The Logan Republican. [volume] (Logan, Utah) 1902-1924, 1912-03-26

Again anu uEUlh earnest WOrkeTS lot
social justice have said to me that the
most serious obstacles 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 is the judgment
OF almost all the social workers !
know. and OF dozens OF parish priests
and clergymen and of every executive
and legislator who has been seriously
attempting to use government as an
agency for social and industrial better
ment. What is the result OF this sys-
TEN Of judicial notification? II was
accurately stated by the court OF APP
peals, New York, in the employers LA.
bility case, where II was calmly and
judicially declared that the people un
der our republican government are
less free to correct the evils that op-
press 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 republic OF
ours. such a condition is intolerable.
II Is not government by the people,
but mere sham government, in which
the will of the people is constantly de
feated. II is out of this experience
that my remedy has come, and let II
be tried in this field.
When as the result Of years OF edu
cation and debate majority Of the
people have decided upon remedy
for an evil from which they suffer and
have chosen a legislature pledged to
embody that remedy in law and the
law has been finally passed and APP
proved, regard It as monstrous that
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 new law
(Which will take two years more)
third, carry that new law over its
weary course OF litigation (Which will
take, no human being 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 pa.
thence holds out and you finally pre-.
vail, the will Of the majority OF the
people may have its way. Such sys-
TEN is not popular government, but a
mere mockery OF popular government
The decisions OF which we com
plain are, as a rule. based on the con.
stitutional provision that no person
shall be deprived of life, liberty and
property without due process Of law.
The terms life. liberty and property"
have been used in the constitutions OF
tile English speaking people since
Magma Charta. Until within the last
sixty years they were treated as hav'
ing specific property
means tangible property. liberty
| meant freedom from personal restraint
or, In other words, from Imprisonment
in its largest definition. About 1876
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 lib
erty" has been made to include ths
right to make contracts. As a result
when the state limits the hours TO-
which women may labor, ii is told b!
the courts that this law deprives then
of their liberty and when IL restricts
the manufacture of tobacco in a tene
ment. it Is told that the law deprive
the landlord OF his property" Nov
Il I a. hat N
especially our free American people
will long consent that the term I'll
erty" shall be defined for them by
bench of judges Every people ha
defined that term for itself in IN
course Of its development.
The task is to strive for justice
First of our tasks rs Americans Is 4
strive fer social and industrial justice
achieved through the genuine rule O
the people. This is our end our pun
pose. The methods for achieving tn
end are merely eXpedients to be FINAL
accepted or rejected according as act
ual experience shows that they worl
well or i'll. But in our hearts "
must have this lofty purpose and w
must strive for 1t in all earnestnes
and sincerity or our work will come {,
nothing. In order to succeed we nee
leaders of inspired idealism, leader
to whom are granted great vision
who dream greatly and strive to NAL
their dreams come true; who ca
klndle the people with the fire fror
their own burning souls The leade!
for the time being, whoever he ma
be, Is but the instrument to he use
until broken and then to be cast aside
and II he is worth his salt he will car
no more when he Is broken than sol
der cares when he is sent where hi
life Is forfeit IN order that the victor
may be won. In the long fight 70
righteousness the watchword for all o
MS is Spend and be Spent. II is OF III
the matter whether any one man fail
or succeeds, but the cause shall no
fail for IL Is the cause of mankind