Year: 1873

icating liquors" is unlimited The Legis-
lature may accomplish that purpose in
any manner which may be deemed the
most desirable, except that the traffic
shall not be licensed. The Judge has, in
effect, added very important clause
provided. nevertheless, that no person
Shall be held liable for selling or giving
away such Intoxicating liquors, unless
such selling or giving away is specifically
forbidden by law-and then pertinently
and wisely concludes that any law which
is not in accordance with this interpola-
ton is unconstitutional 1t may be well
to have few Judges who construe the
Constitution in this way, but it would
not be wise to multiply them


The principle announced by the Judge
is, that the Legislature cannot render any
man responsible for the injuries which
result from his acts, unless such acts are
expressly forbidden by law. This may be
correct; but if it is applied to the selling
or giving away of whisky, it ought to be
applied to other acts also. The Legisla-
ture has allowed by law the recovery of
damages to the amount of five thousand
dollars, when life is taken by the careless
ness of railroad company, and it has
never forbidden such carlessness. Ac-
cording to this decision of Judge Green,
such actions cannot be maintained under
our Constitution. We have no statute
which forbids a voluntary act of sexual
intercourse between a man and woman
who are unmarried. We have, however,
a statute which makes the father respon-
sible for the consequences, by compelling
him to support a child begotten under
such circumstances. The bastardy act,
therefore so far as it relates to such cases,
is clearly unconstitutional.


The Judge refers particularly to sec
tions l, 19 and 20 of the Bill of Rights,
as the clauses which are inconsistent with
this law. The first is a declara ton of
''inalienable rights" And were any 9TH
er person than the Judge to hold that the
Adair law is in violation of this section,
it would be fair to suppose that he re
garded as the highest privilege ofthe cit
zen, the right to get drunk, whip his
wife and turn his children out of doors;
and that this right is both inherent and
inalienable Section l9 refers exclusively
to the taking of private property for pub
lie use, and how compensation shall be
made for it. What this has to do with
selling whisky, getting intoxicated and
paying damages for the injuries which
may result from the intoxication it is
difficult for ordinary minds to compre-
bend, Section 20 reserves to the people
all powers which are not delegated. The
Judges idea probably is, that whisky is
a power which the people have not dele
gated, but reserved.


The opinion will not attract much at
tention, but those who do notice it, ought
to have the benefit of any suggestions
which may explain its peculiarities.
Nearly all judges have some knowledge,
either by observation or experience, on
the subject of drunkenness. They know
that it desolates homes, fills jails, prisons
and almshouses, makes brutes of men and
harlots of women. And in view of these
facts, they read and understand the pow
er of the Legislature to provide against
the evils resulting from the sale of intox-
icating liquors. And while no one can
admit even the plausibility of the decis-
ion, it may be explained on the ground
of a peculiar experience. The Judge
may be entirely innocent of all such
coarse knowledge. He may have read in
stories about drunkenness, and consider
ed them only the dreams of a heated i'm
agination. He may have seen men in a
gutter, and supposed it to be the result
Of accident or an eccentric taste. Such a
person would not be suppose to realize
the evils referred to in the Constitution.


1t is sometimes the case that the human
mind is affected by causes which it does
not, at the time, fully appreciate. We
are unconsciously influenced by circum-
stances which are past, and hopes for the
future. The Judge, last fall, was the
Democratic candidate for the Supreme
Court. He was also the whisky candi-
date The saloon keepers and manufac-
turers of Intoxicating liquors combined
to aid the Democratic party in electing
him. They relied, either on his innocence
of any knowledge of whisky or it's evils,
or on his partiality for its unrestrained
use, because they did not, of course, know
what his opinion was of the "Adair law"
They were opposed to it, and desired to
be relieved iromits provisions. That de-
sire gave the Judge many votes. It was
further expected by his friends, if not by
the Judge himself, that the whisky
vote" would elect him. 1t signally failed !
but not for the want of effort, or Of faith |
on the part of whisky men, that their
candidate regarded the law as unfavora- |
bly, as they did. The Judge was unques-
disappointed, but that disap-
pointment did not disturb the happy, and |
even atfectionate relations between the
whisky party and their candidate.


We are to have a new Constitutional |
and it is rumored that the |
Judge desires to aid in revising the in
strument which he has so luminously in
terpreted. He has responsible office, it |
is true, and one which, under ordinary
would afford as much la
Dor as most men would desire to perform.
But his ingenuity is very great, and the
judicial labor is so arranged, that about
all the real work is done by another
Judge; so that he could easily attend
the convention, and hardly be missed
from the bench. 1t is not probable that
the decision he has made will impair his
chances for q nomination. No one be-
lieves it was made with view to such
nomination, but desire for it would not
be likely to prevent his mind from reach
ing a conclusion adverse to the law.


Demand for Iron Ore.