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+Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for
+eBook #64197 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/64197)
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-The Project Gutenberg eBook of Magna Carta and Other Addresses, by William
-D. Guthrie
-
-This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and
-most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions
-whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms
-of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at
-www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you
-will have to check the laws of the country where you are located before
-using this eBook.
-
-Title: Magna Carta and Other Addresses
-
-Author: William D. Guthrie
-
-Release Date: January 06, 2021 [eBook #64197]
-
-Language: English
-
-Character set encoding: UTF-8
-
-Image source(s): https://archive.org/details/magnacartaothera00guth/
-
-Produced by: Sonya Schermann, Graeme Mackreth and the Online Distributed
- Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was
- produced from images generously made available by The Internet
- Archive)
-
-*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MAGNA CARTA AND OTHER
-ADDRESSES ***
-
-
-
-
-
-MAGNA CARTA AND OTHER ADDRESSES
-
-
-
-
- COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY PRESS
- SALES AGENTS
-
- NEW YORK
- LEMCKE & BUECHNER
- 30-32 West 27th Street
-
- LONDON
- HUMPHREY MILFORD
- Amen Corner, E.C.
-
-
-
-
- MAGNA CARTA
- AND OTHER ADDRESSES
-
- BY
- WILLIAM D. GUTHRIE
-
- [Illustration: 1754
-
- Columbia University
- Press
-
- 1893]
-
- New York
- COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY PRESS
- 1916
-
- _All rights reserved_
-
-
-
-
- Copyright, 1916,
- By COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY PRESS.
-
- Set up and electrotyped. Published August, 1916.
-
-
-
-
-CONTENTS
-
-
- PAGE
-
- I. MAGNA CARTA 1
-
- Address before the Constitutional Convention of the State
- of New York at its celebration of the seven-hundredth
- anniversary of Magna Carta, Albany, June 15, 1915.
-
- II. THE MAYFLOWER COMPACT 27
-
- Response to the toast, "The Mayflower Compact," at the
- twenty-first annual banquet of the Society of Mayflower
- Descendants in the State of New York, held at the Hotel
- St. Regis, New York, November 23, 1915.
-
- III. CONSTITUTIONAL MORALITY 42
-
- Address before the Pennsylvania State Bar Association
- at its eighteenth annual meeting, held at Cape May,
- New Jersey, June 25, 1912.
-
- IV. THE ELEVENTH AMENDMENT 87
-
- Address before the New York State Bar Association at
- its thirty-first annual meeting, held in New York, January
- 25, 1908.
-
- V. CRITICISM OF THE COURTS 130
-
- Read as a supplement to the report of a committee of the
- New York State Bar Association submitted at the thirty-sixth
- annual meeting of the Association, held at Utica,
- January 24, 1913.
-
- VI. GRADUATED OR PROGRESSIVE TAXATION 159
-
- Address before the National Civic Federation at its
- annual meeting, held in New York, December 13, 1906.
-
- VII. THE DUTY OF CITIZENSHIP 178
-
- Address as temporary chairman of the New York Republican
- State Convention, Saratoga Springs, September
- 25, 1912.
-
- VIII. NOMINATING CONVENTIONS 219
-
- Remarks before the Committee on Suffrage of the Constitutional
- Convention of the State of New York, Albany,
- June 16, 1915.
-
- IX. CATHOLIC PAROCHIAL SCHOOLS 247
-
- Remarks at the dedication of the Roman Catholic parochial
- school at Glen Cove, Long Island, New York,
- September 6, 1915.
-
- X. THE FRANCE-AMERICA COMMITTEE OF NEW YORK 261
-
- Remarks as presiding officer at a luncheon given in honor
- of the members of the Anglo-French Credit and Finance
- Commission at the Hotel Knickerbocker, New York,
- October 1, 1915.
-
- INDEX 271
-
-
-
-
-MAGNA CARTA[1]
-
-
-To the student of American institutions it must appear singularly
-impressive and instructive that the members of the Constitutional
-Convention of the state of New York have paused in their important
-work to celebrate the seven-hundredth anniversary of the Great
-Charter of English Liberties and to look back reverently through the
-centuries to the sources of our constitutional law and to the days
-when our ancestors were laying the foundations of civil liberty and
-political justice. It is, indeed, no exaggeration to assert that
-Magna Carta marked the greatest political epoch in the history of our
-race, in that it saved England from becoming one of the arbitrary and
-degrading despotisms which arose in Europe after the overthrow of the
-feudal system, and that from its principles sprang representative and
-constitutional government, with all that these terms have grown to mean
-to Americans. This ceremony must again emphasize the great truth that
-everything which has power to win the obedience and respect of men must
-have its roots deep in the past, and that the more slowly institutions
-have grown, so much the more enduring are they likely to prove.
-
-Two hundred and eighteen years ago the royal governor of New York is
-reported to have exclaimed to the legislature of the colony: "There
-are none of you but are big with the privileges of Magna Carta." And
-to-day, Mr. President, can it not be said with equal force and pride
-that there are no Americans but are big with the privileges of Magna
-Carta? Long may that continue to be true! To provide that the spirit
-of these privileges shall endure forever, so far as lies in human
-power, is the highest and noblest duty of every American constitutional
-convention.
-
-Other speakers will treat of the historical and political aspects of
-Magna Carta and of its reissues and confirmations by king after king
-and parliament after parliament. I am to speak of the legal value of
-some of the cardinal features of the Great Charter as antecedents of
-principles which are closely connected with our present political life
-and which continue to invigorate our system of constitutional law. But
-my treatment of this large and important aspect of the subject must
-necessarily be inadequate, in view of the limited time at your disposal.
-
-It is undoubtedly true that Magna Carta contained much that was old in
-1215 and much that subsequently became antiquated because inapplicable
-to changed conditions; yet it then crystallized and served to
-perpetuate the fundamental principles of the liberties of Englishmen.
-Solemnly confirmed no less than thirty-seven times by seven kings of
-England, it naturally became in the eyes of Englishmen the embodiment
-of their deepest and most firmly rooted rights and liberties and their
-great and stirring battle-cry against tyranny. The reissue of 1225
-still remains on the English statute books as in full force and effect,
-so that, as an English historian has recently said, every act appearing
-on the statute rolls is in a sense an act amending Magna Carta.
-
-The spirit of Magna Carta, as it thus survived, has for centuries
-inspired Englishmen and Americans, even though its letter may be dead
-and most of its provisions may long ago have become obsolete and their
-exact meaning hidden beneath the ruins of the past. Indeed, provisions
-of the Great Charter were frequently violated by king and parliament
-after 1215, and were allowed to fall into neglect for generations at a
-time; but it cannot be doubted that, if the principles they embodied
-had been observed, they would have secured permanent political liberty
-and constitutional government to England long before the seventeenth
-century, and that only disregard of those principles made possible the
-five centuries of tyranny and oppression recorded by English history.
-
-It may likewise be true, as some historians of the scientific school
-are now contending, that the framers of the Great Charter and the
-representatives of the English church, baronage and people gathered on
-the meadows at Runnymede on the 15th day of June, 1215, had little or
-no grasp of the science of politics or of constitutional principles
-as we understand them. It is probably true that they had no very
-definite conception of the theory of representative government, or of
-the separation of governmental powers, or of those inalienable rights
-of the individual which our Declaration of Independence was later to
-proclaim, just as it is probably true that very few of them could even
-read the language in which the charter was written. But statesmen and
-lawyers, in dealing with the practical problems of constitutional
-government, will not minimize the value of Magna Carta, and our debt
-to the generation that forced it from King John, merely because the
-underlying principles may not have been fully grasped by its framers
-and its traditions may be based on legends and myths. It is enough that
-the charter contained the germ and the spirit of civil liberty and
-political justice.
-
-It may be conceded that the framers of Magna Carta builded better than
-they knew, and likewise that many of the traditions as to the intent,
-meaning and scope of its provisions--traditions which were so potent
-and inspiring during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries--were
-founded, as is now asserted, upon legends and myths. Yet, these legends
-and traditions, growing up and clustering around Magna Carta, served
-to keep alive and perpetuate its spirit. They generated the sentiment
-which impelled men to patriotic and heroic sacrifice in the cause of
-liberty; they sustained generation after generation in the recurring
-struggles for political justice and equality before the law; they
-formed and preserved a public morality which prevented violations of
-the principles of the Great Charter, and they were of incalculable
-inspiration and encouragement to Englishmen and Americans, if not to
-the whole world. The great traditions of Magna Carta have made its
-heritage peculiarly valuable and its service to humanity immortal. It
-is because of these traditions that Magna Carta is doubly sacred to us,
-as it was to our forefathers.
-
-Many of us, however, venture to believe that the unknown author of the
-original Articles of the Barons or of the Great Charter itself--if
-it was not the learned Stephen Langton, who had been educated at the
-University of Paris and was familiar with Roman and canonical law and
-the charters of liberties which the kings of France had been granting
-to their subjects--knew far more of the underlying and vivifying
-principles of jurisprudence and politics than some of our modern
-critics are willing to attribute to that generation. Be this as it
-may, the political instinct of our race must have guided the framers
-to the eternal truths upon which the Great Charter of Liberties was
-based, even though they imperfectly comprehended these truths, or
-did not comprehend them at all. A single phrase like "the law of the
-land" in a political document is often wiser than is realized, not
-merely by the masses who acclaim it, but even by the leaders who write
-it. It may happily serve to preserve and compress into very small
-compass the relics of ancient wisdom, notwithstanding the fact that
-later generations are frequently puzzled to decipher the contents
-and discover the meaning. Such a phrase, as has been well said of
-the language of a nation, "sometimes locks up truths which were once
-well known, but which in the course of ages have passed out of sight
-and been forgotten. In other cases it holds the germs of truths, of
-which, though they were never plainly discerned, the genius of its
-framers caught a glimpse in a happy moment of divination, ... and often
-it would seem as though rays of truths, which were still below the
-intellectual horizon, had dawned upon the imagination as it was looking
-up to heaven."[2]
-
-First and foremost among the cardinal principles of Magna Carta was
-the idea, then beginning again to germinate throughout Europe, that
-the individual has natural rights as against the government, and that
-those rights ought to be secured to him by fundamental laws which
-should be unalterable by king or council. No one can study the history
-of European politics during the great constructive thirteenth century
-without being impressed by the fact of the revival of this conception
-in men's minds, not only in England, but on the Continent, where it
-manifested itself in varying forms and in different connections. I say
-revival, because the same conviction had prevailed hundreds of years
-before in both Greece and Rome; but it had been lost for centuries.
-
-The idea that the fundamental laws of the land--the pious and good old
-laws of Alfred and of Edward, as the English called them, or _les lois
-fondamentales_, as the French were then calling them--were unalterable
-and that any governmental regulation, or edict, or statute to the
-contrary should be treated as void and null, is plainly enunciated in
-the first chapter of Magna Carta, where King John grants to the freemen
-of the kingdom "all the underwritten liberties, to be had and held by
-them and their heirs, of us and our heirs forever," and in chapter
-sixty-one, where the king covenants that he "shall procure nothing from
-any one, directly or indirectly, whereby any part of these concessions
-and liberties might be revoked or diminished; and if any such thing
-has been procured, let it be void and null." It is certain that during
-the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries the theory generally prevailed
-in England that the concessions and liberties of the Great Charter
-had been granted forever and were unalterable by the king, or even by
-parliament. Thus, we find parliament enacting in 1369, with the consent
-of Edward III., that the Great Charter of Liberties should be "holden
-and kept in all points, and if any statute be made to the contrary,
-that shall be holden for none."
-
-One of the scholarly critics of Magna Carta suggests that this
-enactment of 1369 was quite an "illogical theory" on the part of
-parliament, because, to quote his language, "if parliament had power
-to alter the sacred terms of Magna Carta, it had power to alter the
-less sacred statute of 1369 which declared it unalterable."[3] The
-conclusive answer to this kind of reasoning, at least as it must
-seem to statesmen and lawyers, is that Magna Carta was then regarded
-as something very different from and much higher than any ordinary
-statute. The people of that day would have protested, if the logic
-of parliament had then been challenged by the learned, that Magna
-Carta was a permanent charter of liberties and as such not subject to
-amendment or nullification by mere statute. But logical or illogical
-as the act of 42 Edward III. may have been at the time, or may seem to
-be to the logicians of the twentieth century, it serves to show that
-in the fourteenth century the English people understood and intended,
-and the king and parliament expressly agreed and conceded, that the
-liberties guaranteed by the Great Charter, then being again and again
-confirmed, were unalterable, and that any statute to the contrary
-should be "holden for none."
-
-The spirit of that declaration still lives in every American
-constitution. We certainly have here the antecedent of the great
-controlling principle underlying the whole structure of American
-constitutional law, that any statute in conflict with the fundamental
-laws, so far as we see fit to perpetuate them in constitutional
-provisions, shall be void and null, in the language of the Great
-Charter, or holden for none, in the language of the time of Edward III.
-Chief Justice Marshall in the great case of Marbury _vs_. Madison, in
-1803, was but following these ancient declarations when, speaking for
-the Supreme Court of the United States, he settled--we hope for all
-time--the beneficent and indispensable doctrine that a statute contrary
-to an American constitution must be treated by the courts as void and
-null and holden for none.
-
-I do not overlook the fact that this idea of fundamental laws
-unchangeable by statute long slumbered in England, and that the
-contrary--the legal supremacy of parliament--was subsequently
-established. In studying this aspect of the Great Charter, we must
-recall that the conditions of life in England during the thirteenth and
-fourteenth centuries were very much simpler than those existing later,
-and that it was not then realized, or at most only vaguely and dimly,
-that the legislative power could change the laws regulating the rights
-and duties of individuals as among themselves or in their relation to
-the government. The modern habit of imagining that in legislation is to
-be found the panacea for all ills and of measuring the efficiency of
-a government by the number of statutes it has produced was unthought
-of. Probably the only legislative function in the minds of Englishmen
-during the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries was taxation, and as yet
-men hardly realized the necessity for broader regulative or legislative
-powers.
-
-Nevertheless, the doctrine that the permanent fundamental principles of
-the law of the land guaranteed by Magna Carta were inviolable prevailed
-in England long after the fourteenth century, and in fact was declared
-in the English courts as late as the seventeenth century. Bonham's case
-is the most familiar instance of the recognition of that doctrine. The
-views of English lawyers, judges and statesmen have changed in this
-respect, and it is now settled that parliament is supreme and that it
-can amend or repeal Magna Carta in any respect it may see fit. The
-changed view undoubtedly met with ready acquiescence, partly because of
-the necessity for amendments of the law in order to cope with changing
-conditions, partly because of the unwillingness of the English people
-to leave questions of constitutional power to the courts, in view of
-the dependence of the judges upon the crown, but principally because
-of the confident belief that parliament existed primarily for the very
-purpose of upholding and protecting the rights and liberties secured to
-the people by the Great Charter of Liberties, and that the people could
-rely upon parliament never to consent to the violation of those rights
-and liberties.
-
-Repeatedly from the seventeenth century to our own day legislation
-has been criticized in Great Britain and Ireland on the ground that
-it was in conflict with Magna Carta, and always the strongest and
-most effective argument against proposed legislation has been that
-it would violate the principles of the Great Charter of Liberties.
-During the past thirty years thoughtful observers of English politics
-have remarked that private property in England is, on the whole, less
-secure from attack on the part of the government in our day than
-it was at the time of the Stuarts. Whenever the increase of class
-legislation and attacks on private property shall lead Englishmen to
-place checks and restraints upon the power of temporary majorities, so
-as more effectively to protect personal and property rights--an event
-which, I believe, must inevitably come to pass sooner or later--then
-the stirring battle-cry will again be Magna Carta, and the result
-may be a return to the spirit of the declarations of Magna Carta and
-of the statute of Edward III., that any statute contrary to the law
-of the land guaranteeing the fundamental rights and liberties of the
-individual shall be void and null and holden for none. And to make that
-ancient, sound and honest principle really an effective protection to
-the individual and to minorities, the courts of justice of England may
-at last be empowered, as they are with us, to refuse to give force
-and effect and to hold for none any statute in conflict with the
-fundamental law of the land.
-
-Of an importance no less vital than the idea of a permanent law of
-the land safeguarding the fundamental rights and liberties of the
-individual, was the express declaration in the first chapter of Magna
-Carta that the English church, _Anglicana ecclesia_, should be free
-from interference on the part of the crown and that her rights should
-be entire and her liberties inviolable. In this provision we have the
-germ of an independent church and the idea of the separation of Church
-and State.
-
-It is reasonable to assume and, in view of the surrounding
-circumstances and the language then employed, it is highly probable
-that, under the lead of Langton, who was born of English parents and
-intensely patriotic, probably himself the author of the clause, the
-churchmen of that day conceived that the religion of the English people
-ought to be free from governmental control, and that the English church
-had interests and privileges independent of the crown and independent
-likewise of the interests and policies of Rome. At that very time
-the English churchmen, in cooperating with the barons and people of
-England to secure Magna Carta, were acting against the will of Rome;
-indeed, as we know, the Pope promptly denounced the Great Charter
-and the patriot primate, because the Pope considered that the Great
-Charter was derogatory to the dignity of King John as a vassal of the
-Holy See. In this provision of Magna Carta relating to the English
-church, even though it was disregarded for centuries, we recognize
-the idea of religious liberty and the American political principle
-of the separation of Church and State, as also, though vaguely, the
-great principle underlying the noble declaration in our own state
-constitution that "the free exercise and enjoyment of religious
-profession and worship, without discrimination or preference, shall
-forever be allowed in this state to all mankind."
-
-The provisions of the Great Charter relating to the administration
-of justice were undoubtedly those which were of chief concern to
-the people at large, as they were certainly, if observed, those most
-essential for the security of their liberties. The framers knew that
-it was in the courts that the king of England would keep his promises,
-if at all, and that the king's government would only be as good as his
-judges were learned, independent and impartial. In these provisions of
-Magna Carta we find the principle of the separation and independence
-of the judicial power and the soundest and highest conceptions of the
-administration of justice, conceptions far in advance of those to be
-found in any other document or enactment of that age.
-
-The framers had grasped the great truth that jurisprudence is a
-science, that the law must be administered by men learned in that
-science and bound to obey its rules and follow its precedents, that
-uniformity and certainty are essential to the administration of
-justice, and that the highest political liberty is the right to justice
-according to law and not according to the will of the judge or the
-judge's master, or according to the judge's individual discretion, or
-his notions of right and wrong. They had also arrived at the conclusion
-that every Englishman was entitled as of absolute right to a day in a
-court which would hear before it condemned, which would proceed upon
-notice and inquiry, and which would render judgment only after a fair
-trial. The plain people of England knew full well that the struggle
-for their old laws--the laws of their land, pious, good, fixed and
-permanent, as they devoutly believed them to be--would be fruitless
-unless they secured permanent courts and learned, independent and
-impartial judges; and they instinctively felt, if they did not clearly
-perceive, that the law is infinitely wiser than those who may be called
-upon to administer it, and that, as Aristotle had declared fifteen
-hundred years before, "to seek to be wiser than the laws is the very
-thing which is by good laws forbidden."
-
-It was Magna Carta that established in England the doctrine of the
-rule of law administered in fixed courts by learned and independent
-judges bound to obey the law; and it was Magna Carta that established
-the greatest of all the English constitutional doctrines, that of
-the supremacy of the law over every official however high. When the
-Great Charter was being translated and explained in the cathedrals,
-churches and monasteries of England, the people fully understood the
-tremendous significance and value to them, determined as they were to
-establish a rule of law and put an end to arbitrary decrees, of the
-famous covenant in chapter forty-five that the king would "appoint as
-justices, constables, sheriffs, or bailiffs only such as know the law
-of the realm and mean to observe it well," and of the covenants in
-chapter seventeen that the "common pleas shall not follow our court,
-but shall be held in some fixed place"--in chapter eighteen that the
-petty assizes should be held in the county court--in chapter thirty-six
-that the writ of inquisition should be freely "granted, and never
-denied"--in chapter forty that "to no one will we sell, to no one
-will we refuse or delay, right or justice," which in time came to be
-interpreted as a universal guaranty of free and impartial justice to
-all classes high and low.
-
-For many generations in England and in America it was believed that
-the writ of habeas corpus, justly esteemed the great bulwark of
-personal liberty, had its direct guaranty or at least its antecedent
-in Magna Carta. Such was the contention of counsel in the Five Knights
-case of 1627, and such was the declaration of the Petition of Right
-of 1628. This view is now being challenged on the ground that the
-exact procedure subsequently developed was not provided for in Magna
-Carta and was not in the minds of its authors. Even if this be so,
-the underlying principle of chapter thirty-six and its promise that
-the writ of inquisition should be freely "granted, and never denied"
-naturally led in time, after the passing of trial by combat, to the
-right of speedy inquisition by grand jury and trial by petit jury.
-At all events, the principle of the writ of habeas corpus was for
-centuries assumed to be embodied in Magna Carta.
-
-Professor Dicey lecturing at Oxford on "The Law of the Constitution"
-has well remarked that, although the English Habeas Corpus acts declare
-no principle and define no rights, they are for practical purposes
-worth a hundred constitutional articles guaranteeing individual
-liberty. As in England, so with us. Without the writ of habeas corpus
-there would be no liberty worthy of the name and no rights of personal
-freedom of any practical value. We have only to read the leading cases
-in our courts to realize how great a part the writ has played and still
-plays in securing and rendering effective the fundamental principles of
-American liberty.
-
-Chapters twelve and fourteen of Magna Carta dealt with the subject of
-taxation, and they laid the foundation of our representative system
-and of the separation of the legislative from the executive power. As
-has been suggested, the only legislative function that the people of
-England in the thirteenth century contemplated as closely affecting
-them or as likely to create any pressing grievance was that of
-taxation. It was, therefore, expressly provided in the Great Charter
-that, aside from the three existing feudal aids, more or less fixed,
-the power to impose taxes should not be exercised without the consent
-of the _commune consilium_. This common council is the body that fifty
-years later developed into the famous parliament of Simon de Montfort
-of 1265.
-
-In the controversies in regard to taxation subsequently arising,
-whether in parliament, in the courts, or in the forum of public
-opinion, it was always insisted that Magna Carta prevented taxation
-without the consent of parliament, just as in the eighteenth century
-our ancestors contended that Magna Carta prevented taxation without
-representation, that is, prevented the imposition of taxes except by
-a legislative body in which the taxpayers were represented. We have
-only to refer to the arguments in the great constitutional cases before
-the courts of England in the seventeenth century, such as the famous
-case of Impositions in the reign of James I. and the still more famous
-case of Ship-Money in the reign of Charles I., to realize how much
-the people relied upon Magna Carta as establishing the doctrine that
-parliament alone could impose taxes.
-
-The counsel for Bate in the former case and for Hampden in the
-latter case may not have apprehended the philosophical theory of the
-separation of governmental powers elaborated by Montesquieu in the next
-century, and they may not have contended that taxation was essentially
-a legislative function and, therefore, could not be exercised by the
-king; but in final analysis they affirmed these principles when they
-asserted that parliament alone could impose taxes. The judgment of a
-majority of the court in the Ship-Money case, as had been the judgment
-in the case of Impositions, was in favor of the crown, but the appeal
-to the country cost Charles I. his head and ultimately resulted in
-vesting in parliament the exclusive power to legislate and hence to
-tax. If England had then had an independent judiciary charged with
-the duty of enforcing the fundamental law of the land, the levying of
-the taxes in both of these cases would have been held contrary to the
-letter, as it was certainly contrary to the spirit, of Magna Carta.
-
-It is no answer to say that the parliament of to-day finds its
-prototype not in the old common council referred to in Magna Carta,
-but in the parliament of 1265, nor is it an answer to say that the idea
-of taxation in its abstract form is essentially modern and was quite
-unknown in 1215. I do not suggest that the people of England in 1215 or
-even in 1265 understood the virtues of the representative system, or
-the principles of taxation or of the separation of powers. The point
-is that the direct consequence of the provisions of Magna Carta was a
-parliament based, theoretically at least, on the representative idea as
-well as on the principle that there could be no legislation without the
-consent of parliament.
-
-The most famous of all the chapters of Magna Carta and the most
-important and far-reaching from a juridical point of view is
-undoubtedly the thirty-ninth, which provides that "no freeman shall be
-taken or imprisoned or disseised or exiled or in any way destroyed, nor
-will we go upon him nor send upon him, except by the lawful judgment of
-his peers or by the law of the land."
-
-The substance of this provision as to "the law of the land," or its
-equivalent "due process of law," is of universal application throughout
-the United States as a constitutional limitation upon the powers of
-government, and it is to be found not only in the Constitution of the
-United States but in the constitution of every state of the Union. It
-is now firmly established in American and English constitutional law,
-and it is familiar knowledge, that the terms "the law of the land" and
-"due process of law" are exactly equivalent in meaning and in legal
-force and effect. The earliest use of the phrase "due process of law"
-in American constitutions seems to have been in the fifth amendment to
-the Constitution of the United States, ratified in 1791. None of the
-state constitutions then in existence contained that term, but nearly
-all of them used the phrase "the law of the land." The phrase "due
-process of law" will be found in the New York bill of rights of 1787.
-
-Until recent years, it had been assumed that the term "the lawful
-judgment of his peers" in Magna Carta meant trial by jury according
-to the modern understanding of that term, and that the term "the law
-of the land" meant laws conforming to those fundamental principles of
-justice which protect every individual in the full enjoyment of life,
-liberty and property secure from the arbitrary exercise of the powers
-of government. That is still the technical legal meaning of these
-two terms both in England and in America, although their practical
-effect and operation are different with us, because of our system of
-written constitutions which the legislative branch may not disregard or
-violate. Both of these meanings, however, are now challenged by certain
-critics as being without foundation in either the provisions or the
-history of the Great Charter.
-
-Some historians contend that the familiar provision of Magna Carta
-could not have meant trial by a jury of twelve and a unanimous verdict,
-because such a jury, according to our present knowledge, did not
-exist until the second half of the fourteenth century. But it is
-quite immaterial whether the exact form of our jury-trial existed in
-England in 1215, or when the Great Charter was subsequently reissued or
-confirmed, provided that the foundations of the system had then been
-laid. It is sufficient for us that the antecedents of the modern jury
-system in all its three forms of grand jury, criminal jury and civil
-jury existed at the time of Magna Carta and were preserved by it. As
-the jury system developed, with the changes inevitably attending all
-such institutions of legal procedure and machinery, the form for the
-time being, whatever its exact nature, became "the lawful judgment of
-his peers" within the intent and meaning of the Great Charter. In any
-event, the latest confirmations of that instrument occurred at a time
-when the jury system as now in force was being firmly established.
-It is, therefore, easy to understand how the provision "the lawful
-judgment of his peers" in the course of time came to be regarded as
-intended to guarantee the common-law jury of twelve with unanimity in
-verdict.
