Manchester Democrat. [volume] (Manchester, Iowa) 1875-1930, 1909-02-03

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not object to game OF politics In the
house, If their standpat friends in the
Senate consent to act the role Of
scapegoat.
Meanwhile state after state In the
producing west is declaring for popu-
lar election Of United States Senators,
which may have SOLDERING effect on
the standpat program Chicago Jour
nal.
The Two-Edged Sherman Law.
The Sherman antitrust law Is un-
doubtedly the strangest piece of legis-
lation on the statute books In respect
to the results which would come Of its
rigid enforcement. Passed at time
when the question OF trusts and re-
straint Of trade was barely in the bud,
1t lay neglected fora dozen years,
when 1t was discovered and revived,
only to plague both those whom 1t was
designed to defend and those whom 1t
was designed to restrain.
Mr.. Roosevelt, not impulsiyely, but
deliberately, has practically asked that
It be repealed. Mr.. Taft says that a
large part Of the Roosevelt policies
lies In carrying out the Sherman law"
and that ut is more important to en-
force 1t than to repeal It," Later, Mr..
Taft expressed the opinion that combi-
nations Of capital for the purpose Of
lowering prices should be legal, while
combinations for increasing prices
should be Illegal.
Mr.. Rooseyelt's complaint against the
law Is that It forbids pooling by the
railroads and agreements as to rates
when such agreements have been found
to be the remedy for the competition
which forces rebating and It's grievous
attendant Ills.
The corporations which are opposed
to the enforcement of the Sherman law
as an unwarrantable interference with
the legitimate activities Of business are
reJoiced that 1t was found legally an.
plicable to the case OF the American
Federation Of Labor and under 1t the
boycott was held to be a forbidden act
In restraint of trade Obviously, il Mr..
Roosevelt had his way and the law
we're repealed, there would be no law
against the boycott as 1t was carried
on by the labor organization. The en-
forcement of 1t in this respect Is held
to have been productive of much bene-
fit, whereas If enforced impartially
against all classes 1t would, accord.
ing to one authority, be commercially
disastrous.
As 1t is now. the law is enforced
when 1t seems best to enforce it. and
1t is neglected If. In the view Of the
prosecuting authorities, the results
would be bad. Practically, 1t Is bit
Of the most vicious legislation, because
it may do both great good and great
harm II rigidly enforced. A law that
cannot be enforced with unvarying good
results should be amended or repealed
Can the Courts Save the Nationf
The courts Of the county have been
generally described us 1.-THE bulwark
Of the nation" but the multitude who
have had occasion to study their va
carries deem them very fraIl and un-
certain at times. President-elect Taft
openly declared, in his recent address
before the Augusta Bar Association,
that 1t would have been better il sew
eral OF our judges had been impea ched
| as a matter Of discipline
1t Is true as a matter of fact that
many OF our judges are VIGOROUSLY
uncertain, the evidence of which is en-
phaslzed by almost daily Illustrations,
and when 1t comes to make these tri-
bunais the arbiters of the permanence
of the nation, the utmost care must be
exercised in selecting members Of the
Judiciary, profession that offers SO
many opportunities to injustice and
corruption with Immunity from ade-
quate punishment.
Mr.. Taft makes the test Of the en-
durance Of the nation to rest upon the
preservation of private property rights
and the curbing of the great trusts de-
structive Of those rights. This, he in
Inmates, is an economic struggle which
the courts alone have the power. and
authority to bring to victorious con.
cluslon. Speaking further, as seer
of reputation derived from experience,
the President-elect says: within the
next two or three decades this coun-
try must decide whether our institu-
lions and methods Of civilization shall
stand"
This puts the burden Of permanency
or dissolution of the United States up
to the people, who really have little to
do with the matter, certainly not in
the case Of federal judges who are
appointed not elected. 1t is within
the power of the federal judges to set
at naught the will Of the people by
overturning the State laws and re-
yersing the decisions of State judges.
Some Of these men are charged with
being legally incompetent, arrogant, Of
fensiyely arbitrary and lorldy. They
are panoplied by a steel plate of dig
nifty, to strike against which is to be
guilty Of contempt, punishable by Inn
prisonment without trial. There is no
way to punish them when they 20
wrong except by impeachment, ana
Mr.. Taft admits that the punishment
is not inflicted as often as 1t should
be. Dunlop's Dispatch.
PrOnuerIty for YJtm
prosperity is on the way" volun-
L taerp(l the yrncor 10 bo M, bto bnn.l