Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1926-10-07
OBSERVANCE ESSENTIAL

The concern which those who use
the highways have In motorists who
disregard traffic rules is Of course
evident but how many deduce from
that a suggestion Of the concern we
all should have in the general OBJ
servance Of law?
Educated public sentiment aided
by wise traffic laws and competent
traff1c officials. has prevented high
way travel becoming a debacle. The
very great majority Of people using
the highways have come to realize
the need Of regulation. They are
not offended when compelled to
recognize such regulation; indeed
for the most part they are in a
mood to cooperate, to be indignant
with failure to enforce. They are
not wishing for the individual free
dom possible in the days before the
motor revolutionized highway traf-
&c.
Cannot this great majority of SEN
sible people equally recognize the
need Of law observance with regard
to other regulations?
Cannot they as clearly receive the
need of curb on the lawless. that so
and only so may safety be had? So
ciety made up of individuals each
claiming an option on observing
only such regulations as he might be
pleased to observe crosses the
threshold into anarchy.
There can be no basis for society
on the theory that person may
claim the protection Of the laws and
yet refuse obedience to the laws" re-
marked Attorney General Sargent
addressing the Missouri Bar AS
ISOLATION this week. Such sound
logic may not be successfully refut-
ed.
There was equally sound logic in
his conclusion that we are living lin
4 time of relaxation of the rules of
conduct generally. and Of thinking
that personal observance Of the
proprieties can be supplanted by the
enactment Of statute regulating
such conduct. experimenting this
with the remark that many of us
do not think about the matter at ALL
but leave it to q few to do the
thinking and devise laws to correct
the faults in the social structure as
they see them"
Continuing he said:
From the thought that a law was
made for someone else not Tor US,
Is but a step to the notion that 1t Is
no matter whether we pay attention
to it or not; and from the thought
that it does not signify whether OF
not we obey one law, to disregard OF
ali law, to carelessness ABOUT Whal
laws we will regard and what we
will. observe and what ignore. to
choosing to ignore a part of the
law: and finally to arrive at the
stage of deliberately Aouting a part
of the law while strenuously insist
ing upon the observance and en-
forcement of another part"
1T is not sufficient to secure legis-
"a ton of this nature and leave 1t to
20 alone. 1t cannot execute itself
Oftentimes it will not be competent
ly administered without the assist
ance of vigorous support.
There must not be permitted any
substitution of private will for pub
lie authority. There Is required q
renewed and enlarged determination
to secure the observance and en-
forcement of the law. There
can be no perfect control Of per-
sonal conduct by national legisla-
ton. It's attempt must be accom-
panied with the full expectation OF
many failures. The problem OF pre-
venting vice and crime and Of re-
straining personal and organized
selfshness is as old as human ex-
perience.
There Ia no magic In government
not possessed by the public at large
by which these things can be done
The people cannot divest themselves
of their really great burdens by un-
dertaking to provide that they shall
hereafter be borne by the Govern
ment.
when provision is made for far
reaching action by public authority
whether 1t be In the nature of an
expenditure of a large sum from the
Treasury, or the participation in a
great moral reform, 1t all means the
Imposing Of large additional obliga-
lions upon the people. In the last
resort it is the people who must re-
spond. They are the military power
they are the financial power, they
are the moral power of the govern
nent. There is and can be no other
When a broad rule Of action Is laid
down by law 1t is they who must
perform. -