-
-Thus many, if not most, of our constitutional provisions now apply to
-conditions not at all contemplated by their framers although clearly
-within the principle enunciated and the spirit of the language used.
-Much of the efficacy of our federal and state bills of rights, or of
-any similar provisions which this Convention may embody in the new
-constitution, would be practically nullified if the language used
-were to be interpreted as being limited to the particular conditions
-existing when they were adopted. It is the spirit and the expanding
-principles of constitutional provisions which should always control.
-The letter killeth.
-
-A charter of liberties, a bill of rights, or a constitution is not
-an ephemeral enactment designed to meet only the conditions existing
-at the time of its adoption. It embodies and perpetuates permanent
-principles. It is designed to endure "forever," in the language
-of Magna Carta, and "to approach immortality as nearly as human
-institutions can approach it," in the lofty phrase of Marshall, the
-great Chief Justice of the United States. Under any other rule of
-interpretation, Magna Carta would have become antiquated long before
-the discovery of America.
-
-By the phrase "the law of the land," in chapter thirty-nine, the
-fundamental principles and axioms of the existing law were perpetuated.
-Exactly what those fundamental principles and axioms were then
-understood to be is not now capable of accurate exposition. The
-judges and the people of those days certainly had some definite
-ideas of reasonably just and fixed rules of conduct adequate for the
-solution of the simple questions arising in the controversies then
-being submitted for adjudication. Had the judges been pressed for a
-comprehensive or philosophical definition of "the law of the land,"
-they might have said that they would not attempt to define the term
-any more than they would attempt to define justice itself, and that,
-as the Supreme Court of the United States declared only a few years
-ago, it is better to ascertain the intent of such an important phrase
-in a great constitutional document by the gradual process of judicial
-inclusion and exclusion as practical experience may dictate and as
-the cases presented for decision may require; in other words, that
-their decisions would in time sufficiently declare and perpetuate the
-principles of the law of
-
- "A land of settled government,
- A land of just and old renown,
- Where freedom slowly broadens down
- From precedent to precedent."
-
-The phrase "the law of the land," as used in Magna Carta, must have
-been intended at the time to include procedure as well as substantive
-law, but the term "due process of law," now its current equivalent,
-originally related only to procedure. A very early, if not the
-earliest, use of the term "due process of law" will be found in a
-statute of the year 1354, 28 Edward III., in which it was provided that
-no person should be condemned without being first brought to answer by
-due process of the law, the exact wording in the quaint Norman-French
-of the day being "_saunz estre mesne en respons par due proces de
-lei_." As at the same time the Great Charter was being expressly
-confirmed "to be kept and maintained in all points," the provision
-in regard to _due proces de lei_ in the act of 1354 was undoubtedly
-intended to be supplemental to the provisions of the Great Charter
-and to apply only to persons being brought to trial in a court of
-justice. It is true that in the seventeenth century Lord Coke used the
-phrase "due process of law" as the equivalent of "the law of the land,"
-but in the contemporaneous Petition of Right of 1628 mention is made
-specifically of the "Great Charter of the Liberties of England" and its
-provision as to "the law of the land," and reference is made separately
-to the act of 28 Edward III. and its provision that no man should be
-prosecuted "without being brought to answere by due process of lawe."
-
-The same distinction in the use of these terms will be found in the
-history of the Plymouth colony as early as 1636 and also in the early
-history of the state of New York. The New York charter of liberties and
-privileges of 1683 speaks of "being brought to answere by due course
-of law," the words evidently being taken either from the act of Edward
-III. of 1354, or from the Petition of Right of 1628. The New York
-constitution of 1777 used the term "the law of the land" but did not
-use the term "due process of law." In the New York bill of rights of
-1787, we find the phrases "the law of the land," "due process of law"
-and "due course of law," and in one section the phrase "due process
-of law according to the law of the land." Both terms, "the law of
-the land" and "due process of law," are used with evidently the same
-meaning in the present constitution of the state of New York, that
-is to say, "the law of the land" is used in section I of Article I.
-and "due process of law" in section 6. The separate history of each
-section, the former first appearing in the constitution of 1777 and the
-latter in the constitution of 1821, will account for the difference in
-terminology.
-
-It would be interesting to trace the varying uses of these terms in
-our forty-eight state constitutions, but that must be left for some
-other occasion. A majority of the state constitutions, including most
-of the recent constitutions, now contain the term "due process of law."
-As that term is the one used in the fourteenth amendment, which is
-applicable to all the states, it might be preferable, for the sake of
-uniformity and certainty, to adopt that form as less likely to confuse.
-Moreover, the phrase "due process of law" lends itself readily to a
-more comprehensive and inclusive definition if we define the word
-"due" to mean _just and appropriate_ and the word "process" to mean
-_substantive provision_ as well as procedure.
-
-Finally, it may be of interest to notice the sanction and security
-devised for enforcing the covenants of Magna Carta. A body or tribunal
-of twenty-five barons, called executors, was created by chapter
-sixty-one, who were to "be bound with all their might, to observe
-and hold, and cause to be observed, the peace and liberties we have
-granted and confirmed to them," and who were to have power to compel
-the king himself, even by force, to keep the promises he had made.
-The clause providing this security or legal sanction was crude, but
-it was not necessarily an impracticable innovation. Although the
-plan utterly failed, it remained of immense value in principle. That
-principle established the right of the subjects to compel the king of
-England to obey a body of fixed laws outside and beyond his will; it
-justified revolution for just cause, and it inspired our forefathers
-in their struggle against George III. The influence of this idea upon
-public sentiment as justifying revolution, particularly during the
-seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, cannot well be over-estimated.
-The ineffectiveness of this provision of Magna Carta served also to
-demonstrate the futility of such a tribunal and security, and to lead
-the English people to look thereafter solely to the courts of justice
-and to parliament for the protection of their rights and liberties.
-The founders of our own republican governments may have been warned
-by the failure of this sanction that it would be unwise to create any
-political body with power to enforce constitutional provisions, and
-it may have been for this reason that they left the enforcement of
-constitutional limitations and the protection of the individual and
-minorities to an independent non-political forum composed of impartial
-judges learned in the law and meaning "to observe it well," according
-to the spirit of Magna Carta.
-
-In closing his great commentaries on the Constitution of the United
-States, Mr. Justice Story admonished the American people that,
-although the whole structure of our constitutional liberty was erected
-by architects of consummate skill and fidelity, with its defences
-impregnable from without, it might nevertheless perish in an hour by
-the folly or corruption or negligence of its only keepers, the people.
-It cannot, indeed, be too often declared that, if constitutional
-government and fundamental rights are to endure, they must be
-maintained and preserved by competent leaders and representatives of
-the people constantly teaching the value of the traditions of Magna
-Carta and the necessity of adhering to constitutional principles and
-observing constitutional morality. The members of this Convention are
-not likely to disregard the living spirit of the Great Charter of
-English Liberties and its enduring value to Americans. It was Lincoln
-who said that "as a nation of freemen we must live through all time,
-or die by suicide." But we shall perpetuate free government and civil
-liberty only as we adhere to two essential conditions: the one, that
-our fundamental rights shall continue to be inviolable by the state,
-the other, that they shall be equal. "If not inviolable, they are not
-rights, but only enjoyments on sufferance; if not equal, they are but
-the privileges of a class, whatever that class may be."[4]
-
-FOOTNOTES:
-
-[Footnote 1: Address before the Constitutional Convention of the state
-of New York at its celebration of the seven-hundredth anniversary of
-Magna Carta, Albany, June 15, 1915.]
-
-[Footnote 2: Guesses at Truth, 1st series, 3d ed. (1847), pp. 324-325.]
-
-[Footnote 3: W.S. McKechnie, _Magna Carta_, 2d ed. (1914), p. 159.]
-
-[Footnote 4: Edward J. Phelps, Orations and Essays (1901), p. 127.]
-
-
-
-
-THE MAYFLOWER COMPACT[5]
-
-
-Wherever Americans gather, at home or abroad, those who can claim
-the proud heritage of descent from the Pilgrims on the Mayflower are
-accustomed annually to join in thanks-giving for all that they owe
-to their ancestors. The spirit which prompts these celebrations is
-singularly wholesome, and indeed holy. Among the natural instincts of
-the heart, common to all races, is a longing for communion with the
-past, which manifests itself in the worship of ancestors. That this
-spirit of reverence has been from the earliest ages a most powerful
-religious and patriotic force is a fact familiar to us in the history
-of the Egyptians, the Greeks and the Romans. We readily recall the
-beautiful ceremonial of pagan Rome on the _dies parentales_, when
-violets and roses and wine, oil and milk were offered and _aves_ were
-chanted to the spirits of their dead.
-
-An impressive example of the survival of this instinct in modern times
-is afforded by the Japanese, who daily, at innumerable household
-shrines and public temples erected to Shintō, worship their ancestors
-as the gods of the home and of the nation. When, twenty-years ago,
-Japan so easily defeated the Chinese Empire with ten times the
-population of Japan, the surprise and marvel of the world impelled one
-of the most brilliant writers of our generation to seek the source of
-the fortitude, the indomitable spirit and the military valor of the
-Japanese. He did not expect to find it in their form of government
-or in their laws, for he realized the great truth that mere forms of
-government and laws possess no magical or supernatural virtue and are
-of little moment in nations in comparison with the moral character of
-their leaders and their people. He discovered, as he believed, that the
-secret of the civil and martial power of the Japanese and the source
-of their moral energy and virtue--I use virtue in the Latin sense of
-valor--lay in the vital and all-pervading worship of their ancestors,
-based upon the deep-rooted belief that all things are determined by the
-dead. He found that this homage excited at once the deepest emotion
-and the most powerful inspiration of the race, shaping their national
-character, directing their national life, teaching them reverence,
-obedience, self-restraint, temperance, loyalty, courage, devotion and
-sacrifice, and making them ever conscious of the prodigious debt the
-present owes to the past, as well as keenly sensible of the duty of
-love and gratitude to the departed for their labors and suffering.
-"They," the dead, he eloquently wrote, "created all that we call
-civilization,--trusting us to correct such mistakes as they could not
-help making. The sum of their toil is incalculable; and all that they
-have given us ought surely to be very sacred, very precious, if only
-by reason of the infinite pain and thought which it cost." And then he
-added, "Yet what Occidental dreams of saying daily, like the Shintō
-believer: '_Ye forefathers of the generations, and of our families,
-and of our kindred,--unto you, the founders of our homes, we utter the
-gladness of our thanks_'?"[6]
-
-In the reverential spirit so beautifully expressed by this Japanese
-prayer, I venture upon a necessarily brief and imperfect review of a
-subject of transcendent and enduring interest to Americans--the debt
-that American constitutional government, under which we enjoy the
-blessings of civil and religious liberty and of just and equal laws,
-owes to your ancestors of the Mayflower.
-
-In these days of superlative comfort and affluence, it is difficult for
-us assembled in this palatial hall, feasting better than the CÊsars
-feasted and served as not even princes were served three hundred years
-ago--difficult, if not impossible, is it to carry our minds from this
-gorgeous and almost oppressive luxury back through the centuries to
-November, 1620, to the Mayflower covered with snow and ice and buffeted
-by fierce winter winds off the bleak and desolate coast of Cape Cod.
-Equally difficult is it to picture to ourselves and in imagination to
-breathe the air of that first American constitutional convention, in
-the cramped and chilling cabin of the Mayflower, when the Pilgrim
-Fathers were assisting, as Bancroft says, at "the birth of popular
-constitutional liberty," and were discussing the provisions of what
-has since been called the first written constitution ever framed by
-a people for their own government from the time history began to
-record human politics and human successes and failures. I need not
-stop to read the contents of the completed draft of that constitution,
-conceived in the then vague prompting, which one hundred and fifty-six
-years later was to be proclaimed in our Declaration of Independence
-as a self-evident truth, that all governments must derive "their just
-powers from the consent of the governed." Nor shall I read the names
-of the forty-one immortals who executed that compact in order to
-evidence their covenant of due consent and promise of obedience to its
-provisions and spirit. Surely, if there be one constitutional document
-which should be familiar to all Americans, and particularly to the
-descendants of the Pilgrims, it is the Mayflower Compact of November
-21, 1620.[7]
-
-Many of us believe that the compact thus entered into was the prototype
-of the Constitution of the United States, that the government it
-established was the beginning of the republican form of government
-now guaranteed alike to nation and state, and that the covenant it
-contained for just and equal laws was the germ from which has since
-developed our whole system of constitutional jurisprudence. This
-covenant reads: "We ... doe by these presents solemnly & mutualy in
-ye presence of God, and one of another, covenant & combine our selves
-togeather into a civill body politick, for our better ordering &
-preservation & furtherance of ye ends aforesaid; and by vertue hearof
-to enacte, constitute, and frame such just & equall lawes, ordinances,
-acts, constitutions, & offices, from time to time, as shall be thought
-most meete & convenient for ye generall good of y Colonie, unto
-which we promise all due submission and obedience." Surely, this
-simple, comprehensive and lofty language, in the style of the Bible
-open before the Pilgrims, embodies the true and invigorating spirit of
-our constitutional polity as it flourishes to-day.
-
-In order to appreciate the political greatness and the moral grandeur
-of the work of the Pilgrims, we should recall that, when the Mayflower
-Compact was framed, in no part of the world did there exist a
-government of just and equal laws, and that in no country was there
-real religious liberty or the complete separation of Church and State.
-
-In fact, the great and now fundamental principle of the separation
-of Church and State was first made a living reality by the Pilgrims,
-although, in theory at least, it antedated the voyage of the Mayflower.
-It was the essence of their holy covenant of congregation entered into
-years before. And to the Pilgrims chiefly are due the credit and honor
-of incorporating this principle into Anglo-American polity. A wide gulf
-separated the Pilgrims from the Puritans in this respect. The Pilgrims,
-first known in England as the Separatists and Brownists--hated alike
-by Puritan and Cavalier--advocated religious liberty and the complete
-separation of Church and State. The Puritans, however, when they
-secured power in England and later in New England, were intolerant in
-religion and opposed both to religious liberty and to the separation of
-Church and State. They were determined that the state should dominate
-in religious as well as in civil affairs and that it should regulate
-the religion of all; in truth, they sought to impose a dominant
-theocracy as completely as Henry VIII. and Elizabeth were determined to
-have a state church under their own spiritual supremacy and to abolish
-all "diversity of opinions," if necessary by rack, fire and the
-scaffold. The Pilgrim, personifying him as you love to in the lofty and
-generous spirit of Robinson at Leyden, believed in religious freedom,
-or, as it is differently phrased, in liberty of conscience; the Puritan
-was determined that all should be coerced by legislation and the sword
-to conform to his religious views as the only true faith. Although the
-Puritan theocracy found its most complete development and tyranny in
-Massachusetts, the colony of Plymouth remained liberal and tolerant.
-Notwithstanding the terrible record of sanguinary persecutions among
-other religious denominations of that age, no instance is recorded of
-religious persecution by the Pilgrims or in the Plymouth colony.[8]
-You will recall that the famous Pilgrim captain, Myles Standish,
-never joined the Plymouth church, that no witches were ever burned
-in Plymouth, and that when a malicious woman accused a neighbor of
-witchcraft, she was promptly convicted of slander and thereupon fined
-and publicly whipped. The excesses and fury of religious persecution
-by Protestants and Catholics alike were the products of the fierce,
-intolerant and blind spirit of that age. We should judge them not by
-the standards of the twentieth century, but by those of the sixteenth
-and seventeenth centuries, and must not overlook the fact that in many
-cases these persecutions were as much political as they were religious.
-
-In the history of New England the Pilgrim is often confused with the
-Puritan, undoubtedly because the Puritan soon dominated and ultimately
-absorbed the Pilgrim. Nevertheless, the differences between them on
-this question of religious tolerance and the separation of Church and
-State were implacable, to adopt the word of a great American historian.
-Yet, in differentiating between Pilgrim and Puritan and in recalling
-the facts as to the origin of religious freedom and the separation of
-Church and State, the greatest of all the blessings we now enjoy--in
-giving most of the glory to the Pilgrims, notwithstanding the claims
-of Catholic Maryland--I am not at all unmindful that in religion and
-in politics the Pilgrim and the Puritan had many views in common, that
-our debt to both is quite inseparable, and that our gratitude to them
-should be eternal.
-
-It is certainly impossible to exaggerate the debt we owe to the Puritan
-spirit--fierce, indomitable and undaunted, even if intolerant, for it
-was that spirit which cemented the foundations of our nation. It was
-the Puritan spirit that gave to England her noblest figures and her
-most inspiring traditions of battlefields. Towering above all other
-Englishmen is the lofty figure of the Puritan Cromwell, and second
-only to him are the Puritans Hampden, Pym, Selden, Milton, Vane, Hale.
-Hampden--the highest type of English gentleman, with a nobility and
-fearlessness of character, self-control, soundness of judgment and
-perfect rectitude of intention, to which, as Macaulay declared, "the
-history of revolutions furnishes no parallel or furnishes a parallel in
-Washington alone." If to-day England is to preserve her empire, upon
-which she boasts the sun never sets, she must appeal to the energy and
-fortitude and courage of the Puritan. She must invoke the spirit of
-Oliver Cromwell, whose mighty arm made the name of England terrible
-to her enemies and laid the foundations of her empire, who led her to
-conquest, who never fought a battle without gaining it, whose soldiers'
-backs no enemy ever saw, who humbled Spain on the land and Holland on
-the sea, and who left a tradition of military valor which is now the
-inspiration of the splendid courage, heroism and sacrifice of England's
-soldiers on the continent of Europe.
-
-A most important aspect of the Pilgrims' contribution to our political
-institutions is the provision for just and equal laws contained in
-the Mayflower Compact, for, as I have already suggested, in that
-provision is embodied the essence of our whole constitutional system.
-It has become a truism that the characteristic of the American system
-of constitutional government is equality before the law. We Americans
-accept this doctrine as of course. But we should appreciate that civil
-equality or equality before the law was practically unknown in Europe
-when the Mayflower Compact was written. In this country its development
-sprang in great measure gradually from the seed first sown by the
-Pilgrims. Neither the phrase "equality before the law," so familiar to
-us as expressing a fundamental and self-evident truth, nor the term
-"the equal protection of the laws," now contained in the fourteenth
-amendment, is to be found in the English common law. Nor was either
-term, or any equivalent, in legal use in America at the time of the
-adoption of the Constitution of the United States. Indeed, the phrase
-"equality before the law" is said to be a modern translation from the
-French. Nevertheless, equality in duty, in right, in burden and in
-protection is the thought which has run through all our constitutional
-enactments from the beginning.
-
-The Pilgrim Fathers perceived, long before it was generally
-appreciated, that equal laws might fall far short of political justice
-and liberty, and hence they provided for "just and equal laws." They
-realized, perhaps indistinctly, that equality in itself, without other
-elements, is not sufficient to guarantee justice, and that, under a
-law which is merely _equal_, all may be equally oppressed, equally
-degraded, equally enslaved. They well knew that equality is one of
-the pervading features of most despotisms, and that a law may be
-equal and yet be grossly arbitrary, tyrannical and unjust. Obviously,
-a law confiscating all property of a certain kind would be equal if
-it applied to all having that particular kind of property. The laws
-of England then in force providing for one form of worship, "for
-abolishing diversity of opinions," as the title of the act of 31 Henry
-VIII. recited, or compelling all to attend the same church and to take
-the same oath of religious supremacy and the sacraments of the same
-religious denomination, were all equal laws, because they applied to
-every one, no matter what his conscience might dictate. In the cabin of
-the Mayflower, the Pilgrim Fathers seem to have had a vision revealing
-to them the fundamental and essential political truth that equality is
-but an attribute of the liberty they were then seeking at the peril of
-their lives and the sacrifice of their fortunes, and that true liberty
-requires _just_ as well as _equal_ laws. To repeat, it was the Pilgrims
-who first sowed in our soil the seed of just and equal laws, and that
-seed has grown into the fixed rule of the American constitutional
-system, a rule which has spread through all our political and civil
-rights and duties until it reaches, pervades, unites and invigorates
-the whole body politic.
-
-The history of the Plymouth colony from 1620 until its absorption
-by the colony of Massachusetts in 1691, teaches us many lessons in
-political philosophy. There are two which I desire to recall to you
-to-night: one as to the right to private property, the other as to pure
-democracy.
-
-The Pilgrims began government under the Mayflower Compact with a
-system of communism or common property. The experiment almost wrecked
-the colony. As early as 1623, they had to discard it and restore the
-old law of individual property with its inducement and incentive to
-personal effort. All who now urge communism in one form or another,
-often in disguise, might profitably study the experience of Plymouth,
-which followed a similarly unfortunate and disastrous experiment in
-Virginia. History often teaches men in vain. Governor Bradford's
-account of this early experiment in communism in his annals of "Plimoth
-Plantation" is extremely interesting. The book is rich in political
-principles as true to-day as they were three hundred years ago. After
-showing that the communal system was a complete failure and that as
-soon as it was abandoned and a parcel of land was assigned in severalty
-to each family, those who had previously refused to work became "very
-industrious," even the women going "willingly into ye feild" taking
-"their litle-ons with them to set corne, which before would aledg
-weaknes, and inabilitie," Bradford proceeds as follows:
-
-"The experience that was had in this com̅one course and condition,
-tried sundrie years, and that amongst godly and sober men, may well
-evince the vanitie of that conceite of Platos & other ancients,
-applauded by some of later times;--that ye taking away of propertie,
-and bringing in com̅unitie into a comone wealth, would make them happy
-and florishing; as if they were wiser then God. For this comunitie
-(so farr as it was) was found to breed much confusion & discontent,
-and retard much imployme̅t that would have been to their benefite and
-comforte. For ye yong-men that were most able and fitte for labour
-& service did repine that they should spend their time & streingth
-to worke for other mens wives and children, with out any recompence.
-The strong, or man of parts, had no more in devission of victails &
-cloaths, then he that was weake and not able to doe a quarter ye
-other could; this was thought injuestice. The aged and graver men to
-be ranked and equalised in labours, and victails, cloaths, &c., with
-ye meaner & yonger sorte, thought it some indignite & disrespect unto
-them.... Let none objecte this is men's corruption, and nothing to ye
-course it selfe. I answer, seeing all men have this corruption in them,
-God in his wisdome saw another course fiter for them."[9]
-
-Although the colony of Plymouth began as a pure democracy under which
-all the men were convened to decide executive and judicial questions,
-the increase of population and its diffusion over a wider territory
-necessarily led to the transaction of official business through chosen
-representatives. The representative system was thus established by
-the Pilgrims in New England perhaps more firmly than elsewhere, and
-it became the cardinal principle of whatever efficiency, strength and
-stability our republican governments now have. This system is menaced
-by the enthusiasm for change and by the fads of recent years, such
-as the initiative, the referendum, the recall and direct primaries.
-In these political nostrums has been revived the crude notion that
-the masses, inexperienced as they are in the difficult and complex
-problems of government, are instinctively better qualified to guide
-than the educated few who are trained, instructed and competent, and
-who, acting as the representatives of all, are bound in good conscience
-and sound policy to consider and protect the rights of the minority, of
-the individual, of the humble and weak, against the arbitrary will or
-selfish interest or prejudice of the majority.
-
-There is no time to-night, even if your patience would bear with me
-longer, to trace the growth of the political principles which we find
-in the history of the Plymouth colony and underlying the experiment
-in republican government there initiated under the Mayflower Compact.
-If the tree is to be judged by its fruit, the framing of that compact
-in 1620 was one of the most important events in the history of the
-American people, and the document itself is one of the most interesting
-and inspiring of American constitutional documents. But I feel that
-I may appropriately suggest to you questions which are of immediate
-and urgent concern to us all, and they are whether the quickening
-and stirring message of the Mayflower has really endured--whether
-the sterling qualities of the Pilgrim and the Puritan have
-survived--whether the descendants of the Pilgrims have inherited and
-can perpetuate the invincible spirit, the unconquerable moral energy,
-the indomitable steadfastness of their ancestors--and whether these
-qualities are available in our own day to guide the nation safely and
-wisely through the inevitable crisis which we are approaching as the
-whole civilization of Europe is being daily more and more engulfed in
-the abyss of this awful war. These are problems which our generation
-must face sooner or later. And who should be better qualified to guide
-us--for it is leadership that we need--than men who inherit the spirit
-and the traditions of the Pilgrim and the Puritan?
-
-In this crisis, the greatest in our national affairs since 1861, I
-hope we shall profit by the example of the founders of Plymouth, who,
-as Palfrey wrote, "gave diligent heed to arrangements for the military
-defence of the colony." It may be also that Providence will give us, in
-the descendant of a Pilgrim, the captain who shall be both our shield
-and our weapon as Myles Standish was the shield and the weapon of your
-ancestors.
-
-FOOTNOTES:
-
-[Footnote 5: Remarks responding to the toast, "The Mayflower Compact,"
-at the twenty-first annual banquet of the Society of Mayflower
-Descendants in the State of New York, held at the Hotel St. Regis, New
-York, November 23, 1915.]
-
-[Footnote 6: Lafcadio Hearn, _Kokoro_, pp. 289-290.]
-
-[Footnote 7: The original manuscript of the Mayflower Compact has been
-lost or destroyed. The text, as preserved by Governor Bradford in his
-annals entitled "Of Plimoth Plantation," is as follows:
-
-"In ye name of God, Amen. We whose names are under-writen, the loyall
-subjects of our dread soveraigne Lord, King James, by ye grace of
-God, of Great Britaine, Franc, & Ireland king, defender of ye faith,
-&c., haveing undertaken, for ye glorie of God, and advancemente of
-ye Christian faith, and honour of our king & countrie, a voyage to
-plant ye first colonie in ye Northerne parts of Virginia, doe by
-those presents solemnly & mutualy in ye presence of God, and one of
-another, covenant & combine our selves togeather into a civill body
-politick, for our better ordering & preservation & furtherance of
-ye ends aforesaid; and by vertue hearof to enacte, constitute, and
-frame such just & equall lawes, ordinances, acts, constitutions, &
-offices, from time to time, as shall be thought most meete & convenient
-for ye generall good of ye Colonie, unto which we promise all due
-submission and obedience. In witnes wherof we have hereunder subscribed
-our names at Cap-Codd ye 11. of November, in ye year of ye raigne
-of our soveraigne lord, King James, of England, France, & Ireland
-ye eighteenth, and of Scotland ye fiftie fourth. Ano: Dom. 1620."
-Printed in the Collections of the Massachusetts Historical Society, 4th
-series, vol. III, pp. 89-90. See also the text in Bradford's History of
-Plymouth Plantation, ed. W.T. Davis (1908), p. 107.]
-
-[Footnote 8: The legislation against the Quakers as enforced in the
-Plymouth colony seems to have been essentially political. The records,
-so far as we have them, indicate that the Quakers were proceeded
-against because of their attempts to disturb the peace and overthrow
-established law and order, and not because of their religious beliefs.]
