The Columbus journal., 1910-11-16

LIBERTY AND THE LAW.
The history ofliberty il . history Of
law. Men are not free when they
merely conceived what their rights
should be. They are not Get free BY
PHILOSOPHERS of right. Their theories
of the rights of man may even lead
them astray, may make them break
their hearts in pursuit Of hopes they
can never realize, objects they can
never grasp, ideals that will forever
elude them. Nothing is more practi'
cal than the actual body of liberty.
1t consists of definitions based upon
experience, or rather of practices that
are of the very essence Of experience.
A right is worth fighting for only when
it can be put into operation. 1t can
be put into operation only when its
scope and limitation can be accurate.
ly defined in terms of legal procedure;
and even then it may amount to moth.
ing if the legal procedure be difficult,
costly or complicated. Liberty Of
speech is defined in the law of Islander
and of libel, and becomes mere license
against which there is no protection if
the law of Islander or of libel be difficult
or costly or uncertain to apply. Lib
erty Of the person is defined only when
the law has carefully enumerated the
circumstances in which it may be vio-
lated, the circumstances in which ar
rests and imprisonments and army
drifts and all the other limitations up
on which society may insist for its pro-
lection or convenience, will be lawful.
Its reality, its solidarity, consists in the
defniteness of the exceptions, in the
practically Of the actual arrange.
ments.
And it is part of its definiteness and
reality that liberty is always personal,
never aggregate; always . thing inner
ing in individuals taken singly, never
in groups OF corporations or communi.
ties. The indivisible unite of society
ia the individual. He is also the in.
digestible unit. He cannot be merged
or put into combination without being
lost to liberty, because lost to inde'
pendence. Make Of him fraction in.
stead of an integer and you have bro
ken his spirit, cut offthe sources oflife.
That is why l plead 80 earnestly for
the naturalization of responsibility
within the corporation, for the estab'
lishment Of the principle by Law
that man has no more right to dc
wrong as a member of q corporation
than as an individual. Establish that
principle, cut away the underground
Of law that has sprung up SO rankly
about the corporation and made of il
an ambush and covert, and it will give
every man the right to say no again
to refuse to do wrong, no matter wbc
orders him to do it. 1t will make 9
man of him. It is in his interest nc
less than in the interest of society
which must see it that wrong doing il
put stop to.
We are upon the eve ola great re-
construction. 1t calls for creative
craftsmanship as no age has done since
that great age in which We set up the
government under which We live, that
government which was the admiration
of the world until it suffered wrongs ta
grow up under it which have made
many of our own compatriots question
the freedom of our institutions and
preach revolution against them. l Dc
not fear revolution. l do not fear il
even if it comes. l have mistaken
faith in the power of America to KEEP
its selfpossession. Ifrevolution comes
it will come in peaceful guise, As il
came when We put aside the crude
government of the confederation and
created the great federal state which
governed individuals, not corporations
and which has been these hundred and
thirty years our vehicle of progress.
And it need not come. I do not be-
lieve for q moment that it will come
Some radical changes we must make
in our law and practice. Some recon
structions we must push forward which
a new age and new circumstances i'm.
pose upon US. But We can do it all in
calm and sober fashion, like statesmen
and patriots. Let US do it also like
lawyers. Let US lend q hand to make
the structure Symmetrical, we'll pro.
portioned, solid, perfect. Let no fat.
| ure generation have cause to accuse US
of having stood aloof, Indifferent, hall
hostile or of having impeded the reali.