Evening star., 1932-10-13
ium promised through seductive but

ium. promised through seductive but
unavoidable and disastrous theories of
government. The menace is doubled by
the fact that these vain allurements are
today being offered to our harassed
people by men of public reputation in
economics, and even by men in public
life. No man can foretell to what
lengths the pressure of public clamor
may at any time be brought to bear
upon those charged with the processes
Of government to yield to changes which
you know before they are tried would
destroy personal liberty and sweep away
the security of savings and wages buit
up by centuries of experience. All prog
reSS and growth Is matter OF change,
but change must be growth within our
social and governmental concepts II 1t
should not Destroy them.
You have your duty in this area to
expound the history Of the painful past
through which rights and liberties have
been won, to warn of repetitions Of old
and fatal experiments under new and
glamorous names, to defend our system
of government against reckless assaults
of designing persons. It is your task
to prove again what none knows better
than you-that the very citasel OF the
rights Of the poor against the opprcs-
sion Of rulers and against the extor-
tions of the rapacious Is the judicial
system Of the country, and that the
impregnable apex Of that system is the
Supreme Court Of the United States.
It Is impregnable because its member
ship in successive generations down to
this moment has comprised TIE highest
character of our land, who. preserving
its great traditions. have armored :.
with the moral support Of the people,
and thus without physical power or the
need of it Is able to stand equal and
alone against legislative encroachment
upon the peoples rights or executive
usurpation Of them; and. more precious
than either, against private injustice
and the enactment of public laws in
violation of the fundamental projections
Of the Constitution.
Deviations Significant.
These deviations from steadfast con-
stitutional limitations which have last
named are of paramount significance
in these times of growth and change.
The last so years have witnessed a
progress in expansion of business and
industry unmatched in any five cen
turie5 of previous history. The United
States has been in the forefront of this
progress. Inventions in transportation,
communications and factory production
have multiplied the conveniences of
life and have widened the fields of
human intercourse immeasurably. Eco
nomic forces have spread business
across State lines and have brought new
strains upon our Federal system in its
relationships with the State sovereign
ties. Laws that once were adequate to
control private operations affecting the
public interest proved unequal to these
new conditions. Regulation and con-
troll were more than ever necessary. In
the readjustment of Federal laws TO
State laws required by this situation the
Supreme Court has played part of in
calculable practical value. Without its
prestige, without its independence, with
out its wisdom and power, these deli
cate alterations could not have been
effected except at tremendous costs OF
injury to our people and of excessive
disturbance of political equilibrium
But for the success with which this
transition to large Federal regulation
over interstate commerce was accom-
plished, the development of our great
system of economic production would
have been delayed, individual rights
would have been trampled Down and
our system Of State authorities within
the Union of Federal Government could
scarcely have survived, with all its
values of local control of local issues.
We have long recognized that GER
tain functions in our economic life are
affected with public interest. which re-
quires that their activities shall be in
some measure, controlled by govern
ment, either State or Federal. in pro-
lection of the citizens. In that situ-
alton We have sought to find bridge
between these controls and the main
tenance of that initiative and enter
prise which assures the conduct and
expansion and perfection of these
functions.
One of the great good fortunes o1
our form Of government is that in the
48 States we have AZ laboratories OF
social and economic experimentation
But, as have said, many of these ac-
tivities+ particularly those of banking
and finance, of transportation. Uom-
munications, and powerLhave expand
ed beyond State borders. 1t has be-
come necessary during these years to
develop gradually increasing burden OF
Federal control. With growth and ex-
perience, these regulatory functions re-
quire constant revision: On the one
hand that We may prevent wrongdoine
and give justice land equality of oppor-
tunity to our people, and on the other
that we should not stif1e these vital
functions and services through the ex-
tinction of that enterprise and initi-
ative which must dominate a growing
organism.
And here lies also one of the most
delicate relations Of our Republic. We
must maintain on the one hand a
sense of responsibility in the States
It is the local communities that can
best safeguard their liberties. We must
therefore impose upon the States the
maximum responsibility in these regu-
latory powers over economic functions
It may be even necessary in the long
view of the Republic that the people
Of some States whose governments are
negligent of the interests of their own
people should be inadequately protect
ed rather than destroy the initiative
and responsibility OF local communities
ard of all States and undermine the
very foundations of local Government
On the other hand, we must be coura
geouS in providing for extension oil
these regulatory powers when they run
beyond the capacity Of the States to
protect their citizens.
In the ebb and flow of economic life
our people in times of prosperity and
ease naturally tend to neglect the vigi-
lance over their rights. Moreover
wrongdoing is ob-cured by apparent
success in enterprise. Then ins;dious
diseases and wrong dOinps crou aDaco