The Leavenworth echo. [volume] (Leavenworth, Wash.) 1904-current, 1912-03-29


and judicially declared that the peo-
pie under our republican government
are less free to correct the evils that
Cypress them than are the people OF
the monarchies of Europe. To any
man with vision, to any man with
broad and real social sympathies, to
any man who believes with all his
heart in this great democratic re-
public of ours, such a condition Is In
tolerable. 1t is not government by the
people, but mare sham government in
which the will of the people Is con-
stantly defeated. 1t is out OF this ex-
perience that my remedy has come,
and let it be tried in this field.
When as the result of years of edu-
cation and debate a majority or the
people have decided upon a remedy
for an evil from which they suffer
and have chosen legislature, legis-
lature pledged to embody that remedy
In law, and the law has been finally
passed and approved, | regard 1t as
monstrous that a bench of judges
shall then say to the people: You
must begin all over again. First,
amend your constitution (Which will
take four years.; second, secure the
passage of a new law (Which will take
two years more); third, carry that
new law over its weary course OF It'll
cation, which will take no human be-
ing knows how long; fourth, submit
the whole matter over again to the
very same judges who have rendered
the decision to which you object.
Then, If your patience holds out and
you finally prevail, the will of the ma
jority of the people may have it's way"
Such a system is not popular govern
ment, but mere mockery of popular
government.
The decisions of which we complain
are, as a rule, based upon the con-
stitutional provision that no person
shall be deprived OF life, liberty. or
property without due process of law.
The terms life, liberty and property"
have been used in the constitutions
of the English speaking people since
Magma Charta. Until within the last
sixty years they were treated as hav-
ing specific meanings-"property"
means tangible property; Liberty"
meant freedom from personal re-
straint, or In other words. from i'm
prisonment In It's largest definition.
About 1870 our courts began to attach
to these terms new meaning. Now
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 for which women may labor, 1t
Is told by the courts that this law de-
priyes them of their liberty" and
when 1t restricts the manufacture OF
tobacco in a tenement it is told that
the law deprives the landlord OF his
property. Now, l do not believe that
any people, and especially our free
American people, will long consent
that the term liberty" shall be de-
fined for them by bench Of judges.
Every people has defined that term
for itself in the course of its develop
ment.
The Task is To Strive For Justice.
Friends, our task as Americans Is
to strive for social and industrial just
ice, achieved through the genuine rule
of the people. This Is our end, our
purpose. The methods for achieving
the end are merely expedients to be
finally accepted or rejected according
as actual experience shows that they
work we'll or ill. But, in our hearts
we must have this lofty purpose, and
we must strive for it in all earnest
ness and sincerity or our work will
come to nothing. In order to succeed
we need leaders of inspired idealism,
leaders to whom are granted great
visions, who dream greatly and strive
to make their dreams come true, who
can kindle the people with the fire
from their own burning souls. The
leader, for the time being, whoever
he may be, Is but an instrument to be
used until broken and then to be cast
aside, and If 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 forfeited in order
that the victory may be won. In the
long fight for righteousness the watch
word 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 Amer
lea, hold in our hands the hope of the
world, the fate of the coming years,
and shame and disgrace will be ours
If, in our eyes, the light of high re-
solve Is dimmed, If we trail in the dust
the golden hopes Of men. II, on this
new continent, we merely build an
other 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. To turn this gov
eminent either into government by
plutocracy or government by mob
would be to repeat on larger scale
the lamentable failures of 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