El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1914-10-20
.HUNANIZE LAWS,
WILSON s PLEA
President Is Eulogized by
Taft in Opening Bar
Association Meeting.

WASHINGTON. u - III W -N-- GA
address Of welcome by president VIII
son. with former president Taft in the
chair and the entire supreme court sit
ting as guests Of honor, the American
Bar association today began us annual
In his introduction Of president Will
son Mr. Taft pledged the ASSOCIATION
earnest cooperation and us ueepest per
sonal confidence in the presidents
ability 10 guide the snip OF OF. S Tas5
through the European Crisis Slr. 4alL
declared that the American people are
hack of the president la his handlnS
of the interug t1Onal sllutlloH anu ell<l1
he has the confidence o. tlie HAttoIi-
President Wilson response was Lntl
his strength rested in the confluence
of the people. He pleaded Tor the
s.hr1u1anfzfuar of the law IN TINS time
of international Crisis, not only as re-
spects international law, but as 10
rnunicfDal law He said the world Is
now stirred to its depths, Dut that
the best course for nation TO pur-
sue is the disinterested part he added
that the unsettled world conditions
make this a good time for freeing the
law from the dry consideration OF cold
precedents and injecting into II more
Of the viewpoint of justice for the or
binary man
@Opinion Is Mistress of World
THE opinion of the world IS the mis-
tress of the world: and the processes
Of international law are the slow pro-
cesses by which opinion works It's VIII,
said president Wilson
What impresses me is the constant
thought that that (publtc oplnlon) Is
the tribunal. at the bar Of which we
all sit. I would call your attention.
incidentally, TO the circumstance tnaI
il does not observe the ordinary rules
of evidence, which has some times sug-
gested to me that the ordinary rules
of evidence had shown some signs OF
Even Rumor Gets Hearing.
Everything, rumor included, IS heard
in this court, and the standard IS not
with regard to the character Of the
testimony. but the character Of the wit
ness. The motives are disclosed, the
purposes are cOnjectured and that
opinion is finally accepted which seems
to be not the best founded IN law, per
haps, but the best founded in integrity.
That is the process which IS slowly
working its will on the world and what
we should be watchful Of is not so much
jealous interests as sound principles OF
actions The dIslntereSted course Is
always not only the biggest course to
pursue, but 1t is in the long run the
most profitable course TO pursue II
you can establish your character, you
can establish your credit
Principle vs.. Precedent.
what ! want to suggest to this as
sOciation in bidding IL a very hearty l
welcome 10 the city, Is whether we
sufficiently apply those same ideas TO !
the body Of municipal law which we
seek to administer. Citations seem TO /
play so much larger role now than
principle. There was time when the /
thoughtfuf eye Of the judge rested on I
the changes Of social circumstances /
and almost palpably saw the law arise ]
out Of human life. Have We got TO a /
time when the only way TO change law i
is by statute2 The changing Of law I
by statute seems to me like mendinE /
a garment with a patch. whereas law I
not by the life outside Of it. I should !
hate to think that the law did not de- /
rive its impulse from looking forward !
rather than from looking backward; I
or rather that it did not derive its in
structions from looking about and see
ing what the circumstances Of men
actually are and what the impulses /
of justice necessarily are
Would Not Impeach the Law.
Understand me, gentlemen, 1 am
not venturing in this presence to in
peach the law For the present, by the !
force Of circumstances. 1 am in part
the embodiment Of the law and It
would be very awkward to disavow
myself, but I do wish TO make this
that in this time Of world
change. in this time when we are go
ing 10 find out just how, in what par
ticulars and to what extent the real
facts Of human life and the real moral
judgments Of mankind prevail II IS /
worth while looking inside our munic-
pal law and seeing whether the moral
judgments Of mankind are made to
square with every one Of the 1udg-
nents Of the law itself For believe
hat We are custodians- not Of com
hands, but of spirit We are custo-
lans Of the spirit Of righteousness OF I
he spirit of equal handed justice OF
he spirit of hope which believes in
=
Of human life itself
Belief in Human Nature.
Public life, like private life, would /
he a very duh and dry matter If it I
we're not for this belief in the essen
ial beauty Of the human spirit and the
elief that the human spirit could be
translated into action and into ordi-
.ance. Not entirely. You cannot go
ny faster than you can advance the
-yerage normal judgment Of the !
masses but you can go at least as fast
IS that and yUu can see to II that
ou do not lag behind the average
loral judgment Of the mass
Hear Average Mans Voice.
Il have in my life dealt with all |
orts and conditions Of men and I !
ave found that the flame Of moral |
burned just as brightly in I
ne man of humble life and limited /
experience as in the scholar and the
nan of affairs And 1 would like his !
dice always to be heard, not as |
FITNESS, not a. speaking in his own /
ase, but as if he were the voice Of |
len in general in our courts of JUS
ice as well as the voice Of the law /
ers, remembering what the law has
cen Ny hope is that, being stirred to
he depths by the extraordinary cir {
of the time in which we
i've, we may recover from those depths I /
omething Of renewal of that vision /
If the law with which men may be /
opposed to have started out in the old !