Denver labor bulletin., 1918-11-30
THE DENVER LABOR BULLETIN
WILL COURTS BE THE GOVERNMENT?
Speech by Meyer London Congress Upon Action
United States Supreme Court in Declaring Federal
Child Labor Law Unconstitutional;
Nullhed Peoples Will.

Lawyers ulllcT dS " LIE IlSuL VI
the supreme court to declare acts of
many brilliant lawyers are of the opin-
ion that this power has never really
been vested in the supreme court. The
very first time the supreme court ex-
ercised that power was in the case of
Marbury against Madison, in 1903.
Jefferson mercilessly criticised the
court and denied its right to declare
an act of Congress invalid. Justice
Clark, chief justice of the supreme
court of North Carolina, stands out
among the prominent jurists who be-
lieved that this power has never been
conferred upon the court.
But whatever the opinions of law
yers may be-and lawyers will always
differ, as it is their training to split
hairs, to differentiate, to find distinc-
tions, and to reason things out theo-
retically and abstractly and altogether
out of relation to existing things and
to live more or less in the past-the
predominance of the lawyer in social
and economic legislation is nothing
short of calamity.
Lawyers Cruelty Ideas.
Carlyle referred to lawyers rea-
soning as chop logic. The lawyer
takes thought and differentiates and
distinguishes and qualities until there
is nothing left of the original idea.
Whatever the opinion of lawyers
may be as to the right of the court
to declare an act of Congress uncon-
stitutional, one thing is certain, that
if this decision remains the law of the
land it will be impossible for the ma
tional legislature, for Congress, to
cure by way of legislation any of the
social or industrial evils which legis-
lation in all civilized countries of
the world tries to meet.
"It will throw back into the indus
trial field all the groups that are con-
tending for the right to exist, all the
economic classes that necessarily exist
in modern society, and among whom
there is ceaseless clash of interests.
Instead of the national will assert
ing itself thru the act of the national
supreme body, of the legislature, all
the power of expression the industrial
classes will have will be on the indus
trial field solely, with all the horrors
that industrial strife involves, and
with all industrial disturbances to So
ciety.
"Outside of the general cardinal
principles of the moral law, those prin-
ciples that are found in the Decalogue,
legislation has at all times repre-
sented the rule of one group of society
over the other as curbed or tempered
by the power and influence of the
other group.
"Thus for centuries in England, in
all the countries of the European con-
tinent, the landhoIding class has prac-
tically controlled legislation. In the
early history of these United States
the property holder enjoyed an in
fluence in legislation far superior to
what the members constituting that
class were justified in exercising.
GAS late as 1912 the famous Door
rebellion in Rhode Island was the final
stage of conflict between those who
believed that political power resided
in every citizen and every man, ire
spective of whether he owned real es-
tate or not, and those who believed
otherwise.
Needed Property to Vote.
SIN Rhode Island, under an old
charter, the right of primogeniture
was preserved and only land owners
and their first born were entitled to
vote up to 1912.
"What is tariff legislation but class
legislation, in which certain interests
which benefit by tariffs speak in the
name of the entire people? The op-
position comes from that portion of
the community for whom free trade
is more desirable, and who also speak
in the name of the entire people.
"In labor legislation, the situation
becomes quite clear. 1t is usually leg
islation on behalf of the masses of
large numbers, as against a smaller
group, which enjoys a greater share
of worldly goods and very often the
greater share of knowledge and intel
ligence, and who, by reason thereof,
think themselves the only competent
element of society to guide the des-
TIMES of the nation.
"If the decision of the supreme
court is to remain law, it will be i'm
possible for the national legislature to
take up child labor legislation, legis-
lation in behalf of women, legislation
calculated to modify or to change or
to improve conditions in industry.
ExplOiters Get Busy.
"The Official Bulletin this morning