The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1908-12-08

i've Ouly III IL is vested WIN Iull DOW
er in an administrative department, a
branch of the Federal executive, car
rying out Federal law; 1t can never
be effective if divided responsibility
is left in both the States and the Ma
ton; 1t can never be effective If left
in the hands of the courts to be de-
cided by lawsuits.
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. 1t 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 hon
or; and the duty of respectful ana
truthful comment and criticism,
which should be binding when we
speak of anybody, should be especial
ly 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 whole country de-
lights to honor. But we must face
the fact that there are wise and un-
wise judges, just as there are wise
and unwise executives and legisla-
tors. When president or a COVER
nor behaves improperly or unwisely,
the remedy is easy, for his term is
short; the same is true with the leg
islator, although not to the same de-
gree, for he is one of many who be-
long to some given legislative body,
and it is therefore less easy to fix
his personal responsibility and hold
him accountable therefor. With a
judge, who, being human, is also like
ly to err, but whose tenure is for life,
there is no similar way of holding him
to responsibility. Under ordinary
conditions the only forms of pressure
to which he is in any way amenable
are, public opinion, and the action of
his fellow judges. 1t is the last
which is most Immediately effective,
and to which he should look for the
piled from without is fraught with
risk. 1t is far better, from every
standpoint, that the remedy should
come from within. In no other ma
ton in the world do the courts WELD
such vast and far-reaching power as
in the United States. All that is ne
cessary is that the courts as a whole
should exercise this power that the
1arsighted wisdom already shown by
those judges who scan the future
while they act in the present. Let
them exrcise this great power not on
ly 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 privilege, which is the
foe of right
FORESTS.
If there is any one duty which
more than another we owe it 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 country.
There are of course two kinds of nat
ural resources. One is the kind which
can only be used as part of a process
Of exhaustion; this is true of mines,
natural oil and gas wells, and the
like. The other, and of course ulti-
mately 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 increas-
ed value to his son, so We should
cave our national domain to our chill
iren, increased in value and not worn
1ut. There are small sections of our
own country, in the East and in the
West, in the Adiropdacks, the White
Mountains, and the Appalachians. and
n the Rocky Mountains, where we
IAN already see for ourselves the
damage in the shape of permanent
injury to the soil and the river sys-
ems which comes from reckless de-
orestation 1t matters not whether
his deforestation is due to the ac-
ual reckless cutting of timber, to
he fires that inevitably follow such
'eckless cutting of timber, or to reck-
ess and uncontrolled grazing. especi-
lily by the great migratory bands Of
sheep, the unchecked wandering of
which over the country means de-
to forests and disaster to
he small home makers. the settlers
If limited means
Shortsighted persons. or persons
aliadnd 10 tIan E.,t,.-.-