The daily Gate City. [volume] (Keokuk, Iowa) 1855-1916, 1908-12-08
continued from Page 81

,,boring men or the country, by
" nov in which they repudiated the
" g,,t to get them to cast their votes
epO, rosponse to an appeal to class
y ..ad have emphasized their sound
G G..sot,sm and Americanism. The
p Esole country has cause to feel pride
Win ,his attitude of sturdy independ-
w. in this uncompromising insist
~ w. mon acting simply as good citi.
s, w. as good Americans, without re-
] ID TO fancied and improper class in
.ssts Such an attitude is an object
''.son in good citizenship to the en-
Tire nation.
pnt the extreme reactionaries. the
..rsons who blind themselves to the
p-onps now and then committed by
~ courts on labortng men, should
.,so think seriously as to what such a
.ovement rs this portends. The
;udres who have shown themselves
.hle and willing effectively to check
,he dishonest activity of the very rich
man who works iniquity by the mis-
management Of corporations, who
have shown themselves alert to do
,rstice to the wageworker and sym.
,,thetic with the needs of the mass
n our people SO that the dweller In
,be tenement houses, the man who
nractces n dangerous trade. the man
rho is crushed by excessive hours of
abor. feel that their needs are under
tood BY the courts-t these judges are
tho real bulwark Of the courts: these
Mdges. the judges of the stamp of
the president elect, who have been
fearless in opposing labor when 1t has
I gone wrong, but fearless also In hold
iug to strict account corporations that
work iniquity, and farsighted In see
ipy that the workingman gets his
Hybts. are the men of all others to
whom we owe 1t that the appeal for
uch violent and mistaken legislation
has fallen on deaf ears, that the agi.
ation for its passage proved to be
Without substantial basis. The courts
are jeoparded primarily by the action
Of these federal and state judges who
show inability or unwillingness to put
stop to the wrongdoing of very rich
men under modern industrial condi-
lions and inability or unwillingness to
gve relief to men of small means or
wageworkers who are crushed down
by these modern Industrial conditions.
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 In our social and
Industrial life which have attended
this rapid growth have made it neces.
sary that In applying to concrete cases
the great rule of right laid down in
our constitution there should be q full
understanding and appreciation Of the
new conditions TO which the rules are
be applied. What would have been
an Infringement upon liberty half
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 judicial decision
Involves two terns--one an interpreta
ton Of the law, the other the under
standing of the facts to which it is to
be applied. The great mass of our ju-
oiclal officers are, l believe, alive to
these changes of conditions which so
materially affect the performance of
their judicial duties. Our judicial sys-
TEN is sound and effective Il core, and
II remains and must ever be main
tained as the safeguard Of those prin-
cples of liberty and Justice which
stand at the foundation of American
institutions, for, as Eurke finely said,
Sheh liberty and justice are separated
neither Is safe. There are. however,
come members Of the judicial body
VINO have Jagged behind In their I'M
outstanding of these great and vital
changes In the body polite, whose
minds have never been opened to the
new applications Of the old principles
made necessary by the new conditions.
Judges of this stamp do lasting harm
" their decisions. because they con
vince poor men In need of protection
alat the courts of the land are pro.
loundly ignorant of and out of sym.
Iathy with their needs and profoundly
indifferent or hostile to any proposed
remedy. To such men it seems a cruel
nocEery to have any court decide
'saihst them on the ground that 1t de-
'lres TO preserve liberty" in n purely
ecnnical form by Withholding liberty
q any real and constructive sense. 1t
!. !, desirable that the legislative body
'nouid possess and. wherever neces-
'arS' exercise the power TO determine
neither In given case employers
''iu employees are not on an equal
oouRS, SO that the necessities Of the
a''er compel them to submit to such
as to hours and conditions
: hoor as unduly to tax their
and only mischief can result
, :, such determination is upset on
ne ground that there must be no sin
sliorenee with the liberty to con
,act often a merely academic lib
Ivy. 10y the exercise Of which is the ne
'atlon Of real liberty
!, inere are certain decisions by va
,ous courts which have been exceed
nsN detrimental to the rights of