Audubon County journal. (Exira, Iowa) 1884-1993, 1912-03-28
exalt the pendantry Of formulas above


the real needs of human life.
MIR. Taft's position is the position
that has been held from the beginning
of our government, although not al
ways so openly held by large num-
Der of reputable and honorable men,
who, down at bottom, distrust popu-
lar government. and when they must
and hedge around 1t with every spe-
cies of restriction and check and bal
ance so as to make the power of the
people as limited and as ineffective as
possible. Mr.. Taft fairly defines the
Issue when he says that our govern
ment is and should be government
OF all the people by representative
part of the people. This is an excel
lent and moderate description of an
oligarchy. 1t defines our government
as a government of all of the people
by a few of the people.
Il am not speaking jokingly nor do
I mean to be unjust, for l repeat that
many honorable and well-meaning
men of high character take this view
and have taken it from the time of
the formation Of the nation. Essen
TALLY this view is that the constitu-
ton is a straight jacket to be used
for the control of an unruly patient
the people Now, 1 hold that this
view is not only false, but mischiev-
Gus, that our constitutions are instru-
ments designed to secure justice by
securing the deliberate but effective
expression of the popular will, that
the checks and balances are valuable
as far and only so far as they accom-
plish that deliberation, and that it is
warped and unworthy and improper
construction of our form of govern
ment to see in it only a means Of
thwarting the popular will and of pre-
venting. justice.
The Real Trouble.
"Mr. Taft says that every class
should have a voice in the govern
ment. That seems to me a very seri-
GUS misconception Of the American
political situation. The real trouble
with us is that some classes have had
too much voice. One of the most i'm.
portant of all the lessons to be taught
and to be learned is that a man
should vote not as representative Of
a class, but merely as a good citizen.
"Mr. Taft again and again, in quo
tations 1 have given and elsewhere
through his speech, expresses his dis
belief in the people when they vote at
the polls. In one sentence he says that
the proposition gives powerful effect
to the momentary impulse of a major
ity Of an electorate and prepares the
way for the possible exercise of the
grossest tyranny Elsewhere he
speaks of the feverish uncertainty
and unstable determination of the
laws by temporary and changing ma
jorities, and again he says that the
system I propose would result in sus-
al guarantees according to popular
whim, which would destroy, all pos
sible consistency in constitutional in
depreciation. should much like to
know the exact distinction that is to
be made between what Mr.. Taft calls
the fitful impulse of temporary ma
jority, when applied to question
such as that l raise and any other
question. Remember that under my
proposal to review rule of decision
by popular vote, amending or con-
STRUNG to that extent the constitu-
ton, would certainly take at least two
years from the time of the election
of the legislature which passed the
act.
Then Becomes "Whim."
/, "In one of Mr.. Taft's speeches he
speaks of the voice of the people as
coming next to the voice of God APP
parently, then, the decision of the
people about the presidency after
four months deliberation, is to be
treated as next to the voice of God,
but if after two years of sober thought
they decide that women and children
shall be protected in industry or men
protected from excessive hours of la
Dor under unhygienic conditions, or
workers compensated when they lose
life or limb in the service of others,
then their decision forthwith becomes
'whim' and 'feverish' and unstable
and an exercise of the grossest tyran-
ny and the laying of the AK to the
foot of the tree of freedom
THAT is the old, old, doctrine which
has been acted upon for thousands of
years abroad and which here in Amer
lea has been acted upon sometimes
openly, sometimes secretly, for forty
years by many men in public and pri-
vate life, and l am sorry to say by
many judges; doctrine which has in
fact tended to create a bulwark for
privilege, bulwark unjustly protect
ing special interests against the rights
of the people as whole This doc
trine to me is dreadful doctrine for
its effect Is, and can only be, to make
the courts the shield of privilege
against popular rights. Naturally, ev-
cry upholder and beneficiary of crook
ed privilege loudly applauds the doc
trine. 1t is behind the shield of that
doctrine that crooked clauses creep