Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1920-01-08
LIBERTY SET ASIDE
MUCH TOO LIGHTLY
Committee Of New York State Bar
Association Regrets Weakening OF
Respect for Individual Rights

E'EAR for "all that we have saved in the
evolution of human justice, when so much
of constitutional liberty and protection is
lightly set aside simply because it seems in
convenient to the single track mind is
expressed in report given out in Albany by
the New York State Bar Association COM
mittee on law reform yesterday. The re-
port will be submitted to the association at
its annual meeting on January 16 and II.
'As a result of war conditions there is
danger" the report says, that the funda
mental spirit of individual liberty may be
seriously impaired in the supposed interest of
public safety and efficient administration.
Those of conservative prepossessions believe
the spirit of the constitution is broader
than its terms, and that public safety and
greater happiness lie in the application Of
the spirit of fair play to new situations
rather than in the invention of intellectual
devices to escape its letter.
Laws may scrape through without be-
ing declared unconstitutional which never
theless impair its spirit; courts may exact
bail which it is not within the power of
the normal member of society to secure; cen
sorship of the press may be tightly estab-.
lished under guise of law: the police NAV
cancel the peaceful assembling of friends
of good order, out of fear of inability to
cope with disorder; n legislature may deem
it wise to curtai the ease with which n
householder may keep arms q court may
find it consistent with its idea of consti-
tutionalty to drag accused person into a
jurisdiction on theory of constructive pres
ence; and a parlor Socialist may sincerely
chafe at the bonds of constitution which
1nterferes with his efforts to revolutionize
the habits of the world but they all together
are the constant dropping which wears away
stone.
The tendency to disregard the inhibi-
tions of the constitution is widespread. It
leads to devices to obey the letter while
violating the spirit. The spirit is fair play
and the square deal. 1t has kept us headed
in the right direction, both for domestic
well being and in world affairs. Whatever
may be said of the writ of habeas corpus and
its functions. of venue, of the power of
Congress to fix the situs of crimes of omis-
sion, the fact will remain that it is not a
square deal nor fair play to take even an
enemy, under the guise of judicial process.
to distant point for trial for an omission
THIS structure is based on the removal of
u DR.. Edward A. Rumely from New York
to Washington for trial because the law
placed the Office of the alien property custo-
dlan Ill washington, and Doctor Rumely s
offense. so far as Washington was concerned.
was that he had omitted to report to that
official in Washington concerning his Eve
ming Mail dealings, when he already had
been indicted for an offense of commission
by n grand jury in New York.
''It could not have been foreseen by the
framers," the report says, "that by making
an act of omission a crime, a person who
had done nothing but refrain from pre-
scribed duty could be indicted and tried
where it was his duty to do the act, though
he were never there. Such rehnements of
venue are not calculated to preserve the
safeguards of the constitution. 1t is not the
spirit of fair play, and when our judicial
processes are inadequate to the protection
of an accused person under such circum-
stances. the liberty of the individual is en-
dangered and the institutions of the country
imperied
Through the veil of apprehension, or
of terror, or of unpopularity we should still
be able to defend the principles of constltu-
tional liberty. Never more than at present
have we needed leadership which will not
suffer these principles to be impaired. Even
an enemy should have the protection OF
fundamental law when he is arralgned under
the processes of law.