Newark leader. ([Newark, Ohio]) 1917-1946, 1925-02-20

According to former United States
Senator Beveridge, of Indiana, the
people of America are being smother
ed in laws. The assertion was recent
ly made in an address at a New York
dinner celebrating the 124th anniver-
sary Of the appointment of John Mar
shall as chief justice of the United
States supreme court. Perhaps the
character of the assembly which lis
tened to and approved Mr.. Beveridge's
remarks was even more significant, In
connection with his views, than what
he actually said Numerous high of
ficials of the government, including
the secretary of state, were present,
and the company included many of
the most distinguished lawyers in the
country. Mr. Beveridge's remarks
were received with every indication
of approval, so that it appeared that
the best minds in craftsmanship and
legal lore were in accord with him.
Mr.. Beveridge asserted that the
United States is overburdened by fed
eral, state and local legislation. Ad
ministration of laws, he said, has be-
come "peremptory, insolent and au-
tocratic,' until officials have become
veXatious tyrants and citizens have
become cringing subjects.
"The nation and every state are
well-nigh smothered with multitudes
of laws" said the speaker. "No human
knows even how many statutes are
hidden within the forbidding covers
of thousands of volumes that contain
acts of congress and the state legis
latures. No human being knows even
the number of city ordinances, much
less the purpose of them. The coun
try would be better off if, for every
new law passed, an old one were re-
pealed."
Mr.. Beveridge compared the course
of governmental events in America
with those which have obtained in
Russia and elsewhere.
"It has come to pass" he said, "that
the mass of American legislation is
restrictive. We boast that ours is the
land of liberty, yet the American peo-
pie are by law forbidden to do more
things, and by law ordered to do more
things, than was the case in Russia
under the car, or Turkey, under the
sultan"
Not only the number of laws and
"the whimsical and arbitrary enforce
ment of them" but also the nature of
many of them are in defiance of hu-
man nature and the spirit of free in
stitutions, said Mr.. Beveridge.
But perhaps the most forceful sub
ject to which the speaker addressed
himself related to the difference be-
tween law and morality.
"The Sermon on the Mount" he
said, "is the final word in moral iv-
ing; yet there is not line of it that
can be put into human law with a po-
liceman behind it."
Thus a free government such as
ours is created for people of all
creeds, belief or no belief at all; for
men and women and children in every
condition of life, and for the alien as
we'll as the native born citizen Law
may tend to establish a moral condi-
tion among the people, but it cannot
prescribe it by definite standards of
conduct. The multiplicity of laws in
this country is chiefly due to the un-
tenable theory that morality can be
legislated into existence.
The Eighteenth Amendment
lhe Federal Prohibition enforce
ment will cost $30,0O0,000 this year.
$11 100000 for the prohibition unit,
$10,000,000 for coast guard and $9,-
100000 will be absorbed by the De-
partment of Justice
1t is estimated that if the cost of
this burlesque continues increasing at
it's present rate, it will cost $780,
100000 in 1880.
This must be paid by taxes, hence
your taxes are continually increasing
and they will continue to soar.
The taxes in many cities has reach
ed the maximum limit. In order to
overcome this barrier, the value of
property and PERSONAL belongings
will be reappraised at higher rate,
with the hope of overcoming finan-