The Marion daily mirror. (Marion, Ohio) 1892-1912, 1912-04-13

Jauiciar decisions" by state courts, and
what do you mean by III
do. What mean may be fully ex-
pressed by the phrase, THE right of
the people to review certain judicial
decisions which nullify laws demanded
by the people in the exercise OF the
police o. general welfare power on the
| ground that these laws are unconsti-
tutional." This would amount to a
simpler method OF constituting or
amending the judicial Interpretation
of the constitution wherever such In
depreciation becomes clearly adverse
to human rights. l believe, as ] have
said over and over again, that when
the highest court of state differs
| from the legislature of that state on
the question of the constitutionality OF
a law vitally affecting the conditions OF
life and labor among wage-earners,
the people should have the right to de-
termine in an election whether the
constitution which they have framed
was meant by them to permit such
| law. This method cannot apply 10
| questions as to the federal constitu-
tlon; l have made this distinction
clear in my Columbus speech. The
| jurisdiction of the United States Su-
preme court concerning the federal
constitution must remain supreme
over the whole people. The constitu-
tions Of the separate states are in
daily process of making by the people
of those states, and / would therefore
vest in the people of each state the
final authority as to what their state
| constitution should be. I would not
make the people the final Judge In
| legal questions between individuals,
but | would make the people the final
umpire in such conflict as that above
outlined between the legislature and
the judiciary in any given state.
| The personal differences between
some of my opponents and myself are
only Incidents of a fundamental diff
ference of view. My opponents be-
lieve. as many of the founders OF our
government believed, that the people
as whole have neither the capacity
nor the training to decide questions of
broad governmental policy. Many OF
our fathers thought that the people
could not be trusted to elect presi-
dents or senators and therefore de-
vised the Electoral College, which we
have abandoned, and the legislative
method of electing senators, which we
are abandoning. My opponents think
that a special class, the legal class. Is
the proper one finally to determine,
questions Of basic political philosophy;
believe that the ultimate authority
rests in tho people and must be exer-
cised by the people This of course
does not mean that the people should
not employ experts to do their work
for them. For instance. having Sc
lected the president. the voters should
give him full executive power; but II
the voters decide that they want a
parcels post, they should expect him
to make. with loyalty to their decision,
the best parcels post that can be
made; and they will not expect him
to decide for them as to whether they
are to have a parcels post or not, In
law, having framed the constitution
and the statutes. they should choose
| the Dest Judge that they can 10 carry
out the provisions OF the constitution
and the statutes; but IL the- decide
that they want workmen's compensa-
tion act. they ought to expect the
judge to administer such an act. and
not to determine whether a workmens
compensation act is good for them or
not. 1t is none of the judges busi-
ness TO say whether the people ought
to wish and to have such an act; 1t is
the peoples business, and only theirs.
II the people decide (as the Canadians
have decided) that 1t is a true func-
tion of government to formulate and
regulate the relations OF organized
capital and organized labor. including
wages, hours. and conditions of work.
they will not expect the Judges-and
the JUDGES must not expect--to decide