Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1908-12-08

Judges who haye shown themselves
able and willing effectively to check
the dishonest activity of the very rich
4 man who works iniquity by the mis-.
management of corporations, who
have shown themselves alert to do
Justice to the wa cworker and sym.
4 pathetic with the needs of the mass
OF our people so that the dweler in
A 1.-The tenement houses, the man who
.ljprnctices n dangerous trade, the man
4 who is crushed by excessive hours Of
5Iglnbor, feel that their needs are UNDER
stood by the courts---thesc Judges are
i the real billwark of the courts; these
4 Judges, the judges Of the stamp Of
A the president elect who have been
\ fearless in opposing labor When it has
4 gone wrong but fearless also in hold.
i ing to strict account corporations that
work iniulity, and farsighted in see.
a ing that the workingman gets his
Il rights, are tho men of all others to
whom We owe IL that the appeal for
i such violent and mistaken legislation
!, has fallen on deaf cars, that the aci.
tation for its passage proved to be
4 without substantial basis. The courts
i are ieoparded primarily by the action
II of these federal and state judges who
4 show inability or unwilllngness to put
y II stop to the wrongdoing Of very rich
Il men under modern industrial condi-
:. lions and inability or unwillingness TO
{ give relief to mon of small means or
Z wngeworkers who are crushed down
by these modern industrial conditions,
Z who, in other words, fail to UNDER
stand and apply the needed remedies
/ for the new wrongs produced by the
new and highly complex social and
industrial civilization which has
grown up in the last half century.
The rapid changes i'll our social and
Industrial life which have attended
Tlthis rapid growth have made it neces-
4 snry that i'll applying to concrete cases
. 1.-The great rule of right laid down in
our constitution there should be a full
2 understanding and appreciation OF the
NEW conditions to Which the rules are
4 to be applied What would have been
IN infringement upon liberty half Il
century ago may be the necessary safe
guard OF liberty today. What would
\ have been an injury to property, then
may be necessary to the enjoyment Of
property now. Every iudlcial decision
Involves two terms an interpreter
4 tion Of the law. the other the Under
i standing OF the facts to which il is to
be applied. The great mass of our jul.
dicial officers are, believe, alive TO
{ these changes of conditions which SO
!. materially affect the performance Of
4 their judicial duties. Our judicial sys-
4 TEN IS sound and effective II core, and
4 II rcmains and must ever be main
. tanned as the safeguard of those prill-
! ciples of liberty and justice which
A stand at the foundation of American
4 Institutions, for, as Burke finely said,
7 when liberty and justice are separated
neither is safe. There are, however,
Z, some members Of the judicial body
who have Jagged behind in their I'M
(. derstanding of these great and vital
changes In the body polite, whose
4 minds have never been opened to the
4 new applications OF the old principles
made necessary BY the new conditions.
Judges of this stamp do lasting harm
/ by their decisions, because they con-
i NlllcG DOul ultu III liecu VI PloleSllul1
4 that the courts of the land are pro-
foundly, Ignorant OF and out of SYM
Il pathy with their needs and profoundly
i Indifferent or hostile to any proposed
4 remedy. TO such men it seems a cruel
i mockcry to have any court decide
] against them on the ground that it de-
sres to preserve liberty" in purely
4 technical form by Withholding liberty
In any real and constructive sense. 1t
/ is desirable that the legislative body
4 should possess and, wherever neces-
sary, exercise the power TO determine
whether in Il given case employers
and employees are not on an equal
/ footing, so that the necessities of the
latter compel them to submit to such
4 eXactions as to hours and conditions
/. Of labor rs undulY to tax their
4 strength, and only mischief can result
/ when such determination is upset on
the ground that there must be no 'ill-
reference with the liberty to con.
Etract'-oftcn II merely academic lib
crty," the exercise OF which is the ne
cation Of real liberty.
/ There are certain decisions by va
rious courts which have been exceed
lingly detrimental to the rights Of
wageworkers. This is true of all the
decisions that decide that men and
women are by the constitution guar
| anteed their liberty" to contract to
| enter dangerous occupation, or to
work an undesirable or improper num-
Der OF hours, or to work in unhealthy
/ surroundings, and therefore cannot re-
1 cover damages when MANNED in that
1 occupation and cannot be forbidden
Ito work what the Legislature decides is
an excessive number of hours, or 10
/ carry on the work under conditions
which the legislature decides to be ull-
healthy The most dangerous occupl-
/ tons are often the poorest paid and
+ those where the hours of work are
! longest, and in many cases those who
/ go into them are driven by necessity
so great that they have practically no
! alternative. Decisions sncl, rs those
}allnded to above nullify the legislative
effort to protect the wageworkers who
most need protection from those emf
| ploycrs who take advantage Of Their
grinding need. They halt or hamper
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