Martinsburg statesman-democrat. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1906-1921, 1913-08-15
AMERICA ALAW
MAKING NATION
Also Has More Courts and Litiaationt
Than Any Other Country
In World


II is a common saying in Europe that
Americans are a lasless people.
and there are many good people in
tn country who feel that the remark
and the opinion which il implies are
justified. What they really mean is
that the people Of this nat on have
little respect for the law
But that all depends on how YOU
lock at ii. No doubt we are in a large
sense nation of lit'gants. There is
probably more litigation at the pres
ent time in the courts OF the United
States than in all the nations of Eu
rope ut together. but there are more
laws aud mere courts IN the United
Safes than IN all the nat ons of Eu-
rope put together There are forty
eight States In this country, each
with its own constitution. It's own
code Of laws and It's own courts all
in more or less harmony with the fed
eral constitution and the federal laws,
And each Of these States is adding
hundreds of new laws each year TO
its statute books and the federal Con
gress is adding hundreds each year
to the national laws
So If we are a nation OF law break
ers we can also claim the distinction
of being the greatest nation of law
makers the world has ever known.
We make laws; we break them; then
we patch them up and revise them
aud break them again; or We make
laws and the courts emaseulate them
by means OF precedents or interpret
them by means of punctuation, so
that the original intent of the law is
lost ght of and It is frequently made
to serve a purpose for which ii was
not originally intended medically
it should be remarked that we make
more lawyers than all the rest OF the
nations put together.
In point Of fact law Is more of a
study and a past me with the people
of the United States than with any
other people, and perhaps some OF our
contempt for law arises from our
too great familiarity say nothing
Of intercourse with the law In the
colonial days the London booksellers
used to say that they sold more Law
books to the scattered colon SITS along
the Atlantic seaboard than they did
to the people of England So this
study and familiarity with the law II
no new things with Amer cans.
HUI all this may seem irrelevant
and like begging the question. What
the European and the others have in
mind when they say Americans are
lawless S that Americans are given
to the violation OF the primal laws
governing the security OF person and
property. And it is not so easy to
answer that accusation in the mega
tive for there is no civilized nation
with which to compare the United
States no nation in all history that
has grow from 100000 to 100000,
600 people in 1870 years; nor any 9th
err nation that has achieved such
wealth, power and d stinction in the
same length of time
Nor was there ever a nation In
which the people have so quickly
after settling down in giyea place
framed their own laws and their
own government as in this United
States. The first thing the people
attended to wherever they settled on
prairie, IN the back woods or in the
mining camp, was law, and the next
thing they always sought to do was
to have the law respected Their
methods might have been crude, but
their intention was always right and
justice was tile deal they sought
1t took men with strong passions
to build this country in so short q
space OF time-to build a Chicago
St. Louis and a SanFranc SC
in fifty years-each of them Weather
than many Of the nations of history
And where you find men big enough
and powerful enough to build such a
nation and DO the pioneer work that
was necessary IN the bu lding Of such
a nation you inevitably find violence
but the marvel of it all is that there
has been so little rather than that
there has bee so much.
For into the United States there
has been poured for more than hun
bred years the most adventurous Of
the peoples Of Europe yes. Of the
world. All the nat ons are mingled
here as never before. In some Of our
Naxv Uype,land Factories mora than a