New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1914-06-16
TAFT STANDS FIRM
FOR COURTS RIGHTS
Warns Harvard Students
Against Weakening Dig
nifty of Bench.

Cambridge, Mass, June 15.-Ex-Presi-
dent William H. Taft spoke before the
Phi Beta Kappa Society OF Harvard Uni
versity to-day on THE Supreme Court Of
the United States and Popular Self-Gov-
eminent"
The unabridged exercise Of the limita-
tions on hasty action 81 a majority or the
electorate, now interposed by the vested
prerogatives OF the Supreme Court Of the
United States and by the machinery for
amending the Constitution, was defended
by Mr.. Taft with immediate reference to
changes urged by certain political leaders
to qualify existing personal and property
rights and increase governmental control
over the individual. Mr.. Taft attacked
the recall of judicial decisions and the
proposal that the Judgment of the Su-
preme Court in constituting and enforcing
the Constitution be subject TO a reversal
by a plurality vote at any biennial cleo
ton
Basng his argument that the constltu-
tional and judiciary distractions to I'M
pulsive action at the polls were not in
consistent with popular government on
English governmental development, Mr..
Taft said.
THE enduring character OF the English
government and of the governments that
have been derived from It, like our own.
is to be traced in this training of the
minority to be good losers. But the quail
ity OF being good losers will not persist
in minorities unless majorities exercise
their power with fairness"
Consideration for the rights Of property
holders was urged by Mr.. Taft, who said
that they might not always be non-re-
slstant and always in favor of law and
order, as, If their right of property were
seriously impaired they might change
their conservation to the rebellious spirit,
like Ulster.
Speaking of the militant suffragettes as
an illustration of the tendency he de-
scribed, Mr.. Taft said:
They use force. and with modern ex-
plosives and the freedom Of modern life
they are able to do public and private
damage utterly out Of proportion to their
numerical strength"
Mr.. Taft attacked the trade unions for
their championing of the Clayton bill ex-
empting them from the operation Of the
Sherman antitrust law, and for their
support Of the strikers in Colorado.
I'VE ffnd," said Mr.. Taft, many labor
organizations insisting that the arm Of
the courts be weakened so that lawless
violence on their part may be an effective
fundamentally to gain their industrial
ends. Indeed, we find actual rebellion
against state authority maintained by
certain trade unions and supported by
contributions openly solicited from their
sympathizers the country over"
Mr.. Taft met the objection to the ma
chinery for amendment OF the federal
Constitution as very difficult. by saying
that amendments which did not arouse
sectional differences could not easily ne
defeated.
The superiority OF procedure of con-
struction of the country's laws with the
help of the Supreme Court rather than
at biennial election was urged by the
speaker, and the need for some such ;ri-
bunal grew greater, not less, he said, in
the developing Of society in its modem
form.
Attacks on the Supreme Court had been
made often before, said Mr.. Taft, when
there was a forceful man in political
leadership who commanded an earnest,
enthusiastic following and denounced OBJ
structions to the peoples will.
"In a transition period" he concluded,
I'VE need the Supreme Court not to pre-
vent reform by the exercise of popular
will. but to prevent change by popular
whim."