Perth Amboy evening news., 1912-03-21
Rulwark Of Privileges.

1t seems absurd to speak Of q con
ciusion reached by the people after two
| years deliberation. after t%hrashing the
! matter out before the legislature. after
thrashing 1t out before the governor.
after thrashing 1t out before the court
and by the court. and then. after full
debate for four or six months. as 'the
dtfui Impulse OF a temporary major
ity." If Mr.. Taft's language correctly
describes such action by the people
| then he himself and all other presi-
dents have been elected by 1.-THE ftful
impulse Of a temporary majority
then the constitution of each state and
the constitution of the nation have
| been adopted. and all amendments
thereto have been adopted, by 1.-THE ft
full impulse of a temporary majority
1.-The is right 1t was 1.-The fitful impulse
of q temporary majority" which found
ed and another ftful impulse which
perpetuated this nation. Mr.. Taft's po-
sition 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 gov
ern them and ought to govern them.
and who protect various classes of the
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 upon sometimes openly,
sometimes secretly. 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 a bulwark of privilege. a bul
wark unjustly protecting special inter
ests against the rights Of the people
as a whole. This doctrine is to me a
dreadful doctrine. 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 privilege loudly
applauds the doctrine. 1t IL behind the
shield of that doctrine that crooked
clauses creep into laws. that men OF
wealth and power control legislation.
Mr. Taft is very much afraid OF the
tyranny of %majorities. For twenty
i've years here In New York state In
our efforts to get social and Industrial
Justice we have suffered from the tyr
amy of a small minority. We have
been denied now by one court. now By
another. as In the bakeshop case. where
the courts set aside the law limiting
the hours Of labor In ~bakertes--ths
workmen's compensation act. as In the
tenement house cigar factory case-in
all these and many other cases We have
been dcnied by small minorities. by q
few worthy men of wrong political phi
losophy on the bonch. the right to pro-
tect our people In their lives. their lib
erty and their pursuit of happiness. AS
for "consistency"-why. the record Of
the courts In such q case as the income
tax. for instance. is so full OF incon
s~istencies as to make the fear express
ed OF Inconsistency" on the part of
the people seem childish.
Well meaning. short sighted persons
hove held up their hands in horror at
ny proposal 70 allow the people them
belyes to construs the constitution
which they themselves made. Yet this
En precisely what the Association Of the
Bar Of the City Of New York proposed
70 do IL tbs concurrent resolution