Audubon Republican. [volume] (Audubon, Iowa) 1894-1925, 1920-04-29
THE SOCIALISTS Exp.yIs,oN
New York State Legislature Either
Did Too Much or Too Little

Did Too Much or TOO Little
The New York State Assembly
has done a possibly right thing in a
certainly wrong way. We say pos
sibly right, because the justice of
the judgment passed upon the five
socialists is greatly obscured in
doubt. If those men were personal
ly disloyal to the state or to the ma
ton, they were unfit for membership
in the assembly. If they belonged
to an organization which was so
essentially disloyal that it was i'm
possible for any member not to be
tainted with treason, they were en-
titled to no place in a loyal legislat-
ure So much must unhestitatingly
be conceded. But with all due re-
spect for the judiciary committee and
its trial of the men, it cannot be con-
ceded that its judgment, in which
the assembly so overwhelmingly ac-
quiesced, was satisfactorily convinc-
ing to the average disinterested and
impartial mind.
That is largely because the assem-
bly, undertook to do something which
it was not fitted to do and which it
was intended that 1t should do. Tech
nieally, no doubt, 1t had the power
to do it. 1t is the sole judge of the
elections, returns and qualifications
of it's own members. 1t may, then,
Judge a man to be disqualified If he
has blue eyes, or red hair, or toes
in" when he walks. The absurdity
and injustice of any such discrimina-
tions suggests strongly, however,
that the qualifications" of which
the house is the judge were meant
to be merely those prescribed by or
implied in the constitution itself,
namely, those of sex, age, residence,
etc. That is the reasonable inter-
probation of the constitution, and the
only one that it is safe to make. Once
go beyond such bounds, and any ex-
travagance or absurdity becomes
possible.
II we grant that those men were
unfit for membership in the assem-
bly,, their disqualifications were such
as should have been determined in a
very different way If they them
selves were guilty of sedition, they
should have been dealt with under
the state statute governing such Of
fences-a particularly strong and eff
ltNllNt SldlulCg ny lhC !" dg. IL llC
party to which they belonged was a
reasonable organization, it should
have been similarly dealt with. Or
if there was no law to cover the case,
a law should have been made. The
legislature had been negligent, dere-
lict in duty The socialist party, il
it is what it is now represented to be,
should not be permitted to partici-
pate in elections and to have recog-
milton on the official ballot. If as
though by Divine revelation it was
suddenly disclosed to Mr. Sweet and
his colleagues, as never before to
anybody else, that socialism was
treason, they should have proceeded
forthwith to enact suitable
law, IL a new one was needed, to COW
err the case. 1t is a sound principle
that laws must not be made by court
decisions 1t is for the courts to in
terpret and apply the laws, but for
the legislature to make them. In
this case, the assembly laid aside its
legislative functions, and resolved it
self into a quasi-judicial tribunal,
and as such undertook to do by ju-
dicial decision what it should have
done by pure legislation.
Moreover, in expelling those men
the assembly did either too much or
too little. If they were innocent of
the charges and implications against
them, Il did too much. II they were
guilty it did too little; for they de-
served not mere expulsion but a Sc
we're penalty in addition. More
over, II those men were guilty of dis
loyalty and therefore unfit to serve
in the legislature every enrolled and
dues-paying member of the party
that elected them was similarly gull
ty, and unfit to exercise the right OF
suffrage. Such guilt is of course
quite susceptible of definition, and
the penalty for it of prescription in
the statutes; and the ordinary courts
of justice are quite competent to en-
force such laws. Had the assembly
taken the lead in such legislation, it
would have been within its proper
field. II was out of its proper field
when it tried to do, as a court, a part
of the job which, according to its
own contention, it should have done
completely as a legislature.
1t is the more regrettable that the
assembly adopted this ill-considered
course, because of the very consider
able presumption which has been
raised that its indictment of the So
cialist party is largely valid. We
are not so much impressed as some
of our contemporaries seem to be
with the fathomless turpitude of the
article in the Socialist Constitution
which forbids, under pain of expul-
sion from the party, any member to
vote for military or naval appropria-
tions. 1t does not, apparently, re-
quire them to vote against such APP
preparations and simply to refrain
from voting either way is scarcely
to be reckoned treason. IL IL were,
there would be lots of traitors in
congress. Moreover, il is treason
able to advocate of course by peace
full means, abolition Of the army and
navy, Thomas Jefferson came very
close to that, and We have never
thought of him as a traitor. What
is much more serious, to our mind.
is the organization of a so-called po-
litical party, which is to enjoy the
powers and privileges and legal
status of party, containing non-cit-
liens, not only minors but also
aliens, in it's membership, and poten-
TALLY controlled by them.-Haryey's
Weekly.