Rocky Ford enterprise., 1912-04-19
VAT hen we think we are
w getting something for
nothing we are simply get
ting "stung.' &c. H. T.
cH1LE-coN-cARNE.
By the Contributing Editor.

= = = = = = =
Whatever is right is constitutional" is
the epigramatic way that Gov. Osborn of
Michigan would settle not simply the
question of passing a presidential pri-
mary law for the state, but the whole
vexed problem of Constitution mending,
which has been so oonspicuously injected
into current comment by our Theodore's
recent deliverances. cannot say that |
share the seeming large concern of the
Conservative elements of the electorate
lest the Constitution be pigeon-holed and
pandemonium turned loose in the earth
as result of the Roosevelt hat going
into the ring. OF course we all know that
Constitution is very imperfect thing
even our U. S. Constitution. But it
was living up to the best we knew when
we made it. A political community
must have some sort of a gauge or
measuring stick with which To fix its po-
litical limits. We have to have unit in
mathematics. a zero mark on our ther-
mometers, yard stick in mensuration
and money standard in commerce.
They are all more or less vague abstrac-
tons, but they are essential. For the
time being they have to be accounted final
and absolute, in order to be any good.
In proportion as they stand the test OF
time they prove the wisdom of their de-
vsers. Where they are defective, it is
still inconvenient and therefore some
what difficult to change them. A good
many people have got honest invest"
ments made on the basis of them; and
many others have special privileges
guaranteed by them. No wonder then
we "go up in the air. when someone
with an unusual amount of spread eagle
dash in him proposes to make them as
plialle as an old rubber overshoe.
1t is nice of course to have an unwrit-
ten Constitution like that of Great Bri-
tain. because then we are less likely to
bow down and worship it or get excited
about it. 1t is then very much more like
the abstract mathematical unit, and we
can the more easily do with it what
Theodore proposes, and what the Brit
shers practically do with theirs. interpret
it to suit the majority. Being subjective
rather than objective. we can with less
shock to our spirit of reverence twist its
tail whenever it gets too hoary with pre-
cedents and too rank with legal subter-
fuges. But these United States began
their national existence so differently
| from Great Britain. She was gradual
aocretion. absorbing gradually all sorts
of constitutional precedents while she
was gradually crystalizing into perma-
nent State. We started out as a specific
political aggregation, and when it came to
confederation we wanted to know as
nearly as possible Just what we were
signing for. And it seemed the proper
and easy thing to have it set down in
writing. OF course we agreed, at that
time. perfectly with Gov. Osborn that
whatever is right is Constitutional. That
goes without saying. A constitution is
surely one Of the things to which the
homo mensura doctrine. that things have
a meaning only in their relation to hu-
man interests. certainly applies; and the
right is what all good Constitution max
ers are always aiming at. OF course
right is only the antthetical term
for wrong and both are simply relative,
not absolute So that in the growing
knowledge and conscience of mankino
what is right today often becomes
wrong tomorrow. Mankind grows in
moral sensibility. and there is nc ore
reason for worshipping an immoral Con-
stitution than there is for worshipping an
immoral God. As James Russell Lowell
puts it:
New occasions teach new duties,
Time makes ancient good uncouth;
They must upward still and onward
Who would keep abreast of truth"
Then there is that other drawback tc
written constitutions, which attaches to
all written documents: the difficulty Of
making words express our ideas even
when we are sure we have the right
idea. That most eminent and distin-
guished of English iurists. Blackstone. is
credited with saying that he could drive
a-coaoh-and-six through any of the
statutes on the English law books. That
might be taken at first sight for tribute
to the ingenuity of the legal profession.
But presuming that he had risen to seat
on the woolsack before he uttered this
aphorism and was therefore not suscep-
tible to mere legal bubbles, his reference