The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1912-01-05

whereby the people may place law
upon the statute books which even
court may not. declare unconstitutional,
IL asked for by Colonel Roosevelt In q
copyrighted article, Judges ana Prog
ress," appearing in the current issue OF
the outlook.
Unless such q referendum Is granted,
Colonel Roosevelt believes. the time Will
come when the hands Of the courts vii
be tied by popular demand, and their
power to pass upon the legality Of an
enacted law will be taken from them,
That the courts should decide points
raised under q law, but. should not
have the right to kill the law itself, UNI
less II be so fragrant violation Of the
Constitution az to be incapable of argu-
ment, is the belief OF Colonel Roosevelt.
| Experience during the past twenty
/ Ave ycarB has shown that the people
/ may be aroused to sound and hiGh
thinking and their legislative and execu-
tive officers may show the intention Of
carrying out the peoples purpose. and
yet that the whole movement for good
may come to naught. and fostering
wrong and injustice be perpetuated, be-
cause certain judges, certain courts, are
i stepped In some outworn political or
social philosophy. and totally misappre-
bend their relations to the people and
to the public needs. l am entirely
| aware that, no matter how carefully I
guard what I have to say. what l say
will be misrepresented by certain per-
sons with the deliberate purpose of
misleading honest and conservative citi-
| Gems into the belief that am advocat-
Ing something radical and Revolutionary
l. q N IA tAxr2 ~ Al
system and that / am making an at
tack upon the Judges. But l. feel II
Is my highest duty to speak plainly on
this subject so vital to our common
| welfare
Respect For Judges.
Mr.. Roosevelt declares he has the
highest respect for the judiciary az a
body, holding that the attitude or the
people toward the courts should lie that
Of appreciation and respect, "but not
Of servility." He adds that In criticis-
ing the decisions of judges, he does
so only by applying the criticisms Of
famous jurists. II have. ne, er takcn, -
he says "a position in advance OF
Abraham Lincoln. = who sail
| If the policy OF the Government
upon vital questions affecting the whole
people Is to oe irrcvocably fixed by do.
cisions of the Supreme Court, the in
slant they are made. in ordinary iitisa-
tion between parties in personal ac-
| lions, the people viii have ceased to be
their ow \ rulers ha wing to that extent
practically resigned their Government
INTO the honds Of thCt eminent tri-
| In no other nation, Mr.. Roosevelt de,
clares: have judges the power to mega
tive legislation, quoting an English
bishop who said: Whoever hath an
absolute authority to interpret any
truly is the lawgiver. to ali intents and
purposes: and not the person who frs.
Here in America the courts decide
| their will"
.rhe former President DEF iares 1t In
wise to give judges the power OF judi
eiai interpretation OF statutes to see
mental law of the land, bat that this
power. II abused. is sure to lead to
II am speaking" he says, "of the
Judge. the function Of no other Judge in
the world. the function of declaring
whether the people have the right to
f wh,oh avs AVS iS S themselves on matters
am speaking OF the Judge when. by
virtue Of hi position, he declares that
tne people os whole have, OF have
n mol; the right to ,s carry oct 2 given
man, or three men. or Ave iaen, the
right to nullify the wishes OF the enor-
NOUS majority. of their ninety million
tfellow-citizcns."
III such courses, Mr.. Roosevelt de-
clares. judges are peculiarly unified
Minds Obsessed." I IS
1.-THE ordinary judge comes to q
modern trust or railroad case Tor any
case Affecting the conditions OF labor
or the reforms demanded in modern so.
cial and Industrial life) with his mind
obsessed by rules Of law. He tries ia
cramp this great public question to III
rules devised for a suit on promissory
note or for trespass to real property.
Why is judge able to decide or
binary suits? Because he knows some
thing of the actual life out Of which
they arise. A rate case, or a trust case
Tor case involving such subject az
workman's compensation or excessive
hours OF labor) is a problem in admins
trative statesmanship. The training OF
eision. but in fact, disquaiifies Judge
for such work. He is constantly at
tempting to apply to 1t rules which were
devised for controversies between mar
anu UldH.
I Mr.. Roosevelt then shows how the
Supreme Court OF New York killed the
workmens compensation law and laws
governing tenement houses, as uncon.
stitutionaP' decisions that were blows
he says, ito decent citizenship: to the
effect to achieve genuine reform, gen.
uine betterment Of social conditions, OF
SO severe nature that it's mischievous
effects can hardly be overestimated.
This court also killed a Law making
p. m. the latest hours a woman might
be employed. Some of these laws wers
declared unconstitutional by vote Of
five to four In the Supreme Court"
Mr.. Roosevelt declares emphatically
that he does not question the integ,
rlty of the court which killed these
laws, and adds:
'T hold that II the majority Of tn,
,eople, after due elaboration decide u
N champion such social and economic re
forms. they have right to see then
enacted into laws and become a par
of our settled governmental policy"
While he does not seek to appear a.
a champion of the laws thus killed
Mr.. Roosevelt maintains that IL tn,
d people desired them as laws they hat
a. right to have them, and that no cour
should have killed them.
Workman's Compensation.
The contributing editor. in particular
takes up the workman's compensation
law. killed as unconstitutional by tn,