Perth Amboy evening news., 1912-02-21

peoplos n the American peon1e m
nok at fox popular E~cyernIns1k, and
NJ thay should Of right be the servants
and not tbs masters oR shs men whom
they themselves put In oflpe, then
Ltnccin's work waa wasted and tn
whole system rf government upon
which this great democratic republic
rests is O failure. I believe. on thu
contrary. With all my heart that the
American people ara at for complete
self-governnnent, and that. in aptfe Of
oil cur fsilings and shortcomings, W
OF this republic have more nearly real
ICED than any other psopIe on earth
ths ideal q justsoe attained through
genuine popular rule.
People Fundamentally Right.
/ do mot say that tho people are In,
fsiiibis. But l DO sag that our whole
history shows that thu American pee.
pie are more often sound In their de-
cisicns than is the case with any oil
the governmental bodies to whom, for
their convenience, they have dele.
gated portions of their power. If this
IL not SO. then there is no justification
for the existence OF ,onr government;
and II It il 30. then there Ii no justi
noation for refusing to give the PEG.
pie tho real, not merely the nominal
ultimate decision on questions Of con.
stitutional law.
A decision rendered but 4 few
months & By the court OF appeals
OF my state, the state OF New
York, declared Unconstitutional thu
workmsn's compensation act. In theil
decision the Judges admitted thu
wrong and the suffering oaused By the
practices against which the law Wal
aimed. They admitted that other civ
tdzed nations had abolished thsss
wrongs and PRACTICES. But they tool
tho ground that tho Consultation ol
the United States, instead Of being an
instrument to euure justice, had been
in~geniously devised absolutely to pre-
rent Justice. They insisted that this
clause In the Constitution which for
bads the taking Of property without
dus process Of law forbade thu effcrt
which had bssn made In the law ia
distribute among all tho partners IN
An enterprise the Slfects OF tho In
1ufies to life or limb OF q wageworn.
Or. In other words, thoy insisted that
tho Constitution had permanently
CURSED our people with impotence to
fight wrong, and had psrpetuated .
cruel infuuity; for cruel tniauity Ia not
too harsh = term TO une fn describing
the Law which. In the event OF such an
accident, binds the whole burden Of
crippling disaster on the shoulders
least able to bear 1.-THE shoulders OF
the crippled man himself. or the dead
mans helpless wite and children. No
anarchist orator, rayirg against the
mcnt to 1t 80 severe al these worthy
and weiEmeaning judges must be held
to have framed IL their reasoning be
accepted as true. But, "a a matter
OF fact, their reasoning was unEound,
and was as repugnant to every sound
defender OF the Constitution as to
every believer In Justice aad right.
eousness. In effect, their decision
was that we could not remedy these
wrongs unless We amended the Com
stitutton mot the constitution OF the
state, but the Constitution Of the ma
tom by saying that property could be
taken without due process Of lawi It
seems Incredible that any n should
be willing to take such q position. IT
IA u position that has hesn condemned
over and over again by the wisest and
most far~saeing courts. In its essence
It was reversed by the decision OF
state courts In states like Washington
and Iowa. and by the Supreme court
of the nation in q case but . few
weeks old.