The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-02-22

clear exactly what methods are illegal. and then the judiciary will be In a better position to punish adequately and relent- lessly those who insist on defying the clear legislative decrees.
 Shape your constitutional action so that the people will be able through their leg islative bodies, or, failing that, by direct popular vote, to provide workmens con- pensation acts. to regulate the hours of labor for children and for women, to pro- vide for their safety while at work and to prevent overwork or work under un- hygienic or unsafe conditions See to it that no restrictions are placed upon legis- lative powers that will prevent the on- actment of laws under which your people can promote the general welfare, the corn- mon good.
 ''So much for the ends of government and 1 have, of course. merely sketched in outline what the ends should be. Now for the machinery by which these ends are to eb achieved; and here again remember l only sketch in outlines and do not for a moment pretend to work out in detail the methods of achieving your purposes.
 Believes in Short Ballot
 "In the first place, I believe in the short ballot. You cannot get good service from the public servant if you cannot see him, and there is no more effective way of hiding him than by mixing him up with multitude of others so that they are none of them important enough to catch the eye of the average, workaday citizen.
 The people have nothing whatever to fear from giving any public servant pow CT so long as they retain their own pow CT to hold him accountable for his use of the power they have delegated to him. You will get best service where you elect only few men, and where each man has his definite duties and responsi- blities, and is obliged to work in the open. ft
 Direct Nominations
 'I believe in providing for direct nom nations by the people, including therein direct preferential primaries for the se- lection of delegates to the national nom- mating conventions. I believe in the cleo ton of United States senators by direct vote. I believe in the initiative and the referendum, which should be used not to destroy representative government but to correct 1t whenever 1t becomes misrepre- sentative
 q believe that the initiative and ref erendum should be used, not as substi- tutes for representative government but as methods of making such government really representative. Action by the initiative or referendum ought not to bt the normal way of legislation but tho power to take it should be provided ir the constitution.
 And I urge you not to try to put con. stitutional fetters on the legislature. as sc many constitution makers have recently done.
 The Recall "As to the recall, I do not believe that | there Is any great necessity for it as regards short term elective officers There l remains the question of the recall oi | judges.
 | An independent and upright judiciary (which fearlessly stands for the right. ever 1 gainst popular clamor. but which alsc understands and sympathizes with popu
 lar needs, is a great asset of popular
 government
 1 Moreover, never forget that the judge | is just as much the servant of the peo | pie as any other official. Of course, hs must act conscientiously. He must no | do anything wrong, because there is pop
 ular clamor for it. any more than un
 der similar circumstances a governor ol legislator or public utilities commis sioner should do wrong Keep clearly in mind the distinction 1 between the end and the means to at I tain that end Our aim is to get tht 1 type of judge that l have described. tC
 keep him on the bench as long as possi
 ble, and to keep off the bench and, i
 necessary, take off the bench, the wrong l type of judge.
 q do not believe in adopting tht recall save as last resort, when Il has become clearly evident that nc other course will achieve the desired 1 result
 1 But there Is one kind iof recall il which very earnestly believe and thu
 immediate adoption of which I urge
 When judge decides a constitutions question, when he decides what tn, people as a whole can or cannot do tn, people should have the right to re call that decision if they think 1t wrong We should hold the judiciary in all re
 speet; but 1t Is both absurd and de
 grading to make fetich of judge oi anyone else.