Imperial Valley press., 1912-11-04
niy tbs widow ana children Of a per-

only tbs widow ana children Of a per-
son killed by carelessness of employ
ers shall have the right to sue. thus
making ii profitable for employers 10
employ only single men, whose deaths
through carelessness will cost nothing,
1t is time not only to widen the sphere
of correction so as to extend it not
alone to the legislative act, but to the
judicial decree. In doing this, we do
not question the motives of judges.
When the lobbyist of the corporation
influences the legislature against ne
cessary reforms, we have in some states
adopted the initiative, that we may do,
or compel the legislature to do, that
which is to the interest of the lobbyist
to see that it does not do. This is
the most effective way of putting the
professional lobbyist. out of business.
He will not waste his time lobbying
for bad law which he knows can
be repealed by referendum vote at
the next election, nor will he seek to
kill a good law which he knows the
public by initiative, has the power it
self to pass. So, when a court, at the
behest of a corporation lawyer, adopts
time worn precedent to do injustice
not to A or B, but to entire classes
or communities of citizens, we desire
to reserve the right to correct this
peculiar Legislation" in the same way
that we correct any other legislation.
We put the courts back where they
belong-the arbiters of disputes, not
the rulers of a people.
We cannot go back and change the
whole theory of law, but we can cor
public lives. Jefferson foresaw ii and
warned us against it. Many great
minds joined in condemnation of it in
the past, and are denouncing it today
as a usurpatiOn by the courts of the
power of a coordinate branch of the
government. We do not see in somo
states the "evil" clearly, because it
has not been brought home clearly to
us. 1t was only as we tried to go
forward and found ourselves hampered
that we began to grope for the OBJ
struction and found it. Perhaps the
people of California-as intelligent as
any state in the union-were the first
to see it clearly as people. They
had constitutional provision which
declared that when a railroad company
lowered it's rates in competition with
another railroad, ii should not again
(after it had subdued or assimilated its
competitor) raise it's rates to the old
standard. The people of California had
been familiar with this trick of driv-
ing competition from the field. So
when the Southern Pacific had thus
Of 1aJ
to again raise its rates-and the su
preme court merely read the provision
out of the constitution-said it did not
mean what it said, although Language
could not make the meaning Of the
constitution palmer. 1t was not only
the knowledge of this decision, but the
knowledge that other decisions equally
plain on their face could be override Ell
and destroyed by judicial decision that
led the Californians to declare by a
vote of four to one in favor of the
recall of judges. We leave the judge
and repeal the decision, leaving the
constitution to stand as we made and
intended 1t.
If we have a law which says that
no railroad shall run its trains through
cities of more than 1OO,O 900 people, a,
an elevation from the surface of less
than ten feet. we do not proposes Ia
allow the court to so read the law
that it means ten inches instead OF
ten feet. We say that is clearly not
what We wrote, and no just or sane
man can say that it is-though some
courts may say SO. We do not intend
to handy words with the court or to
question the motives of judges We
simply apply the remedy. This may
be all Greek to eminent lawyers, who
are paid large fees to make white
look very much as if it were meant
for black" or to judges who hell
them by an extra daub of ink to de.
clare it black" but it is very plain