The commercial. (Union City, Tenn.) 190?-193?, 1912-04-19
MAYOR GAYNoR's sPEEcHs
At the Jefferson Day Banquet, New
York City, April l3. 1912.

say Is the TOAST you give me. les,
what would Jefferson say? He was a
progressive man, but prudent and care
ful. He picked bis steps He did moth
ing headlong But he was conscious
that the world moves. and he tried to
move with it. He was a radical, If you
will, but not the kind Of radical who
wants to pull everything up by the
roots. or every pillar down, before he
has something better to plant or put in
its stead He was neither demagogue,
nor humbug, nor self-seeker. He want
ed to do good to his fellow men, and
knew that good in this world was growth,
physical, mental or moral, was gradual
and often slow growth. How gradually
the trees grow and mature, and the
blade Of wheat, and this body OF ours,
and how long and patiently the Almighty
sat brooding over this world OF ours be-
fore it was tit And in the same way
how gradually things mental and moral
grow and mature. He knew that the
universal law in all things was either
growth or decay He only smiled at
the stupid conservatism which procIaims
that everything is right just as it IS, and
has held up its hands and cried out in
all ages, Don't disturb the existing
order OF things He knew that the
existing order Of things is often bad,
and sometimes the worst possible order
of things. The existing order Of things
in this country even within the memory
Of many still living was that one human
being might own another He was
progressive, but felt his way, and blazed
his way, all the time, that we might
follow
OBSTRUCTIVE COURT DECISIONS.
Yes, what would Jefferson say OIL
things to dayY
There is provision in al Of our con-
stitutions, national and State, that no
one shall be deprived Of life, liberty or
property without due process Of law, or
except by the law Of the land as it is
sometimes expressed This safeguard
is not new with us. We derived it from
England. 1t is expressed in Magma
Charta. Nor is it peculiar to English
speaking countries. 1t is common in
one form or another to every civilized
No one ever thought Of
giving it anything but its plain mean
ing until in recent years, since 1870,
In this country Then some court at
tributed an indirect meaning to these
words liberty and property. The phrase
TO deprive one of his liberty had always
been understood to mean to interfere
with the liberty Of the person, to put
1ne under physical restraint by some
'orm Of interference, arrest or imprison- |
And to deprive one OF his prop
srty had similar plain meaning. No f
1ne in England or in and other place
except here has ever thought Of their
having any other meaning. But since
1870 in this country courts have been
these words Of the Consti j
utlon in their widest sense. And this
exegesis has developed so
apidly that necessary social and eco
ionic progress is being blocked by ]
ourt decisions. What would Jefferson Q
ay to it2 We know what he would say
lie opposed all forced constitutional in
by the courts while he was J
wing, and said that il allowed to run
heir course the Constitution and our
orm Of government would be sapped
nd mined by the courts in their natural
sndency to aggrandize themselves with
over over the legislative branches Of
overnment
TENEMENT HOUSE TOBACCO CASE.
Let me give examples Of the extremes
, which these decisions have gone. In
lis State we passed a law that tobacco
aouId not be manufactured hi the liv-
X rooms Of tenement houses. The
nlightened sentiment of the people Of
le State vas that this was humaneI
eaith and comfort measure. 1t was
fought that children should not be
orn and brought up in the fumes and
iors 81 tobacco. But our Court of
s;,Eseals would net have il The statute
ok away from the tenant his lib
-ty to work at what he liked in his
and therefore violated the
id constitutional provision, said the
ourt. III The same way the Court said
deprived him of bis property, namely.
Is IeasehoId 10 tk4 extent that il de-
rived him Of orc use Of it.
UNDERGROUND BAKE OVENS CASE