Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1914-10-21
Pres. Wilson's Address

President Wilson pleaded for the
Illuminating of the law" in this time
of international crisis. ilot only us re-
spects international law but as to mu-
nicipal law. His reference to himself
as a lawyer, who had reformed,
brought forth tumultoLs applause. He
said the world was now stirred to its
depths, but that the best course for
a nation to pursue was the disinter-
ested part. He added that the unset
tied world conditions made a good
time for freeing the law from the dry
consideration of cold presidents and
injecting into ii, more of the view
point of justice for the ordinary man.
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 opinivn works its
will,'' said President Wilson.
What impresses me is the constant
thought that that is the tribunal at
the bar of which we all sit.
Everything. rumor included, is
heard in this court, and the standard
of judgment is not with regard to the
character Of the testimony but the
character of the witness. The motives
are disclosed, the purposes are con-
jectured and that opinion is finally ac-
cepted which seems TO be, not the best
founded in law perhaps, but the best
founded in integrity of character and
morals. The disinterested course is al
ways the biggest course to pursue, not
only, but it is in the long run, the most
profitable course to pursue. If you can
establish your character, you can es-
tablish your credit.
what ] wanted to suggest to the
association in bidding them very
heart welcome &c the city, is whether
we sufficiently apply those same IDEAS
to the body of municipal law which
we seek to administer.
Understand me, gentlemen, am not
venturing in this presence to impeach
the law. For the present by the force
of circumstances, I am in part the
embodiment of the law and 1t would
be very awkward to disavow myself.
But l do wish to make this intima-
ton, that in this time of world change,
in this time when we are going to find
out just how, in what particulars, and
to what extent the real facts of hu-
man life and the real moral judgments
Of mankind prevail, it is worth while
looking inside our municipal law and
seeking whether the moral judgments
Of mankind are made square with
every one of the judgments of the law
itself For | believe that We are GUS
todians, not of commands, but of a
spirit We are custodians of the spirit
of righteousness, of the spirit of equal
handed justice, of the spirit of hope
which believes in the perfectibi]ity of
the law with the perfectibility Of hu-
man life itself
You cannot go any faster than you
can advance the average moral judg-
ments Of the mass, but you can go,
at least as fast as that, and you can
see to 1t that you do not lag behind
the average moral judgments of the
mass. l have in my life dealt with all
ports and conditions of men and ]
have found that the flame of moral
Judgment burned just as bright in the
man of humble life and limited expe-
rience as in the scholar and the man
Of affairs. And / would like his voice
always to be heard, not as a Witness
not as speaking in his own case, but
as If he were the voice Of men in gen.
eral, in our courts of justice, as well
as the voice of the lawyers. remember
ing what the law has been. My cope
Is that being stirred to the depth BY
the extraordinary circumstances of the
time in which we live, we may recov,
er from those depths something of g
renewal of that vision of the law with
which men may be supposed to have
started out in the old days of the or
acies, who communed with the imita.
ton divinity