New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1907-06-13
OLD AND NEW.

The honest fears entertained by many observ
ers Of the rapidly increasing scope Of govern
mental activity have not been shared by all his
torical students. Many investigators, familiar
with the development Of European law, have re
fused to become panicstricken, for they have
seen in modern tendencies little more than
natural readjustment of long established legal
and political principles to novel conditions This
conviction has Just been summed up by Mr.. Tai
colt Williams in his Phi Beta Kappa address at
Columbia University. Mr. Williams shows spe
cifcally how modern economic evils are simply
old ones banlshed by law from the fields in
which they first appeared and now bobbing up
in a new domain TO which lawmakers have here
tofore given little attention. The speaker said :
What was the railroad pass but a successor of
the diplomatic with which the Roman emperor
honored his privileged favorite with free travel?
What was the rebate but levy under a new
form of the powerful baron upon peaceful
trade? What was the militant organization Of
the trust but private war on a new and great
scale? What are the monOpOlies, partial or
complete. which it creates but the exclusive
rights under q form which the last Parlia-
ment under the reign Of Elizabeth wrenched
from the most stubborn of Tudor sovereignsF
What equal rates for all but the rising tide
of equality for every shipper in transportation?
What IS the prohibition of passes but another
limit on privilege2 A pure food law, q pure
meas law are too narrowly considered when we
look upon them merely extension of the
health Of the community. Exactly the first
step in civil liberty to deprive the sovereign
OF the power or temptation to debase the King $
coin and to render certain that all men should
be at an equal advantage In all their future
contradiction the American people protection
only gained ten years ago-so IT IS natural
accompaniment of a democratic economy that
the broad shield OF law is extended TO protect
the humblest against debased food or a dubious
meat product.
What does this imply if not that the great
changes going on In the statute books all over
the world represent changed conditions Of life
rather than q radical departure from long estab
lished and accepted principles of equity and
government? The one al-mportant point TO be
borne In mind by those who are inclined to con
strue the food Of new economic legislation as
sign of the collapse of justice and the harbnger
Of socialism is the one to which the Phi Beta
Kappa speaker recurs. In spite of Inevitable
blunders modern lawmakers are simply trying
to maintain the best traditions Of all who have
leglslated for the common good in any sc, while
many would-be reSorners clamorlng FOR either
the rigid maintenance or the total abolition Of
the present legal and economic order are trying
20 do away with ancient privileges and ancient
conceptions Of justice at the same time As if
Eight and wrong could charge with the Invention
Df machines and the rise of vast industrial or
CARNATIONS.
The letter Of the law must be changed to
rhyme with the din OF factories and giant cities
It must be changed IN order that the spirit OF
the law may not perish for lack Of habltaton
and a name. In the same way and for the same
reason the functions Of the state must vary with
the appearance Of new conditions, but such a
change need not and should not involve a change
in the essential character of a state whose cit
liens have founded it upon the broad principle
Of individual justice and opportunity.