Martinsburg herald. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1881-1920, 1912-03-23

lish speaking peoples since Magma
Charta. Until within the last sixty
years they were treated as having
specific meanings. Property meant
tangible property; liberty meant
freedom from personal restraint or. in
othsr words. from Imprisonment in its
largest definition. About 1870 our
courts began to attach to these terms
new meanings. Now property has
come to mean every right of value
which a person could enjoy, and Glib
erty" has been made to include the
right to make contracts. AS a result.
when the state limits the hours for
which women may labor it is told by
the courts that this law deprives them
of their liberty" and when 1t re-
stricts the manufacture of tobacco In
a tenement it is told that the law de-
prives the landlord Of his property"
Now, / do not believe that any people,
and especially free American peo-
pie, will long consent that the term
liberty shall be defined for them by
D bench Of judges. Every people has
defined that term for itself in the
course of its historic development. OF
course 1t Is plain enough to see that,
In a large way, the political history of
man may be grouped about these three
terms, life, liberty and property"
There Is no act of government which
cannot be brought within their defpi-
ton, and, If the courts are to cease to
treat them as words having a limited,
specific meaning, then our whole gov
eminent is brought under the practical
ly irresponsible supervision of judges.
AS against that kind Of government
/ insist that the people have the right
and can be trusted to govern them
selves. This u opponents deny. and
the issue is sharply drawn between US.
People Cannot Turn Back.
/ prefer to work with moderate, with
rational conservatives, provided only
that they do in good faith strive for
ward toward the light. But when they
halt and turn their backs to the light
and sit with the scorners on the seats
of reaction then l must part company
with them. We the people cannot turn
back. Our aim must be steady. wise
progress. 1t would be well if our peo-
pie would study the history of a sister
republic. All the woes of France for a
century and a quarter have been due
to the folly Of her people in splitting
into the two camps of unreasonable
conservatism and unreasonable radical
ism. Had personal---very. France lis
tened to men like Turgot and backed
them up all would have gone well.
But the beneficiaries Of privilege. the
Bourbon ~reactionaries, the shortsight-
ed ultra conservatives, turned down
Turgot and then found hat instead OF
him they had obtained Robespierre.
They gained twenty years freedom
from all restraint and reform at the
cost of the whirlwind Of the red ter
ror, and in their turn the unbridled ex-
tremists Of the terror induced a blind
reaction, and SO, with CONFUSION and
oscillation from one extreme to an
other, with alterations of violent rad
icalism and violent Bourbonism, the
French people went through misery
toward n shattered goal. There is no
danger of a revolution in this country,
but there are grave discomfort and un-
rest, and in order to remove them there
is need of all the wisdom and probity
and deep seated faith In and purpose
TO uplift humanity we have at u com
mand.
N.-.I - I-I.-k..l l.
Friends, our task as Americans is to
strive for social and industrial justice.
achieved through the genuine rule OF
the people. In order to succeed we
need leaders of inspired idealism, lead
ers to whom are granted great visions,
who dream greatly and strive to make
their dreams come true, who a kin
die the people with the fire from their
own burning souls. The leader for the
time being. whoever he may be, Is but
In instrument, to be used until broken
and then to be cast aside, and IL he Is
worth his salt he will care no more
when he is broken than a soldier
cares when he is sent where his life is
forfeit in order that the victory may
be won. In the long fight for right
the watchword for all of us
Is spend and be spent. 1t is OF little
matter whether any one man fails or
succeeds. hut the cause shall not fail.
for 1t is the cause of mankind. We
here in America hold in our hands the
hope OF the world, the fate of the COM
ing years, and shame and disgrace
will be ours If In u eyes the light Of
high resolve is dim ed. IL we ira. in
the dust the golden opes of men. II
ON this new continent re merely build
another country OF great but unjustly
divided material prosperity we shall
have done nothing, and we shall do as
little If we merely set the greed OF
envy against the greed of arrogance
and thereby destroy the material well
being Of all of us. 81
Against All Tyranny.
We stand against all tyranny, by the