The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1912-03-21

1AA'A-18 At 8ON0EA19S0I Dy majority
OF the American people as govern
rnsnk by the mob. To propose. as an
alternative remedy. slight modtnca-
tons OF Impeachment, proceedings il
to propose no remedy at ALT is to
bid us be content With char when we
demand bread
The decisions Of which we COM
plain are, az a rule, based upon the
constitutional provision that no per
son shall be deprived OF life, liberty
or property without due process of
law. The terms life, liberty and
property" have been used in the con-
stitutfons of the English-9peaking peo-
pies since Magma Charta. Until with
In the last sixty years they were
treated as having specific meanings;
property meant tan BILE property:
liberty" meant freedom from per-
sonal restraint, or, In othel words.
from imprisonment in its largest defi-
milton. About 1870 our courts began
to attach to these terms new mean
ings. Nov property" has come TO
mean every right of value which
person could enjoy. and liberty" has
been made to include the right to
make contracts. AS a result, when
the state limits the hours Tor which
women may labor, 1t Is todd by the
courts that this law deprfves them OF
their liberty; and when 1t restricts
the manufacture of tobacco in a tene-
men*, It is told that the law deprtves
the landlord of his property" Now
do not believe that any people, and
especially our tree American people,
will long consent that the term lib
erty" shall be defined for them by
bench of judges. Every people has
defined that term for itself in the
course of its historic development.
OF course It is plain enough to see
that, in a large way, the political his
tory of man may be grouped about
these three terms, life, hbAFty and
property There Is no act OF gov
eminent which cannot be brought
within their definition, and II the
courts are to cease to treat them az
words having limited, specific mean
ing, then our whole government ID
brought under the practically IRE
sponsible supervision of judgeB- AS
against that kind OF a governm Mt l
insist that the people have the light,
and can be trusted, to govern them
selves. This our opponents deny; and
the issue is sharply drawn between
US.
prefer to work with moderate,
with rational, conservatives, provided
only that they do in good faith strive
forward towards the light. b when
they halt and turn their backs to the
light, and sit with the scorners on
the seats of reaction, then l must
~ h.
pie cannot turn back. Our aim must
be steady, wise progress.
Friends, our task as Americans is
to strive for social and industrial
Justice, achieved through the genuine
rule of the people. This is our end,
our purpose. The methods for achtev-
ing the end are merely expedtents,
to be finally accepted or rejected &C
cording as actual experience shows
that they work we'll or i'll But In
our hearts we must have this lofty
purpose. and we must strive for r in
all earnestness and sincerity, or our
work will come to nothing. In order
to succeed we need leaders of in
spired idealism, leaders to whom are
granted great visions, who dream
greatly and strive to make their
dreams come true; who can "1ndIe
the people with the fire from their
own burning souls. The leader for
the time being, whoever he may Re. IL
but an instrument, to be used untll
broken and then to be cast aside; and
If he is worth his salt he will care no
more when he is broken than SOL
der cares when he is sent where his
life is forfeit in order that the vic
tory may be won. In the long hight
for righteousness the watchword for
all of us is spend and be spent 1t
is of little matter whether any one
man fails or succeeds; but the cause
shall not fail, for it Is the cause OF
mankind. We, here in America, hold
in our hands the hope OF the world.
the fate of the coming years; and
shame and disgrace VIII be ours II IN
our eyes the light of high resolve Is
dimrned. If we trail IL the dust the
Golden homes of men II on this new
continent we merely build another
country of great but unjustly divided
material prosperity, we shall have
done nothing; and we shall do as lit
file IL we merely set the greed OF
envy against the greed OF arrogance
and thereby destroy the material we'll
being of all of US. To turn this gov
eminent either into government by
a plutocracy or government by mob
would be to repeat on larger scale
the lamentabIe failures of the world
that is dead. We stand against all
tyranny, by the few or by the many.
We stand for the rule of the many in
the interest OF all of US, for the rule
of the many in a spirit Of courage
of common sense, of high purpose
above all in a spirit of kindly Justice