-
-[Footnote 9: Collections of the Massachusetts Historical Society, 4th
-series, vol. III, pp. 134-136.]
-
-
-
-
-CONSTITUTIONAL MORALITY[10]
-
-
-The text of this address is taken from Grote's "History of Greece." The
-historian, reviewing the state of the Athenian democracy in the age
-of Kleisthenes, points out that it became necessary to create in the
-multitude, and through them to force upon the leading men, the rare and
-difficult sentiment which he terms constitutional morality. He shows
-that the essence of this sentiment is self-imposed restraint, that few
-sentiments are more difficult to establish in a community, and that its
-diffusion, not merely among the majority, but throughout all classes,
-is the indispensable condition of a government at once free, stable
-and peaceable. Whoever has studied the history of Greece knows that
-the Grecian democracy was ultimately overthrown by the acts of her own
-citizens and their disregard of constitutional morality rather than by
-the spears of her conquerors.
-
-We American lawyers would be blind, indeed, if we did not recognize
-that there is at the present time a growing tendency throughout the
-country to disregard constitutional morality. On all sides we find
-impatience with constitutional restraints, manifesting itself in many
-forms and under many pretences, and this impatience is particularly
-strong with the action of the courts in protecting the individual and
-the minority against unconstitutional enactments favoring one class
-at the expense of another. However worded and however concealed under
-professions of social reform or social justice, the underlying spirit
-in most instances is that of impatience with any restraint or rule of
-law.
-
-We are meeting again the oldest and the strongest political plea of
-the demagogue, so often shown to be the most fallacious and dangerous
-doctrine that has ever appeared among men, that the people are
-infallible and can do no wrong, that their cry must be taken as the
-voice of God, and that whatever at any time seems to be the will of
-the majority, however ignorant and prejudiced, must be accepted as
-gospel. The principal political battle-cry to-day seems to be that,
-if the people are now fit to rule themselves, they no longer need any
-checks or restraints, that the constitutional form of representative
-government under which we have lived and prospered has become
-antiquated and unsatisfactory to the masses, and that we should adopt a
-pure democracy and leave to the majority itself the decision of every
-question of government or legislation, with the power to enforce its
-will or impulse immediately and without restraint.
-
-We find many political and social reformers advocating an absolute
-legislative body, whose edicts, in response to the wishes, interests,
-or prejudices of the majority, shall at once become binding on all,
-no matter how unjust or oppressive these edicts may be. Those who
-are loudest in thus demanding the supremacy of the legislative power
-are equally loud in charging that our legislatures are inefficient or
-corrupt and in proclaiming distrust of the people's representatives in
-legislative bodies. In one breath we are asked to vest legislatures
-with power and discretion beyond the control of the courts, and in the
-next breath we are told that legislative bodies are not to be trusted
-by the people, and hence that we must have the initiative and the
-referendum.
-
-Other reformers would vest greater power in the executive, so as to
-enable him to dictate to legislatures whatever he deemed or professed
-to think best for the common welfare or for social progress. In the
-final analysis this would, of course, reduce us to a despotism pure and
-simple, and place Congress and the state legislatures in the condition
-of the Roman senate in the second century. Argue as we may from the
-admonitions and experience of the past, the defiant answer is that
-the people will select the executive and are prepared to trust him,
-an answer that singularly disregards the fact that they now select
-the legislators whom they no longer trust, and that practical reform
-in legislation is ready to their hand if they will only insist upon
-character and ability in their representatives.
-
-Others again would deny to the courts the power and duty to declare
-unconstitutional and void any enactment of a legislative body that was
-in conflict with the constitution, or, if not going quite so far,
-would give the courts power to disregard constitutional limitations
-whenever the judges found or fancied that an enactment was in
-consonance with prevailing morality or the opinion of the majority in
-respect of matters relating to the police power or social progress or
-social justice. They would have the judiciary interpret and enforce a
-constitution not according to the mandate of the people who adopted it,
-nor according to the true meaning and intent of the language employed
-by the framers, nor according to settled general rules and principles,
-but according to the ever-changing desires or notions or opinions
-of the majority and the personal ideas of so-called progressive or
-sympathetic judges. Many of those who charge the judiciary with having
-usurped the power to determine whether a particular enactment does or
-does not conflict with the fundamental and supreme law as established
-by the people themselves, would now place a far greater power in
-the hands of the courts by authorizing them to expand or contract a
-constitution by judicial construction, and would thus in reality vest
-in the judges an arbitrary discretion. Under this doctrine, practically
-every constitutional restraint could be readily circumvented,
-perverted, or nullified; constitutional rights could be frittered away,
-and great landmarks of human progress could be undermined.
-
-We should then have government by the judiciary with a vengeance. Our
-constitutional system would be no longer reasonably fixed and stable,
-no longer regulated by the justice of necessary general rules, but
-would be subject to constant uncertainty and change as judges might
-think the moral atmosphere of the moment or the will or opinion or
-interests of the majority required. It would, of course, be better to
-have no constitutional restraints at all, and to vest supreme power
-and corresponding responsibility in the legislative branch of our
-government. It is of the essence of judicial power that judges in
-deciding cases shall be bound by principles, rules and precedents, that
-they shall not be permitted to exercise arbitrary discretion, and that
-they shall be required to give reasons for their decisions. A court
-bound by no rules or principles at all would not be exercising judicial
-power as we understand that term. If we were to vest in legislatures
-or courts the discretion to obey or disobey constitutional restraints
-according as the prevailing moral or political sentiment might seem
-to dictate, we would at once deprive such restraints of all practical
-force and effect, and would have a constitution only in name and form
-and not in substance. As the late Chief Justice Fuller, _clarum et
-venerabile nomen_, so well said in the Lottery case, "our form of
-government may remain notwithstanding legislation or decision, but, as
-long ago observed, it is with governments as with religions, the form
-may survive the substance of the faith."[11]
-
-The limited time at my disposal compels me to confine this address
-to the aspect of constitutional morality which is presented by the
-criticism of the courts for refusing to enforce unconstitutional
-statutes. This seems to me to be the most dangerous of all the lines
-of attack. I regret that I have not time to deal with other important
-aspects of my subject, such as the movement for the recall of judges
-and judicial decisions, the agitation for the initiative and the
-referendum, and the growing practice on the part of legislatures and
-executives of abandoning the consideration of constitutional questions
-and leaving this duty to the courts, thus casting upon the judges the
-sole responsibility and frequently the unpopularity and even odium of
-enforcing constitutional restraints.
-
-Few of us, I assume, would seriously suggest that the judicial
-department is to be above criticism, or that it is to be deemed
-sacrosanct so that we must bow and submit in silence, without the right
-of challenge, criticism, or censure, to whatever the courts declare to
-be law. Such a view would be absurd. Of course, judges make mistakes
-as the wisest and best men make mistakes. They are not infallible. But
-neither are our legislative bodies infallible, nor is the crowd. There
-must be the fullest liberty of criticism and if need be of censure of
-our judges as of all other public officials. Fair and just criticism,
-however, would be distinctly educational, and it could tend only to
-restore the courts to public favor and confidence. The danger is not in
-freedom of criticism, but in unfair and unfounded criticism supported
-by distorted or false statements. Our judicial system is inherently
-sound enough and strong enough to withstand and overcome any fair
-criticism. We should, therefore, encourage the fullest discussion of
-judicial decisions in constitutional cases in order that constitutional
-principles may be adequately explained and the necessity for the
-observance of constitutional morality brought home to the people.
-Let us, however, insist that the facts be truthfully stated. If the
-reasons and principles of justice which support most of the decisions
-criticized could be explained to all classes in simple language and
-in terms intelligible to laymen as well as to lawyers, much of the
-misapprehension of judicial decisions and prejudice against the courts
-and constitutional restraints would be dispelled. To tell the man in
-the street or in the workshop that a statute is in conflict with the
-guaranty of due process of law or of the law of the land, conveys no
-meaning to his mind; yet, if he understood the fundamental principles
-involved and the consequences of disregarding them, he might be
-persuaded of the justice and propriety of the decision under discussion.
-
-I shall call your attention to a few examples of alleged abuse or
-usurpation of power by the judiciary, and endeavor to show the
-characteristics of much of the criticism of the judges and the manner
-in which the masses are being constantly prejudiced and inflamed
-against the courts.
-
-The case in the New York courts which probably is being more criticized
-and misrepresented than any other is known as the Tenement House
-Tobacco case (Matter of Jacobs),[12] decided in January, 1885.
-The courts then held unconstitutional an act which forbade the
-manufacture of tobacco products in certain tenement houses in New
-York and Brooklyn, because the statute unwarrantably and unreasonably
-interfered with the liberty of the individual. The enactment was an
-attempt on the part of the owners of large tobacco factories to destroy
-the competition of cigar manufacturers who worked at home. It was
-not an honest health measure at all; it was not in fact designed to
-protect the health of tobacco workers, and it did not contain a single
-provision tending in any degree to secure sanitary conditions of work
-or living. Not one word in the opinions of the courts in the Jacobs
-case prevented the legislature from adopting regulations to secure
-wholesome conditions in the manufacture of any article. Since that
-decision, the New York constitution has been carefully revised by a
-constitutional convention in 1894, and in addition has been repeatedly
-amended, no less than nineteen separate amendments having been adopted
-by the people, whilst a large number of additional proposed amendments
-have been rejected. But in neither the revision nor in any of the
-amendments, whether adopted or rejected, was any change suggested in
-the rule of constitutional law declared in the Tenement House case,
-although the subject was directly called to the attention of the
-convention. For more than a quarter of a century, the people of the
-state of New York have acquiesced in the decision of the Court of
-Appeals as fair, just and satisfactory.
-
-Jacobs with his wife and two children lived in a tenement house in the
-city of New York and occupied an apartment of seven rooms in a building
-where there were only three other apartments, all of equal size. In
-this apartment he carried on the trade of manufacturing cigars, and
-the rooms in which he did so were separated from the sleeping and
-cooking-rooms. The testimony showed that there was no odor of tobacco
-in these sleeping and cooking-rooms. The conditions under which he was
-carrying on his trade in his own home for the support of himself and
-his family were much more healthful than if he and his assistants had
-been compelled to work in a crowded factory, particularly in 1884, when
-there were no such sanitary conditions in factories as now prevail
-under the beneficent operation of our present public health and labor
-laws. It was shown that, when this legislation was enacted, 840,000,000
-cigars were being manufactured annually in the city of New York, of
-which about 370,000,000, or 44 per cent., were made in the homes of
-dwellers in tenement or apartment houses, and that about two thousand
-artisans were supporting themselves and their families by thus working
-at home. The board of health of the city of New York had officially
-declared, after careful investigation, as set forth in the brief of
-Mr. Evarts, then the leader of the American bar, "that the health of
-the tenement-house population is not jeopardized by the manufacture
-of cigars in those houses; that this bill is not a sanitary measure,
-and that it has not been approved by this board." It also appeared
-from this brief that while the death-rate in the city of New York
-generally was 31 in each 1,000, it was only 9 in each 1,000 in the
-tenement houses where cigars were being manufactured. The act, if valid
-and enforceable, would have crushed the competition of home workers
-with the tobacco factories; it would have deprived the tenement-house
-dweller of the liberty to exercise his trade of cigar-making at home
-even under the most sanitary conditions, and it would have driven
-every such workman and the working members of his family into crowded
-and generally unhealthful factories, to be harassed and oppressed by
-strikes and lockouts and the other troubles which attend modern labor
-conditions, to say nothing of being exposed to all the mischiefs,
-physical and moral, that are inseparable from crowded workshops. The
-court held that the statute was not a legitimate health regulation and
-released Jacobs from imprisonment. The principle of constitutional
-law recognized and applied was that an individual cannot be made a
-criminal for working at a lawful trade in his own home under sanitary
-conditions, and cannot be compelled by discriminatory legislation to
-labor in a crowded factory. If the provisions of the act had not been
-declared to be in conflict with the constitutional guaranty of personal
-liberty, similar statutes could have been passed with respect to all
-kinds of home work, and all artisans, whether men or women, could
-have been driven into factories at the dictation of factory owners
-or trade-unions having sufficient political influence to secure the
-necessary legislation.
-
-I digress here a moment to point out that people urging particular
-enactments too often overlook the effect of disregarding a principle
-and establishing a precedent. Constitutions declare general rules or
-principles of justice, which sometimes do not coincide with the justice
-of particular cases. The framing of general rules of conduct so as to
-bring about practical justice in the greatest number of cases and with
-the fewest exceptions, constitutes the science of jurisprudence, of
-which constitution-making is but a branch, and the application of these
-general rules to practical affairs is the duty of legislatures and
-courts. The statutes before the courts are frequently recognized and
-conceded to be only entering wedges and experiments, and, if sustained,
-are certain to be followed by others far broader and more radical. If
-legislative power exists to regulate a subject, the extent or degree
-of its exercise is essentially for the legislature to determine in its
-discretion and cannot be controlled by the courts. Hence, a court must
-always consider, in determining the constitutionality of a statute, not
-merely the features of the particular statute before it and not merely
-the justice or merits of the particular case as between man and man or
-between the state and the individual, but what might be done under the
-same principle if the statute before it were upheld and a precedent
-established. Thus, if we once grant the power of a legislature to
-prohibit work at home under sanitary conditions in one trade, then
-every trade becomes subject to the same power of regulation and
-prohibition, and all working men and women can be driven into crowded
-factories.
-
-In the Jacobs case, Presiding Justice Noah Davis, speaking for the
-intermediate appellate court sitting in the city of New York, and
-undoubtedly acquainted with conditions then and there existing, used
-the following language: "A careful study of the act has satisfied us
-that its aim was not 'to improve the public health by prohibiting
-the manufacture of cigars and preparation of tobacco in any form in
-tenement houses in certain cases, and regulating the use of tenement
-houses in certain cases,' as declared in the title, but to suppress
-and restrain such manufacture in the cases covered by the act for
-the purpose of preventing successful competition injurious to other
-modes of manufacturing the same articles.... If the act were general
-and aimed at all tenement houses, and prohibited for sanitary reasons
-the manufacture of cigars and tobacco in all such buildings, or if it
-prohibited such manufacture in the living-rooms of all tenants, another
-case would be presented. But in the form in which it comes before us it
-is so unjust in its inequality, so harsh and oppressive upon the labor
-of poverty, so keenly discriminative in favor of the stronger classes
-engaged in the same occupation, that it certainly ought not to have
-been enacted; but, being enacted, ought to be held invalid because it
-deprives the appellant of his right and liberty to use his occupation
-in his own house for the support of himself and family, and takes
-away the value of his labor, which is his property protected by the
-Constitution equally as though it were in lands or money, without due
-process of law."[13]
-
-Discussing the Jacobs case, Mr. P. Tecumseh Sherman of the New York
-bar, who is reputed to be one of the best informed men in our state
-upon the subject of labor conditions and labor legislation and who was
-at one time a state commissioner of labor, said in a letter published
-a few weeks ago that the tenement-house statute, although purporting
-to be for the public health, was not a reasonable regulation for that
-purpose, because it arbitrarily selected one article and forbade its
-manufacture under certain conditions not generally unsanitary, and he
-added that "as matter of fact, the act was not designed to protect
-health but to put out of business one set of competitors in a trade
-war."
-
-Now let me call your attention to two examples of the manner in which
-this decision is being criticized. In an address delivered at Yale
-University last month, the mayor of the city of New York, who for many
-years had been a justice of the state supreme court, criticized the
-courts and derided the administration of justice in his own state.
-He referred to the Jacobs case in the following language: "The first
-case I shall call your attention to is known in my own state as the
-Tenement House Tobacco case.... You know what a condensed population
-we have in a part of the city of New York. Well, benevolent men and
-women in going around there found in little rooms in these crowded
-tenements certain things being manufactured that were not wholesome.
-They found tobacco being manufactured into its various products in the
-living-rooms of these poor tenements. Benevolent people who helped the
-poor saw it and they saw the evils of it. They saw little children born
-into this world and brought up in bedrooms and kitchens in the fumes
-and odors of tobacco. They also saw longer hours of work than would be
-the case if workers left their work at the shop and went home. So they
-went to the legislature and got a law passed forbidding the manufacture
-of tobacco in the living-rooms of these tenements." Mayor Gaynor
-then proceeded to criticize and condemn the Court of Appeals for its
-reasoning and decision.
-
-The facts, however, were that the statute was not limited to "the
-living-rooms of these tenements," but applied to every room, and that
-the promoters of this legislation were not the benevolent men and
-women who visit and help the poor, as Mayor Gaynor imagined, but the
-owners of tobacco factories who desired to crush the competition of
-independent workers. Nor was there anything in the case before the
-courts to support the statement that any one had seen "little children
-born into this world and brought up in bedrooms and kitchens in the
-fumes and odors of tobacco." No such conditions were before the courts,
-and the contrary was proved by unimpeached evidence in the Jacobs case,
-as any one reading the record could see. But, even if the picture
-had been true, the decision in this case did not in any way whatever
-prevent proper legislation prohibiting the manufacture of tobacco
-products in the bedrooms and kitchens of crowded tenement houses or
-under unsanitary conditions.
-
-Ex-President Roosevelt is equally inaccurate in his criticism of
-the Jacobs case. He is reported as having said in one of his recent
-speeches that "the decision of the court in this case retarded by at
-least twenty years the work of tenement-house reform and was directly
-responsible for causing hundreds of thousands of American citizens now
-alive to be brought up under conditions of reeking filth and squalor,
-which measurably decreased their chance of turning out to be good
-citizens." The truth is that the decision did not retard tenement-house
-reform by a single day, and did not prevent the enactment of a single
-provision for securing sanitary conditions for those who work at home.
-In fact, the necessary legislation has since been readily secured and
-enacted in New York without any amendment of the state constitution.
-Our public health and labor laws now regulate the manufacture of
-tobacco and other articles in homes and require and secure sanitary
-conditions, and licenses authorizing manufacturing at home are issued
-subject to cancellation at any time if the surroundings become
-unsanitary.
-
-Mr. Sherman characterized as absurd the statement made by Mr. Roosevelt
-in regard to the effect of this decision, and added that "so far, then,
-from having done harm in the way of sanitary reform, the decision in
-the Jacobs case has done good by giving the reform a proper direction
-and object. Mr. Roosevelt's criticism receives a ready chorus of
-approval from a large body of ill-informed reformers who seek to
-prevent some of the evils of 'sweating' by arbitrarily forbidding all
-home manufacture in tenements. But the vast majority of tenement houses
-in New York are of a class better described as apartment houses, which
-are perfectly sanitary, and in such houses there is much home work
-of a good kind, such as fine sewing, art work, &c., and under good
-conditions; and it would be a deplorable and unnecessary interference
-with liberty to forbid such work as an incident to the prevention of
-home work in unsanitary slums."
-
-Another New York case which is being similarly criticized and
-misrepresented is what is known as the Bakers case, or People
-_vs._ Lochner.[14] The decision in this case declaring a statute
-unconstitutional was that of the Supreme Court of the United States
-and not of the New York Court of Appeals; in fact the latter court
-sustained the act, although by a divided court. Mayor Gaynor explained
-this decision to his audience at Yale, composed largely of law
-students, in the following language: "The next case in order was the
-bake-oven case in my state. A bake-oven, you know, is underground. And
-if any of you ever were in a bake-oven I do not need to say another
-word about bake-ovens. It is the hottest and most uncomfortable place
-on the face of the earth. It is a hard place to work in. It is hot and
-unhealthy, and no one can stand it without injury to health. So in the
-same way in the state of New York we had an act passed prescribing
-sanitary regulations for the bakeries.... These bake-ovens are
-exceptional. They are underground and as hot as Tophet, if I may use
-such an expression here.... The law was passed prescribing regulations
-for them. One of the regulations was that ten hours a night was all
-that a baker should work in these places." And Mr. Roosevelt is
-reported in the newspapers as criticizing this decision and stating to
-his audiences that "this New York law prevented the employment of men
-in filthy cellar bakeries for longer than ten hours a day."
-
-The statute in question applied to manufacturers of bread, biscuits and
-confectionery. Taken in connection with the then existing Public Health
-Law, it contained adequate provisions for securing the best conditions
-of sanitation and ventilation and for safeguarding bakers from the
-effects of heat and of breathing flour or other particles. There was no
-distinction drawn in the act as to hours of labor between sanitary and
-unsanitary conditions of work, or between bakers and other employees,
-or between night and day work. The power of the legislature to prevent
-the manufacture of bread or other articles of food in cellars or in
-underground bake-ovens or in filthy and unsanitary places, whether
-above or below ground, was not challenged. The provisions of the act
-tending to secure sanitary conditions were not interfered with or set
-aside by the courts, and they have ever since been enforced as valid
-for all purposes. The act was not confined in its operation to workmen
-compelled to labor at night underground, but applied to everyone
-employed day or night in factories, above or below ground, in which
-bread, confectionery, or biscuits were manufactured. It is true that
-medical authorities were cited to the courts in support of the view
-that the trade of a baker was injurious to health, but such authorities
-were based upon statistics gathered under conditions of labor which
-could not have existed then and cannot exist now in New York if the
-elaborate regulations of our public health and labor laws be duly
-enforced. There were, however, conflicting medical authorities cited to
-the court, which asserted that the trade was not unwholesome.
-
-Lochner owned a bakery at Utica in which he worked himself and
-employed three or four workmen. There was only one oven, and it was
-above ground. The building was clean, especially well ventilated and
-sanitary. The only question before the court in the case was whether
-Lochner could be made a criminal and imprisoned for permitting his
-workmen to labor more than ten hours in any day under the best
-sanitary conditions, and the Supreme Court held that this could not be
-done without violating his constitutional rights. Had the conditions
-of work in bread, biscuit, or confectionery factories in the state of
-New York been shown to have been unusually dangerous and necessarily
-unwholesome, the law would undoubtedly have been sustained by the
-Supreme Court, as was the Utah miners' act in Holden _vs._ Hardy.[15]
-No one who has studied the decisions of the New York courts or of
-the Supreme Court of the United States can doubt that any statutory
-provision reasonably tending to protect the health of bakers and other
-workmen and to prevent labor in unhealthful places would be upheld as
-clearly within the police power of the legislature.
-
-The act, moreover, was one-sided and discriminatory in that it made the
-employer a criminal but left the workman free to do as he saw fit. A
-baker working for A for ten hours in one day was left at liberty to go
-next door to B, A's competitor, and, if he saw fit, work another ten
-hours for B. In fact, as I am told, the informer on whose testimony
-Lochner was convicted frequently worked ten hours a day for Lochner and
-a number of hours additional in another bakery. If the act had been
-honestly conceived in a desire to safeguard the health of bakers, it
-would, of course, have provided some punishment for any violation of
-the law on the part of the workmen, and not have left them at liberty
-to disregard its spirit whenever they saw fit to do so.
-
-The principle involved in this Bakers case was universal, and if
-employers in bread, biscuit, or confectionery factories could be made
-criminals for permitting their employees to labor more than ten hours
-in any one day, the legislature could enact similar legislation as to
-every other employment. No court would then have power to regulate
-the degree of the exercise of legislative discretion in such cases.
-The provision, which at first limited the workday to ten hours, could
-thereafter be changed to eight hours, or even to six hours, as was
-advocated in More's "Utopia."
-
-In February of this year, Mr. Roosevelt delivered an address before
-the Ohio constitutional convention, in which he discussed the decision
-of the Supreme Court of the United States in the Employers' Liability
-cases,[16] decided while he was President. The court then held that
-the act of Congress of June 11, 1906, sometimes erroneously called
-the National Workmen's Compensation Act, attempted to regulate the
-internal affairs of the several states as well as interstate commerce,
-that it consequently included a subject not within the constitutional
-power of Congress, and that the two matters were so blended that they
-were incapable of separation unless the court made a new statute in
-the place of the one enacted by Congress. Conscientiously entertaining
-this view, the majority of the court would have been guilty of the
-plainest constitutional immorality if they had not declared that the
-act was beyond the power of Congress and declined to give it effect. No
-honest men, believing as the majority did, could have done otherwise
-than obey the constitutional mandate expressly reserving to the states
-the legislative powers not delegated to Congress. In the light of
-the long-established and wise rule that courts should avoid judicial
-legislation and not revise or give effect to a statute in a manner
-not clearly intended by the legislative body, the justices could not,
-of course, have upheld and enforced the statute simply because the
-individual cases before them excited their sympathy or involved the
-claims of widows. The remedy was obvious and simple. Congress was
-then in session, and within a few days an amended statute could have
-been enacted so as to limit the act to interstate commerce, which
-alone was within the constitutional power of Congress to regulate.
-After the lapse of three months, such a law was enacted, and being
-plainly confined to interstate commerce, as the original statute should
-have been, and would have been if properly and competently drafted,
-the amended act was unanimously sustained by the Supreme Court as
-constitutional in the Second Employers' Liability cases, decided this
-year,[17] when it was held that Congress had power to change the
-common law rules as to assumption of risk, contributory negligence and
-fellow-servants' acts in connection with the regulation of interstate
-commerce.
-
-Speaking of the first decision, Mr. Roosevelt said: "When I was
-President, we passed a National Workmen's Compensation Act. Under it
-a railway man named Howard, I think, was killed in Tennessee, and his
-widow sued for damages. Congress had done all it could to provide
-the right, but the court stepped in and decreed that Congress had
-failed. Three of the judges took the extreme position that there was
-no way in which Congress could act to secure the helpless widow and
-children against suffering, and that the man's blood and the blood
-of all similar men when spilled should forever cry aloud in vain for
-justice. This seems a strong statement, but it is far less strong than
-the actual facts; and I have difficulty in making the statement with
-any degree of moderation. The nine justices of the Supreme Court on
-this question split into five fragments. One man, Justice Moody, in
-his opinion stated the case in its broadest way and demanded justice
-for Howard, on grounds that would have meant that in all similar cases
-thereafter justice and not injustice should be done. Yet the court,
-by a majority of one, decided as I do not for one moment believe the
-court would now decide, and not only perpetuated a lamentable injustice
-in the case of the man himself, but set a standard of injustice for
-all similar cases. Here again I ask you not to think of mere legal
-formalism, but to think of the great immutable principles of justice,
-the great immutable principles of right and wrong, and to ponder what
-it means to men dependent for their livelihood, and to the women and
-children dependent upon these men, when the courts of the land deny
-them the justice to which they are entitled."
-
-Now, if this argument meant anything it certainly meant that, in
-the opinion of the speaker, an ex-President of the United States,
-the justices of the Supreme Court should have disregarded the
-Constitution as they understood it in order to allow a widow to
-recover notwithstanding the unconstitutionality of the act under and
-by virtue of which she was suing. You will not find a single word of
-reference by Mr. Roosevelt in his whole address to the only point
-upon which the majority, speaking by Mr. Justice White, decided the
-cases. Of course, the statement of what was actually decided would have
-been tame and unsensational. The criticism in form and substance was
-based upon a distorted and unfair statement of what was decided, and
-it was calculated to create in the minds of the members of the Ohio
-constitutional convention, as well as in the minds of the uninformed
-public, the belief that the justices of the Supreme Court of the United
-States had "set a standard of injustice for all similar cases" and
-had denied to Congress the power to pass a fair and just employers'
-liability statute properly limited to interstate commerce. The contrary
-was plainly the truth, as the subsequent decision of the court had
-clearly shown, for this latter decision was rendered and published
-before Mr. Roosevelt made his address.
