Newark evening star and Newark advertiser. [volume] (Newark, N.J.) 1909-1916, 1912-03-21

judge engaged in interpreting, Tor In
stance. the due process clause-where the
Judge is asoertaining the preponderant
opinion of the people fas Judge Holmes
states it,. When he exercises that rune,
ton he has no right to let his political
philosophy reverse and thwart the Will OF
the majority. In that function the judge
must represent the people or he falls In
the test the Supreme Court has laid down.
Mr.. Taft again and again, in quotations
I have given and elsewhere through his
speech, expresses his disbelief in the
people when they vote at the polls. In
one sentence he says that the propositipn On
impulse of a majority of an electorate and
prepares the way for the possible exercise
of the g%rossest tyranny" ne
speaks of the "feverish uncertainty" and
''unstable determination" Of laws by. TEN,
porary and changing majorities;' n
again he says that the system l propose
of Constitutional guarantees according to
popular whim," which would destfo. all
possible consistency" IN Constitutlon3l M
depreciation. l should much like to know
the exact distinction that is to be made
between what Mr.. Taft calls the fitful
impulse of a temporary. majority When
applied to a question such as that L raise
In one of Mr.. Taft's speeches he speaks
of the voice of the people as coming
next TO the voice OF God Apparent tSs
Presidency, after four months denbera-
ton, is to be treated as next to the voice
OF God" but IL after two years or sober
though they decide that women chill
dren shall be protected In industry, or
men protected from excessive hours OF
labor under unhygienic conditions or
wage-workers compensated Wnen tney lose
their decision forthwith becomes a
"whim'' n "feverish" and unstable"
and an exercise of 'the g~rossest. tyranny"
the tree Of freedom" It seems abb
surd to speak of a conclusion reached. by
the people after two years de~liberauon,
after threshlng the matter out before the
Legislature, after threshing 1t out before
the Governor, after threshing II out before
the court and by the court, and then
after full debate for four or SIX months,
as the fitfnl impulse of 4 temporary ma
Interprets Taft's Position.
Mr.. Taft's position is perfectly clear,
1t is that we have In this country a
special class of persons wiser than the
people. who are above the people, who
cannot be reached by the people, but who
govern them and ought TO govern them,
people from the whole people. That Is
the old, old doctrine which has been acted
upon for thousands of years abroad, and
which here in America has been acted
reilly, for forty years by many men in
public and in private life, and | am sorry
to say by many judges. a doctrine which
has in fact tended to create 4 bulwark for
privilege. a bulwark unjustly protecting
special interests against the rights OF the
people as a whole.
trine, for its effect Is and can only be. to
make the courts the shield of privilege
against popular rights. Naturally. every
upholder and beneficiary Of crooked privi-
lege loudly applauds the doctrine. 1t is
behind the shield of that doctrine that
crooked clauses creep into laws, that men
Of wealth and pG%eT r,S control l~egisiatdlo lon
trine, this theory, would do we'll to re-
member that TO Its adoption by the courts
is due the ~distrust so many of our wage
workers now feel for the courts. | deny
that that theory has worked so well that
we should continue it. / most earnestly
urge that the evils and abuses 1t has pro-
duced cry aloud for remedy, and the only
remedy Is In fact to restore the owe to
govern directly to the people, and to make
the public servant directly responsible to
the whole people-and TO no part OF them,
10 no class of them.
AS. for "conslstenoy"-why, the record
OF the courts, in such a case as the IN
come tax for instance, Is SO full of in
/ pressed of Inconsistency on the part of
the people seem childish.
As Lincoln announced Of the bred Scott
decision in his debates with Douglas,
Somebody has to reverse that decision,
since 1t is made, and we mean to reverse
It. and we mean to do 1t ,peaceably.'
the nation that wiped out slavery "the
htful impulse of a temporary majority?'
Remember. | am not discussing the re-
call of iudges-although / wish It distinct
~ understood that the recall is a mere
piece Of machinery TO take the place of
the unavoidable impeachment which Mr..
Taft in effect defends, and that il the days
of Maynard ever came back again in the
State of New York / should favor it. |
have no wish to come to it; but our op-
ponents, when they object to all efforts to
secure real justice from the courts, are
Strengthening the hands OF those who de-
mand the recall. In a great many states
there has been for many years a real re-
call of judges as regards appointments
promotions. reappolntments and reelec'
J lions; and this recall was through the, turn
of a thumbscrew at the end of a long
ests. / believe that a just judge wou,d
feel far safer in the hands OF the people
than in the hands of those interests.
The courts today owe the country, nc
greater or clearer duty than to keep tneli
hands off statutes when they have any
reasonably permissible relation to the pun,
lie good. In the past the courts nave oIter
failed to perform this duty, and their ian
ure is the chief cause of whatever dlssat
isfaction there is with the working Of
our judicial system.
My remedy is not the result OF a library
study of constitutional law, but OF aetna
and long-continued experience in the ust
Of governmental power to redress socia
and industrial evils.
Courts Should Keep Hands on Statutes
When, as the result Of years OF edu
evil from which they suffer. and hav,
chosen n Legislature and executive
pledged to embody that remedy In. law
and the law has bean finally passed ant
approved, regard It IS monstrouS tina