Arizona republican., 1908-12-09

undesirably, radical, measures, show themselves to be the worst enemies of the very public whose loud-mouth- ed champions they profess to be. A very striking illustration of the con seuuences of carelessness in the prep aration of a statute was the employ CTS liability law of 1906. In the cases arising under that law, four out of six courts of first instance held it unconstitutional; six out of nine justices of the supreme court held that it's subject matter was within the province of congressional action: and four of the nine justices held it valid It was, however, ad- judged unconstitutional by a bare majority of the court-five to four. It was surely a very slovenly piece of work to frame the legislation in such shape as to leave the question open at all.
 Real damage has been done by the manifold and conflicting interpreta- tions of the interstate commerce law. Control over the great corporations doing interstate bushes can be eff fective only if it is vested with full DONtl III siii dulil4lliSNl illNt utpdi ment, a branch of the federal eXecu- tive, carrying out a federal law; it can never be effective if a divided responsibility is left in both the states and the nation; it can never be effective if left in the hands of the courts to be decided by lawsuits.
 The Need of Respect.
 The courts hold a place of peculiar and deserved sanctity under our form of government. Respect for the law is essential to the permanence of our institutions; and respect for the law is largely conditioned upon respect for the courts. It is an offense against the republic to say anything which can weaken this respect, save for the gravest reason and in the most carefully guarded manner. Our judges should be held in peculiar honor; and the duty of respectful and truthful comment and criticism, which should be binding when we speak of them. On an average they stand above any other servants of the community, and the greatest judges have reached the high level held by those few greatest patriots whom the country delights to honor But We must face the fact that there are wise and unwise judges, just as there are wise and unwise eXecu- tives and legislators. When a presi- dent or a governor behaves improp- erly or unwisely, the remedy is easy, for his term is short; the same is true with the legislator. although not to the same degree, for he is one of many who belong to some given legislative body, and it is therefore less easy to fix his personal respon- sibility and hold him accountable therefor. With a judge, who. being human. is also likely to err, but whose tenure is for life, there is no similar way of holding him to re- sponsibility Under ordinary condi- tiOns the only forms, of pressure to which he is in any way amen- able, are public opinion and the ac- tion of his fellow judges. It is the last which is most immediately ef- fective, and to which We should look for the reform of abuses Any rem edy applied from without is fraught with risk. It is far better, from every stanpdoint, that the remedy should come from within. In no other nation in the world do the courts as a whole exercise this pow CT with the far-sighted wisdom al- ready shown by those judges who scan the future while they act in the present. Let them exercise this great power not only honestly and bravely, but with wise insight into the needs and fixed purposes of the people, so that they may do justice, and work equity, so that they may protect all persons in their rights. and yet break down the barriers of
 The Forests.
 If there is any one duty which more than another we owe to our children and our children's children to perform at once, it is to save the forests of this country, for they con- stitute the first and most important element in the conservation of the natural resources of the ocountry There are of course two kinds of natural resources. One is the kind which can only be used as part of a
 
 mines, natural oil and gas wells, and the like. The other, and of course ultimately by far the most important. includes the resources which can be improved in the process of wise use; the soil, the rivers, and the forests come under this head Any really civilized nation will so use all of these three great national assets that the nation will have their benefit in the future. Just as a farmer. after all his life making his living from his farm, will, if he is an expert farmer, leave it as an asset of in creased value to his son, so we should leave our national domain to our children, increased in value and not worn out. There are small sections of our own county, in the east and in the west, in the Adirondacks. the White mountains, and the Appalach- ians, and in the Rocky mountains. where we can already see for our selves the damage in the shape of permanent injury to the soil and the river systems which comes from reck- less defOrestatiOn. It matters not whether this deforestation is due to the actual reckless cutting of timber. to the fires that inevitably follow such reckless cutting of timber, or to reckless and uncontrolled grazing, es- pecially by the great migratory bands of sheep, the unchecked wandering of which over the cOupfrv rpaopc da