-
-Another example of distorted statement and unfair criticism of the
-courts will be found in the same address. It related to the decision of
-the New York Court of Appeals in the case of Ives _vs._ South Buffalo
-Railway Company,[18] decided last year, in which the court held that a
-statute concededly novel and revolutionary, creating liability on the
-part of an employer to his workmen although the employer and his agents
-were wholly free from negligence or fault of any kind and had neglected
-no duty of care, supervision or selection, was unconstitutional because
-taking the property of the employer and giving it to the workman
-without due process of law. Ives was a brakeman employed by the
-defendant railway company. While walking on the top of the cars of a
-very long train, he gave a signal to the engineer to close up a space
-or slack and was thrown to the ground by the resulting jar, concededly
-without any negligence on the part of the railway company, and probably
-through his own carelessness. The injury consisted of a sprained ankle
-and slight bruises. There was no claim in the complaint that the injury
-was in any sense permanent, and as matter of fact Ives sued for loss of
-wages during only five weeks, claiming fifty dollars as the measure of
-his damage. I am informed that the injury was not serious, that Ives
-entirely recovered and resumed his work within four weeks after the
-injury, that the railroad company ultimately paid him for his loss of
-time, that he has since been continuously employed by the same company
-at similar work, and that in no sense whatever was his ability to earn
-his livelihood impaired.
-
-Let us turn to the picture drawn by Mr. Roosevelt in describing this
-case for the instruction and guidance of a constitutional convention.
-"I am not thinking of the terminology of the decision, nor of what seem
-to me the hair-splitting and meticulous arguments elaborately worked
-out to justify a great and terrible miscarriage of justice. Moreover,
-I am not thinking only of the sufferers in any given case, but of the
-tens of thousands of others who suffer because of the way this case was
-decided. In the New York case, the railway employee who was injured
-was a man named, I believe, Ives. The court admits that by every moral
-consideration he was entitled to recover as his due the money that the
-law intended to give him. Yet the court by its decision forces that
-man to stagger through life maimed, and keeps the money that should be
-his in the treasury of the company in whose service, as an incident of
-his regular employment and in the endurance of ordinary risks, he lost
-the ability to earn his own livelihood. There are thousands of Iveses
-in this country; thousands of cases such as this come up every year;
-and while this is true, while the courts deny essential and elementary
-justice to these men and give to them and the people in exchange for
-justice a technical and empty formula, it is idle to ask me not to
-criticize them. As long as injustice is kept thus intrenched by any
-court, I will protest as strongly as in me lies against such action."
-
-To repeat, as a matter of fact, Ives was not maimed; he was not
-permanently injured; he was not deprived of the ability to earn his
-livelihood. Nor did the Court of Appeals admit that by every moral
-consideration Ives was entitled to recover as his due the money that
-the law intended to give him. Had that point been before a court of
-justice, however sympathetic and sentimental, I doubt very much whether
-it could have held that Ives was entitled, by any moral consideration
-whatever, to compel the railway company to compensate him for the
-four or five weeks' loss of wages resulting from no fault on its
-part but from his own carelessness. The statements that "the court
-by its decision forces that man to stagger through life maimed" and
-that "he lost the ability to earn his own livelihood" were simply so
-much fiction, but, of course they were very effective with emotional
-audiences and highly calculated to inflame Mr. Roosevelt's hearers
-and readers against the courts. I venture to assert that it would be
-difficult to find or indeed to conceive a more unwarranted and unfair
-misrepresentation of the facts actually before a court.
-
-Another current misrepresentation is that the Supreme Court of the
-United States in the Second Employers' Liability cases upheld as
-constitutional a statute of Congress identical with the statute held
-unconstitutional by the New York Court of Appeals in the Ives case.
-The people are being told that the New York courts hold the provision
-requiring due process of law in the fourteenth amendment to mean one
-thing, whilst the Supreme Court of the United States holds exactly
-the same provision in the fifth amendment to mean the contrary. But
-those who will take the trouble to read the two statutes will at once
-perceive that the act of Congress differs radically from the New York
-Workmen's Compensation Act. The act of Congress, although abolishing
-or restricting the rules as to fellow-servants' acts, assumption of
-risk and contributory negligence, imposes liability on common carriers
-by railroad only for "injury or death resulting in whole or in part
-from the _negligence_ of any of the officers, agents, or employees of
-such carrier, or by reason of any defect or insufficiency, _due to
-its negligence_, in its cars, engines, appliances, machinery, track,
-roadbed, works, boats, wharves, or other equipment." On the other hand,
-the New York statute created liability not in one dangerous employment,
-such as the business of common carrier by railroad, but in many other
-employments not necessarily dangerous, and wholly irrespective of
-negligence or fault on the part of the employer or any of his officers,
-agents, or employees. In fact, there is nothing in the New York
-decision or in the opinions of the judges which would invalidate a
-statute identical with the act of Congress if now enacted by the New
-York legislature. The Ives case, far from preventing such a statute,
-would be an authority in its support.
-
-I regret that we have not time to consider further these particular
-decisions. In my opinion they correctly and wisely applied established
-principles of constitutional law and constitutional justice and were
-morally right and just. I am now pleading for fairness and temperance
-in discussing the decisions of our courts and for the imperative
-necessity of founding these discussions upon the truth. Ambassador
-Bryce said in a recent address: "To counsel you to stick to facts
-is not to dissuade you from philosophical generalizations, but only
-to remind you ... that the generalizations must spring out of the
-facts, and without the facts are worthless." In other words, a regard
-for fact, which is but another term for truth, is or should be as
-indispensable in law and politics as it is in philosophy.
-
-The criticisms of which the above are fair samples must be refuted
-because they find constant repetition and have the authority of
-distinguished leaders of public opinion, who at the present time seem
-to have the confidence of the people. Their statements are naturally
-accepted as true. The judges are being similarly misrepresented and
-assailed on all sides, and they cannot defend themselves. Thus far
-the bar at large has seemed indifferent, and a misconception of what
-constitutes good taste imposes silence upon the counsel engaged in the
-cases which are criticized. The people are being misled, prejudiced
-and inflamed by false statements and unfair criticism. If the courts
-are not defended, they may bend before the storm of undeserved censure.
-Constituted as humanity is, there is grave danger that the judges will
-be unconsciously intimidated and coerced by this abuse and clamor.
-Is it not high time that the members of our profession should charge
-themselves with the task of defending the courts by placing the facts
-before the people? The bar associations of the country will never be
-called upon to render a greater service to the profession and to the
-community than that of stemming this tide of misrepresentation and
-intemperate abuse and striving to restore confidence in the learning,
-impartiality and independence of our judges, in the justice of their
-decisions, and in the necessity of their enforcing constitutional
-restraints.
-
-Not only are the decisions of the courts constantly distorted and
-misrepresented, but the people are also being taught that the courts
-have usurped the power to declare void any statute in conflict with the
-constitution, and that no such power was ever intended to be conferred
-by the framers of national or state constitutions. Surely by this time
-it ought to be manifest that if the courts may not adjudge invalid and
-refuse to give force and effect to unconstitutional enactments, it
-is of little or no use to declare in constitutions that legislatures
-shall not pass bills of attainder, or ex post facto laws, or laws
-abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press, or prohibiting the
-free exercise of religion, or denying the right to trial by jury, or
-imprisoning without trial, or suspending the writ of habeas corpus, or
-confiscating private property.
-
-Speaking on this subject of judicial power and duty, Hamilton in the
-"Federalist" used language which cannot be too often repeated. He
-clearly showed that in 1788 it was understood and contemplated that the
-courts should exercise the power to adjudge invalid any statute which
-was in conflict with the Constitution. In fact, such power had then
-already been exercised by state courts. He said that constitutional
-limitations "can be preserved in practice no other way than through the
-medium of courts of justice, whose duty it must be to declare all acts
-contrary to the manifest tenor of the Constitution void. Without this,
-all the reservation of particular rights or privileges would amount to
-nothing.... There is no position which depends on clearer principles
-than that every act of a delegated authority, contrary to the tenor of
-the commission under which it is exercised, is void. No legislative
-act, therefore, contrary to the Constitution, can be valid. To deny
-this would be to affirm that the deputy is greater than his principal;
-that the servant is above his master; that the representatives of
-the people are superior to the people themselves; that men acting by
-virtue of powers may do not only what their powers do not authorize,
-but what they forbid.... The interpretation of the laws is the proper
-and peculiar province of the courts. A constitution is, in fact, and
-must be regarded by the judges, as a fundamental law. It therefore
-belongs to them to ascertain its meaning, as well as the meaning of
-any particular act proceeding from the legislative body. If there
-should happen to be an irreconcilable variance between the two, that
-which has the superior obligation and validity ought, of course, to be
-preferred; or, in other words, the Constitution ought to be preferred
-to the statute; the intention of the people to the intention of their
-agents. Nor does this conclusion by any means suppose a superiority
-of the judicial to the legislative power. It only supposes that the
-power of the people is superior to both; and that where the will of the
-legislature, declared in its statutes, stands in opposition to that
-of the people, declared in the Constitution, the judges ought to be
-governed by the latter rather than the former. They ought to regulate
-their decisions by the fundamental laws, rather than by those which are
-not fundamental."[19]
-
-Equally conclusive and equally worthy of constant repetition is the
-reasoning of Chief Justice Marshall in Marbury _vs._ Madison, where
-he said: "To what purpose are powers limited, and to what purpose is
-that limitation committed to writing, if these limitations may, at any
-time, be passed by those intended to be restrained? The distinction
-between a government with limited and unlimited powers is abolished, if
-those limits do not confine the persons on whom they are imposed, and
-if acts prohibited and acts allowed are of equal obligation. It is a
-proposition too plain to be contested, that the Constitution controls
-any legislative act repugnant to it; or, that the legislature may
-alter the Constitution by an ordinary act. Between these alternatives
-there is no middle ground. The Constitution is either a superior
-paramount law, unchangeable by ordinary means, or it is on a level
-with ordinary legislative acts, and, like other acts, is alterable
-when the legislature shall please to alter it. If the former part
-of the alternative be true, then a legislative act contrary to the
-Constitution is not law: if the latter part be true, then written
-constitutions are absurd attempts, on the part of the people, to limit
-a power in its own nature illimitable."[20]
-
-This decision of the Supreme Court to the effect that it is the duty
-and within the power of the courts to construe constitutions and to
-refuse to enforce unconstitutional enactments was rendered in 1803.
-Yet, notwithstanding that the Constitution of the United States has
-been amended four times since that decision, and that every state
-constitution has been again and again remodeled or amended, no American
-constitution has ever denied to the courts the power to construe
-constitutions or the duty to refuse to enforce statutes which are in
-conflict with constitutional limitations. If the power to declare void
-any statute in conflict with the Constitution of the United States
-was deemed necessary in 1788 when Hamilton was writing his famous
-essays, it certainly ought to be far more necessary in our day of
-multiform legislation, vast increase in the functions of the state, and
-incompetent, reckless and oppressive class legislation interfering in
-almost every conceivable manner with the rights and liberties of the
-individual.
-
-Moreover, the Constitution of the United States would probably never
-have been adopted if the people had understood, as is now pretended,
-that Congress was to be at liberty to disregard constitutional
-limitations and guaranties and that there would be no way whatever of
-preventing a violation by Congress of the constitutional rights of the
-individual except at the polls. All students of our history know that
-the Constitution was accepted by the people upon the distinct pledge
-that amendments embodying a bill of rights to protect the individual
-against Congress would be immediately adopted. And one of the first
-acts of the First Congress in September, 1789, was to submit the ten
-amendments known as the federal bill of rights, which were thereupon
-ratified by the states and became an integral part of the Constitution.
-But of what avail or benefit were these amendments if Congress was not
-to be effectively restrained and bound by them? It is no exaggeration
-to say that if the courts should now be deprived of the power to
-protect litigants who invoke constitutional guaranties and should
-be compelled to enforce, as valid laws, statutes which violate the
-limitations upon legislative power which the people have deliberately
-embodied in their fundamental law, our constitutions would become
-dead letters, and we might as well turn to the pure and unrestrained
-democracy of Greece and await her fate.
-
-In an inspiring address delivered this year before the New York State
-Bar Association on the subject of judicial decisions and public
-feeling, Senator Root eloquently said: "A sovereign people which
-declares that all men have certain inalienable rights, and imposes
-upon itself the great impersonal rules of conduct deemed necessary
-for the preservation of those rights, and at the same time declares
-that it will disregard those rules whenever, in any particular case,
-it is the wish of a majority of its voters to do so, establishes
-as complete a contradiction to the fundamental principles of our
-government as it is possible to conceive. It abandons absolutely the
-conception of a justice which is above majorities, of a right in the
-weak which the strong are bound to respect. It denies the vital truth
-taught by religion and realized in the hard experience of mankind, and
-which has inspired every constitution America has produced and every
-great declaration for human freedom since Magna Carta--the truth that
-human nature needs to distrust its own impulses and passions, and to
-establish for its own control the restraining and guiding influence of
-declared principles of action."
-
-In many of the current assaults upon the judicial department,
-in support often of schemes having their birthplace on the
-continent of Europe, we find the complaint that in declaring
-statutes unconstitutional the courts in this country--state and
-federal--exercise greater power than the courts of other countries are
-authorized to exercise. As if that were an argument against American
-institutions! Every schoolboy knows that the framers intended that our
-government should differ from every other government in the world. The
-founders not only intentionally departed from the examples of existing
-governments, but anxiously sought to establish a new form of republican
-government, which would perpetuate the spirit of the Declaration of
-Independence, secure the inalienable rights of the individual, and
-protect the minority against the oppression or tyranny of the majority.
-It was because these rights of the individual against majorities and
-every form of governmental power were to be made secure and sacred, as
-the founders believed, that we were to differ from other governments.
-And the essential and effective feature of that difference was to lie
-in the power vested in the judicial department to uphold and protect
-these rights. High sounding declarations of the rights of man would
-mean very little if they were not to be enforceable by the courts.
-
-When our form of government is compared with that of other countries,
-and we are told that in England or in France or elsewhere so-called
-progressive measures have been forced into immediate operation by
-the will of the majority, and that the courts there were powerless
-to interfere, is it seriously intended to suggest to the people
-of the United States that they should, therefore, cast aside all
-constitutional restraints, all their ancient and honest constitutional
-principles, and leave the protection of life, liberty and property
-wholly in the hands of the legislative branch? Are there not still
-certain rights which even those who are assailing our institutions,
-under the protection of the very Constitution they deride, would want
-to have protected by our courts? When it is urged that the courts
-should not have power to declare an act unconstitutional, but should
-be compelled to enforce all legislative enactments although some of
-them might conflict with the Constitution, is it realized that the bill
-of rights would then be left to the arbitrary discretion or caprice
-of the legislature, and that consequently it would be of no more
-practical protection to the individual than the paper constitutions
-of some of the South American republics which, too, contain eloquent
-declarations of the rights of the individual? Is it forgotten or
-overlooked that in England and France and all the other countries with
-whose systems of government ours is being compared, the legislative
-power is practically supreme, and that it can outlaw or disseize or
-imprison at its mere will--that it can deny religious liberty, abridge
-the freedom of speech or of the press, pass bills of attainder and ex
-post facto laws, suspend the writ of habeas corpus, impose cruel and
-unusual punishments, deny to the individual accused of crime the right
-to a jury-trial or even any hearing at all, confiscate private property
-without compensation, and impair the obligation of contracts?
-
-Let us, for example, suppose that Congress or a state legislature saw
-fit to imprison those who did not profess the religion of the majority,
-or observe its forms and tenets. Who could then protect the minority
-against such tyrannical enactments except the courts, and how could
-the courts shield them save by declaring the statute unconstitutional
-and void and refusing to enforce it? We have only to go back a few
-generations to find just such laws in England and in the American
-colonies, and it is the repetition of them that our constitutions seek
-to prevent. Suppose again that Congress or a state legislature should
-pass a statute abridging the freedom of speech or of the press and
-making those who violated the statute subject to criminal prosecution
-and imprisonment. How could the individual be then protected except
-by the judiciary, and how could the judiciary protect him unless by
-exercising the power to declare the statute unconstitutional?
-
-Do the agitators who are attacking our constitutional system explain
-to their listeners that in the foreign governments with which they
-are making comparisons the legislative power could compel workmen
-in any trade to work as many hours a day, at such rates of wages,
-and under such conditions as the majority saw fit to enact? Suppose
-that the Pennsylvania legislature should pass a statute compelling
-laborers in coal mines to labor twelve or more hours a day for a
-compensation fixed by it and providing that refusal should constitute
-a crime. Or similarly in the case of railroad employees. In doing so,
-the legislature would find a precedent in the famous English Statute
-of Labourers as well as in numerous other European enactments. The
-Pennsylvania legislature might pass an act, similar to that enacted by
-the British parliament in 1720 and again in 1800, making it a crime
-for laborers to combine to obtain an advance of wages or to lessen or
-alter their hours of work. Is it inconceivable that the time may come
-when the majority of the voters in Pennsylvania will believe that it is
-imperative thus to regulate labor in coal mines and on the railroads,
-both of which industries are indispensable, serve every household in
-the state, affect every individual, rich or poor, and compel all to pay
-tribute? Might not prejudice and self-interest tempt or impel to such
-a statute, and might not the majority enact it, particularly if those
-affected were aliens without political power? Is it inconceivable that
-the owners of the coal mines and the railroads may some day control a
-majority in the legislature? But how could these miners and railroad
-employees be protected from such enactments and criminal prosecutions
-thereunder unless the courts had the power to declare statutes
-unconstitutional and to refuse to enforce them because depriving the
-individual of his constitutional rights?
-
-In nine cases out of ten the answer to these suggestions by those who
-to-day are assailing the judicial department would undoubtedly be
-that no one intends to go to any such extreme, and that no one wishes
-to be placed or to place any one else entirely at the mercy of the
-legislature. Thus, they would concede that some rights should still be
-safeguarded by the courts. But does not this answer contain the gist of
-the whole problem and the whole principle and virtue of the American
-system of constitutional restraints? If the critics of our system
-would have some rights, and particularly their own, protected by the
-courts, must they not then confess that in truth they only wish changes
-where the rights of others are concerned, and that they would cling
-to the Constitution and invoke the protection of the judicial power
-in all those respects in which their own personal liberty and their
-own personal and property rights are affected? Chief Judge Cullen of
-the New York Court of Appeals recently said that "the great misfortune
-of the day is the mania for regulating all human conduct by statute,
-from responsibility for which few are exempt, since many of our most
-intelligent and highly educated citizens, who resent as paternalism
-and socialism legislative interference with affairs in which they are
-interested, are most persistent in the attempt to regulate by law the
-conduct of others."[21]
-
-I do not doubt that if we could have an exhaustive debate before
-a great tribunal of American public opinion and could step by
-step analyze and sift the arguments against the judicial power in
-constitutional cases, we would find in the final analysis that those
-who are so fiercely charging the courts with usurping power by refusing
-to enforce unconstitutional enactments would still want the continued
-protection of the courts so far as their own constitutional rights and
-liberties were concerned, and that they were only asking modification
-and curtailment in respect of the rights and liberties of others. I
-am confident that if it were left to the people of the United States
-to determine by their votes the simple question whether they would
-place in the hands of Congress or of their state legislatures the
-fundamental, elemental, inalienable rights which every American citizen
-now enjoys--the inalienable rights proclaimed in the Declaration of
-Independence--an overwhelming vote would be cast against any such
-change. Indeed, support for this conviction may be found in the recent
-experience of Australia, that hotbed of radicalism. An attempt by
-constitutional amendment to curtail the power of the judiciary in
-labor controversies and to confer upon the Australian parliament all
-power necessary to deal with labor matters was there the subject of a
-referendum and met with a decisive defeat at the polls. Are we likely
-to be less conservative than the Australians, or to be less mindful of
-the necessity for wise constitutional guaranties and restraints?
-
-The truth is that our constitutions, national and state, do not stand
-in the way of any fair and just exercise of what is called the police
-power, or of measures for social progress or social justice, and
-that they do not prevent reasonable and just regulations tending to
-secure the health and promote the welfare of the community at large,
-or the enactment of proper and reasonable factory laws or proper and
-reasonable workmen's compensation acts. The main source of trouble is
-that the statutes which the courts are compelled to refuse to enforce
-are very often hastily and crudely drawn, and are often inherently
-unreasonable and unjust.
-
-But, even if this be not so; even if the people, after full statement
-of the facts and thorough explanation of the effect of the change, upon
-mature consideration desire to vest greater power in our legislatures,
-or to curtail the power of the courts, the means are within their
-reach. In New York and in other states, the Constitution can be easily
-amended within two years.
-
-It has been repeatedly asserted that the Constitution of the United
-States has become practically unamendable, when as a matter of fact its
-amendment does not involve any greater difficulties than were intended
-or than would seem reasonably necessary, or than would be provided
-if we were now framing a new national constitution. The prescribed
-machinery of a vote by two-thirds of both houses of Congress and
-ratification by three-fourths of the states simply compels deliberation
-and prevents hasty and unconsidered action. If the people of the
-country really desire a particular amendment to the Constitution of the
-United States, it ought to be readily obtainable within less than two
-years.
-
-Thus, the first ten amendments were proposed by Congress in September,
-1789, and were adopted in those days of slow travel and difficult
-communication by eight states within six months and by the requisite
-three-fourths within two years. The twelfth amendment, proposed in
-1803, was ratified in nine months. The thirteenth amendment, proposed
-by Congress in 1865, was ratified by the legislatures of twenty-seven
-out of the then thirty-six states within ten months; and the fifteenth
-amendment, the latest, proposed in February, 1869, was ratified by
-twenty-nine out of the thirty-seven states within one year. The delay
-in the adoption of the proposed sixteenth amendment authorizing
-Congress to levy an income tax is due wholly to the fact that there is
-a serious difference of opinion as to whether or not this power should
-be conferred, although the advocates of the amendment confidently
-proclaimed the existence of an almost universal desire on the part of
-the people for such an amendment to the Constitution.[22]
-
-One of the most insidious suggestions that can possibly be made to
-the people at large is that there is an insurmountable difficulty
-in securing amendments to our constitutions, just as misleading and
-dangerous as it is for them to be told that their desires are being
-thwarted by the judiciary and that they must accomplish reforms either
-by coercing the courts or by undermining the foundations of their
-constitutions. The future contentment of the people requires that
-they shall feel that the governments, state and federal, are their
-governments, that they themselves are ultimately the sovereign power,
-and that they are at liberty to amend the organic law from time to
-time as their mature and deliberate judgment shall deem necessary
-or desirable. All that the conservatives can ask or do ask is that
-the people shall act deliberately and under circumstances calculated
-to afford time and opportunity for full explanation and a full
-understanding of the scope and tendency of the proposed changes, to
-the end that errors may be discovered and exposed, that theorizing,
-sentimentalism, clamor and prejudice may exhaust themselves, and that
-the sober second thought of every part of the country may be asserted.
-If it be then determined to amend our constitutions, even to the extent
-of placing life, liberty and property at the unrestrained discretion
-and mercy of our legislators, the will of the sovereign people will
-have to be obeyed. Let us hope and pray, however, that when amendments
-are adopted, they will be conservative and wise, that the rights of the
-minority as against the majority will not be heedlessly sacrificed for
-the temporary advantage of one class over another, and that it will
-be appreciated that individual liberty should be the vital concern
-of every man, rich or poor, as being essential to the perpetuation
-of the institutions which we cherish as peculiarly and preeminently
-American. Let us especially try to avoid permitting any class to make
-use of constitutional amendments or of statutory enactments for its own
-special purposes. Let us, whilst meeting in full sympathy, generosity
-and charity the legitimate demands of the laboring classes and of
-the poor and humble, nevertheless keep our eyes open to prevent any
-such vicious results as would arise from constitutional or statutory
-provisions framed nominally for the benefit of labor but really for the
-purpose of serving the interests of a particular class against another,
-as we have seen was the case in the New York tenement-house legislation
-of 1884. In the meantime, pending such amendments in the due, orderly
-and reasonable course prescribed by our constitutions, let us be
-faithful and devoted to our constitutional system, which for more than
-a century has carried us through every storm and so often "in spite of
-false lights on the shore." Let us also be truthful and fair and, if
-possible, temperate in our criticism of all public officials, whether
-legislative, executive, or judicial.
-
-Finally, a word about the special duty of our profession. It is not
-the pulpit nor the press, but the law which reaches and touches every
-fibre of the whole fabric of life, which surrounds and guards every
-right of the individual, which grasps the greatest and the least of
-human affairs, and which comprehends the whole community and every
-human right. We lawyers, if worthy of our profession, are in duty
-bound not merely to defend constitutional guaranties before the courts
-for individual clients, but to teach the people in season and out of
-season to value and respect the constitutional rights of others and to
-respect and cherish the institutions which we have inherited. It is our
-duty to preach constitutional morality to the rich and to the poor, to
-all trades and to all professions, to all ranks and to all classes, in
-the cities and on the plains. It is for us to convince the members of
-every class that, in the long run, disregard of the fundamental rights
-of others would be in conflict with their own permanent welfare and
-happiness, and cannot be permitted if we are to remain a free people.
-What higher duty, what nobler task could engage us than to teach the
-value and sacredness of the ancient and honest principles of justice
-embodied in our constitutions, immortal as the eternal truths from
-which they derive their origin, and to preach to all classes the virtue
-of political justice and self-imposed political restraints, without
-which there can be no true constitutional morality.
-
-FOOTNOTES:
-
-[Footnote 10: Address before the Pennsylvania State Bar Association at
-its eighteenth annual meeting, held at Cape May, New Jersey, June 25,
-1912.]
-
-[Footnote 11: 188 United States Reports, p. 375.]
-
-[Footnote 12: 98 New York Reports, p. 98.]
-
-[Footnote 13: 33 Hun's Reports, pp. 380, 382, 383.]
-
-[Footnote 14: 177 New York Reports, p. 145; 198 United States Reports,
-p. 45.]
-
-[Footnote 15: 169 United States Reports, p. 366.]
-
-[Footnote 16: 207 United States Reports, p. 463.]
-
-[Footnote 17: 223 United States Reports, p. 1.]
-
-[Footnote 18: 201 New York Reports, p. 271.]
-
-[Footnote 19: The Federalist, Ford's edition, pp. 520, 521, 522.]
-
-[Footnote 20: 1 Cranch's Reports, pp. 176-177.]
-
-[Footnote 21: 204 New York Reports, p. 534.]
