they are suspended and enjoined. they have been violated for four long months all over the State. Surely there was as much duty then as now to commence prosecutions. Yet no ju- dicial or executive officer of the State then dreamed of 1t. Why this asser- tion by some after all this, that 1t Is their duty to move now. in disregard of the orders of this court?
 '.The rate issue sTows out of the lawful use of property in transport Ing persons and things. That is the duty due to society. Primarily the charge for the service concerns only the customer and the carrier. The cAs- toner is the only person, if the charge be unlawful. who can recover back the excess.
 If the exaction of the charge is wrongful, 1t does not constitute even a breach of the peace. The exaction of the charge, if illegal, is a wrong to the public because the State, which Is under duty to prevent oppression by those to whom the State entrusts fran chises and privileges so enacts. If the charge be not illegal it cannot be made a legal or moral wrong and pun