Bismarck daily tribune., 1908-12-09


The wageworkers, the workingmen,
the laboring men OF the country, by
the way In which they repudiated the
effort to get them to cast their votes
In response to an appeal to class
hatred have emphasized their sound
patriotism and Americanism. The
whole country has cause to feel pride
In this attitude Of sturdy independ-
ence, In this uncompromising insist
ence upon acting simply as good citi-
zens, as good Americans, without re-
gard to fancied and improper class in
terests. Such an attitude is an object
lesson in good citizenship to the en-
tire nation
But the extreme reactionarieS, the
persons who blind themselves to the
wrongs now and then committed by
the courts on laboring men, should
also think seriously as to what such a
movement as this portends. The
judges who have shown themselves
able and willings effectively to check
the dishonest activity Of the very rich
man who works iniquity by the mis-
management Of corporations, who
have shown themselves alert to do
justice to the wageworker and sym
pathetic with the needs of the mass
Of our people SO that the dweller In
the tenement houses, the man who
practices dangerous trade. the man
who is crushed by excessive hours OF
labor, feel that their needs are under
stood by the courts these judges are
the real bulwark Of the courts; these
judges, the judges Of the stamp OF
the president elect, who have been
fearless in opposing labor when it has
gone wrong, but fearless also in hold.
ing to strict account corporation that
work iniquity, and farsighted in see.
ing that the workingman gets his
rights, are the men Of all others to
whom we owe 1t that the appeal for
such violent and mistaken legislation
has fallen on deaf ears, that the agi-
tation 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-
tions and inability or unwillingness to
give 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 full
understanding and appreciation Of the
new conditions to which the rules are
to be applied. What would have been
an infringement upon liberty half a
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 terms-one IN tnterpreta-
ton Of the law, the other the under
standing Of the facts to- which 1t is to
be applied. The great mass of our iu-
dicial officers are, believe, alive to
these changes of conditions which so
materially affect the performance of
their Judicial duties. Our judicial sys-
tenn is sound and effective at core, and
1t remains and must ever be main
tanned as the safeguard Of those prin-
ciples of liberty and Justice which
stand at the foundation of American
institutions, for, as Burke finely said,
when liberty and justice are separated
neither is safe. There are, however,
some members of the judicial body
who have Jagged behind in their un-
derstanding 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
by their decisions, because they con-
vince poor men in need Of protection
that the courts Of the land are pro.
foundly ignorant Of and out Of sym
pathy with their needs and profoundly
Indifferent or hostile to any proposed
remedy. To such men it seems cruel
mockery to have any court decide
against them on the ground that 1t de-
sires to preserve liberty in purely
technical form by withholding liberty
in any real and constructive sense. 1t
is desirable that the legislative body
should possess and, wherever neces-
sary. exercise the power to determine
whether in given case employers
and employees are not on an equal
footing, SO that the necessities of the
latter compel them to submit to such
exactions as to hours and conditions
of labor as unduly to tax their
strength, and only mischief can result
when such determination is upset on
the ground that there must be no tin-
reference with the liberty to con-
tract"-often merely academic tlib-
erty,' the exercise Of which Is the me-
CATION of real liberty.
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