-
-[Footnote 22: Since this address was delivered, the sixteenth amendment
-has been ratified. It was proposed by Congress July 16, 1909, and
-declared effective February 25, 1913. The seventeenth amendment was
-proposed by Congress May 15, 1912, and declared effective May 31,
-1913. In view of this demonstration, it should certainly not be any
-longer urged that the Constitution of the United States is practically
-unamendable.]
-
-
-
-
-THE ELEVENTH AMENDMENT[23]
-
-
-Of the important questions of constitutional law now before the
-country, none more vitally affects the peace and harmony of our dual
-system of government than that of the power of a federal court to
-enjoin a state officer from enforcing the provisions of a state statute
-which is in conflict with the Constitution of the United States.
-This question usually arises in connection with the eleventh article
-of amendment, which provides that "the judicial power of the United
-States shall not be construed to extend to any suit in law or equity,
-commenced or prosecuted against one of the United States by citizens
-of another state, or by citizens or subjects of any foreign state."
-Serious controversies regarding the issuance of injunctions by federal
-courts against state officers have arisen in New York, North Carolina,
-Alabama, Missouri, Kansas, Minnesota, and other states. A convention
-of attorneys-general from a number of states, held at St. Louis in
-September and October, 1907, adopted a memorial to the President and
-Congress praying that the jurisdiction of the circuit courts of the
-United States might be curtailed in respect of suits brought to
-restrain state officers from enforcing state laws or the orders of
-state administrative boards. The President in his annual message to
-Congress called the matter to the attention of that body, and stated
-that discontent was often expressed with the use of the process
-of injunction by the courts where state laws were concerned. The
-assembling of Congress was marked by the introduction of numerous bills
-to curtail the power of the federal courts to issue injunctions and by
-the offering of several joint resolutions to amend the Constitution
-of the United States, which had the same object. The question will,
-perhaps, figure prominently in the next presidential campaign. It may,
-therefore, be appropriate to review at this time the history of the
-eleventh article of amendment to the Constitution of the United States
-in order to see what light that history throws upon the purpose of its
-framers. Did they intend, in prohibiting suits by an individual against
-a state, to deny to the courts of the United States the power to enjoin
-a state officer from enforcing a state statute in conflict with the
-Constitution of the United States?
-
-In 1787 and 1788, when the adoption of the Constitution was under
-consideration by the people of the United States, conflicting views
-were entertained as to the suability of a state by an individual for
-the recovery of claims against it. Hamilton, Madison and Marshall
-expressed the opinion that a state would not be suable by an
-individual under the Constitution as drafted. A number of prominent
-men, conspicuous among whom were Edmund Pendleton, Patrick Henry and
-George Mason, were of opinion that the language of the judicial clause
-conferred jurisdiction to entertain and determine such a suit. Some
-urged this as an objection to the Constitution. Others, including
-James Wilson of Pennsylvania and Edmund Randolph of Virginia, two of
-the most distinguished lawyers and publicists of the day and members
-of the Constitutional Convention, contended not only that jurisdiction
-was conferred but that it was wise and necessary that such jurisdiction
-should exist. Wilson urged that "when a citizen has a controversy
-with another state, there ought to be a tribunal where both parties
-may stand on a just and equal footing," and Randolph argued that the
-jurisdiction would tend "to render valid and effective existing claims,
-and secure that justice, ultimately, which is to be found in every
-regular government." The Constitution of the United States was adopted
-as submitted with the understanding that amendments would be promptly
-proposed. The First Congress submitted twelve amendments, ten of which
-were adopted, but the suability of a state was not mentioned in any of
-them.
-
-The question was presented for judicial decision in 1792 in an action
-brought by Chisholm, a citizen of the state of South Carolina, against
-the state of Georgia in the Supreme Court of the United States under
-its original jurisdiction.[24] The action was in assumpsit to recover
-a debt. The court then consisted of Chief Justice Jay and Justices
-Cushing, Wilson, Blair, Johnson and Iredell. On February 18, 1793,
-the court held, Mr. Justice Iredell alone dissenting, that under the
-Constitution as originally adopted a state could be sued in that court
-by a citizen of another state in an action of assumpsit to enforce
-the payment of a contract debt. This decision, which was followed by
-the commencement of the suit of Vassal _vs._ Massachusetts, created
-irritation and alarm among the states, and particularly among those
-which were heavily burdened with debt. The anti-Federalist prints were
-loud in invectives against the decision, which was termed a violation
-of the sovereignty of the states, and it was declared that the people
-were "called upon to draw their swords against this invasion of their
-rights." It has been said, though with some exaggeration, that "the
-states fairly rose in rebellion against the decision." Four states
-formally protested. Although Georgia had been the first state to
-invoke the original jurisdiction of the Supreme Court, it nevertheless
-refused to appear in the Chisholm suit, and filed a remonstrance and
-protestation against the exercise of jurisdiction. After the decision,
-it openly defied the authority of the national judiciary. Indeed, it
-is stated by McMaster, Cooley and other writers that the legislature
-of Georgia at once passed a law subjecting to death without benefit
-of clergy any officer who should attempt to serve a process in any
-suit against the state, but no record of any such statute can be
-found. Probably, as some one has suggested, the supposed law was a
-bill which passed only the lower branch of the legislature. At all
-events, the legislatures of Virginia, Massachusetts and Connecticut
-instructed their senators and representatives to secure the adoption of
-an amendment to the Constitution which should prevent suits against a
-state by an individual.
-
-On February 20, 1793, two days after the opinions in Chisholm _vs._
-Georgia were delivered, a resolution was offered in the United States
-Senate proposing an amendment of the Constitution in the following
-terms: "The judicial power of the United States shall not extend to
-any suits in law or equity, commenced or prosecuted against one of the
-United States by citizens of another state or by citizens or subjects
-of any foreign state."
-
-The proposed amendment was debated to some extent in the Second
-Congress, but it was not passed. In the Third Congress, on January
-2, 1794, Caleb Strong, one of the senators from Massachusetts, moved
-the adoption of a resolution which changed the form of the proposed
-amendment so as to read as follows: "The judicial power of the United
-States shall not _be construed to_ extend to any suit in law or equity,
-commenced or prosecuted against one of the United States by citizens of
-another state, or by citizens or subjects of any foreign state."
-
-The amendment was finally accepted in this form on March 4, 1794, and
-was at once submitted to the legislatures of the several states for
-ratification, but up to March, 1797, there were still eight states
-which had not acted upon it, probably because the political clamor
-had subsided, and there was no longer any demand for amendment. In
-fact, Congress had to request the President to communicate with the
-outstanding states upon the subject. Finally, in a message from
-President Adams to Congress dated January 8, 1798, the proposed
-amendment was declared to have been ratified by three-fourths of the
-states, and it thereupon became the eleventh article of amendment to
-the Constitution of the United States. New Jersey and Pennsylvania had
-refused to ratify it, while South Carolina and Tennessee had taken no
-action.
-
-The unusual and peculiar wording of the amendment first attracts
-attention. Instead of declaring how the Constitution shall read
-in the future, it declares how it shall "not be construed." This
-phraseology was used for political reasons and as a concession to the
-susceptibilities of the advocates of state rights. Extremists wanted a
-declaration that would not only overrule the recent construction of the
-Constitution by the Supreme Court and deny that such a power had ever
-existed, but would also oust all jurisdiction in pending as well as in
-future cases. The amendment, therefore, does not purport to amend or
-alter the Constitution, but to maintain it unchanged, while controlling
-its scope and effect by authoritatively declaring how it shall not be
-construed.
-
-Speaking of the language of the amendment, Chief Justice Marshall said
-in the case of Cohens _vs._ Virginia: "It is a part of our history,
-that, at the adoption of the Constitution, all the states were greatly
-indebted; and the apprehension that these debts might be prosecuted in
-the federal courts formed a very serious objection to that instrument.
-Suits were instituted, and the court maintained its jurisdiction.
-The alarm was general; and, to quiet the apprehensions that were so
-extensively entertained, this amendment was proposed in Congress,
-and adopted by the state legislatures. That its motive was not to
-maintain the sovereignty of a state from the degradation supposed to
-attend a compulsory appearance before the tribunal of the nation, may
-be inferred from the terms of the amendment. It does not comprehend
-controversies between two or more states, or between a state and a
-foreign state. The jurisdiction of the court still extends to these
-cases: and in these a state may still be sued. We must ascribe the
-amendment, then, to some other cause than the dignity of a state. There
-is no difficulty in finding this cause. Those who were inhibited from
-commencing a suit against a state, or from prosecuting one which might
-be commenced before the adoption of the amendment, were persons who
-might probably be its creditors. There was not much reason to fear that
-foreign or sister states would be creditors to any considerable amount,
-and there was reason to retain the jurisdiction of the court in those
-cases, because it might be essential to the preservation of peace. The
-amendment, therefore, extended to suits commenced or prosecuted by
-individuals, but not to those brought by states.
-
-"The first impression made on the mind by this amendment is, that
-it was intended for those cases, and for those only, in which some
-demand against a state is made by an individual in the courts of the
-Union. If we consider the causes to which it is to be traced, we are
-conducted to the same conclusion. A general interest might well be felt
-in leaving to a state the full power of consulting its convenience in
-the adjustment of its debts or of other claims upon it; but no interest
-could be felt in so changing the relations between the whole and its
-parts, as to strip the government of the means of protecting, by the
-instrumentality of its courts, the Constitution and laws from active
-violation."[25]
-
-It will also be observed that the amendment does not refer to suits
-against a state by one of its own citizens. This was undoubtedly
-because the Constitution did not extend the judicial power of the
-United States, when dependent upon the character of the parties,
-to controversies between a state and its own citizens, but only to
-controversies between a state and citizens of another state or citizens
-or subjects of foreign states. The distinction between jurisdiction
-dependent upon the nature or subject matter of the controversy
-irrespective of the character of the parties, such as cases arising
-under the Constitution, laws and treaties of the United States, and
-jurisdiction dependent upon the character of the parties irrespective
-of the nature or subject matter of the controversy, had probably not
-then been as clearly recognized as was subsequently done by Chief
-Justice Marshall. The failure of the eleventh amendment to mention
-suits against a state by its own citizens gave rise nearly one hundred
-years later to the contention that a state could be sued in a circuit
-court of the United States by one of its own citizens in a case arising
-under the Constitution. This was urged at the October term, 1889, in
-Hans _vs._ Louisiana and North Carolina _vs._ Temple,[26] but the court
-overruled the contention and held that a state could not be sued by
-an individual in a United States court even in a case arising under
-the Constitution. Mr. Justice Bradley delivered the opinion of the
-court. He criticized the reasoning of the majority in Chisholm _vs._
-Georgia, and upheld the dissenting opinion of Mr. Justice Iredell to
-the effect that, under the Constitution as originally adopted, no suit
-could be maintained against a state by an individual to enforce its
-debts except by its consent. Mr. Justice Harlan, however, while he
-concurred in holding that a suit directly against a state by one of its
-own citizens to enforce a debt was not within the judicial power of
-the United States, criticized the comments made by Mr. Justice Bradley
-upon the decision in Chisholm _vs._ Georgia as not necessary to the
-determination of the case, and expressed the opinion that the prior
-decision was based upon a sound interpretation of the Constitution as
-that instrument was then worded.
-
-It has been stated in opinions of the Supreme Court that a state
-can be sued in a court of the United States by an individual if it
-waives its immunity and consents to be sued. But it is difficult to
-perceive how the consent or waiver of a state can, in any case and
-under any circumstances, confer upon the federal courts jurisdiction
-of a suit against it by a citizen of another state or a citizen or
-subject of a foreign state in the face of the imperative mandate of
-the amendment that "the judicial power of the United States shall _not
-be construed to extend_ to" any such suit. It is true that the court
-in the case of Clark _vs._ Barnard said that the immunity of a state
-from suit in a federal court was a personal privilege which it might
-waive at pleasure and that its appearance as a party defendant in a
-court of the United States would be a voluntary submission to its
-jurisdiction,[27] but in that case the state intervened as an actor
-and its intervention was such that it could be treated substantially
-as a plaintiff and the jurisdiction sustained on the ground that a
-state may sue an individual in a federal court. Although in the more
-recent case of Gunter _vs._ Atlantic Coast Line,[28] Mr. Justice White,
-delivering the opinion of the court, declared it to be an elementary
-proposition that a state could waive its immunity, it will be observed
-that in that case the suit was in fact against an officer of the
-state of South Carolina, and that the state itself was not a party to
-the record. It seems to me, with all deference, that the court has
-not yet squarely passed upon the point, nor, so far as I know, has it
-ever questioned the fundamental principle that a federal court cannot
-exercise jurisdiction in any case to which the judicial power of the
-United States, as delegated and defined in the Constitution, does not
-extend. An entirely different question is presented when we consider
-whether an officer of a state can consent or be authorized to consent
-to be sued in a federal court; in other words, whether he can waive the
-defense that the state is a necessary party to the suit. It does not
-follow that, because a state cannot be sued, it may not authorize its
-agent to defend on the merits without pleading the absence of the state
-as the real party in interest, and the denial of jurisdiction over the
-state as principal does not necessarily imply a denial of jurisdiction
-over the officer when doing or attempting to do an illegal act as its
-agent or representative. So, also, a different question is presented
-under the later amendments, which may be held to have qualified the
-eleventh amendment in authorizing Congress to enforce their provisions
-by appropriate legislation. As to that point I am not now prepared to
-express an opinion.
-
-In construing the eleventh amendment for the purpose of ascertaining
-its true intent and meaning, as indeed in construing most of the
-provisions of the Constitution and its contemporaneous amendments,
-reference to the history and to the common law of England is generally
-the safest guide as to what was understood and intended at the time.
-In that history will be found the true sources of our institutions,
-for these are essentially and predominantly English. The legal and
-political institutions of England were constantly in the minds of the
-framers and of the people. The common law had long been regarded with
-affection and reverence as the birthright of Americans and the guardian
-at once of their private rights and their public liberties. Indeed,
-the Continental Congress, assembled in October, 1774, had declared the
-colonies entitled as of right to the common law.
-
-The theory of the immunity of a state or of the United States from
-suit by an individual without its consent is frequently asserted to
-be analogous to the monarchical principle as to the immunity of the
-king from suit without his consent commonly expressed in the maxim
-that "the king can do no wrong." The idea seems to have been that in
-England it would be considered an invasion of the sovereignty of the
-crown and derogatory to its dignity to subject the king to a suit by
-an individual except with his consent, to be granted or refused in his
-arbitrary discretion. It is very doubtful whether any such idea finds
-support in the common law or history of England, or in the traditional
-usage and experience of that country to any such extent as is often
-insisted upon.
-
-On the contrary, it had long been regarded in England as settled law
-that the subject was entitled to an effective legal remedy for any
-invasion of his legal rights by the king or the government. He had a
-right to sue the king for the restitution of property or money or for
-the recovery of damages for breach of contract, and to sue officers
-of the crown for any tortious acts. The practice established for
-centuries had been to present to the king a petition praying leave to
-sue him, and the custom had been for the king as of course to endorse
-on the petition his fiat that right be done. Thereafter the action
-proceeded as any other action between subject and subject. This right
-was conceded to aliens as well as to subjects. Although the leave to
-sue was nominally or theoretically granted as a matter of grace and not
-upon compulsion, it was in fact the constitutional duty of the king to
-grant it, and it was seldom denied. Under the common law, the subject
-was entitled as a matter of right--as one of the immemorial liberties
-of Englishmen--to inform his king of the nature of any grievance, and
-thereupon, in the language of Blackstone, "as the law presumes that
-to know of any injury and to redress it are inseparable in the royal
-breast, it then issues, as of course, in the king's own name, his
-orders to his judges to do justice to the party aggrieved."
-
-The nature of the proceeding under a petition of right has been passed
-upon by the Supreme Court of the United States in several cases, and
-its decisions clearly show that the remedy is not to be regarded as
-a mere matter of grace, but as a right to sue and obtain redress in
-the class of cases to which it applies. Thus, Chief Justice Marshall,
-delivering the opinion of the court in Marbury _vs._ Madison at the
-February term, 1803, said: "In Great Britain the king himself is sued
-in the respectful form of a petition, and he never fails to comply with
-the judgment of his court."[29] In United States _vs._ O'Keefe the
-court at the December term, 1870, examined the nature of the remedy
-in construing the act of Congress of July 27, 1868, now section 1068
-of the United States Revised Statutes. Mr. Justice Davis, speaking
-for the court, said: "This valuable privilege, secured to the subject
-in the time of Edward the First, is now crystallized in the common
-law of England. As the prayer of the petition is grantable _ex debito
-justitiae_, it is called a petition of right, and is a judicial
-proceeding, to be tried like suits between subject and subject.... It
-is of no consequence that, theoretically speaking, the permission of
-the crown is necessary to the filing of the petition, because it is the
-duty of the king to grant it, and the right of the subject to demand
-it. And we find that it is never refused, except in very extraordinary
-cases, and this proves nothing against the existence of the right....
-If the mode of proceeding to enforce it be formal and ceremonious,
-it is nevertheless a practical and efficient remedy for the invasion
-by the sovereign power of individual rights."[30] And in the later
-case of Carlisle _vs._ United States the court held that, under the
-proceeding known as the petition of right, the government of Great
-Britain accorded "the right to prosecute claims against such government
-in its courts" not only to subjects but to aliens.[31] Later still in
-the famous case of United States _vs._ Lee, which was an action at law
-to recover the property known as the Arlington National Cemetery from
-the possession of officers of the United States government, Mr. Justice
-Miller, delivering the opinion of the court, said: "It is believed that
-the petition of right, as it has been practised and observed in the
-administration of justice in England, has been as efficient in securing
-the rights of suitors against the crown in all cases appropriate to
-judicial proceedings, as that which the law affords to the subjects of
-the king in legal controversies among themselves."[32]
-
-The remedy under the petition of right has continued unimpaired to the
-present time. The procedure is now regulated by the statute 23 and 24
-Victoria, ch. 34, passed July 3, 1860. The statute provides that the
-king by means of this proceeding may be sued at law or in equity as
-the particular case may require, and that the remedy afforded "shall
-comprehend every species of relief claimed or prayed for in any such
-petition of right, whether a restitution of any incorporeal right, or
-a return of lands or chattels, or a payment of money or damages, or
-otherwise." In granting or refusing the petition, the king acts under
-the advice of the home secretary, and the latter is responsible to
-parliament in case he shall arbitrarily or wrongfully advise a refusal.
-
-The petition of right, however, is available only in cases in which it
-is sought to obtain restitution of lands or goods, or, if restitution
-cannot be given, compensation in money, or where the claim arises out
-of a contract, as for goods supplied to the crown or to the public
-service. It does not extend to cases of tort. If the king personally
-should commit or threaten to commit a tort, such, for example, as a
-trespass, he could not be proceeded against in either a civil or a
-criminal court; the ordinary law courts have no means of restraining or
-punishing him personally or affording redress against him for any wrong
-done by him personally. Not only does the maxim that "the king can do
-no wrong" prevent any ordinary court from granting relief against the
-king himself, but the courts have no jurisdiction against him in cases
-of tort.
-
-Nevertheless, this ancient and fundamental maxim never meant that the
-king was above the law or could violate the law with impunity, nor was
-it ever understood in any such sense as that everything done by the
-king was to be regarded as just and lawful. On the contrary, it was
-fearlessly proclaimed in the days of Bracton that the king was below
-the law and bound to obey it, and in his coronation oath he swears to
-observe and respect it.
-
-But whatever might have been the personal immunity of the king, it
-had been settled at common law long prior to the adoption of the
-Constitution of the United States that immunity from suit did not
-extend to any officer or servant of the crown. The very exemption
-of the king from responsibility before the courts in cases of tort
-conclusively established the personal responsibility of some officer or
-servant of the crown, and the direction or authority of the king did
-not constitute any warrant or defense for a wrongful and illegal act
-done by any officer or servant. As the Supreme Court said in the case
-of Langford _vs._ United States: "The English maxim does not declare
-that the government, or those who administer it, can do no wrong; for
-it is a part of the principle itself that wrong may be done by the
-governing power, for which the ministry, for the time being, is held
-responsible."[33]
-
-The boast of Englishmen for centuries had been that no officer of the
-government was above the ordinary law. In his interesting lectures at
-Oxford as a successor of Blackstone in the Vinerian professorship,
-Professor Dicey says: "In England the idea of legal equality, or of the
-universal subjection of all classes, to one law administered by the
-ordinary courts, has been pushed to its utmost limit. With us every
-official, from the prime minister down to a constable or a collector
-of taxes, is under the same responsibility for every act done without
-legal justification as any other citizen. The reports abound with
-cases in which officials have been brought before the courts, and
-made, in their personal capacity, liable to punishment, or to the
-payment of damages, for acts done in their official character but in
-excess of their lawful authority. A colonial governor, a secretary of
-state, a military officer, and all subordinates, though carrying out
-the commands of their official superiors, are as responsible for any
-act which the law does not authorize as is any private and unofficial
-person."[34] And Anson in his "Law and Custom of the Constitution"
-points out that the English Constitution "has never recognized any
-distinction between those citizens who are and those who are not
-officers of the state in respect of the law which governs their conduct
-or the jurisdiction which deals with them." In the famous case of
-Entick _vs._ Carrington (1765), a secretary of state sought immunity
-as an officer of the crown from a suit for damages by pleading reasons
-of state for an unlawful act, but Lord Chief Justice Camden declared
-that "with respect to the argument of state necessity or a distinction
-that has been aimed at between state offences and others, the common
-law does not understand that kind of reasoning, nor do our books take
-notice of any such distinctions."[35] And one hundred years later,
-in the case of Feather _vs._ The Queen, Lord Chief Justice Cockburn
-declared that "no authority is needed to establish that a servant of
-the crown is responsible in law for a tortious act done to a fellow
-subject, though done by the authority of the crown, a position which
-appears to us to rest on principles which are too well settled to
-admit of question, and which are alike essential to uphold the dignity
-of the crown on the one hand, and the rights and liberties of the
-subject on the other."[36]
-
-Moreover, the rule of _respondeat superior_ does not apply to the
-king. The conclusive legal presumption is that the king can do no
-legal wrong, and this leads to the further conclusive presumption
-that, in the eye of the law, he cannot authorize or direct a wrong.
-Every executive officer of the crown is, therefore, treated as if he
-were a principal, and as such is held personally responsible whenever
-any legal right of the subject has been invaded by him, although he
-may have acted under the direct order of the king, by his command
-and even in his presence. The civil irresponsibility of the king for
-tortious acts could not have been maintained with any show of justice
-if the officers and agents of the crown had not been held personally
-responsible for any illegal acts committed by them, and if the king had
-not been compelled to act through responsible agents. From the earliest
-times it has been deemed essential that the king should always act
-through an officer or servant, in order that there might be some one
-upon whom responsibility could be fastened. Lord Coke declares in his
-"Institutes" that "the king, being a body politique, cannot command
-but by matter of record." Custom and statute early required that all
-executive acts to which the sovereign was of necessity a party should
-be done in certain forms and authenticated by the signature or seal
-of some officer. The intervention of an officer was always necessary.
-In fact, some minister or officer of the crown can be held fully
-responsible for any illegal act. Anson states that "there is hardly
-anything which the sovereign can do without the intervention of written
-forms, and nothing for which a minister is not responsible."
-
-Although the cases in England against officers of the crown were
-generally at law, there can be no reasonable doubt that the Court of
-Chancery, at the time when our Constitution was adopted, had full
-power, by means of the writ of injunction, to restrain an officer of
-the crown from violating the law where the remedy at law in a suit for
-damages or for possession of property, real or personal, would have
-been wholly inadequate and ineffective. The great state trial, known as
-the case of the Bankers,[37] in which Lord Somers was overruled by the
-House of Lords, left no doubt as to the principle and the jurisdiction
-of the courts in suits against crown officers. As Professor Goodnow
-has shown in his work on "Comparative Administrative Law," the English
-courts had long been accustomed in one way or another to control
-servants of the crown and executive officers of the government and to
-compel them to obey the law. All the great writs, which were at first
-prerogative writs, had been originally issued to control administrative
-or judicial officers. Such was the original function of mandamus,
-habeas corpus, quo warranto, prohibition. Injunctions, it is true, seem
-rarely to have been made use of in England as a means of preventing
-administrative action, and only a few cases can be found where they
-were so used, but, on settled principles, any administrative or
-executive officer threatening to do an illegal act which would injure
-the individual in his property rights was amenable to the jurisdiction
-of courts of equity in controversies requiring their intervention.
-
-It is also true that no cases are to be found in England where
-officers have been held responsible in damages for enforcing an act
-of parliament or have been restrained from carrying its provisions
-into effect, but this, of course, is the result of the legislative
-sovereignty of parliament and of the fact that there are no
-constitutional limitations imposed upon it. Nevertheless, the same
-principles which make government officers in England subject to
-the ordinary law and the ordinary courts for any illegal act done
-or threatened would clearly authorize the issuance of injunctions
-restraining the enforcement of an unconstitutional statute if there
-were any constitutional limitations upon the legislative power of
-the English parliament. Thus, for example, a colonial statute, or a
-municipal or administrative rule, by-law, or ordinance in conflict with
-an act of parliament would be illegal and void, and, within settled
-principles, its enforcement could be restrained if other grounds of
-equity jurisdiction existed.
-
-In the light of the long-settled and well-known rules of the common
-law, establishing the distinction between suits against the king
-under the petition of right and suits against officers of the crown
-for violating the legal rights of individuals, it is most significant
-and persuasive, if not convincing, that the framers of the eleventh
-amendment confined its language to suits directly against a state,
-and did not attempt to prohibit suits against officers of a state
-when acting as its representatives. They could hardly have intended
-that such a principle as that "the king can do no wrong" should
-have any place in our system of government to the prejudice of the
-constitutional rights of individuals. We have no king to whom it can
-be applied. They surely did not intend to afford less protection and
-less redress against the invasion of the rights of citizens by those
-in power than was afforded in monarchical England to the subjects of
-the king. They could not have been ignorant of the famous cases which
-had established the legal responsibility of all officers of the English
-government and their subordination to the jurisdiction of the ordinary
-courts of justice. They must have contemplated that state statutes
-might be passed in conflict with the Constitution of the United States,
-and that these statutes would necessarily have to be enforced or
-attempts made to enforce them by state officers. And they must have
-appreciated that if state officers, as agents of their respective
-states, were granted immunity from suit in a court of the United
-States because they were acting for and on behalf of their states, the
-Constitution could in many respects be rendered wholly ineffective and
-nugatory.
