Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1912-04-11

nose or what candidates we adopt
Sooner or later a people incompetent
for self-government will pass under
the heel of despot, where they be
long. W. ,
Mr.. Bryan outdone. -
| ut appears, on farther inquiry,
that what is really meant is that rep
resentative government and represen
tative institutions are failure, ana
that they must be swept aside to make
way for direct democracy. In partic'
ular, It appears that the most charac'
teristic and benefcent of American In
! stitutions, the Independent judiciary
charged with the Interpretation OF the
law and with the safeguarding of con
stituttonal limitations, is now regard
ed as a harmful check upon the peo'
Eple's will and as an obstacle to their
| free and progressive social and pol1l-
cal development. x ..;,. -. .
err this vehement denunciation OF
our government and OF our courts Is
one.half true, then the republican par:
ty should get down on Its knees ana
apologize to the people OF this country
for having three times defeated so far-
sighted a man as Mr.. Bryan for the
presidency of the United States: -
The Judicial Recall = ,>....<
"What these revolutionary elements
of the population most dislike IS the
rule of law. Their conception of gov
eminent is sort Of glorifed lyncnlng,
before which the achievements al
Springfield, Ill., or at Coatesvflle, Ia,
would fade into insignia canoe. Any
judicial officer who In. obedience to his
oath. ventures to declare the law TO
be something which Is out OF agree
ment with their present-day prepos-
sessions, prejudices, emotions or. ee=
sires. becomes tyrant who should pc
dashed from his place on the bench by
the profoundly wicked instrumental
ity Of the recall Of judges. i
"It is forgotten, apparently, That
Judge declares the law, but does not
make 1t, and that In declaring tne
law he is executing the peoples nigh
est and most mature will. In so doing
he is not imposing anything upon the
people save what they have imposed
upon themselves as the necessary
and well.justified restraints upon ap-
petite and passion. The man VINO
would destroy the independent 5udic-
iarv because he dishkes or diners
from some specific. judicial finding ls
as mad as a man who would set MS
house on fire I'M order to improve Its
ventilation.
'"With all this the republican party
must be everlastingly at war. We are
not vet ready. to substitute. govern
ment by men of presumably good m
tentions for government by law: This
contest within the party. and this pres
fdential election, may decide whether
our government is to be republican or
Cossack. "a All 3ssg-T
Constitution Not outworn.
"But. it is said, the constitution was
made in the eighteenth century by
men who lived under conditions long
since passed away. Therefore, the con-
stitution is outworn. 1t must be ad-
iusted, the phrase now runs, to human
rights.
what, about the multiplication
table? What about the rule OF three!
What about the law OF gravitation!
Some of these come down to- us from
hoary antiquity. Surely they cannot
be allowed to pass iunamended IN the
face of such changed conditions as
now surround us! Why should the
dead hand of the Greeks and of the
Arabs and of Sir Isaac Newton control
our life and thought? Let us be free
and independent and adjust our modes
OF counting and of computation to the
new economic needs that surround MS!
Perhaps those who invented the null
tiplication table and the rule OF three
never heard of corporation, with
thousand millions capital! How could
the multiplication table and the rule
Of three be expected to deal with
condition such as that?
Real Progress Is Reaction.
1.-THE fact is that in the history of
mankind some things, after long toll
and tribulation, are settled once for
all. They neither invite nor permit
amendment and improvement. These
achievements, taken together, are
progress: they constitute progress;
they are the evidences Of progress;
they are what the word progress
means. To attack, to undermine, or to
overturn them is not progress, but
reaction.
'"The fundamental principles which
underlie the constitution of the United
States are no straight-jacket into
which growing people is forced to its
distress and harm. They are rather
chart by which the ship of state may
sail safely out on new and untried
seas. certain that the danger spots are
clearly marked and the heavens accur-
ately indicated. These principles can
never grow old they are everlastingly
young and new and true.
Political Patent Medicine Men.
1--WE are today infested with politi-
cal patent medicine men. Ignorant OF
ordinary laws of political and social
growth. or defying them, they press
upon us the odd and curious nostrums
of their own making which are to cure
our evils, to abolish poverty, to do
away with injustice, and to bring
about that happy and blissful Utopia
Of which certain types Of men with
nothing useful to do habitually dream.
"Pious and oracular aphorisms are
the stock in trade Of the political pat
emit medicine man whose pursuit OF
higher office is so compelling that he
cannot find time to attend to the
duties Of the office which he already