The Whitefish pilot. [volume] (Whitefish, Mont.) 1904-current, 1912-03-28


! MY remedy IL not the result OF .
library study Of constitutional Law,
but Of actual and long continued ex.
perience in the use Of governmental
| power to redress social and indus
trial evils. Again and again earnest
workers for social justice have said
to ne that the most serious obstacle
that they have encountered during
the many years that they have been
trying to save American women and
children from destruction in American
industry have been the courts. That
10 the judgment OF almost all the So
cial workers l know and of dozens Of
parish priests and clorgymen and Of
every executive and legislator who
has been seriously attempting to use
government as an agency for social
and industrial betterment. What is
the result Of this system Of judicial
notification! It was accurately stated
by the court Of appeals Of New York
In the employers liability case, where
It was calmly and jSdicially declared
that the people under our republican
government are les free to correct
the evils that Cypress them than are
the people Of the monarchies Of Eu-
rope. To any man with vision, to any
man with broad and real social sym
pathies, to any man who believes with
all his heart in this great democratic
republic of ours. such q condition 10
intolerable. It is not government by
the people, but mere sham government
in which the will OF the people is con-
stantly defeated.
When, as the result OF years of edu-
cation and debate. majority of pe0-
pie have decided upon a remedy for
evil from which they suffer and have
chosen a legislature pledged to en-
body that remedy in law and the law
has been finally passed and approved
regard it as moEstrous that a bench
Of judges shall then say to the people:
"You must begin all over again First,
mend your constitution (Which will
take four years) second, secure tine
passage of 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, II your patience holds out and
you finally prevail. the will of the ma
jority of the people may have its way"
Such a system is not popular govern.
k,,<
government.
The decisions of which we complain
are. as rule. based upon the constitu.
tional 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 having spe-
CHIC meanings - property" means
tangible property: liberty" means
freedom from personal restraint, or in
other words. from Imprisonment In its
largest definition. About 1870 our
courts began to attach 10 these terms
new meaning. Now property" has
come to mean every right OF value
which person could enjoy. and lib
erty" has heen made to include the
right to make contracts. As q 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 It restricts
the manufacture of tobacco IN tene-
ment 1t is told that the law "deprives
the landlord Of his property" Now.
do not believe that any people. and
especially our free American people.
will long consent that the term lib
erty" shall be defined for them by a
bench Of judges.
Friends. our task as Americans Is
to strive for social and Industrial jus.
tiee. achieved through the genuine
rule of the people. This IL our end:
our purpose. The methods for achiev-
ing the end are merely expedients to
he finally achieved or rejected accord.
ing as actual experiments shows that
they work well or ILL., But, IA our
hearts. we must have this Lofty DUR
pose, and we must strive for It In all
earnestness and sincerely or our work
will come to nothing. In order to sue.
coed we need leaders Of inspired IDEAL.
ism. leaders to WHOM are granted
great visions, who became great BY
striving 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, who
ever he may be-. is but an instrument
to be used until broken and then to
be cast aside, and II he is worth his
salt he will care no more when he IL
broken than a soldier cares when he
Is sent where his life is forfeit in or.
der that the victory 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 wheth.
er 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 Tho Soto ~ thA