Evening star., 1916-09-26
From the New York Tribune

presumably done its full duty in exam
lining the facts, dealing with the facts,
according to its judgment. the act Of
the legislature should be declared void
Legislative power. The question before
the court is whether it should be de-
clared a nullity because it was against
the constitution of the state or an act
of Congress or against the Constitu-
tion of the United Safes.
Plaintiff Must Prove Case.
charging that a rate act is contrary to
the constitution of the state or of the
United States. what does the court say
to him? 1t says, Before We will per-
form this extraordinary function of de-
claring a legislative act void and of
no effect, because unconstitutional. we
insist that you, the plaintiff in this
case. should prove your case beyond
any peradventure of doubt.
when you come in before you are
able to make such case after legis-
nation has acted and you endeavor to
get the courts to thwart the will Of
the legislature the court very properly
says that is not our province. You
prove your case and II you haven't
got the facts to show in advance of the
operation of the law that 1t operates to
conflscate your property, we will not
interfere with the operation Of the
law
what has that to do, that sound rule
Of judicial action, with the question
whether the legislature shall make the
acts without any inquiry at all. That
proposition only needs to be stated to
ILLUSTRATION was put forward of the
eighty-cent gas rate in New York. 1t
was suggested that the Supreme Court
of the United States, when the eighty
cent gas rate came before 1t. said that
it wouldn't interfere until the rate had
been tested. Is that a precedent for
legislative action without inquiry?
"Why, was counsel for a committee
of the New York legislature which in
yestigated that matter for weeks and
wrote an exhaustive report on the cost
of making gas, and on every matter
relating to the propriety OF that rate.
and the legislature acted only after
most careful examination and exhaus-
tive consideration of every fact in
volved. Think of that being cited as
a precedent.
Holds Pledges Broken
when we have legislation attacked
in the courts. we have one principle OF
judicial action. When we have PROPOSE
tions submitted to the legislature We
have a principle of legislative action
Let no one confuse the American mind
as to the principle Of legislative action.
It has been the same since legislatures
first began to sit. Indeed. II it Is aban-
doned you might as well wind up your
republic and appoint dictator"
Mr.. Hughes assailed the administra-
tion for "broken pledges and extrava-
to having aided business. He reiterated
to having aided ubsines He reiterated
that instead Of clarifying the antitrust
law by definition. the administration
had added vague phrases making the
law more uncertain.
"I have long stood for proper definite
ness in legislation" Mr.. Hughes said.
Il think 1T is an ideal that We should
endeavor to obtain. There has been
too much-and there has been a great
deal of it-in this administration Of
compromise phrases in the statutes ap-
parently intended to mean one thing to
one set Of men to get their votes and
another thing to another set Of men to
allay their fears"