Santa Fe new Mexican. [volume] (Santa Fe, N.M.) 1898-1951, 1907-10-02

tion SO admirable that il is reserving
Iof very wide study; for what he said
was, as all studies Of law in its high
est form ought to be. contribution
to constructive jurisprudence as it
should be understood not only by
judges but by legislators, not only by
those who interpret and decide the
law, but by those who make II and
who administer or execute it, He
quoted from the late Justice Miller, of
the Supreme Court. to show that even
in the Interpretation of the constitu-
ton by this, the highest authority of
the land, the courts successive decis
ions must be tested by the way they
work in actual application to the Ma
tional life; the court adding to its
thought and study the results of ex.
perience and observation until the
true solution is evolved by process
both Of inclusion and exclusion. Said
Justice Miller: The meaning Of the
Constitution is sought as much in the
National life as in the dictionary for,
as has been we'll said, government
purely out of law library can never
be really good government"
Now that the questions of govern
ment are becoming so largely econom-
ic, the majority OF our so-called con.
stitutional cases really turn not upon
the Interpretation of the instrument it.
self. but upon the construction, the
right apprehension Of the living condi.
tions TO which it is to be applied The
Constitution Is now and must remain
what it always has been; but 1t can
only be interpreted as the interests
of the whole people demand, if inter
preted as a living organism, designed
to meet the conditions of life and not
Of death; in other words, if interpret
ed as Marshall interpreted it, as Will
son declared it should be interpreted.
The Marshall theory, the theory of
life and not of death, allows to the Ma
tion. that is to the people as whole,
when once it finds subject within
the national cognizance, the widest
and freest choice of methods for ma
tional power, and sustains every exer-
else of national power which has any
reasonable relation to this theory
means, for instance, that the Nation
that We, the ninety millions of people
of this country-will be left helpless
to control the huge corporations which
now domineer in our industrial life,
and that they will have the authority
of the courts to work their desires un-
checked; and such decision would
in the end be as disastrous for them
as for us. II the theory of the Mar
shall school prevails, then an immense
field Of national power, now unused,
will be developed, which will be. ade-
quate for dealing with many, If not all,
of the economic problems which vex
us; and we shall be saved from the
omnious threat of a constant oscilla-
tlon between economic tyranny and
economic chaos. Our industrial, and
therefore our social. future as a Ma
ton depends upon settling Alright this
urgent question.
Need For Federal Supervision Over
Railroads.
"There are difficulties arising from
our dual form Of government. If they
prove to be insuperable resort must
be had to the power Of amendment. Let
us first try to meet them by an exer-
else of all the powers of the National
Government which in the Marshall
spirit of broad Interpretation can be
found in the Constitution as it is. They
are of vast extent. The chief economic
question of the day in this country is
to provide a sovereign for the great
engaged in interstate
business that is, for the railroads and
the interstate industrial corporations.
At the moment our prime concern is
with the railroads When railroads
were first built they were purely local
in character. Their boundaries were
not coextensive even with the bound
aries of one State. They usually COW
cred but two or three counties. All
this has now changed. At present five
great systems embody nearly four