Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1908-12-11

In substance, provision should be made
that no Injunction or temporary re-
straining order Issue otherwise than on
notice, except where irreparable injury
would otherwise result; and in such case
a hearing on the merits OF the order
should be had within q short fixed pc
riod, and. IL not then continued after
hearing, II should forthwith lapse. De-
csions should be rendered Immediately,
and the chance of delay minimized in
every way. Moreover. 1 believe that the
procedure should be sharply defined. and
the judge required minutely to state the
particulars both of his action and of his
reasons therefor, so that the congress
can IL 1t desires examine and Investigate
the same.
For many of the shortcomings of
Justice in our country our people as
whole are themselves to blame, and the
judges and juries merely bear their
share together with the public as a
whole. 1t is discreditable TO us as a
people that there should be difficulty In
convicting murderers. or In bringing to
justice men who as public servants
have been guilty of corruption, or who
have profited by the corruption of
public servants. The result is equally
unfortunate, whether due to hairsplit-
ting technicalities in the Interpretation
of law by Judges. to sentimentality and
class consciousness on the part of
JurIes. or to hysteria and sensational
ism in the daily press. For much of
this failure OF Justice no responsibility
whatever lies on rich men as such. We
who make UP the mass of the people
cannot shift the responsibility from our
own shoulders. But there Is an impor-
tant part of the failure which has spe-
cial!y to do with inability to hold
to proper account men of wealth who
behave badly.
The Modern Corporation.
MI.
mulated by few individuals of recent
years. in what has amounted to So
cial and Industrial revolution, has been
as regards some of these individuals
made possible only by the improper use
of the modern corporation. A certain
type OF modern corporation, with Its
officers and agents. its many Issues of
securities, and Its constant consolida-
tion with allied undertakings, finally
becomes an instrument so complex as
to contain a greater number OF ele-
ments that under various judicial de-
cisions, lend themselves to fraud and
oppression than any device yet evolved
in the human brain. Corporations are
necessary instruments of modern busi-
ness. They have been permitted to
become a menace largely because the
governmental representatives of the
people have worked slowly in provid-
ing for adequate control over them.
Our great clusters of corpora
tions huge trusts and fabulously
wealthy multimillionaires. employ the
very best lawyers they can obtain to
pick flaws in statutes after their
passage; but they also employ a class
of secret agents who seek. under the
advice of experts, to render hostile
legisla tion innocuous by making 1t un-
constitutional, often through the inser-
tion of what appear on their face to be
drastic and sweeping provisions against
snNa &c Of he aN-fI trg frty
them; while the demagogues, the cor
rupt creatures who introduce black
mailing schemes to strike" corpora
tions, and all who demand extreme,
and undesirably radical, measures,
show themselves TO be the worst enc
mics of the very public whose loud
mouthed champions they profess to be.
Real damage has been done by the
manifold and conflicting interpretations
oil the interstate commerce law. Con-
troll over the great corporations doing
interstate business can be effective only
IL 1t is vested with full power in an
administrative department, a branch of
the federal executive, carrying out
federal law; 1t can never be effective If
a divided responsibility is left in both
the states and the nation; 1t can never
be effective IL left in the hands of the
courts to be decided by lawsuits.
Respect for Law Must Be Upheld.
deserved sanctity under our form of gov
ernment. Respect for the law is essen
tial to the permanence OF our institu-
tions; and respect for the law is largely
conditioned upon respect for the courts.
1t is an offense against the republic to
say anything which can weaken this re-
spect, save for the gravest reason and in
the most carefully guarded manner. In no
other nation in the world do the courts
WELD such vast and far-reaching power
as in the United States. All that is nee
essary is that the courts as a whole
should exercise this power with the far
sighted wisdom already 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 per-
| sons in their rights. and yet break down
the barriers of privilege, which is the foe
| of right.
Forest Preservation.
II there is any one duty which more
than another we owe It to our children
| to perform at once, 1t is to save the for
| ests of this country, for they constitute
| the first and most important element in
| the conservation of the natural re-
| sources of the country. Just as
| farmer, after all his life making his
living from his farm. will. II he is an ex-
| pert farmer, leave 1t as an asset of in
| creased value to his son, so we should
| leave our national domain to our chill
| dren, increased in value and not worn
| out. There are small sections of our own
| country, in the east and in the west, in
the Adirondacks. the White mountains
| and the Appalachlans, and in the Rocky
| mountains, where we can already see for
| ourselves the damage in the shape of
| permanent injury to the soil and the
| river systems which comes from reckless
| deforestation. 1t matters not whether
this deforestatlon is due to the actual
| reckless cutting OF timber, to the fires
| that inevitably follow such reckless cut
| ting of timber, or to reckless and uncon-
! trolled grazing, especially by the great
! migratory bands of sheep, the un-
| checked wandering of which over the
country means destruction to forests and
disaster to the small home-makers, the
| settlers of limited means.
| Thanks to our own recklessness
in the use OF our splendid forests