The herald-advance. (Milbank, S.D.) 1890-1922, 1908-12-11

judgment should be given effect by the
courts, save in the extreme and ex-
ceptlonal cases where there has been
a clear violation of a constitutional re-
provision. Anything like frivclity or
"~antonness in upsetting such clearly
taken governmental action is a grave
o11ense against the republic. To pro-
test against tyranny, to protect minor
tues from oppression, to nullify an act
om1nltted In a Spasm of popular
Jury, is to render a service to the re-
public. But for the courts to arrogate
TO themselves functions which proper
~ belong to the Legislative bodies /,
all wrong, and in the end works mis-
cnief. The people should not be per.
united to pardon evil and slipshod leg
>s.atlon on the theory that the court
VIII set 1t right; they should be taught
mat the right way to get rid of a bad
iaw Is to have the legislature repeal
II, and not to ave the courts by in
senious hairsplitting nullify it. A law
may De unwise and improper; but it
should not for these reasons be de-
ciafed unconstitutional by a strained
Interpretation, for the result of such
acUon IS tC take away from the people
AT large their sense of responsibility
and ultimately to destroy their capac-
'ty Tor orderly self restraint and self
government. Under such a popular
- S' ~ 81 III oI AiS
theory that in the long run the will of
the people is supreme, the ultimate
sa1ety or the nation can only rest in
training and guiding the people so that
what they will shall be right, and not
IN deViSlng means to defeat their will
by the technicalities of strained con-
struction.
lor many of the shortcomings of
justice in our country our people as a
Wf"le are themselves to blame, and
'he Judges and Jurics merely bean their
snare together with the public as a
WiI"lH. 1t is discreditable to us as a
,r"l'i" that there SHOULD be difficulty
~ competing murderers, or in bring
llS TO justice men who, as public ser
wants, haFe been guilty of corruption,
or who have profited by the corrup-
non OF public servants. The result is
equally unfortunate. whether due to
mar splitting tcChniCalities in the in
depreciation of law by judges. to SEN
t~l1nentallty n class consciousness on
the part OF Juries. or to hysteria
sensationalism in the daily press. For
much of this failure Of justice no re-
spohslbil1ty Whatever lies on rich men
as such We who make up the mass
OF people can not shift the responsible
ny from our own shoulders. But there
IS an important part of the failure
when has specially to do with inabil-
- W aiolH ~ III pIbNI account men OF !
wealth who behave badly.
The chief break down is in dealing
win the new relations that arise from
the mutualism, the interdependence of
our time. Every new social relation
I'tS'FS a new type of WrongdOing-Of
Slh' TO use an oM-fashioned word--and
many years always elapse before So
'letE ~ able to turn this sin into crime
Whlch a be effectively punished at
Ia ". I)lrtnp fhn 1ifnft,,,@ ,e xs
men now alive the social relations have
changed far more rapidly than in the
preceding Two centuries. The immense
CROWN or corporations, of business
"ohc by associations, and the extreme
S''aih ana pressure of modern life.
nave roduced conditions which rem
der the public confused as TO who jts
ltaiiN dangerous foes are: and among
the puhllc servants who have not only
SiaI"d thls confusion. but by some
lhelr acts have increased it. are certain
]noses. Marked inehiciency has been
in dealing with CORPORATIONS
ana IN r"settling the proper attitude to
De taken by the public not only towards
corporations, but towards labor and
towards the social questions ar;sino
ONT or the factory system. and the
enormous growth OF our great cities.
me huge wealth that has been ac-
by Il few individuals OF re-
zen. years. in what has amounted to a
soclai and industrial revolution, has
oteh as regards some of these jndi-
sIu.'als made possible only by the i'm
proper use of the modern corporation
a certain type of modern corporation
WIN us officers and agents. its many
issues OF securities, and it's constant
consultation with allied undertakings
1nallH becomes an instrument so com
'.eN as 70 contain a greater number
NJ fl2InpnfC that
,lal decisions, lend themselves to fraud
ma oppression than any device vet
'VolVed IN the human brain. orpora-
IONS are necessary Instruments of =
modern business. They have been u.
permitted TO become a menace largely -,
'ecause the governmental representa- !
ives OF the people have worked SLOWLY ,
n providing for adequate control over /.
hem.
The chief offender in any given case !
nay be an executive, a legislature, or $
Judge Every executive lead who }
tdVlses violent, instead OF gradual. ac- ,
ION. or VINO advocates iIl-considered ,
sweeping measures Of reform (es- .
If they are tainted. with vim F..
tictiveness. and disregard for the :
lights of the minority is particularly !
'laTeWCrthy. the several legislatures :
re ~esponsible for the fact that our ;
avs are often prepared with s~lovenly ,,
ldSle ana TACK OF consideration More :
Yer. they are often prepared, and still !
frequently amended during pas :
age, at the suggestion of the very par .
les against whom they are afterwards '
nforced. Our greai clusters of cor I
huge trusts and fabulously =
'ealthy multirnilliOnaires, employ the '
cry best lawyers they can obtain to I
lex flaws in these statutes after their d
assage; but they also employ a class p
I secret agents who seek, under the II
dVlce or experts, to render hostile [
innocuous by making it un- II
often through the in G
ertlon or what appear on their face to D
" drastic and sweeping provisions II
the interests of the parties in D
plrlng them; while the demagogues, Il
ne corrupt creatures who Introduce b
'ackmailing schemes to strike" cor II
orations, and all who demand ex- q
'eme, and undesirably radical meas Il
show themselve s to be the worst u
lemies of the very public whose loud II
louthed champions they profess to be. h
very striking illustration of the con o.
Of carelessness in the prepa- ir
ltfon OF a statute was the employers W
law of 1906. In the cases arts m
Nv ~A 1-