Bismarck daily tribune., 1908-12-09
BISMARCK DAILY rasunr wEDNEsDAY MoRnuse D1csMsER m

and privilege who deny the PROPOSE
iHon that, inasmuch as judges are chosen
to serve the interests Of the whole peo-
pie. they should strive to find out what
those interests are and. so far as they
conscientiously can, should strive to
give effect to popular conviction when
deliberately and duly expressed by the
lawmaking body. The courts are to be
highly commended and stanchly up
held when they set their faces against
wrongdoing or tyranny by a majority,
but they are to be blamed when they
fail to recognize under government
like ours the deliberate judgment of
the majority as to a matter of legiti-
mate policy when duly expressed by
the legislature. Such lawfully ex-
pressed and deliberate Judgment should
be given effect by the courts save in
the extreme and exceptional cases
where there has been a clear violation
of a constitutional provision. Any
thing like frivolity or wantonness in
upsetting such clearly taken govern
mental action is grave ofense against
the republic. To protest against tyran-
ny, to protect minorities from oppres-
sion, to nullify an act committed in
spasm Of popular fury, is to render a
service to the republic. But for the
courts to arrogate to themselves func-
Hons which properly belong to the leg
2islatfve bodies is ali wrong and in the
end works mischief. The people should
not be permitted to pardon evil and
slipshod legislation on the theory that
the court will set it right They should
be taught that the right way to get rid
OF a bad law is to have the legislature
repeal it and not to have the courts by
ingenious hair splitting nullify it. a
law may be unwise and improper, but
1t should not for these reasons be de-
clared Unconstitutional by a strained
Interpretation, for the result OF such
action is to take away from the people
at large their sense Of responsibility
and ultimately to destroy their capac-
ity for orderly self restraint and self
government. Under such a popular
government as ours, founded on the
theory that in the long run the will of
the people is supreme, the ultimate
safety Of the nation can only rest in
training and guiding the people so that
what they will shall be right and not
In deyising means to defeat their will
by the technicalities of strained con-
struction. -a.-,-.. LIZ.
For many Of the shortcomings Of
justice in our country our people as a
whole are themselves to blame, and
the judges and juries merely bear
their share together with the public as
whole. 1t is discreditable to us as a
people that there should be difficulty
in convicting murderers or in bring.
ing to justice men who as public sery-
ants have been guilty Of corruption or
who have pro6ted by the corruption Of
public servants. The result is equally
unfortunate whether due to hair split
ting technicalities in the interpreta-
ton of law by judges, to sentimental
1ty and class consciousness on the part
Of juries or to hysteria and sensation
alism in the daily press. For much
Of this failure of justice no RESPONSE
bility whatever lies on rich men as
such. We who make up the mass of
the people cannot shift the RESPONSE
bility from, our own shoulders. But
there is an important part of the fail
ure which has specially to do with
inability to hold to proper account men
OF wealth who behave badly.
The chief breakdown is in dealing
with the new relations that arise from
the mutualism, the interdependence, of
our time. Every new social relation
begets a new type of wrongdoing-of
sin, to use an old fashioned woodland
many years always elapse before So
ciety is able to turn this sin into crime
which can be effectively punished at
law. During the lifetime OF the older
men now alive the social relations
have changed far more rapidly than In
the preceding two centuries. The i'm
mense growth OF corporations, of busi-
ness done by associations and the ex-
treme strain and pressure of modern
life have produced conditions which
render the public confused as to who
its really dangerous foes are, and
among the public servants who have
not only shared this confusion, but by
some Of their acts have increased it,
are certain judges. Marked inefficien-
cy has beer shown in dealing with cor
porations and I'M resettling the proper
attitude to be taken by the public not
only toward corporations, but toward
labor and toward the social questions
arising out Of the factory system and
the enormous growth of our great
cities. rs
OvERGROWN FORTUNES.