The river press. [volume] (Fort Benton, Mont.) 1880-current, 1912-04-10

Aul1V01 VI L0RutoOiC ouu AOAO oOA0
nen, who. down at the bottom, dis
trust popular government and when
they must accept it, accept it with re-
luctance and hedge around il with
every species of restriction and check
and balance so as to make the power
of the people as limited and as inef-
fective as possible. Mr.. Taft defines
the issue when he says that out gov
eminent is and should be q govern
ment Of all the people by a reputable
part OF the people. This Is an excel
lent and moderate description Of an
oligarchy. 1t defines our government
as a government of all the people by
. few of the people.
I am not speaking jokingly nor do
I mean to be unkind, for 1 repeat that
many honorable and we'll meaning
men Of high character take this view
and have taken it from the time of
the formation of the nation. Essential
~ this view is that the constitution is
stratghtjacket to be used for the
control Of an unruly patient--the peo-
pie. Now, ] hold that this view is not
only false, but mischievious; that our
constitutions are instruments designed
to secure justice by securing the de-
liberate but effective expression OF
the popular will, that the checks and
balances are valuable as far and only
30 far as they accomplish that de-
liberation and that 1t is a warped and
unworthy and improper construction
of our form Of government to see in 1t
only a means of thwarting the popu-
lar will and of preventing justice. Mr..
Taft says that every class" should
have a voice" in the government.
That seems to me a very serious mis-.
conception Of the American political
situation. The real trouble with US
is that some classes have had too
much voice. One of the most impor-
tant of all the lessons to be taught and
vote not as a representative of a class
but merely as a good citizen whose
prime interests are the same as those
of all other good citizens.
Taft's "Disbe'lef in the People,"
Mr.. Taft again and again, in quota.
~tstions ] 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 ef-
feet to the ~momentary impulse of a
majority OF ar electorate and prepares
the way for the positive exercise of
grossest tyranny. Elsewhere he speaks
OF the "~feverish uncertainty" and "un
stable determination" of laws "by
temporary and changing majorities,'
and again he says that the system !
propose would result in suspension
or application Of constitutional guaran.
tees according to popular whim,'
which would destroy "all possible con.
sistency" in constitutional interpreta.
ton. l should much like to know the
exact distinction that is to be made
between what Mr.. Taft calls "the fitfu1
impulse of a temporary majority
when applied to a question such as
that l raise and any other question
Remember that under my proposal to
review a rule or decision by popular
vote. amending or constructing to that
extent the constitution, would certain.
ly take at least two years from the
time of the election of the Legislature
which passed the act. Now, only -four
months elapse between the nomination
and the election of a man as president
to fill four years the most important
office in the land. In one of Mr.. Taft's
speeches he speaks of "the voice Of
the people as coming next to the voice
of God" Apparently, then, the de
cision of the people about the presi
dency, after four more years delibera
ton, is to be treated as next to the
voice of Cod" but If after two years
of sober thought they decide tha1
women and children shall be protect
ed in industry, or men protected from
excessive hours of labor under unhy
genie conditions, or wage workers com
pensated when they lose life or liml
in the service of others, then their de
cision forthwith becomes a "whim'
and feverish land unstable" and an ex
ercise of The grossest tyranny ant
the laying of the axe at the foot o
the tree of freedom"
This is the old, old doctrine, which
has been acted upon for thousands O
years abroad and which here in Amer
lea has been acted upon sometimes
openly, sometimes secretly, for fort.
years by many men in public and il
private life, and l am sorry to sa,
by many judges; a doctrine which ha,
in fact tended to create a bulwark TO
privileges, a bulwark unjustly protect
ing splints against the rights of tn
people as a whole. This doctrine /
to me a dreadful doctrine, for it's eli
feet is, and can only be, to make tn
courts tho shield of privilege agains
popular rights. Naturally, every up
> holder and beneficiary of crooke4
privilege loudly applauds the doctrine
It is behind the shield of that doctrin,
that crooked clauses creep into law
: and men Of wealth control legislation
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