The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1914-07-27
With the State Press
My Remedy.

Is the person exercising power. He
believes that the executive branch
twhen he represents ID should take
precedence OF all other departments
and exercise both the initiation and
conclusion OF all policies without re-
gard to law or precedent. II was on
this theory he proceeded when wrest-
ing Panama from Colombia, and he
finds It sufficient defense of that
most lawless breach Of treaty obiiga-
lions to friendly nation To say. ut
had to be done; il | had waited for
congress to proceed regularly in the
matter. that body would still be de-
batting the question; SO l did IT" He
bore himself while in the White House
as monarch of all he serveyed; re-
siuced to action Louis the Fourteenth S
dictum Il am the State; habitraliy
spoke of the military agencies of the
government as my army" and my
navy" and adopted roval etiquette
in the household of which he was the
official head He referred to the CON
stitution as an outworu and nntiquated
shackie upon the activities Of the
federal agency and he displayed an
impatience OF the courts which Inter
found expression In that plank of the
Bun Moose platform that called for
sIops. whenever those intsrposed con-
stitutional objects 70 the carrying out
of measures enacted by congress with
the approval 81 the president. This
submission Of questions Of law, aud
of rights dependent on legal eaHstruc-
ton, he considers necessary 10 emanct-
patton Of the public will and conscience.
and he is so enamorea Of the prospect
promised by invoking the passions and
prejudices Of the multitude to pass
on matters only TO be properly de-
termined in rlle light OF cold and
impartial reason. that he talks Of Il
as my remedy" aud eXtols it az Of
fering a paracea for all the Ills which
have affected. are affecting, or may In
the future affect the body polite. The
supreme court is To his apprehension
a strait Jacket ON popular liberty and
a standing obstacle to progress; and
he has 10 conception OF democracy
made secure IN lawful freedom by
self-imposed restraints and enduring
by reason OF submission 10 "a common
arhiter Of conflicting aims and inter-
ests among It's component parts Here
iG his view differs from that Of the
profound statesmen who buttded the
constitution and committed it's care and
Keeping to a tribunal above The strife
81 i@'RoUS ana the SH3iF!HE currents
OF popular caprice. And the great
thinkers and students OF other lands
have recognized in this peculiar pro
vision OF the American system the
keystone OF the arch ON which rest
the peace and unity Of this nation
Unique In its conservative and pre-
servative mission, said Montesquieu
"A model to be initiated by every
people seeking Immunity froua that
which has been the bane of all past
republics" wrote Guigot Lord Broug
ham referred to this feature of our
system as follows
The power Of the judiciary to pre-
vent either the state Legislature ar
congress from overstepping the limits
OF the constitution Is the very great
est refinement in social quality 10
which any set OF circumstances has
ever given rise. or to which any age
has ever given birth.
Lord Salisbury referred to il COM
pared with the Jurisdiction and mis-
sion Of the British Jury as distinctly
superior, saying.
confess | do not often envy the
United states but there Is one feature
In their institutions which appears to
me- the subject Of the greatest envy
their magnificent Institution of a su-
pfeHe court. IN the United states, If
parliament passes any measure incon-
sistent with the constitution Of the
country, there exists a court which will
negative it at once. and that gives
stability to the Institutions of the
country which, under the system of
vague and mysterious promises here,
we look for in vain
colonel Roosevelt does not share the
respect and admiration so expressed
for the most distinctive feature of the
American government. He said in his
recent Pttsbprg speech that the peo-
pie must be guided and supervised TO
rightful political courses" But he only
meant that they should take counsel
and orders from himself in determn-
ing what was best for them and
would still entrust them with the power
to review and repeal court decision
covering matters with which neither
ne nor the average citizen is COM
petent to deal. 1t Is In such propo-
sitions as this that the shallowness
and recklessness of this ardent seeker
after leadership are most conspicuously
apparent, His is not n constructive
mind and he Is IA destructive by ma
ture.--Norfoik Virginian Pilot