The mirror. (Stillwater, Minn.) 1894-1925, 1907-04-11

These two. conceptions cannot be so
interpreted that they will concur.
Hence justice is relegated to an infe-
rior position, and society suffers as a
consequence of mans imperfect inter-
probation of the divine will If there
is single person who questions the
truth of this contention, then take that
person and place him in "durance vile"
for some act which he was unaware Of
being unlawful Obtain his opinion as
to whether or not such proceeding is
based on reason and then try to con-
form his views with the supposition
that the foundation of law is common
sense.
Just pause second and gaze at the
caricature of Law and Justice. On one
side you see muscular, strong man;
on the other woman with her eyes
bllndfolded-the man as a representa-
tive of our ideas of Law, the woman of
Justice. Every one knows that the
scales of justice are unevenly balanced,
and l believe that the saddest part of
the human races history is due to this
fact. Law, they say, must be enforced
rigidly to insure the welfare of society.
Do you imagine, for a moment, that
the human race would have suffered
any if the people of Greece had modi-
fled their laws and, in the interests of
justice, spared the life of Socrates and
such men; that the people of the Ro-
man Empire would have experienced
such suffering as they did If justice had
been above law; that France would
have passed thru such internal discords,
or revolutions; that Russians, as today,
would be pitiablerac that England's
history would be indelibly stained with
repugnant instances; aud that Ameri-
cas- early history would contain such
glaringly unjust evidences of evils as
it does? All of the suffering of the
various peoples, in various nations, are
traceable to the superiority of law over
justice,
To insure protection for the masses
the law must make way for justice that
the will of the Creator may be fulfilled.
The will of man reflects the will of God
so long as justice is recognized as being
above law. When it is not, empires
totter and fall unless the people rise as
one and demand modification of law
their Magma Charta, as it were-and
the recognition of justice. When the
will of one man, or 0f several, is, tho
out of harmony with the equity of men,
declared Us law, then we find such
rulers as Peter the Great of Russia, Al
exander the Great, Phyrrus, Caesar, the
brilliant Napoleon, ETC., leaving for
the pernsal of man accomplishments
of great deeds stained with unright-
eOusness.
Should the law be rigidly enforced ?
Let US consider the question broadly
first, and what conclusions do we ad-
duce. Here we see an infant land,
Young America, the people are subjects
of England, guided by the laws die
tated from the throne of England.
Those laws are so superior to the die
tates of justice that the Americans
oppose their enforcement and after
few "Tea Parties" battle for, aud win,
independence. The result was a tri-
umph of justice over law. Again, we
see the chief executive of our nation
seated at his desk in the White House
pondering over the peculiar fact that
law is based upon common sense and
reason while thousands of human be-
ings are in slavery. One can almost
see Honest Abe's countenance as he
raises his eyes heavenward and tries to
imagine what action would be pleasing
to his Creator; can almost picture him
as he closes volume after volume of
laws and dips his pen in ink to sign
the famous proclamation of freedom
for the slaves-which declared to man
kind that justice must displace law for
the good of humanity.
AS to the law being rigidly enforced
in Its application to individuals there
may be some dissention; but whatever
holds good to corporate organization
of persons should necessarily become
cardinal principle where a unit Of
suchorganization is concerned lin other
words, aprlnciple firmly established as
being conducive to the best interests
Of the people when applied to them as
an organization must necessarily be to