Evening star., 1933-10-29

NJ
perficial considerations. They
have mainly to do with the
Intellectual complexion Of the court as
a whole-its complexion not In the po-
litical sense of Republican and Demo-
cratic, but as respects the classification
expressed as conservative" and lib
eral," or to use a Technology much
more new and increasingly in use lately,
right and left"
Republican" and Democratic" have
never had any meaning on the Supreme
not had meaning during the 20-odd
years I have been fairly familiar with
the court. 1 have not. for the purpose
of this article, gone into history; but
such offhand recollection of historical
reading as comes to my mind does not
recall any justice who. after being on
the court, was ever charged by even the
most suspicious partisan with having
permitted his judicial actions to be in
f1uenced by his previous affiliation with
the Democratic or Republican party.
1t is true that the bent of mems
minds carries them naturally into the
category of conservative or liberal" q
shall explain in a moment that think
the word liberal has become obsolete
Two words for the same classification
which appear with increasing frequency
in American political discussion are
right meaning conservative: and
left meaning the opposite of conserv-
atlve, meaning sympathetic to change
DO not like these new words; but If I
explore my mind candidly l find the
chief reason for my distaste is not much
more than the fact that the words are
recent importations from Europe. I
think this diStaste is based, in turn, on
a feeling that the type of politics and
party organization which prevails on the
European continent and which is ex-
pressed in these terms, right" and
lett, is ln-adapted to America. II
ever the politics of the United States
becomes wholly case of right" versus
left instead of as traditionally. Dem
tocratlc versus Republican, things will
be very different with us.
Increased in United States.
Be that as it may, the fact is this new
terrninology from Europe is increasingly
USED In the United States. Five wears
ago. only New York person, or an
academic one familiarly well-read in Eu-
ropean politics, would have used or un-
oerstood the words right and left" in
political meaning. Yesterday 1 re-
celved letter from Des Moines which
discussed whether President Roosevelt
N MS future political course. under pres
sure OF circumstances or by his own in
chnat1on. is likely to go to the right
or TO the left" That is something new.
| suppose we might as well get used
to it.
should like, however, to appeal to
some supreme Court of etymoIogy
against completely perverted use now
oelng made OF the word liberal"
should like to ask the court to de-
cloe whether some who are now de-
Scrlb1ng themselves as liberals" are
not guilty of chronological larceny,
Liberal as a political term is asso-
clated with liberty; both come from
the same Latin word, "liber." meaning
free" For some centuries. ever since
Magma Charta, liberal" was an ac-
curate political designation for those
who demanded change 1t was ac-
curate because throughout all that
period the demand for change was a
demand for greater liberty for the in
dlvidual, the liberties of the people. /"
At all times it was a struggle to take
power away from the State. from the
King. and confer it on the people. on
the individual. In that long historical
struggle 1t was natural that the par
o4Se'iio " C4ldIlSc, IilC pdTLlSdIS OF tne
new order, should have called them
selves liberals" The thing they fought
for was freedom of the individual from
the authority of the State, liberty for
the 1ndividual-and liberal" was a
proper designation of those who fought
for 1t.
Reversed Situation.
But in the struggle now going on in
America, in the issues which the Su-
preme Court will shortly act upon, the
situation is reversed. In the most con-
crete way in American history, and I
think since Magma Charta, the state
that is the American Governments
now trying to assert an extension of
power, economic power, over the in
dividual. In the present struggle in
America the contrast is between an old
conception marked by maximum lib
erty for the indiVidual-and a proposed
new conception marked by conStraint
upon the individual by the state. In
the dicussion that RACES about this I
find that those who favor the new call
themselves ''hberals!" That is, the
word liberal is used on the side which
means constraint upon the individual.
1t would be more accurate, it seems to
me, if liberal were on the same side
that includes liberty" The new order
now proposed in America is in the
direction of more power for the state,
less liberty for the individual. In this
new lineup, this reversal of the old
conceptions, I suggest the word lib
eral' belongs, not on the side of the
new, but on the side of the old. The
ancient and honorable word is being
used for thing which IS the exact op-
posite of what the word stood for when
it acquired its ancient esteem. The re-
suit is, in this present struggle through
which America is passing, it sometimes
happens that scratch a liberal and
you will find a Mussolini or Hitler.
Those who favor the old way in Amer
lea, the way Of maximum liberty for
the individual, are entitled to call them
selves liberals" And they are entitled
to call their opponents "reactionaries"
-reactionaries whose reaction would
go all the way back to pre-Magna
Charta days, when the state, the King,
had power which We have spent some
centuries taking away from it.
Intellectual Complexion.
The intellectual compilations of the
nine men who compose the Supreme
Court may accurately be described as
falling into TWO groups. or tnree. 'COn-
servatives" is the word commonly used
for those who stick closest to the Con-
stitution. The other group, for lack OF
a more exact word, may be called pro
gressives." A safe word for them might
be mon conservative.
There are, of course, infinite shadings
between those words, and between the
groups they describe. To classify the
justices as one or the other involves
more exercise of genealogical judg-
ment than can be exact In print and
in current talk. it is commonly said
that four of the justices are conserva-
tive. three are progressive and two
stand between. The conservatives, as
usually named in offhand groupings,
are Justices Van Devanter, Sutherland
McReynolds and Butler. The progress
sives are Justices Brandeis, Stone and
Cardozo. The ones who stand between
CI.,of Juet;oo Juuhec and TlStice