The morning journal-courier., 1908-12-09

ls crushed by excessive hours of labor, feel that their needs are understood by the courts-those judges are the real bulWarll of the courts, these Judges the judges of the stamp of the prosldeut-clect, who have been fear less In opposing labor when t has gone wrong, but fearless also in hold Ing Co strict account corporations that work iniquty and far-sghted in sec Ing that tho Workingman gets his rights arc tho men of all others to whom we owe it that the appeal for such violent and mistaken legislation
 has fallen on deaf ears, that the agl- tation for its passage proved to be without substantial basis The courts are jeopardI2od primarily by the ac-
 ton of these federal and state judges who show Inability or unwilllngness to put @ stop to the wrongdolng of very rich men under modern industrial con- .ditIons, and inability or unwllingness 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 tho new and highly complex social and in- dustrial 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 necessary
 that in applying 10 concrete cases the great rule of right laid down In our constitution, there should be a full un- derstundlng and appreciation of the new conditions to which the rules are
 to be applied What would have been
 an infringement upon liberty half century ago may be the necessary safe guard of liberty to-day, What would have been an injury to property then may he necessary to the enjoyment of property now Every judicial decision Involves two terms one, an interpret
 alton of the law; the other the under
 standing of the facts to which it Is 10
 be applied The great mass of our ! judicial officers arc, I believe, alive to
 these changes of conditions which so materially affect the performance of
 their judicial duties Our judicial
 system is sound and effective at core, and lt remains, and must ever he
 maintained, as the safeguard of those principles of liberty and justice which stand at the foundation of American l Iinstitutinns for. as Burke finely said where liberty and justice are separat- | cd, neither ls safe There are. how ever some members of the judicial | body who have Jagged behind in their
 understanding of these great and vital changes in the body polite, whose minds have never heen opened to the | new applications of the old principles made necessary by tho new conditions. i 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 arc pro- | foundly indifferent or hostile to any | proposed remedy To such men 1t seems . cruel mockery to have any
 court decide against them on the 1 ground that it desires to preserve "lb- erty" in q purely technical form by
 withholding liberty in any real and
 constructive sense. II is desirable that the legislative body should pos
 sess, and wherever necessary exercise.
 the power to determine whether in a 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
 10 hours and conditions of labor as unduly to tax their strength and only mischief can result when such dctcr- mination is upset on the ground that there must be no interference with
 the liberty to contract t'-often a mere
 ly academic liberty" the exercise of
 which is the nceation of real liberty
 There are certain decisions by varl-
 ous courts which have been exceeding
 ly detrimental to the rights of wage
 workers. This Is true of all the de-
 claions that decide that men and wom-
 on are, by the constitution, "guaran-
 teed their liberty" to contract to enter
 a dangerous occupation, or to work an
 undesirable or improper number of
 hours, or to work In unhealthy sur
 roundings: and therefore cannot re-
 cover damages when mamed In that
 occupation, and cannot be forbidden
 to work what the legislature decides is
 an excessive number of hours. or to
 carry on the work under conditions
 which the legislature decides to be un-
 healthy. The most dangerous oecupa-
 tons are often the poorest paid and those where the hours of work are longest; and in many cases those whc
 go into them are driven by necessity
 SO great that they have practically nc
 alternative. Decisions such as those
 alluded to above nulify the legislative , effort to protect the wageworkers who
 most need protection from those em. ployers who take advantage of theii
 grinding need They halt or hamper , the movement for securing better and , more equitable conditions of labor The talk about preserving to the
 mlsery-huntcd beings who make con. tracts for such service their liberty , 10 make them, is either to speak In , spirit of heartlcss irony or else to show m ,ltter lack of knowledge of the con. ditIons of life among the great masses of our fellow-countrymen, lack Whlcf units a judge to do good service jus as 1t would unfit any executive or leg There Is also, 1 think ground for tho
 belief that substantial injustice Is ofter suffered by employees in consequence O the custom of courts issuing temporary , mjunctlons without notice 10 them, ant , punlshlng them for contempt of cour in instances where, as q matter of fact , they have no knowledge of any pro , ccedings. Outside of organized labo, there is a widespread feeling that thii system often works great injustice t' wageworkers when their efforts to bet ter their working condition result in in
 dustrial disputes, A temporary in
 function nrocured ex parte may as