Evening star., 1937-03-08
T. RS Views on the Courts.

AAiSoS WIZ NAtS 4iiCOdO1C 1tOOSSNClt dS
one who desired political control of the
Federal courts do him grievous wrong,
perhaps unconSciously. Nowhere can
evidence for such an argument be found
in his published speeches or state papers.
The great progressive leader appears to
have been scrupulously careful at all
times-even in the midst of campaigns
for votes-to avoid unqualified reflection
upon the integrity of the judicial branch
Of the Government. He was a radical in
many of his opinions, but he never
preached coercion, never proposed that
either the executive or the legislative
authority should dictate to the supreme
branch.
For his considered views, it is well to
turn to his eighth annual message to
Congress, dated December g. 1908. There
he discusses at length an incident of the
last election" when certain leaders of
organized labor made a violent and
sweeping attack upon the entire-judiciary
of the country, an attack couched in
such terms as to include the most up
right, honest and broad-minded judges,
no less than those of narrower mind and
more restricted outlook. 1t was the kind
OF attack admirably fitted to prevent any
successful attempt to reform abuses of
the judiciary, because it gave the cham
pions of the unjust judge their eagerly
desired opportunity to shift their ground
into a championship of just judges who
were unjustly assailed"
Labor, urging a special or vested In
terest, had demanded congressional re-
Strlctlon for the courts. Theodore Roose-
velt's answer was: THE violence of the
crusade for this legislation and its COM
plete failure illustrate two truths which
1t is essential our people should learn.
In the first place, they ought to teach
the working man, the laborer, the wage
worker, that by demanding what is i'm
proper and impossible he plays into the
hands of his foes Such a crude and
'ASAoNo 1IGoSh uH (OuI u, even II IL
were temporarily successful, would in
eVitably in the end cause violent re-
action and would band the great mass
of citizens together, forcing them to stand
by all the judges competent and incom-
petent alike, rather than see the wheels
Of justice stopped. A movement of this
kind can ultimately result in nothing but
damage to those in whose behalf it is
nominally undertaken. Any move
ment based on that class hatred which
at times assumes the name of class con-
sciousneSs is certain ultimately to fail,
and if 1t temporarily succeeds, to do far
reaching damage. Glass consciousness,
where it is merely another name for the
odious vice of class selfishness, is equally
noxious whether in an employers asso-
citation or in working man association
The movement in question was one in
which the appeal was made to all work.
ing men to vote primarily, not as Ameri-
can citizens, but as individuals of GER
tain class in society. Such an appeal in
the first place revolts the more high
minded and far-sighted among the per-
sons to whom it is addressed, and in the
second place tends to arouse a strong
antagonism among all other classes of
citizens, whom it therefore tends to unite
against the very organization on whose
behalf it is issued. The result is there
fore unfortunate from every standpoint"
But the authentic axis of Theodore
Roosevelt's philosophy as it related to
the courts may be discovered in the
words: ''The great mass of our judicial
officers are, I believe, alive to those
changes of conditions which so ma
terially affect the performance of their
judicial duties. Our judicial system is
sound and effective at core, and it re-
mains, and must ever be maintained, as
the safeguard of those principles OF
liberty and justice which stand at the
foundation of American institutions; for,
as Burke finely said, when liberty and
justice are separated, neither Is safe"
Such sentiments deserve appreciation
at the present moment. They cannot be
laughed away by cynics; they cannot be
neglected by patriots.