The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1921-04-15

The greatest crisis in the history Of our country, was, when
We became a participant in the world war. We shudder even to
conjecture the results that would have followed, If the Allied
armies had not been successful. 1t is true, that the crisis Wnaca
then existed, has passed, but we are in the midst Of one shat
threatens, not only the foundations Of our Government but, Ike
wise our very civilization. The entry Of tho United States into
the World War brought about a tremendous change in all our
conditions, both public and private; and, as . natural result, we
are now passing through a reconstructive revolution. We are in
the midst, also, Of an industrial revolution between capital and
labor which has grown more dangerous by reason OF the World
War. Even after a war has terminated and peace again pre-
walls, its tendency is to produce lawessness tn its most objee-
tionable forms, and to give greater freedom to the masses OF
the people.
Several years ago about the time when we were celebrating
the centenary Of our national constitution, an American lawyer
boosted to an intelligent Engishman with something OF the pre-
sumption of youth, Of the superiority Of our system OF govern
ment, with its constitutional guarantees, over the govern
ment of England, whereupon the Engishman replied: eyes, and
if you do not watch out, those same constitutional
guarantees are going to prove your undoing. Your
men of wealth and culture, relying upon them, turn
away from the rude and dstasteful struggles Of politics, and
leave your public affairs in the hands of professional politicians
We on the other hand, know that Parliament can do anything;
that it can behead US, that it can confscate our goods. We know
that our lives and fortunes are forever at stake, and we are con-
stantly active in political affairs. Some day you will awake to
find, that the great hungry masses will decline to be held in
check by a mere scrap of paper; and in that hour OF. peril you
will suddenly realize that you have entrusted the helm of the
ship of state to venal. ruffans, who are only too glad to side with
the pirates"
The question which this .prophesy naturally suggests is
whether there is any foundation for it.
The guarantees to which the Engishman referred are the
natural rights Of man which are thus described in the Declare
ton of Independence:
eve hold these truths to be sef-evident; that all men are
created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with GER
tain inaIenable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the
pursuit Of happiness; that to secure these rights, governments are
instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the con-
sent of the governed" And, the Federal and State constitutions,
in order to protect those rights, provide that mo person shall be
deprived Of life, liberty or property without due process of law"
Hugh S. Legare, one of our greatest scholars and jurns,
thus speaks of the sacred nature Of these rights: "our written
constitutions do nothing but consecrate and fortify the plain
rules Of ancient liberty, handed down with Magma Charta from
the earliest history Of our race. Before the colonies existed the
Petition Of Rights, the Magma Charta of a more enlightened age,
had been presented in 1923 by Lork Coke, and his immortal COM
peers. Our founders brought it with them, and we have not
gone one step beyond them. They brought these maxims Of civil
liberty, not in their libraries, but in their souls; not as phloso-
phical prattle, not as barren generalties, but as rules Of conduct;
as a symbol Of public duty and private right, to be adhered to
with religious fidelity. And the very first Pilgrim that set foot
upon the rock of Plymouth, stepped forth a living constitution,
armed at all points to defend and perpetuate the liberty to which
he had devoted his whole being"
The marked difference between u own and the English
Constitution, is, that the Englishmen obtained certain guarantees
from the King by solemn contract under the royal SEAL but the
trainers Of our Constitution acknowledged allegiance to no king.
The rights which it secures are derived from the King Of Kings.
This difference is pointed out by De Tocquevlle, in his book
published nearly a hundred years ago, entitled: Democracy in
America" 1t has been said frequently, that he understood the
spirit Of our institutions more clearly even than Jefferson or
Hamilton.
In the introduction to his book, he uses these words:
Amongst the novel objects that attracted my attention during
my stay in the United States, nothing sruck me more forciby
than the general equality Of conditions.
The more I advanced in the study Of American society, the
more I perceived that the equality Of conditions is the fundamen-
tl fact from which all others seem to be derived; and the CEN
trail point at which all my observations constantly terminated"
In biz book no says: II have inquired into the legislative
and executive power of the Union; and the judicial power now
remains to be examined; but in this place l cannot conceal my
fears from the reader. Judicial institutions exercise a great in
Ausuce on the AngloAmericans and they occupy a prominent
amongst what are called political institutions. In this res
pect, they are peculiarly deserving of our attention"
No doubt his fears arose from the fact, that the Consttu-
tion of the United States vests in the Judges, not only the juris-
diction ordinarily incidental to the courts, but likewise authority
to interpret it's provisions, which power he contends is political
in its nature; and, as those who exercise such powers must neces-
sarily be selected for appointment from the legal profession that
the ultimate or controlling political power of the government is,
in the hands of an exclusive class which constitutes a
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