-
-The failure to prohibit suits against officers of a state must,
-therefore, have been intentional. Indeed, it is highly improbable that
-any one at the time conceived that the language adopted was broad
-enough to prohibit suits against officers of a state. On the contrary,
-it is proper to assume that the framers of the eleventh amendment did
-not intend to permit an officer of a state, while acting under the
-color or excuse of an unconstitutional state statute, to invade or
-deny any right guaranteed by the Constitution of the United States,
-or that such a state officer should be immune from suit in a court of
-the United States merely because he was acting in a representative
-capacity as an agent of the state. The courts of the United States were
-specially charged with the preservation of the Constitution, so far,
-indeed, as it can be preserved by judicial authority. The "Federalist"
-shows how clearly it was contemplated that the federal courts were to
-have power to overrule state statutes in manifest contravention of the
-Constitution. If state officers were withdrawn from the jurisdiction
-of the national courts, their oath to support the Constitution of the
-United States might become a mere empty ceremony of no enforceable
-obligation or sanction. If officers of a state could not be sued in
-equity in a federal court in an action to enjoin the enforcement
-of unconstitutional state statutes, many of the provisions of the
-Constitution, of equal authority with the eleventh amendment, might
-not be effectually enforceable except by the grace of the states.
-The prohibitions against the states, which existed when the eleventh
-amendment was adopted, such as that no state shall emit bills of
-credit, or make anything but gold and silver coin a tender in payment
-of debts, or pass any bill of attainder, or any ex post facto law,
-or any law impairing the obligation of contracts, or lay imposts or
-duties on imports or exports, might to a great extent be nullified
-and rendered practically ineffective, if officers of a state could
-not be sued in a federal court. Indeed, the thirteenth, fourteenth
-and fifteenth amendments would be deprived of a great part of their
-intended effect if state officers enforcing unconstitutional state laws
-and clothed with the power of the state could not be sued and enjoined
-in a federal court.
-
-As each of these subsequent amendments, however, provides that
-"Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate
-legislation," it has been suggested that this provision may be
-construed as limiting the prohibition of the eleventh amendment
-and as empowering Congress to confer on the courts of the United
-States jurisdiction of suits against states or state officers as an
-appropriate means of enforcing the later amendments. Mr. Justice
-Shiras referred to this view in the case of Prout _vs._ Starr and
-said: "Much less can the eleventh amendment be successfully pleaded
-as an invincible barrier to judicial inquiry whether the salutary
-provisions of the fourteenth amendment have been disregarded by state
-enactments."[38]
-
-The courts of the United States and of the several states have
-generally adopted and applied the English common law as to the
-amenability of executive and administrative officers to the
-jurisdiction of the ordinary courts and their personal responsibility
-for any illegal acts done by them or under their direction. There
-is no longer any question but that the eleventh amendment does not
-shield state officers from suits at law in a court of the United
-States to recover damages for any invasion of private rights under
-the color of an unconstitutional statute, or to recover possession of
-real property in the custody of such officers. The rule is axiomatic
-that no officer in this country is so high that he is above the
-Constitution of the United States, and that no officer of the law,
-state or national, may violate it under the color or excuse of a
-statute, national or state, in conflict with its provisions. The fact
-that an officer has acted on behalf of a state under the direction or
-authority of an unconstitutional statute, or under the orders of a
-superior, constitutes no defense to an action at law for restitution
-or for damages for any invasion of individual rights any more than the
-command of the king or the prime minister would constitute a defense
-in England. The alleged law is treated as a nullity and as absolutely
-void for all purposes, except perhaps as negativing the existence of
-malice or bad faith or criminal intent. But it confers no warrant or
-authority and affords no defense or protection.
-
-The fundamental reasoning upon which these conclusions are based is
-that the state, the abstract political entity, can speak and act
-only by valid laws, that an unconstitutional statute cannot be its
-legal act, that it cannot, legally speaking, authorize any act in
-conflict with the Constitution, that no officer of a state, not even
-the governor, can have any legal duty or legal executive function to
-disregard or violate the Constitution, and that whatever wrong is
-attempted in its name is to be conclusively imputed to its officer, who
-cannot plead his representative capacity. The distinction between the
-government of a state and the state itself is elucidated by Mr. Justice
-Matthews in the leading case of Poindexter _vs._ Greenhow.[39]
-
-Most difficult, however, are questions which arise in connection
-with suits in equity to restrain state officers from enforcing state
-statutes alleged to be unconstitutional. The plainest principles of
-justice would seem in many cases to require a preventive remedy, for
-it might be of vital importance that an officer be restrained from
-doing an unlawful act to the irreparable injury of the individual.
-Manifestly, it would be unfair and unjust to tell the latter that
-he must wait until his rights have been violated or his property
-confiscated or destroyed. This point was first presented to the
-Supreme Court in 1824 in the leading case of Osborn _vs._ Bank of
-the United States.[40] It was then declared, in one of Chief Justice
-Marshall's famous opinions, that, notwithstanding the eleventh
-amendment, a circuit court of the United States had jurisdiction in
-equity to restrain a state officer from executing or enforcing an
-unconstitutional state statute when to execute it would violate rights
-and privileges of a complainant guaranteed by the Constitution of the
-United States, and would work irreparable damage and injury to him, for
-which no plain, adequate and complete remedy could be had at law.
-
-The general doctrine of the Osborn case has never been departed from,
-and it has sustained innumerable suits which have protected property
-rights from the enforcement of state statutes in conflict with the
-Constitution of the United States. It is no exaggeration to say that
-this doctrine, more than any other, has rendered the Constitution
-an effective shield against oppressive, tyrannical and confiscatory
-legislation, and compelled the states to obey the supreme law of the
-Constitution. The reasoning of Chief Justice Marshall is very logical
-and lucid, and it is most convincing. If, as was then conceded to be
-indisputable, the privilege or immunity of the state as principal was
-not communicated to the officer as agent, and if an action at law would
-lie against the officer in which full compensation ought to be made
-for a legal injury resulting from any unlawful act done in pursuance
-of an unconstitutional and void statute, there existed no reason why
-the preventive power of a court of equity should not equally apply to
-such an officer or why it should not restrain him from the commission
-of a wrong which it would punish him for committing. "If," continues
-the Chief Justice, "the party before the court would be responsible for
-the whole injury, why may he not be restrained from its commission, if
-no other party can be brought before the court?" It was pointed out
-that the very fact that the state could not be sued was a reason for
-permitting the suit to proceed in its absence against the officer or
-agent. We have here another example of how, in the evolution of legal
-principles, the same causes produce the same results. As in England
-the fact that the king could not be sued in the ordinary courts for a
-wrong led to the rule that his immunity or irresponsibility was not to
-be extended to his servants or agents and that the latter were to be
-held personally liable for whatever they did under the king's orders
-in violation of the legal rights of an individual, so with us the fact
-that a state could not be sued in a federal court led to the rule that
-its immunity or irresponsibility was not to be extended to its officers
-and that they were suable as responsible principals, even when acting
-under a state statute and as the agents or representatives of the state.
-
-Chief Justice Marshall also said in the Osborn case that it might "be
-laid down as a rule which admits of no exception, that, in all cases
-where jurisdiction depends on the party, it is the party named in the
-record. Consequently the eleventh amendment, which restrains the
-jurisdiction granted by the Constitution over suits against states,
-is, of necessity, limited to those suits in which a state is a party
-on the record. The amendment has its full effect, if the Constitution
-be construed as it would have been construed had the jurisdiction of
-the court never been extended to suits brought against a state, by the
-citizens of another state, or by aliens. The state not being a party
-on the record, and the court having jurisdiction over those who are
-parties on the record, the true question is not one of jurisdiction,
-but whether, in the exercise of its jurisdiction, the court ought to
-make a decree against the defendants; whether they are to be considered
-as having a real interest, or as being only nominal parties." This
-reasoning was reaffirmed by the Supreme Court as late as 1872 in the
-case of Davis _vs._ Gray,[41] which was a suit against the governor of
-the state of Texas. But in later cases it has been repudiated, and the
-court has declared that "it must be regarded as a settled doctrine of
-this court, established by its recent decisions, 'that the question
-whether a suit is within the prohibition of the eleventh amendment is
-not always to be determined by reference to the nominal parties on the
-record.'"[42]
-
-It may, nevertheless, be now interesting and valuable to re-examine
-the doctrine enunciated by Chief Justice Marshall and to inquire
-whether, after all, it does not embody the true and sound rule which
-should govern this question, particularly in view of the fact that
-the decisions which have departed from his reasoning have failed to
-indicate any definite criterion to guide us in determining when a suit
-against a state officer is and when it is not to be deemed a suit
-against the state within the true meaning of the eleventh amendment.
-The question must be considered as if the jurisdiction of the federal
-courts had never been extended to suits by an individual against a
-state. The controlling inquiry in a suit against a state officer ought
-logically to be whether the relief or remedy sought can properly be
-granted in the absence of the state as a party defendant; in other
-words, whether the state is or is not a necessary and indispensable
-party; and this inquiry should be determined by the result or burden
-of the judgment which may be entered. If, for example, the suit is
-to enjoin the enforcement of an unconstitutional statute regulating
-rates or imposing taxes, it must be presumed that the state has not
-authorized the wrong, that it can have no legal concern or interest in
-a void enactment of its legislature, and that it cannot be heard to
-assert any right to have its officers violate the Constitution of the
-United States for its benefit. If, on the other hand, the relief or
-remedy sought will affect the property rights or funds of the state,
-or compel it to pay its debts, or require the specific performance of
-a contract by the state, or the doing or omitting to do any act by the
-state itself, the court must needs hold that it is a necessary and
-indispensable party, and that, as it cannot be sued in a federal court
-for want of jurisdiction over it, the suit must be dismissed. This
-dismissal, however, would not be for want of jurisdiction or judicial
-power over the individual state officer as defendant, nor because the
-suit was against the state--for the state was not a party and its
-presence was sought to be dispensed with--but because the state was an
-indispensable party defendant and the suit could not proceed in its
-absence. The result of recurring to this view would be to simplify the
-consideration of many cases and reconcile much conflicting reasoning.
-We should then have a definite and logical criterion to guide us in
-cases against state officers. If the court found that the state was not
-a necessary and indispensable party, the issue in such cases would be
-narrowed to the inquiry whether the relief should be granted against
-the officer within established principles of equity, jurisprudence and
-procedure.
-
-There remains the question as to enjoining criminal prosecutions.
-Should the jurisdiction of a court of equity be ousted simply because
-the state has authorized its officers to enforce unconstitutional
-regulations affecting property rights by a criminal instead of a
-civil action? The Supreme Court has held that, notwithstanding the
-general principle that a court of equity has no jurisdiction of a
-bill to stay criminal proceedings, it may nevertheless enjoin a state
-officer from instituting such proceedings where property rights
-are about to be invaded and destroyed through the instrumentality
-of an unconstitutional statute providing for its enforcement by
-criminal proceedings. The nature of an essentially civil question or
-controversy, such as one between shippers or passengers on the one
-side and a railroad company on the other as to the reasonableness of
-rates, cannot be changed by legislative fiat. The exercise of such a
-jurisdiction to restrain criminal proceedings has been found necessary
-in many recent cases where a defense on a criminal trial before a jury
-would afford no fair or adequate protection to those whose property
-rights were affected. The litigation, for example, under a bill in
-equity to restrain the enforcement of an unconstitutional criminal
-statute regulating rates presents a controversy of a civil nature with
-the officer and not with the state, and the only question is, whether
-a court of equity should intervene, or should leave those against
-whom criminal proceedings are threatened to their defense by demurrer
-to the indictment or trial on the merits. The latter will always be
-done when a defense at law will afford reasonably fair and adequate
-protection. But when a defense at law will not afford due protection
-and irreparable injury to property is threatened, there exists no
-reason why a court of equity should not intervene in such a case and
-grant protection and relief.
-
-It may seem to many doubtful whether the two leading cases which are
-now attracting so much attention, namely, In re Ayers[43] and Fitts
-_vs._ McGhee,[44] necessarily presented any question under the
-eleventh amendment, and whether they should not have been disposed
-of solely upon the ground that a court of equity ought not to have
-enjoined the threatened suits or prosecutions. Probably neither of
-the suits in equity discussed in these two cases would have been
-maintainable under the general principles of equity jurisprudence even
-if the state had been suable in a court of the United States, for no
-irreparable injury was threatened and the opportunity of defense at law
-seemed to afford reasonable protection.
-
-The question of the right to sue a state officer to restrain the
-enforcement of an unconstitutional statute regulating the rates and
-charges of railroad companies is now pending in some of its aspects
-before the Supreme Court in important cases involving statutes of
-Minnesota and North Carolina. These cases have been fully and ably
-argued and are under advisement, and they may lead to a reconsideration
-of some of the reasoning in the prior cases. A comprehensive decision
-may, therefore, shortly be delivered which will remove some of the
-reasons for the existing misunderstanding and conflict between the
-states and the federal courts.[45]
-
-The time at our disposal renders it impossible to consider the many
-noteworthy and interesting cases which have arisen under the eleventh
-amendment and which frequently carry us into the realm of public
-law and statesmanship. The leading decisions are, of course, in the
-Supreme Court, but many instructive opinions will be found in the lower
-federal courts. The constant increase of governmental functions and
-of interference with individual liberty and action is certain to be a
-fruitful source of litigation in the future and will call for frequent
-consideration of the scope of the eleventh amendment.
-
-In discussing the subject of suits to restrain the enforcement of
-state statutes alleged to be unconstitutional, we should not overlook
-or pass unnoticed the attempts made in recent enactments regulating
-rates and charges to coerce or intimidate railroad and other public
-service corporations into immediate obedience and abandonment of
-their constitutional right to appeal to the courts, by imposing upon
-them enormous and unreasonable fines and penalties, or by threatening
-them with the forfeiture of the protection of the government. Heavy
-fines or penalties are attached to violations of the law; and, as
-the transactions of these corporations are generally very numerous,
-disobedience of a statute, if only in good faith for the purpose
-of testing its validity, would in a few days involve the risk of
-bankruptcy. The avowed or ill-concealed purpose of these fines and
-penalties and of the resort to the criminal law is to prevent any
-interference by courts of equity. The idea, advanced in many quarters
-and under many disguises, seems to be that corporations shall be
-outlawed unless they consent to abandon their right to appeal to
-the courts for protection against unconstitutional statutes and void
-and oppressive enactments. This unfair spirit is widespread. For
-example, while the Federal Employers' Liability Act, recently declared
-unconstitutional by the Supreme Court of the United States, was under
-advisement by that court, President Roosevelt in his Jamestown speech
-criticized the railroad companies for having contested the validity of
-the statute and suggested that "the law should be such that it will be
-impossible for the railroads successfully to fight it without thereby
-forfeiting all right to the protection of the federal government under
-any circumstances."
-
-The courts have repeatedly pointed out that the owners of property
-devoted to a public use are entitled to a fair and adequate judicial
-investigation if they contend that the rates or charges prescribed by a
-legislature are unreasonable and confiscatory. This is but recognizing
-that the owners of railroads and other property are entitled to a
-day in court, just as the humblest person is entitled to his day in
-court when his constitutional and vested property rights are invaded
-by the government. If the private property of the individual is to
-be taken for a public use, it would, of course, be obviously unfair
-and unjust to permit the legislature to say conclusively what should
-be paid to him, and deny him any adequate opportunity in the courts
-to review the legislative fiat. The same principle applies to public
-service corporations. They are entitled to appeal to the courts to
-pass upon the validity of any legislation which attempts to compel
-them to render services at a rate fixed by the legislature if they
-contend that such rate is unreasonably low and confiscatory; and,
-pending the judicial investigation, they ought not to incur the risk
-of accumulating and ruinous penalties. The New York Public Service
-Commissions Act of last year recognizes this in principle. But, instead
-of granting a fair hearing or providing for any judicial proceeding
-in which the reasonableness of the statutory rates may be promptly
-investigated, the constant effort seems to be to render resort to the
-courts so dangerous that property owners will abandon their right
-to a day in court rather than take the risks involved in allowing
-penalties to accrue and accumulate, which might subject their property
-to confiscation. Thus, in the recent New York gas statute, declared
-unconstitutional by the United States circuit court, no judicial
-investigation was afforded and the penalties imposed were at the
-rate of $1,000 for each overcharge or violation of the law. As the
-Consolidated Gas Company alone had upwards of 390,000 customers, an
-overcharge on only one month's bills, pending an attempt to test the
-law in good faith, would involve the fabulous total of $390,000,000 in
-penalties, or nearly five times the value of the whole property of the
-company. In fact, if the New York statute, at least in this respect,
-is not nullified by the Supreme Court on the pending appeal,[46] the
-Consolidated Gas Company may be absolutely ruined for having asserted
-its legal right to a fair judicial investigation before being compelled
-to accept what it insisted and what the court has so far held was a
-confiscatory and unreasonable rate; that is to say, for daring to
-insist upon a fair judicial hearing before being condemned. The Kansas
-statute regulating stockyards, which was declared unconstitutional by
-the Supreme Court,[47] imposed penalties which might have aggregated
-$15,000,000 in one day, or nearly twice the value of all the property
-of the stockyards company. The recent railroad statute in North
-Carolina imposes fines which would amount to $2,500,000 per day, and
-in a few days would bankrupt the railroad companies. The Minnesota
-railroad statute imposes penalties which in one month might aggregate
-several hundred million dollars.
-
-Speaking of these penalties, United States Circuit Judge Lochren justly
-said: "There is no question but that such legislation is vicious,
-almost a disgrace to the civilization of the age, and a reproach upon
-the intelligence and sense of justice of any legislature which could
-enact provisions of that kind."
-
-If any such policy of coercion and intimidation can possibly be
-enforced by the state or national governments, in any form or under
-any subterfuge whatever, we shall no longer be living under a
-constitutional government with effective guaranties of individual
-rights and liberties. If Congress or a state legislature can compel
-any class of persons to submit to an unconstitutional statute by
-imposing ruinous fines and penalties, or other provisions intended
-to operate _in terrorem_, or by threatening to deprive that class of
-the protection of the government, then the constitutional limitations
-imposed by the people can be readily circumvented and nullified,
-and our supposed rights and liberties will exist only in the grace
-or self-restraint of legislatures. One class is selected to-day,
-but another class will be selected to-morrow, depending only on the
-interest or prejudice or temptation or caprice of the temporary
-majority. Such an exercise of arbitrary and irresponsible power is in
-utter conflict with the whole theory of our institutions and in utter
-disregard and defiance of those fundamental and immutable principles of
-justice under which alone free governments can exist. As Chief Justice
-Marshall said in the great case of Marbury _vs._ Madison--and the court
-was then facing a hostile executive, a hostile Congress and a hostile
-public opinion--"The very essence of civil liberty certainly consists
-in the right of every individual to claim the protection of the laws
-whenever he receives an injury. One of the first duties of government
-is to afford that protection.... The government of the United States
-has been emphatically termed a government of laws and not of men. It
-will certainly cease to deserve this high appellation if the laws
-furnish no remedy for the violation of a vested legal right."[48]
-
-Some of the bills now pending before Congress propose to deprive the
-federal courts of the power to issue preliminary injunctions in these
-cases. This would be a policy fraught with immeasurable danger to
-property interests as well as to personal liberty. It would frequently
-amount to a complete denial of justice. The delay of litigation might
-readily be attended by ruin. But, undoubtedly, some reform is called
-for. There can be no question that preliminary injunctions against the
-enforcement of state statutes regulating public service corporations
-should never be granted without prior notice to the representatives of
-the people, and full opportunity for them to be heard, and then only
-upon the clearest showing of threatened irreparable injury pending the
-delay of a full hearing on the merits. Such cases ought not only to
-be given the earliest possible hearing, but the courts should insist
-that both sides proceed with the utmost expedition in the taking of
-testimony. A hearing in open court and not before a master would
-greatly facilitate this result. The people are entitled to a speedy
-determination of the questions involved in order that they may promptly
-have the benefit of the statute if it be constitutional, or that they
-may at once amend it if it be unconstitutional. There is no reason why
-in the majority of cases such a suit should not be ready for final
-hearing and actually be heard within sixty days, or why it should
-not be finally disposed of in the appellate courts within less than
-a year. It should have preference on all calendars. The Expedition
-Act of Congress, applicable to cases arising under the Anti-Trust
-and Interstate Commerce laws, would furnish a good model for cases
-involving the validity of state laws.
-
-The conditions which now confront the people in many states, where
-statutes regulating public service corporations are often tied up
-for years by litigation, tend to create discontent, impatience
-and dissatisfaction with the courts and to engender a desire for
-revolutionary change from an intolerable situation. Laws regulating
-public utilities are often essential for protection against those who
-otherwise would have the power to make a prey of the necessities of the
-people, and it is disgraceful that the enforcement of such laws can be
-delayed by litigation for years after their enactment. As the delays
-in our criminal procedure are crying for remedy, so the delays in this
-class of litigation are crying for immediate and effective relief. It
-is of paramount importance that the people should be convinced that
-they can obtain in the courts, and especially in the federal courts,
-a prompt determination of all litigation affecting the validity of
-legislation regulating public service corporations which they or their
-representatives have deemed necessary for their protection against
-extortion or oppression. In most cases, however, it will be found that
-the representatives of the state are as much to blame for the delays as
-are their adversaries.
-
-But, above all other considerations, stands the necessity for
-maintaining the absolute confidence of the people at large in the
-wisdom and impartiality of the federal judges, who are so often
-called upon to determine the validity of state statutes alleged to
-conflict with the Constitution of the United States and in so doing
-to administer justice as between the state and the individual--as
-between the majority and the minority. It should be a matter of
-profound concern to us as lawyers to make all laymen appreciate
-that the exercise of this jurisdiction by the federal courts is
-necessary for the preservation and perpetuation of the Constitution,
-and that it is right and just that every citizen should have the
-privilege of appealing to the national courts for the protection of
-rights and liberties guaranteed to him by the national Constitution.
-Equally important is it that the people should appreciate that in
-entertaining suits to restrain the enforcement of state laws alleged
-to be unconstitutional, the federal judges are only performing their
-duty according to their oath of office, which in the noble language
-prescribed in 1789 pledges them "to administer justice without respect
-to persons," to "do equal right to the poor and to the rich," and
-to "faithfully and impartially discharge and perform" their duty
-"agreeably to the Constitution and laws of the United States." An
-examination of the cases in which injunctions have been granted against
-the enforcement of state laws must satisfy any candid mind that in the
-great majority of cases the power has been impartially exercised, with
-tact and wise discretion, and that such injunctions have been granted
-only when property rights seemed to be threatened with irreparable
-injury. It would be too much to expect infallibility in all these
-cases. But errors are corrected on appeal.
-
-Assaults upon our judiciary and unwarranted and unjust criticism of
-our judges undermine the people's trust in the courts and threaten
-the whole structure of our civilization. The United States judges
-are justly sensitive to public opinion and distressed by unjust and
-ignorant criticism. They know how important it is that they should
-retain public confidence. They realize, as their opinions constantly
-show, that "next to doing right, the great object in the administration
-of public justice should be to give public satisfaction." But they
-cannot sacrifice truth to popularity, the Constitution to present
-expediency. Those who assail the federal judges should bear in mind
-that the founders in their wisdom constituted the judicial power our
-bulwark against unadvised, hasty and tyrannical action on the part of
-those in power and our shield against "those sudden and strong passions
-to which we are exposed," and which, if unchecked and unrestrained,
-may lead to ruin. However unpopular and disagreeable the task may be
-of setting aside an act of Congress or of a state legislature, however
-painful it must be to any just man to become the subject of calumny,
-a federal judge has no choice, no discretion, no will of his own, but
-must hear and decide according to his conscience every case submitted
-to him within the jurisdiction of his court as conferred and imposed
-by the Constitution and laws of the United States. Let us always bear
-in mind the lofty words of the great Chief Justice in the case of
-Aaron Burr, in the decision which excited so much public prejudice and
-clamor one hundred years ago, when, speaking of the duty of a judge,
-he said: "If he has no choice in the case; if there is no alternative
-presented to him but a dereliction of duty, or the opprobrium of those
-who are denominated the world, he merits the contempt as well as the
-indignation of his country who can hesitate which to embrace."[49]
-
-FOOTNOTES:
-
-[Footnote 23: Address before the New York State Bar Association at its
-thirty-first annual meeting held in New York, January 25, 1908.]
-
-[Footnote 24: 2 Dallas' Reports, p. 419.]
-
-[Footnote 25: 6 Wheaton's Reports, pp. 406-407.]
-
-[Footnote 26: 134 United States Reports, pp. 1, 22.]
-
-[Footnote 27: 108 United States Reports, p. 447.]
-
-[Footnote 28: 200 United States Reports, pp. 283, 284.]
-
-[Footnote 29: 1 Cranch's Reports, p. 163.]
-
-[Footnote 30: 11 Wallace's Reports, p. 183.]
-
-[Footnote 31: 16 Wallace's Reports, p. 156.]
-
-[Footnote 32: 106 United States Reports, p. 205.]
-
-[Footnote 33: 101 United States Reports, p. 343.]
-
-[Footnote 34: The Law of the Constitution, 8th ed., p. 189.]
-
-[Footnote 35: Reported by Hargrave, 19 Howell's State Trials, pp. 1030,
-1073.]
-
-[Footnote 36: 6 Best and Smith's Queen's Bench Reports (1865), p. 297.]
-
-[Footnote 37: Reported in 14 Howell's State Trials, pp. 1-114.]
-
-[Footnote 38: 188 United States Reports, p. 543.]
-
-[Footnote 39: 114 United States Reports, p. 270.]
-
-[Footnote 40: 9 Wheaton's Reports, p. 738.]
-
-[Footnote 41: 16 Wallace's Reports, p. 220.]
-
-[Footnote 42: In re Ayers, 123 United States Reports, p. 487.]
-
-[Footnote 43: 123 United States Reports, p. 443.]
-
-[Footnote 44: 172 United States Reports, p. 516.]
-
-[Footnote 45: Ex parte Young (Attorney General of Minnesota), reported
-in 209 United States Reports, p. 123, and the case of Hunter (Sheriff
-of Buncombe County, N.C.) _vs._ Wood, 209 United States Reports, p.
-205.]
-
-[Footnote 46: Willcox _vs._ Consolidated Gas Co., 212 United States
-Reports, p. 19.]
-
-[Footnote 47: Cotting _vs._ Kansas City Stock Yards Co., 183 United
-States Reports, p. 79.]
-
-[Footnote 48: 1 Cranch's Reports, p. 163.]
-
-[Footnote 49: 4 Cranch's Reports, Appendix, pp. 507-508.]
-
-
-
-
-CRITICISM OF THE COURTS[50]
-
-
-The attacks upon our courts which are constantly being published in the
-press throughout the country disclose a feeling of hostility towards
-the present system of administering justice that is probably the most
-portentous sign of our times. That the lawlessly inclined, who are
-fortunately still in the minority, should be hostile to those who are
-charged with the duty of enforcing and compelling obedience to the laws
-of the state or nation is not at all surprising and is perhaps almost
-inevitable in populous communities. But it is indeed surprising, and
-a legitimate cause for profound anxiety and misgiving, that thousands
-of honest, industrious, moral and law-abiding citizens should believe
-that the laws are not being impartially or justly administered, and
-that this erroneous belief should be inculcated, not only by the press
-and unprincipled demagogues and politicians but by reputable leaders
-of American labor and American public opinion, and even by educators.
