The Ocala banner. (Ocala, Marion County, Fla.) 1883-194?, 1909-06-18
JUSTICE AND SIMPLICITY

There are four great words which
should be written upon the four cor
ner stones of every public building in
this land, with the sacredness of n re-
ligious rite. These watchwords of
the republic are: Equality, Simplicity,
Economy and Justice. They are in
terwoven with every fibre of the ma
tional fabric. To forget or deny them
will lead to every misfortune and ev-
cry possibility of destruction that ris-
es now threateningly in the path of
our country's greatness.
Last and nOblest conception of all
born from the associated life of man
kind is justice. The nation must be
true to that abstract and impartial
justice which is the fountain of nobil-
ity, the patent of heroes and the final
test of any state. Upon occasion the
law-making power has been invoked
not to punish guilt, but to give one
man an unfair advantage at the cost
of another; to confiscate wholly or in
part property honestly earned and
fairly used; to distinguish between ac-
tivities by discriminating laws. The
tendency is by no means universal,
but its presence is palpable and too
dangerous to be ignored. If hatred,
greed or envy instead of justice ever
becomes a formative power in public
affairs, then, no matter who may be
the victim, the act is treason. For
no state ever enjoyed tranquility or
escaped destruction if it ceased to
maintain one equal and inf1exible
standard Of justice. The greatest SER
vice to the nation, to every state and |
city today would be the substitution !
for term of years of law enforce |
ment for law making Get the laws
fairly tried, weed out those improper |
Or impracticable, curtail the contempt |
of law that flourishes under the |
American system of reimbursement |
and make the people understand that |
government means exact and unspar-
ing justice, instead of a complex |
game. This is the only safeguard if |
respect for and confidence in the gov.
erning system itself are not to be
undermined.
We have complicated our educa-
tional system and made it superficial |
The just complaint everywhere is that |
there is no thoroughness, no whole
some mental discipline for the young.
We have complicated our social life
until natural human intercourse is
overlaid with a thick stratum of vul-
gar prodigality, luxury, display and in
We have complicated our law-mak.
ing until, until despite the high stand
ards, the unimpaired traditions and !,
the continual labors of the courts, the
administration of justice is difficult
and sometimes uncertain.
We have complicated our financial
system until 1t encourages the widest
Speculations at one moment and at /
another sinks into business collapse.
We have complicated our industrial
at both ends of the scale
until the great middle class, which
represents labor uncombined. a fine |
energy and modest accumulations of
capital. finds many of its rights avad-
ed or destroyed.
And We complicate all these compli-
cations by necessarily passing more
laws about them. Simplicity in gov
erning methods. in character and con- |
duct must be fixed quality of the /
state that survives those changes of /
the centuries in which all others have
vanished.-James J. Hill