Weekly journal-miner., 1908-12-16


 cases the great rule of right laid down n nur Constitution. there should be a ful 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 hc the neccs sary safeguard of liberty today. What would have been an injury to property tnen may be necessary to the enjoy meut of property now. Every judicial decision involves two terms-one, an interpretation of the law; the other thc understanding of the facts to which it is to be applied The great mass of our judicial officers are 1 be- liovc alive to these changes of condi. tipns which so materially affect the performance of their judicial duties Our judicial system is sound and cfrec tive at core. and II remains, and must ever be maintained. as the safeguard of those principles of liberty and jus ticc 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 understanding of these great aud 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. be. cause they convince poor men in need of protection that the courts of the land are profoundly ignorant of' and oui of sympathy with their needs. and
 profoundly indifferent or hostile to any proposed remedy. To sul men
 2 seems % cruel mockcry to have any rouft decide against them on the
 ground thut it desires Co preserve "lihctiv' ia purely technical form.
 by withholding liberty iu any real and constructive sense. lt is desirable
 ih'i the legislative body shonld DOS. .css. and wherever necessary exercise.
 iic power to determine whether in a
 given ease employers and employees
 are not on m equal footing. so that
 tlc necessities of the latter compel
 tbcm to submit to such exacions as to
 hours and conditions of labor as un-
 duly to tax their strength; and only
 mischief can result when sucn deter.
 imitation is upset on the ground that
 there must be no "interfereucc with
 the liberty to contract t'- often a
 merely academic "liberty," the cxer. , else of which is the negation of real liberty.
 There is also. I think. ground for , the belief that substantial injustice is ! often suffered by employees in consc.
 quence of the custom of courts issu.
 ing temporary injunctiOns without ! ! u i.. t., nd ,uu,u,.na, Ina. Co
 contempt of court in instances where, : as a matter of fact, they have no , knowledge of any proceedings.
 Such proposals as those mentioned
 above as advocated by the extreme labor leaders, contain the vital error
 of being class legislation of the most offensive kind, and even if enacted in.
 to law | believe that the law would
 rightly he held unconstitutional. More.
 over, the labor people are themselves
 now beginning tO invoke the use of
 he power of injunction. During the last ten years, and within my own
 knowledge, at least fifty iniunctions have been obtained by labor unions in
 New York City alone, most of them , being to protect the union label Ca ' "propcrty right ), but some being
 obtained for other reasons against em
 plOyers. The power of injunction is , a great equitable remedy, which should on no account be destroyed But safe.
 guards should be erected against its
 abuse. l believe that some such pro.
 visions as those | advocated q year ago for checking the abuse of the is
 suance of temporary injunctions should
 be adopted. In substance, provision
 should be made that no injunction or temporary restraining order issue oth. erwise than on notice, except where irreparable injury would otherwise re-
 suit; and in such case hearing on
 the merits of the order should be mad within short fixed period, and, if
 not then contained after hearing, il
 should forthwith lapse. Decisions
 should be rendered immediately, and
 the chance of delay minimized in
 every way. Moreover, 1 believe that the procedure should be sharply de . fined, and the judge required infinitely to state the particulars both of his
 action and of his reasons therefor, so that the Congress can if it desires ex anime and investigate the same.
 The chief lawmakers in our country , may be, and often are, the judges because they are the final seat of au , thority. Every time they interpret contract, property, vested rights, du, process of law, liberty, they neees sarily enact into law parts of n sys tenn of social philosophy; and as such interpretation is Fundamental, they give direction to all law-making. Tn, !, decisions of the courts on eeonOmi, 3 and social questions depend upon theil economic and social philosophy; and for the peaceful progress of our peopl, during the twentieth century We snal l owe most to those judges who holt to a twentieth century economic and D social philosophy and not to long ]. outgrown philosophy, which was tseli r. the product of primitive economic D conditions. Of course n judges view T on progressive social philosophy arr f entirely second in important to hi c possession of high and fine caar l. acter; which means the possession o :, such elementary virtues as honesty |