-This belief has become so widespread and so fixed in the minds of vast
-numbers of our people of all classes, educated and uneducated, that
-only the most exhaustive consideration and discussion of the subject
-would be now adequate. Numerous letters received by the sub-committee
-of the New York State Bar Association, some of which are submitted with
-its report, show the intensity of the hostility towards the courts and
-the extent to which it is based upon ignorance, prejudice and malice.
-The fact that the writers of most of these letters are sincere need not
-be challenged, but, this being conceded, many of the statements show an
-utter failure to investigate the facts and an entire indifference to
-the truth, and some are obviously puerile, or inexcusably inaccurate
-and reckless. On the other hand, the spirit shown in letters from some
-of the labor leaders must inspire the hope of their loyal assistance in
-an impartial and thorough investigation. A great amount of good might
-be accomplished by cooperation with them. Such a letter, for example,
-as that recently received from Mr. Hugh Frayne, the general organizer
-of the American Federation of Labor, indicates that exchange of views
-might lead to desirable results. However irksome and laborious the
-task may be, it would be a great service to the country at large if
-some joint committee appointed by the New York State Bar Association
-and the other bar associations of the state would undertake to
-investigate all cases affecting labor or social legislation and publish
-a report showing the true facts and the principles of law involved in
-each case. The pity is that many of the critics of our courts are
-lamentably ignorant of the subjects about which they write or declaim,
-and--unconsciously and unintentionally in some instances--misrepresent
-and distort the facts.
-
-It will be practicable at the present time to review only a few of the
-points suggested by the investigations of your sub-committee.
-
-The subject of just compensation to employees for injuries received
-in the course of their work is one of the most important and
-far-reaching of those discussed by our correspondents, and its
-increasing difficulties and complexities call for much more study than
-we have been able to give it. The revolution wrought by machinery,
-the inevitable dangers attending its use, the crowding of men, women
-and children into factories and workshops require modifications
-in the rules of law governing the duties and responsibilities of
-employers. The rules of the common law, which are now condemned by
-so many and sought to be cast aside, were originally dictated by the
-soundest considerations of public policy, of practical affairs and
-government, and of justice as between man and man. The duties of the
-master toward the servant, as regulated by these rules, were humane
-and commensurate with the needs of the times that evolved them, and
-the rules themselves are still proper and just in the great majority
-of cases. Under them, the master is required to exercise the same
-degree of care for his servant that he should for his own safety, and
-he is bound to furnish a reasonably safe place in which his servant
-is to work, supply reasonably safe implements and machinery, select
-fellow-servants reasonably competent and prudent, and, where the nature
-of the business requires an overseer or superintendent, appoint one who
-is reasonably competent and prudent. The application of these rules
-regulating the conduct and duties of the master, in conjunction with
-the rules regulating the conduct and duties of the servant--such as the
-assumption of the ordinary risks of the employment, the fellow-servant
-doctrine, and the rule as to contributory negligence--unavoidably
-creates extremely difficult and complex questions. These rules are
-still proper and just in their application to such cases as involve
-the domestic relation between the farmer and his farm hands, the small
-contractor and his workmen, the householder and his house servants,
-the butcher, painter, carpenter, or blacksmith and his workmen. In all
-these cases it is, it seems to us, as true on principle to-day as it
-was half a century ago that the master is not bound to take more care
-of his servant than he may be reasonably expected to take of himself,
-and that a servant has better opportunities than his master of watching
-and guarding against the conduct and preventing the negligence of
-his fellow-servant. It is as true now as it ever was that, so long
-as liability is based on the theory or principle of negligence, a
-servant ought, generally speaking, to be held to assume the ordinary
-and obvious risks of the employment upon which he enters and for which
-he presumably stipulates for adequate and satisfactory compensation.
-Likewise, in the majority of cases, it is as true to-day as it ever
-was that the servant who has been guilty of contributory negligence
-should not be allowed to charge his master with responsibility for the
-injury. The reasoning of the judges establishing and maintaining these
-doctrines at the common law has never been refuted. Nevertheless, they
-are mere rules of law, subject to change, not by the judiciary, but
-by the legislature; and, in the opinion of the writer, there is no
-provision in the state or national constitution which would prevent
-their abrogation if this were deemed necessary or desirable by a
-legislative body.
-
-But modern industrialism, the development of machinery, the employment
-of large numbers of men and women in crowded factories, and work
-in connection with dangerous instrumentalities of manufacture and
-transportation, etc., have changed conditions, so that what is still
-true of the farm, the household, the small artisan, the carpenter, the
-painter, the butcher, the grocer, etc., is not true of the busy hives
-of manufacture, of transportation by steam or electricity, or of other
-hazardous industries. The increase in accidents, the apparent certainty
-that many casualties are inevitable, the recklessness engendered by
-the modern struggle for existence, the increasing difficulty in many
-employments of measuring degrees of fault, the pressing necessities
-and improvidence of the poor: these and other considerations well
-warrant the interposition of the legislature as the lawmaking power
-of the state, in order to make changes in the law--changes which the
-courts should not attempt to make, for their duty or function is not
-to legislate but to declare what the law has been or now is. Instead,
-then, of abusing the courts, how much wiser and more decorous would
-it be for labor organizations, labor leaders, or social reformers to
-petition the legislature to amend the law, and to abandon the attempt
-to intimidate and coerce the judiciary into making the desired change.
-One of our correspondents speaks of "the venomous fellow-servant
-doctrine." Yet the responsibility for the continuance of that doctrine,
-if it has become undesirable in any employment or in all employments,
-rests wholly with the legislature and not with the courts. We should
-be surprised if any lawyer or student professing the slightest
-knowledge of American constitutional law would seriously assert that
-the legislature could not change that doctrine without amending or
-tinkering our constitutions.
-
-It is, however, fit and proper to add that many lawyers and laymen
-are convinced that to abolish the existing rules indiscriminately in
-every case where the relation of master and servant may exist would be
-a mistake from the standpoint of public policy and practical justice,
-and that such a radical measure would do more harm than good. Certainly
-that is the judgment of competent observers of the operation of the
-British statute. A change in the law which would be wise if confined
-to large factories and hazardous employments, to labor in connection
-with dangerous machinery, to service on railroads, in large electrical
-works, etc., etc., might be extremely unwise, unjust and oppressive if
-applied, for example, to the small farmer, the artisan, the mechanic,
-or the householder. A rule concededly wise and just in the one case
-might be the extreme of folly and oppression in the other. An accident
-on a farm caused by the negligence or drunkenness of a farm hand
-might, under some of the proposed reforms or innovations, bankrupt
-the most prudent farmer for causes quite beyond his control; and a
-similar disaster might easily overtake the small artisan, mechanic, or
-householder, and sweep away the savings of years. It is, of course, no
-answer to say that the farmer, the artisan, the householder employing
-men or women can insure. Why should this form of taxation be levied
-upon slender earnings, which are frequently insufficient to make
-both ends meet? Why should the farmer or artisan of limited means
-be compelled to pay tribute to private insurance companies so often
-engaged in combinations to extort the highest possible premiums?
-
-Let every master be responsible for his own negligence, but let
-the line be drawn short of making every master--every employer of
-another--the insurer of the safety of his servant to the extent of
-rendering the master liable for injuries resulting from no fault of his
-own but from the carelessness and negligence of the servant himself or
-of a fellow-servant.
-
-An interesting example of the operation of a statute in connection
-with established rules of law will be found in the case of Knisley
-_vs._ Pratt.[51] The legislature had prescribed certain devices for the
-protection of women and children, including a provision that cogs on
-machinery should be properly guarded. In enacting this provision, as
-the courts were bound to assume by the settled rules of construction,
-the legislature was fully aware of the existing law in the state of
-New York in regard to the assumption of obvious and ordinary risks of
-employment by men and women of full age and capacity. The plaintiff
-in the Knisley case was a woman of full age and capacity, and she
-was well aware of the danger she was running in approaching too near
-machinery in operation. Had the statute been competently drawn, it
-would have provided--_assuming, of course, the draftsman and the
-legislature so intended_--that the rule of assumption of risk should
-not apply to cases within its purview; in other words, it would have
-provided that the master should be liable for any injury to a servant
-arising from the master's neglect to furnish the protection required
-by the statute whether or not the servant knew of such neglect or
-contributed in any way to his own injury. No provision of state or
-federal constitution prevented the legislature from enacting that the
-employer should be absolutely liable for the consequence of his own
-deliberate neglect to obey a statutory provision intended to protect
-human life and particularly the lives of women and children. There
-is not the remotest intimation by the court in the Knisley case that
-the legislature could not so alter the law. After the decision in that
-case had been announced, a change in the law could have been readily
-made within a week, for the legislature was then in session--February,
-1896. Yet seventeen years have passed without such an enactment, and in
-the meantime the Court of Appeals has been assailed before the whole
-country for its lack of sympathy with the poor and helpless and with
-social progress as evidenced among other things by this decision!
-
-It is true that the doctrine of the Knisley case has been recently
-overruled by the Court of Appeals in the case of Fitzwater _vs._
-Warren.[52] But many lawyers believe that the court might better have
-left this change to the legislature, which could have made it seventeen
-years ago if it had so desired, and not have furnished additional
-ground for the criticism that our courts are resorting to judicial
-legislation. Despite the Fitzwater case, it would still be wise for
-the legislature, _if it deems that the rule of law should be as now
-announced_, to enact a properly drawn statute declaring that whenever
-a statutory provision requires a master to supply guards or other
-protection for his servants in hazardous employments or in connection
-with the use of dangerous machinery, his neglect to do so shall render
-him liable irrespective of the doctrines of assumption of risk,
-fellow-servant's fault, or contributory negligence.
-
-The manner in which nominations have been made in recent years for
-judicial office and particularly for the Court of Appeals has also
-invited very serious criticism on the part of our correspondents.
-
-As is well known, the bar of the state of New York, with almost entire
-unanimity, has been endeavoring for many years to separate nominations
-for judicial office from other nominations, and thereby to divorce
-the bench from politics. It was the bar that has urged and forced the
-renomination of judges for the Court of Appeals on a non-partisan
-basis. It was the bar that urged and forced the renomination and
-election of Judge Gray and Chief Judge Cullen and other members of
-our highest court. It is simply slanderous to charge that any of the
-present judges of that great court were nominated at the request or
-dictation of what our correspondents call "the interests." The contrary
-is the truth; and the whole history and conduct of the court refute an
-accusation which is as contemptible as it is unfounded.
-
-The bar of the state was practically unanimous in urging the passage
-last year of the measure known as the Judicial Candidates Bill, which
-proposed that the names of judicial candidates should no longer be
-printed in the party column on the general and official ballot, but
-on a separate ballot, or in a separate column of the voting machines,
-without party designation in either case, to the end that candidates
-for judicial office might be voted for as individuals and not as
-members or candidates of any political party. There was then an
-excellent opportunity for the professed social reformers and labor
-leaders who are so vehemently assailing our judicial system to aid in
-a movement to eliminate from politics the election of judges. But it
-was not availed of. The bill was defeated. It had little support from
-the press and very little, if any, support from social reformers or the
-representatives of labor. It will undoubtedly be introduced again this
-year; it has been once more approved by the Association of the Bar of
-the City of New York, and it will probably be again approved by the
-state association and by the bar of the state at large. Let the labor
-organizations now assist and cooperate in procuring the enactment of
-this law, and help to secure the election of judges on their own merits
-and personal character apart from considerations of political service
-or the favor or support of political leaders or bosses, or of any
-particular class.
-
-A few years ago in the city of New York an earnest attempt was made
-by the bar to secure the election of justices of the Supreme Court on
-a non-partisan and non-political basis. A committee of members of the
-bar nominated lawyers of the highest standing in their profession, of
-recognized ability and learning and of unimpeachable character. These
-nominees were defeated, and to that defeat the labor organizations
-greatly contributed. These organizations then gave no support whatever
-to the movement to secure a separation of the courts from politics, and
-they were quite indifferent to the nomination of men of the highest
-character and of the highest qualifications for judicial office.
-
-The plain truth on this point may serve and be useful as an object
-lesson. The least competent and the least experienced of the justices
-of the Supreme Court in the county of New York and elsewhere throughout
-the state are generally those who have been nominated because they were
-endorsed by labor organizations or were supposed to be acceptable to
-them. Everywhere throughout the country it is said that whenever labor
-organizations dictate or control the nomination of judges, they select
-lawyers of inferior education and talents and not of superior character
-and independence. It is high time that this truth was well pondered by
-labor.
-
-One of the real causes for the discontent with the administration of
-justice in our state courts, and particularly in the larger cities,
-is that judges are nominated and elected not because of their legal
-ability and personal character, but because of their party affiliations
-or their supposed friendship or sympathy for or inclination to favor
-one class as against another. If the personnel of our Court of Appeals
-and Appellate Divisions has thus far been kept uniformly high and
-pure, it is because of the constant efforts of the bar. If labor
-organizations and the people at large will now cooperate with the
-bar, who in this matter are the proper leaders of public opinion,
-there will be infinitely less occasion for complaints of delay or
-incompetency or partiality in the administration of justice. The
-multiplication of incompetent judges means the multiplication of the
-causes of delay, new trials, denial or miscarriage of justice, expense,
-discontent and suspicion. The cure for these evils is with the people
-themselves, and it will be brought about only when they shall insist
-upon the nomination and election of lawyers of learning, character and
-independence.
-
-It must be plain to all who have studied the facts and reflected upon
-existing tendencies that during the past twenty years the amendments
-to the laws regulating nomination and election to public office have
-served to strengthen and perpetuate the control of political leaders
-and political machines. Many bills introduced and loudly acclaimed as
-reforms have in truth proved to be not reforms at all, but steps in the
-dark and backward.
-
-Some of our correspondents blame the courts for the "law's delay,"
-yet there is no defect in our system for which competent judges
-are less responsible. In most instances of delay in civil cases,
-the blame belongs to the lawyers. Nothing has done more to bring
-the administration of justice into disrepute than the practice of
-adjourning cases term after term and year after year on excuses which
-sometimes are not well founded. There need be no unreasonable delay
-even in the city of New York, and would not be, if lawyers were ready
-to try their cases when they are first reached on the calendars. The
-judges are constantly complaining of the dilatoriness of the bar.
-Another cause of delay is the practice of bringing suits and taking
-appeals for the purpose of coercing settlements. A higher sense of
-professional responsibility ought to be cultivated, and there should
-be some severe penalty or professional ostracism for lawyers who abuse
-the process of the courts of justice and disregard the ethics of their
-profession.
-
-In like manner, in criminal cases the real cause of delay in nearly
-every case is the failure or inability of prosecuting officers to press
-their cases diligently; and the frequent change in the personnel of our
-officeholders is likewise a cause of much delay. Whenever one official
-succeeds another, the period during which the new incumbent is learning
-what occurred before he came into office and familiarizing himself
-with the pending cases is so much time lost. Greater permanency in the
-tenure of office of prosecuting officers would probably conduce to
-greater speed and greater efficiency in the enforcement of the law. Nor
-can it be doubted that many public officials and their assistants do
-not feel the same degree of responsibility for the prompt dispatch of
-public business that they would feel if representing private clients.
-The remarks of Mr. Justice Scott in the recent case of People _vs._
-Turley are indeed timely, and should be commended to the attention of
-all prosecuting officers throughout the state. He used the following
-language: "There is much well-justified complaint at the present
-time of the slowness with which the criminal law is enforced, and
-especially of the great length of time which is frequently permitted
-to elapse between a conviction and the review of the conviction by
-the appellate courts. Among persons not conversant with the rules of
-criminal procedure, the courts are not unnaturally, but most unjustly,
-charged with a large share of responsibility for this condition. The
-blame rests elsewhere. The appellate courts are powerless to act until
-the appeal is brought before them by those charged with that duty. When
-the matter is brought up for a hearing, the delay is ended, and the
-appeal is invariably promptly decided. The present is a particularly
-flagrant case. The defendant was convicted in March, 1909, and was
-almost immediately released on bail pending an appeal, under a
-certificate of reasonable doubt. The record is not voluminous, and the
-questions of law involved are neither difficult nor intricate, and yet
-the defendant has been at large for three years and a half before the
-appeal is brought on for argument. Of course under such circumstances
-the defendant was quite satisfied and was in no haste to have his
-appeal argued. The duty to bring it on promptly rested, as it rests in
-every case, upon the district attorney, who had it in his power at any
-time to force a hearing of the appeal by moving to dismiss it. This
-court has never shown itself to be unwilling to support and cooperate
-with the district attorney in compelling appeals in criminal cases to
-be argued with all reasonable promptness. The remedy for unreasonable
-delays in the final disposition of criminal appeals lies in his
-hands."[53]
-
-A number of important murder cases will be readily recalled where years
-have elapsed between the conviction of the accused and the argument
-in the Court of Appeals. Not only does this unnecessary delay deprive
-the judgment of conviction of much of its effect as an example and
-deterrent precedent, but in cases of reversal and new trials evidence
-is sometimes lost, and the guilty thus escape. In the latest reported
-murder case from New York county, People _vs._ Lustig,[54] the
-defendant was convicted of murder in the first degree in June, 1910,
-but the appeal was not brought on for hearing in the Court of Appeals
-until June 14, 1912, when it was decided and reversed within two weeks
-after the argument, viz., on June 29, 1912. In the meantime, as we are
-informed, material witnesses had disappeared, and the defendant is now
-at large on his own recognizance, and probably will not be tried again!
-
-Another case of apparently inexcusable delay is People _vs._
-Koerner.[55] The crime of murder was committed in September, 1896. The
-defendant was indicted within a month thereafter, and was convicted of
-murder in the first degree on March 1, 1897. The appeal was argued in
-the Court of Appeals within four court months, on October 22, 1897,
-and the judgment was reversed on November 23, 1897. The case was
-then re-tried, and resulted in a judgment of guilty of murder in the
-second degree on March 15, 1898. The records of the courts show that
-the appeal from this judgment was not brought on for argument in the
-Appellate Division until December 12, 1906, and then resulted in an
-affirmance by that court on January 11, 1907, and that the appeal was
-not argued in the Court of Appeals until February 19, 1908, when the
-judgment was affirmed without opinion in less than three weeks!
-
-Yet for the delays in these and similar cases the courts are criticized
-and their administration of criminal justice intemperately assailed
-by the press and other critics, notwithstanding the diligence of
-the judges in disposing of appeals when duly presented for their
-consideration.
-
-It may be true that the pressure of innumerable cases compels the
-district attorney in New York county to delay the argument of appeals;
-but the remedy is to provide him with additional competent assistants
-and certainly not to indulge in indiscriminate criticism or unfounded
-abuse of the courts, or to resort to panaceas of reform in criminal
-procedure, which too often only multiply technicalities, deprive the
-individual of necessary protection, and create more or less confusion.
-
-I shall now ask attention to the subject of injunctions in connection
-with strikes. I shall not argue the proposition that strikers in
-industrial controversies, or labor and labor organizations should not
-be above the law, or a law unto themselves. I assume that this is
-still a self-evident proposition in this state and may still be taken
-for granted. History certainly teaches us that in a free country no
-class can safely be released from the duty of obeying the laws, and
-that if disobedience be permitted in favor of the laboring classes, the
-industrious, honest and law-abiding laborer will be the worst sufferer
-in the long run. Nor will time be taken to point out that no civilized
-community can long permit any class to maim, or murder, or destroy
-property, or violently prevent others from earning their living, in
-order to coerce compliance with the demands of that class.
-
-There would, of course, never be occasion for the use of injunctions
-in labor disputes if there were no threats of violence and no danger
-of injury to persons or property. If the labor organizations of this
-country will now earnestly, effectively and sincerely cooperate with
-the bar in the endeavor to put an end to violence and riots, which
-are the unfortunate but apparently inevitable attendants of every
-protracted modern strike, there will no longer be any occasion for
-condemning the courts on account of the issuance of injunctions, for
-there will then be no necessity for injunctions.
-
-One aspect of the injunction problem is emphasized in the
-correspondence now submitted, and should be dealt with here. It is the
-matter of giving notice to the defendants before an injunction order
-is granted. Recently, when the United States Supreme Court adopted its
-new rules, including one as to injunctions, Mr. Gompers and other labor
-leaders loudly proclaimed that they had secured a great victory. Thus,
-Mr. Gompers is reported in the "Literary Digest" of November 16, 1912,
-as calling the new rule a reform and "a step in the right direction,
-and one of the things labor has long been fighting for." But, as
-every one familiar with the subject well knows, there is nothing in
-the new rules that materially changes the pre-existing practice in
-regard to injunctions. The authoritative treatises on federal equity
-procedure by Mr. Foster and Mr. Street conclusively show this. No
-case has been cited to us and we have found none where the defendants
-enjoined were not granted by the courts as much facility in moving to
-dissolve or modify injunction orders as is provided for in the new
-rule. The learned and impartial editor of the "New York Law Journal"
-well said in the issue of December 11, 1912: "The only portion of the
-new procedure which has attracted the attention of the daily press is
-the rule regarding preliminary injunctions. This, however, is no more
-than an adoption of good New York practice, and, indeed, of good equity
-practice everywhere, viz.: that no _ex parte_ injunction shall go out
-except as a stay-order to show cause why a preliminary injunction
-should not issue."
-
-The case most often cited by labor leaders is known as the Debs
-case growing out of the Pullman strike at Chicago in 1894. If any
-fair-minded critic of the courts will take the trouble to read the
-unanimous, patriotic and inspiring opinion of the Supreme Court of the
-United States in the Debs case,[56] or what ex-President Cleveland
-wrote on the subject in his book on "Presidential Problems," published
-in 1904, he will at once realize that the issuance of the injunction
-order and the subsequent punishment of Debs and his associates for
-deliberately and defiantly disobeying it were both proper and necessary.
-
-For nearly twenty years and since the Debs case in 1894-1895, the labor
-leaders, agitators and demagogues of the country have been assailing
-the courts and denouncing "government by injunction" on the pretense,
-among others, that the judges denied the defendants in that case
-any opportunity to be heard, when as a matter of fact, they had the
-fullest notice and opportunity to be heard, but deliberately elected
-to disobey and defy the court. Indeed, in no jurisdiction is it true
-that a defendant is denied the right to a hearing upon the matter of an
-injunction against him, and the sub-committee has been unable to learn
-of a single case in which a judge has refused to give the defendant a
-hearing either upon an application to grant or continue an injunction,
-or to set one aside. A permanent injunction order is never granted
-without notice to those affected and an opportunity to be heard; nor
-is even a temporary restraining order issued without notice of hearing
-unless the danger of irreparable injury from delay be very grave, and
-then the order is made returnable at the earliest practicable date,
-so as to afford the defendants an opportunity to be promptly heard.
-If a temporary restraining order should be granted improvidently on
-insufficient papers and upon an _ex parte_ application, it is well
-known that the order may be and frequently is vacated immediately on
-the _ex parte_ application of the defendants. Most lawyers are familiar
-with such cases. The fact is that laboring men have always been
-afforded a hearing and a day in court in connection with injunction
-orders, and that no man has ever been punished for contempt by an
-American court without due notice to him and full opportunity to
-present his excuse or defense. Indeed, were any man punished without
-notice and opportunity to be heard, the order for his punishment would
-be without jurisdiction and utterly void.
-
-I may add that the lawless and violent among the members of labor
-organizations will not in the end gain any real liberty or advantage
-for the laboring classes, even if they succeed in abolishing the writ
-of injunction in labor disputes and with it the power of the courts to
-punish disobedience as a contempt of court. Destruction of property
-and assaults upon peaceful workingmen cannot permanently be tolerated
-in any civilized community. Sooner or later, the government must
-afford protection in one form or another; otherwise chaos, anarchy and
-barbarism are inevitable. If injunctions cannot be issued to restrain
-the violent and protect the property of the innocent and law-abiding
-citizen, simply because he is an employer or property owner, then
-resort will finally have to be had to the club of the policeman or
-the bayonet of the militiaman or regular. It is no use blinking this
-certainty. That was plainly the alternative presented by the Pullman
-strike; and President Cleveland then wisely preferred the orderly and
-peaceful procedure of a court of justice to the police power of the
-army. Under military rule, the laboring man may receive no hearing at
-all, and martial law with its arbitrary practices and despotic power
-will have to be substituted for the regular procedure of impartial
-courts of justice acting upon full notice to all affected and affording
-full opportunity to be heard.
-
-The New York Code of Civil Procedure in sections 602-630 has long
-protected the rights of a striker as adequately as any other system
-of procedure, state or federal, domestic or foreign, and even better
-than the recent rule of the United States Supreme Court, which some
-labor leaders are acclaiming as a boon. Lest we forget, it may be
-useful to recall the exact language of section 626, which has been the
-statutory law since 1895. It is as follows: "Where the injunction order
-was granted without notice, the party enjoined may apply, upon the
-papers upon which it was granted, for an order vacating or modifying
-the injunction order. Such an application may be made, without notice,
-to the judge or justice who granted the order, or who held the term
-of the court where it was granted; or to a term of the appellate
-division of the supreme court. It cannot be made without notice, to any
-other judge, justice or term, unless the applicant produces proof, by
-affidavit, that, by reason of the absence or other disability of the
-judge or justice who granted the order, the application cannot be made
-to him; and that the applicant will be exposed to great injury, by the
-delay required for an application upon notice. The affidavit must be
-filed with the clerk; and a copy thereof, and of the order vacating or
-modifying the injunction order, must be served upon the plaintiff's
-attorney, before that order takes effect."
-
-As is well known to all lawyers, a restraining or injunction order is
-never granted by a state or federal court in New York without notice
-to the defendants except when proof is submitted to the judge by
-affidavit or verified complaint which shows that, unless the defendant
-be immediately enjoined, irreparable loss or damage will result to the
-applicant before the matter can be heard on notice. If the court has
-sworn proof thus submitted to it that the defendants are threatening
-immediate injury to person or destruction of property, it is the duty
-of the judge--and may it ever be the duty of every American judge--to
-issue an injunction without delay, for delay in such a case would in
-most instances work a complete denial of justice.
-
-If our system of equal laws impartially administered is to endure,
-the courts must continue to shield and protect the individual by
-means of injunction orders, and they should not be deprived of the
-power of exercising one of the most beneficent remedies afforded by
-any system of laws and one indispensable to the due and satisfactory
-administration of distributive and equal justice.
-
-Some typical examples of misrepresentation of our courts by leaders of
-public opinion will be recalled in connection with the Tenement House
-Tobacco case, the Bakers case, the Ives case, and other cases involving
-so-called social legislation.[57]
-
-When Mr. Roosevelt's statements in regard to the Tenement House case
-were recently challenged by four lawyers, including Senator Root, Mr.
