Evening journal., 1915-11-12
SUPREME COURT AND HUMAN RIGHTS.

RORMER JUDGE GEORGE GRAY, OF this State. was
II right when he said, in the of his address
before the Senior Civcs Glass of Wilmington High
School on last Tuesday evening that the decision
Gently handed down by the United States Supreme
Court declaring the Arizona Ant-Alien Labor Law to
be unconstitutional an exceedingly important one
in that Notwithstanding the will of a majority Of the
people Of Arizona it made Intellectual the effort Of that
majority 10 deprive the humblest individual within
the American borders of the fundamental and vital
liberty Of earning livelihood and enjoying the proec
ton Of equal laws That his view OF the great inn
portance Of that decision is shared by other deep think
ers is indicated clearly by the following editorial lead
er In the current issue Of The Nation, OF New York
which reached desk today:
The Fourteenth Amendment TO the Constitution OF
the United States owed 1t origin the desire to protect
the negro freedmen In their newly acquired rights as
human beings and citizens of the United States In
the course of its application TO the vast multitude OF
questions that have arisen under IT, its enects have
ranged into domains that have little or no connection
with the great purpose that was in the minds Of its
framers Our system Of government with the Su-
preme Court as final arber Of the validity Of all laws
has often been subjected TO criticism on this ac-
count Most persons who have studied would agree
that there is serious basis for the charge that Four
eenth Amendment has. in important instances been
made by judicial interpretation to serve propery in
terests distinguished from human" interests in
degree beyond that which its terms necessarily infer;
and there many who have the impression that in
point of fact this has been substantially the only ef
feet of the enactment its primary purpose having
ucdliy played no part az mat lnS last rs
fetal and mistaken view will be apparent to any one
who reflects that in relation to that primary purpose
in Of unmstakable character the Amendment
operates automatically; a general rule, IL is only
In questions that less doubtful that il has
been necessary to invoke the Interpretation of the
courts.
The decision Of the Supreme Court in the matter of
the Arizona AntiAlien Labor law apart from it's
trinsic Importance has special interest as bearing
not on some indirect collateral effect of the Four
teenth Amendment, but the very object that was
IN the minds Of its trainers For while il true that
nelr primary motive to protect the freedmen against
oppression 10 not by inadvertence that they made
the language Of the Amendment broad enough TO cover
future. Whether or not the thought OF corporations
as persons was in their mind IL is quite certain that
every individual human being in every State Of tbe
Union was designedly covered bv the laneuaoe thoy
usoelatey chose. when they declared that no state
an oeprNe any person Of life liberty or propertv
Ni.noul que process Of law, DENY 10 anv nerson
~ithh its jurisdiction the equal proecon ~ The 1o-
~nlSn IL regards as an abridgment OF their rgbt -
NoIA lot living, the Supreme Court not onlv .o.e
upon potn the letter and the spirit of tbe
Amehumeht, nut IS protecting these aliens fr~,. -
ciseiy le kno OF oppression which must have -
specincaly IN the minds of its trainers &C ~.
negroes and against which, in the case of am norson
1t was set up as a permanent and imnreenah, suns az
Pee"aple oe-
So much for the subiect-matter Of the c,so a.,
etil remained, OF course. the question whether tho -
slation at issue really under the prohih,,io
the Amendment There is ground for keen satisso., ~
IN the circumstance that the court it's opinion
down by Justice Hughes TO the fundamentalr i.
this question. There is in this respect great contrae
between the action Of the court in this matter and IN,