Hopkinsville Kentuckian. [volume] (Hopkinsville, Ky.) 1889-1918, 1912-03-28

NoChui JUSTIFY nave odiu W utc bhob Nho
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 at
tempting to use government as an
agency for social and Industrial better
ment What is the result of this sys-
tenn Of judicial notification? It was
accurately stated by the court OF ap-
peals OF New York in the employers
liability case. where II was calmly and
judicially declared that the people I'M
der our republican government are less
free to correct the evils that Cypress
them than are the people Of the mon
arches OF Europe. To any man with
vision, to any man with broad and real
social sympathies, to any man who be-
lieves with all his heart In this great
democratic republic Of ours, such a
condition is intolerable. It is not gov
eminent by the people, but mere sham
government in which the will of the
people is constantly defeated. It is
out of this experience that my remedy
has come, and let 1t be tried in this
field. When as the result Of years of
education and debate a majority of the
people have decided upon a remedy for
an evil from which they suffer and
have chosen a legislature and executive
pledged to embody that remedy in law
and the law has been finally passed
and approved regard it as monstrous
that bench Of judges shall then say
to the people: you must begin oil OUer
again. First. amend your constitution
(which will take four years]; second,
secure the passage Of new law
(which will take two years morel;
third. carry that new law over the
weary course of litigation (which will
take no human being knows how longl;
fourth, submit the whole matter over
again to the very same judges who
have rendered the decision to which
you object Then. If your patience
holds out and you finally prevail, the
will of the majority of the people may
have its way" Such a system is not
popular government, but a mere mock
cry of popular government.
People Will Define Liberty"
The decisions Of which we complain
are, as a rule, based upon the constitu-
tional provision that no person shall
be deprived of life, liberty or property
without due process of law. The terms
'1ife, liberty and property" have been
used in the constitutions Of the English
speaking peoples since Magma Charta-
Until within the last sixty years they
were treated as having specific mean
ings-"property" meant tangible prop
erty; elderly meant freedom from
personal restraint, or. in other words,
from Imprisonment in its largest def
milton. About 1870 our court began to
attach to these terms new meanings.
Now property" has come to mean
every right of value which a person
could enjoy, and "liberty" has been
made to include the right to make con-
tracts. AS a result, when the state
limits the hours for which women may
labor. it is told by the courts that this
law deprives them Of their liberty"
and when it restricts the manufacture
of tobacco in a tenement it is told that
the law deprives the landlord of his
property" Now, l do not believe
that any people. and especially our
free American people, will long con-
sent that the term liberty" shall be
defined for them by bench of judges.
Every people has defined that term for
itself in the course of its development
Task Is to Strive For Justice.
Friends, our task as Americans is to
strive for social and industrial justice,
achieved through the genuine rule of
the people. This is our end, our pur-
pose. The methods for achieving the
end are merely expedients to be finally
accepted or rejected according as actu-
al experience shows that they work
we'll or i'll. But in our hearts we must
have this lofty purpose, and we must
strive for 1t in all earnestness and sin
certify or our work will come to moth
ing. In order to succeed we need lead
ers of inspired idealism. leaders TO
whom are granted great visions. who
dream greatly and strive TO make their
dreams come true; who can kindle the |
people with the fire from their own |
burning souls. The leader for the time
being, whoever he may be, is but an
instrument to be used until broken \
and then to be cast aside. and If ne
is worth his salt he will care no more
when he is broken than a soldier cares
when he is sent where his life is for
felt in order that the victory may be
won. In the long fight for righteous
ness the watchword for all of us is
spend and be spent II is OF little mat
ter whether any one man fails or sue
ceeds, but the cause shall not fail. for