-Milburn and Mr. Marshall, as being inaccurate and likely to mislead
-the voters of the state, he made no correction whatever, but urged
-the people to accept his statements and those of a settlement worker
-instead of the record of the case before the Court of Appeals. This
-incident will serve to show the difficulty of combating such inaccurate
-statements, which are given the utmost publicity by the press
-throughout the country, whereas the refutation is generally ignored.
-A report of Mr. Roosevelt's public comments, when his attention was
-called to his manifestly incorrect statement of the decision in the
-Tenement House case, quotes him as saying:
-
-"I am informed that these four gentlemen attacked the statements as
-being contrary to both the facts and the law. The first was the case
-of the tenement-house cigar manufacturers. Now I will read to you what
-is said by one of the women who knows the conditions of tenement-house
-life as few other women, and as hardly any man, knows them, by Florence
-Kelly in a book called 'Some Ethical Gains through Legislation,' and
-I cordially commend to Mr. Root and his associates who signed his
-protest to study that book and to ponder what is meant by the word
-'ethical' in connection with legislation. Of the Jacobs case, to
-which I referred, Mrs. Kelly says: 'To the decision of the Court of
-Appeals in the case In re Jacobs is directly due the continuance of the
-tenement manufacture and of the sweating system in the United States
-and its present prevalence in New York.' That is the statement of a
-woman who, as regards knowledge of tenement-house conditions, knows so
-much more than those four great corporation lawyers that her little
-finger is thicker than their loins when you come to study what they
-know and what she knows of the subject of which they have ignorantly
-presumed to speak."
-
-And yet all that these lawyers did was to point out the inaccuracy
-of Mr. Roosevelt's statements as to what the courts had held, and to
-suggest that this inaccuracy would be demonstrated by reference to
-the records of the courts, which are open to all who care to take the
-trouble to ascertain the truth.
-
-It should be recalled in connection with any fair and candid
-consideration of the Tenement House case that the constitutional
-convention of 1894 had ample opportunity to change the rule in that
-case if it had then been thought to interfere with the attainment of
-"social justice." Although the subject was called to the attention of
-the convention, it was deemed advisable to make no change. The rule
-is reasonable and well-settled in the interpretation of constitutions
-and it was well known to the distinguished members of that convention
-that "where a clause or provision in a constitution, which has
-received a settled judicial construction, is adopted in the same words
-by the framers of another constitution, it will be presumed that the
-construction thereof was likewise adopted."
-
-Another judicial decision denounced by Mr. Roosevelt a few days before
-the last election is the Knisley case discussed above. Speaking of
-this case, he told his audience, and through the press told the whole
-country, that "the Court of Appeals threw out the case and declared
-the law unconstitutional on this ground: that the legislature could
-not interfere with the liberty of that girl in losing her arm.... The
-trouble was that they knew law but didn't know right, and still more,
-as I have stated, that they had arrogated to themselves the right that
-the people should have--the right to decide what the common sense and
-justice of the people demand." Yet there was not one word anywhere in
-the record or in the opinion of the Court of Appeals which suggested
-that the act was unconstitutional or that the legislature did not
-have full power to change the common law rule in such cases and make
-the employer liable to his injured workmen or workwomen if he failed
-to comply with a statute prescribing guards or other protection for
-employees. The most superficial investigation would have disclosed
-the fact that the Court of Appeals has never intimated in any case
-that such a statute would be unconstitutional, and that in the Knisley
-case it neither had before it nor decided any question concerning the
-constitutionality of an act of the legislature.
-
-Shortly before the election, Mr. Roosevelt caused to be published in
-the "Saturday Evening Post" of Philadelphia, under the title of "The
-Deceitful Red Herring," the following statement: "Our platform demands
-an eight-hour law for women in industries.... But the Court of Appeals
-of New York has said that the ten millions of people of my state have
-not got that right if they wish to exercise it. In New York the people
-did not ask for an eight-hour day--asked for only a ten-hour day for
-women. Then the Court of Appeals said that under their interpretation
-of the Constitution the small sweat-shop keeper or the big factory
-owner may work haggard women twelve, fourteen or sixteen hours a day,
-if he chooses, and we cannot stop it."
-
-As a matter of fact, however, as the slightest investigation would have
-disclosed, the New York Court of Appeals had never decided anything of
-the kind. Moreover, there was in our state when Mr. Roosevelt published
-this statement a statute limiting the hours of labor for women to nine
-hours per day and fifty-four hours per week,[58] and for thirteen
-years prior to the recent amendment there had been a statute limiting
-the hours of labor of women to ten hours per day and sixty hours per
-week. These statutes had been regularly enforced for years, and their
-constitutionality had never been even questioned, so far as I have been
-able to ascertain.
-
-Immediately after the publication of this article in the "Saturday
-Evening Post," a communication was addressed to the publisher by a
-well-known and reputable member of the New York bar, Mr. Alfred E.
-Ommen, pointing out the misstatement in regard to the Court of Appeals
-and conclusively showing its error; but this important periodical, with
-perhaps the largest circulation of any American weekly, saw fit to
-leave uncorrected this untrue and grossly misleading statement, and it
-has not yet withdrawn it, and probably never will do so.
-
-Such is the tenor of the criticisms of the courts to be found in public
-speeches and in all forms of publication. They find constant repetition
-in the press, and carry the authority of distinguished leaders of
-public opinion and of men who at the present time have the ear and the
-confidence of the people. The statements of such men are naturally
-accepted as accurate and true. Who would believe it possible that any
-such statements as the above could be made by an ex-President of the
-United States unless they were true? As the draft of this report is
-being revised, an advertisement proclaims a renewal by Mr. Roosevelt
-of his attack on the courts, and a new assailant and critic appears
-in the person of Mr. William Randolph Hearst, who seems desirous to
-emulate Mr. Roosevelt in his abuse of the courts. The press at large
-continues to give the fullest publicity to all attacks on the courts
-and little or no space to any refutation of them. The judges are
-being misrepresented and assailed on all sides. They cannot defend
-themselves. The bar at large so far has seemed indifferent; and in the
-great forum of public opinion judgment is going by default.
-
-If these misleading criticisms are not refuted, and the courts are not
-defended, they may bend before the storm of undeserved censure and
-the clamor of the crowd. There is grave danger that the judges will
-be unconsciously intimidated and coerced by this abuse. Indeed, some
-recent decisions are ominous. Is it not then fit and proper that the
-members of our profession should charge themselves specially with the
-task of defending the courts and placing the facts before the people?
-The bar associations of the country will never be called upon to render
-a greater service to the profession and to the community at large
-than that of stemming this tide of misrepresentation and intemperate
-abuse, and of restoring confidence in the learning, impartiality and
-independence of our judges, in the justice of their decisions, and in
-the necessity of their enforcing constitutional restraints.
-
-FOOTNOTES:
-
-[Footnote 50: Read as a supplement to the report of a committee
-appointed by the New York State Bar Association submitted at the
-thirty-sixth annual meeting of the Association held at Utica, January
-24, 1913.]
-
-[Footnote 51: 148 New York Reports, p. 372.]
-
-[Footnote 52: 206 New York Reports, p. 355.]
-
-[Footnote 53: 153 N.Y. Appellate Division Reports, p. 674.]
-
-[Footnote 54: 206 New York Reports, p. 162.]
-
-[Footnote 55: 154 New York Reports, p. 355; 117 N.Y. Appellate Division
-Reports, p. 40; and 191 New York Reports, p. 528.]
-
-[Footnote 56: 158 United States Reports, p. 564.]
-
-[Footnote 57: See discussion _supra_, pp. 48-70.]
-
-[Footnote 58: See the New York Labor Law, sec. 77.]
-
-
-
-
-GRADUATED OR PROGRESSIVE TAXATION[59]
-
-
-The recent message of the President to the Congress has strikingly
-brought to the attention of the American public the subject of
-graduated or progressive taxation upon inheritances and incomes. Acting
-upon the suggestions contained in the message, bills providing for such
-taxes have already been introduced in the House of Representatives.
-Amendments to the Constitution have also been proposed, one of which
-is to authorize Congress to tax inheritances amounting to or exceeding
-$50,000 and to levy an income tax without apportionment. The pending
-bills provide that successions of $10,000 and under and incomes of
-$4,000 and under are to be wholly exempted from the proposed taxes. The
-proposed graduated scales are to run from three-quarters of one per
-cent. on inheritances or successions over $10,000 and not exceeding
-$25,000 up to twenty-five per cent. on inheritances or successions
-exceeding $30,000,000, and from two per cent. on incomes exceeding
-$4,000 per annum and not exceeding $8,000 up to six per cent. on all
-incomes over $64,000. It is also suggested that Congress by means of
-such taxes should seek, not merely to raise revenue for the support of
-the national government, but also to solve social problems by breaking
-up fortunes assumed to be swollen to an unhealthy size and thus bring
-about a redistribution of wealth.
-
-In considering these proposed measures, it should be borne in mind
-that, if they or any similar propositions become laws, the result will
-be--and such undoubtedly is the intention--to exempt the majority of
-property owners from this form of taxation and to cast the burden
-upon a very small minority. It should also be realized that this
-proposed progressive taxation, particularly as to inheritances, is
-conceded to be only a first step, and that increases in the scale of
-progression are contemplated and will certainly follow. Indeed, the
-President declares that "at first a permanent national inheritance tax
-... need not approximate, either in amount or in the extent of the
-increase by graduation, to what such a tax should ultimately be." As
-the states have full power to levy taxes on inheritances and at the
-present time are deriving probably as much as $10,000,000 per annum
-from this source, it must be manifest that, if the scale adopted by
-Congress be high, the resources of the states will be correspondingly
-curtailed. In case of conflict, national taxes would take precedence
-over state taxes. We should also bear in mind that the power to tax is
-the strongest of all governmental powers, that it involves the power to
-destroy, that it generally knows no limitation except the discretion
-and moderation of the lawmakers, and that of all powers it is the one
-most liable to abuse.
-
-From the time of the Declaration of Independence to the present hour,
-the distinctive feature of the American system of government has been
-equality before the law, not merely equality of rights but equality
-of duties and equality of burdens. Equality has been demanded in all
-things including especially taxation. The few exceptions in taxation,
-particularly in times of war, do not affect the general rule that has
-been followed. The courts have declared that according to American
-ideals "common justice requires that taxation, as far as possible,
-should be equal." Experience has shown that the only effectual
-protection against injustice and discrimination in taxation lies in the
-observance of some rule of equality and apportionment; and, although it
-is true that absolute equality is not always attainable, nevertheless
-an approximation to equality should be regarded as indispensable. As
-Hamilton said, "The genius of liberty reprobates everything arbitrary
-or discretionary in taxation." And Judge Cooley in his famous work
-on "Constitutional Limitations" said: "It is of the very essence of
-taxation that it be levied with equality and uniformity, and to this
-end, that there should be some system of apportionment. Where the
-burden is common, there should be common contribution to discharge it.
-Taxation is the equivalent for the protection which the government
-affords to the persons and property of its citizens; and as all are
-alike protected, so all alike should bear the burden, in proportion to
-the interests secured."[60]
-
-In proportional or equal taxation, whereby every property owner
-contributes toward the expenses of the common government according to
-the amount of property he owns or inherits, or according to the income
-he enjoys, we find a perfectly safe and consistent rule and a definite
-and logical principle upon which to work. Proportional taxation
-subjects to the burden of government fairly and equally all property
-owners without distinction and without discrimination. Nothing is left
-to mere discretion or to the play of arbitrary and irresponsible power,
-and no class is likely to be unjustly singled out or discriminated
-against. Where property is as generally distributed as it is in this
-country, a proportional tax ordinarily reaches in one form or another a
-majority of the constituents of those who vote the taxes, and the sense
-of responsibility to these constituents operates as a conservative
-force and as a check upon unfair and unjust taxes, as well as upon
-improvident and extravagant expenditures. A proportional tax generally
-creates a large body of tax-paying voters whose property interests
-impel them to watch their representatives closely and to hold them to
-strict accountability. We then have taxation in its practical operation
-going hand in hand with representative responsibility, which was the
-cardinal principle for which our War of Independence was fought.
-A legislator who is conscious of the fact that a large, if not a
-controlling, number of his constituents will feel the burden of any tax
-he votes, is necessarily more careful, more prudent, more economical
-and more inclined to be just than if no such sense of responsibility
-exists.
-
-On the other hand, where the great majority of voters are to be
-exempted from taxation, and where, accordingly, they will feel that
-they have no personal interest in governmental expenditures, they
-will be likely to take little or no pains to see that there is a
-fair apportionment of taxes which others must pay, or any economy in
-governmental expenditures for which others must provide. Their sense of
-justice and civic duty will become blunted. It will follow that, if the
-lawmakers are at liberty to enact laws which exempt the great majority
-of their constituents from taxation and cast the burden and expense
-of government on the few rich, frequently less than two or three per
-cent. of the voters in their respective districts, there will exist
-no practical restraint upon expenditure, but, on the contrary, every
-temptation to extravagance, wastefulness and injustice.
-
-A graduated or progressive tax is necessarily arbitrary, for there
-is no definite rule or principle to apply to the scale. The rate,
-reasonable at first, may ultimately become confiscatory. There is
-nothing to check or stop the ascending scale. One act of injustice will
-lead to another. The appetite will grow and produce fresh injustice. If
-a tax of twenty-five per cent. on large fortunes now seems to some but
-a moderate beginning, where will the tax stop, and who is to determine
-what is or is not reasonable and beyond what point a legislative body
-shall not go? A few advocates of progressive taxation have already
-suggested fifty per cent. as a maximum applicable to the so-called
-surplus of large fortunes, but others more radical and less responsible
-may readily advocate a tax of one hundred per cent. upon the surplus
-they regard as superfluous or unhealthful. There is, indeed, no limit
-to the possible ascent in the scale of progression, and no power to
-prevent abuse and oppression on the part of temporary and irresponsible
-majorities. The rich would then be completely at the mercy of mere
-numbers.
-
-During the French Revolution, the experiment was tried under the name
-of compulsory loans. These loans finally absorbed fifty per cent. of
-such incomes as the majority of the legislative assembly saw fit to
-consider as _abondants_, and one hundred per cent. of all incomes which
-they thought were _superflus_.
-
-The late W.E.H. Lecky, one of the most eminent historians of our day,
-wrote as follows of progressive taxation in his work on "Democracy and
-Liberty": "When the principle of taxing all fortunes on the same rate
-of computation is abandoned, no definite rule or principle remains. At
-what point the higher scale is to begin, or to what degree it is to be
-raised, depends wholly on the policy of governments and the balance
-of parties. The ascending scale may at first be very moderate, but it
-may at any time, when fresh taxes are required, be made more severe,
-till it reaches or approaches the point of confiscation. No fixed line
-or amount of graduation can be maintained upon principle, or with any
-chance of finality. The whole matter will depend upon the interests
-and wishes of the electors; upon party politicians seeking for a cry
-and competing for the votes of very poor and very ignorant men. Under
-such a system all large properties may easily be made unsafe, and
-an insecurity may arise which will be fatal to all great financial
-undertakings. The most serious restraint on parliamentary extravagance
-will, at the same time, be taken away, and majorities will be invested
-with the easiest and most powerful instrument of oppression. Highly
-graduated taxation realizes most completely the supreme danger of
-democracy, creating a state of things in which one class imposes on
-another burdens which it is not asked to share, and impels the state
-into vast schemes of extravagance, under the belief that the whole cost
-will be thrown upon others."
-
-In McCulloch on "Taxation," for fifty years the standard treatise in
-England on the subject, the following language is used: "It is argued
-that, in order fairly to proportion the tax to the ability of the
-contributors, such a graduated scale of duty should be adopted as
-should press lightly on the smaller class of properties and incomes,
-and increase according as they become larger and more able to bear
-taxation. We take leave, however, to protest against this proposal,
-which is not more seductive than it is unjust and dangerous.... If it
-either pass entirely over some classes, or press on some less heavily
-than on others, it is unjustly imposed. Government, in such a case, has
-plainly stepped out of its proper province, and has assessed the tax,
-not for the legitimate purpose of appropriating a certain proportion
-of the revenues of its subjects to the public exigencies, but that it
-might at the same time regulate the incomes of the contributors; that
-is, that it might depress one class and elevate another. The toleration
-of such a principle would necessarily lead to every species of abuse."
-
-The well-known French political economist and scientist Leroy-Beaulieu
-in his works, _Traité d'Economie Politique_ and _Science des Finances_,
-discusses at length the whole subject of graduated or progressive
-taxation, and condemns it as vicious in theory and unwise and unjust in
-practice. Among other things he says: "Progressive taxation constitutes
-actual spoliation. It violates, besides, the rule, established by all
-civilization, that taxation ought to be imposed with the full consent
-of the taxpayer; for, it is quite clear, that in this case, it is
-the mass of the voters who relieve themselves of the heavy weight of
-the tax and cast it upon the few, and these few do not consent, even
-tacitly, to the excess with which the government wishes to burden
-them. When the rate of the tax is equal for all, we can consider that
-the vote for the tax by the legislature carries with it the implied
-acquiescence of all the assessable; otherwise not.... Every system of
-progressive taxation, however attenuated, is iniquitous and dangerous."
-
-And the same conclusions have been reached by a number of other
-distinguished French scholars and statesmen, among whom may be cited
-Thiers, Beauregard and Stourm.
-
-The right of the states to levy progressive and unequal taxes on
-inheritances and testamentary dispositions is frequently sought
-to be upheld upon the theory that the power of our legislatures
-over successions to the property of decedents is unlimited, that
-the right to succeed is a mere statutory privilege, and that our
-lawmakers may arbitrarily grant or withhold that privilege at their
-will and discretion. It is, however, far from established that
-any such arbitrary and unrestrained power is vested in our state
-legislatures as that of denying wholly the right of inheritance or
-of testamentary disposition, or of discriminating in the regulation
-or grant of the privilege. The power to regulate the exercise of any
-right does not necessarily imply the power to deny it altogether.
-All rights of property as well as of personal liberty are subject to
-reasonable regulation, but this does not involve the power absolutely
-or arbitrarily to destroy such rights. The right of inheritance by
-children was not originally the creation of statute law at all,
-although the contrary is often assumed. It was a customary right long
-before the Conquest and prior to any statute of which we have record.
-It is treated by legal historians as "our common law of inheritance."
-In the latest authoritative history of the English law, that by Pollock
-and Maitland, the authors say that "in calling to our aid a law of
-intestate succession, we are not invoking a modern force," and that
-"the time when no such law existed is in strictest sense a prehistoric
-time." We find that it was a right already established in every one of
-the thirteen original states at the time the national government was
-founded; that it has always existed in civilized countries, so far as
-we have any knowledge; that it was recognized in the Twelve Tables as
-a right among the Romans; that it was a right long before among the
-Egyptians, and that it pervades the Mosaic law. A distinguished writer
-declares it to be the general direction of Providence itself. And
-Chancellor Kent said that "nature and policy have equally concurred to
-introduce and maintain this primary rule of inheritance in the laws and
-usage of all civilized nations."
-
-The power of testamentary disposition undoubtedly developed
-as a limitation upon the right of inheritance and in order to
-prevent escheat for want of heirs. But however originating or
-evidenced--whether in old customs or in the practice of _post-obit_
-gifts--the right has been recognized from time immemorial. As
-Blackstone said in his "Commentaries," "in England this power of
-bequeathing is coeval with the first rudiments of the law, for we have
-no traces or memorials of any time when it did not exist."
-
-Whatever may be the general language to be found in some judicial
-decisions, and whatever may be the extreme power of our state
-legislatures in the abstract, it is hardly conceivable that any state
-would attempt to escheat or confiscate all the property of decedents to
-the exclusion of children and near relatives, or that it would wholly
-deny the right of testamentary disposition. At any rate, if escheat or
-confiscation were ever decreed, it would have to be by laws applying
-equally to all decedents, and not merely to a selected class. The
-guaranties of the fourteenth amendment would prevent any discrimination.
-
-But, however unlimited the power of the states may be in this regard,
-there can certainly be no doubt that it was not the intention of
-the framers of the Constitution of the United States to delegate to
-Congress the power to regulate successions to the estates of decedents
-or the privilege of testamentary disposition or inheritance. No one has
-yet seriously claimed that any such authority is within the legitimate
-sphere of the national government as contemplated by its founders.
-The power of regulating successions to the property of decedents was
-reserved to the states, and the courts would undoubtedly hold that any
-direct attempt on the part of Congress to regulate successions as such,
-or the ownership or transfer of property, was in excess of its powers.
-In dealing with successions, therefore, Congress can only exercise the
-power of taxation.
-
-Yet it is urged that, as Congress has the power to tax successions, it
-may under the guise of exercising that power regulate inheritances and
-thereby break up large fortunes and force a redistribution of wealth.
-In other words, the argument is that Congress may, under the cover or
-pretense of a tax law, accomplish indirectly an object which, for want
-of power, it could not accomplish directly, although the accomplishment
-of this object would constitute a deliberate encroachment upon the
-reserved rights of the states.
-
-There is great danger in this view, and it opens the door to abuse by
-Congress of the power of taxation. If a federal statute purports on
-its face to be a tax measure, and in fact to some extent operates to
-that end, the courts cannot ordinarily set it aside, even though the
-motive for its enactment be to accomplish an object not entrusted to
-the national government. The jurisdiction of the courts is limited.
-Legislation which seeks to effect illegitimate ends cannot always
-be nullified. The power of Congress to levy a graduated inheritance
-tax as a revenue measure would be practically unlimited unless,
-in the particular instance, the law were so extravagant, and its
-unconstitutional object so plain, as to establish beyond doubt an
-unauthorized purpose. It is not within the province of the judicial
-power to determine whether a given tax which raises revenue is
-reasonable or unreasonable, or to inquire into the motives of Congress
-in enacting the law. The courts might not, therefore, be able to set
-aside an inheritance tax law passed by Congress even if it absorbed
-fifty per cent. or more of successions, although it might be quite
-apparent that the real object of the law was to invade the province
-of the states and to regulate inheritances in clear violation of the
-spirit of the Constitution.
-
-Nothing could be better calculated ultimately to undermine our whole
-system of constitutional government than the idea that the courts alone
-are the guardians of the Constitution and that Congress may rightfully
-enact any statute which the courts cannot properly nullify. The truth
-is that the duty of preserving and defending the Constitution in all
-its integrity is vested in Congress and the President far more than in
-the courts, and that if Congress and the President do not observe the
-restraints and limitations imposed by the Constitution, Congress may
-pass many statutes which are unconstitutional in substance but which
-the courts cannot set aside. It is often urged that all questions of
-constitutionality should be left to the courts and not be passed upon
-by Congress or the President. The true doctrine, however, is that
-Congress should not enact and the President should not approve any
-statute which they, as the agents and representatives of the people,
-are not satisfied seeks to accomplish a legitimate end within the scope
-of some power delegated to Congress and not reserved to the states or
-to the people. They should first determine, as their oath of office
-requires, whether, according to their best judgment, the act is or is
-not constitutional. It was the distinct intention of the framers of
-the Constitution, and they so provided in express words, that every
-member of Congress, every senator and every representative, should be
-bound by oath or affirmation to support the Constitution, and that the
-President, especially, should be charged with the duty of preserving,
-protecting and defending it to the best of his ability. This duty
-extends not only to the letter but to the spirit of the Constitution.
-It will be a lamentable exhibition of a lack of what may well be
-termed constitutional morality if, in the debates on the pending
-measures, we shall again hear the suggestion that objects concededly
-outside the scope of any power delegated to the national government
-may nevertheless be accomplished indirectly by means of a federal
-inheritance tax, in violation of the reserved rights of the state
-governments.
-
-If, in framing an inheritance tax law, Congress will bear in mind
-that the regulation of successions to the property of decedents is a
-matter solely within the jurisdiction of the states and ought not to
-be usurped by the federal government, the object of raising revenue
-alone may lead to fair and reasonable taxes levied impartially upon
-all who should be called upon to pay for the support and maintenance
-of the common government whose protection they enjoy. It would then,
-perhaps, be better appreciated that the states have important and
-extensive governmental functions to perform; that they need inheritance
-taxes for the support of their governments, schools, charities, police
-and public improvements, and that any heavy federal succession taxes
-would embarrass and cripple them. It is, of course, one thing to
-resort to a federal inheritance tax as a temporary war measure, when
-patriotism inspires ready acquiescence and willing sacrifice, and
-quite a different thing to establish such a tax as a permanent method
-of raising national revenue in times of peace and prosperity when the
-effect may be to withdraw that source of revenue from the states.
-
-The subject of federal income taxes remains to be considered. There is
-no doubt that any state may levy income taxes. Nor is there any doubt
-that, under the federal Constitution as it now stands, Congress may
-levy an income tax provided it be apportioned according to population
-as required in regard to all direct federal taxes. There is also no
-doubt that Congress, by means of an excise tax, may reach income
-derived from any business or profession, and that any such tax, being
-essentially an excise tax on business, need not be apportioned but
-need merely be uniform throughout the United States. For example, a
-tax on the earnings of railroads and manufacturing businesses could be
-levied without apportionment, and it would produce a large revenue. It
-would also have the advantage of tapping income at the source. A tax by
-Congress on lands and personal property as such would, no one disputes,
-be a direct tax and subject to the rule of apportionment, and a tax on
-the income of property is in substance and practical and legal effect
-the equivalent of a tax on the property itself.
-
-As Chief Justice Fuller said in the Income Tax cases: "The acceptance
-of the rule of apportionment was one of the compromises which made the
-adoption of the Constitution possible, and secured the creation of that
-dual form of government, so elastic and so strong, which has thus far
-survived in unabated vigor. If, by calling a tax indirect when it is
-essentially direct, the rule of protection could be frittered away, one
-of the great landmarks defining the boundary between the nation and the
-states of which it is composed, would have disappeared, and with it one
-of the bulwarks of private rights and private property."[61]
-
-Nor is the rule of apportionment in itself unfair, even under the
-conditions existing to-day. If a direct income tax were now levied and
-duly apportioned among the states according to population as required
-by the Constitution, the smaller states would pay comparatively
-little and the more populous and richer states would have to bear
-what would seem to be their full share of national taxation. New
-York would then have to pay approximately ten per cent. of such a
-tax, Pennsylvania eight per cent., Illinois six per cent., Ohio five
-per cent., whilst Nevada would pay only one-twentieth of one per
-cent. and Delaware one-quarter of one per cent., although these two
-states have a representation in the Senate equal to that of New York
-and Pennsylvania. Indeed, ten states would have to pay more than
-one-half of any direct tax, leaving the balance to be divided among
-the remaining thirty-six states according to their population. On the
-other hand, if a graduated income tax such as is now proposed were
-levied without regard to apportionment, and all incomes of $4,000 and
-under were exempted, the effect would be to cast more than ninety per
-cent. of the entire tax upon the inhabitants of less than one-third of
-the states.
-
-Nearly twelve years have passed since the decision of the Income Tax
-cases, and there has been ample time to amend the Constitution if
-the people had so desired. But, instead of submitting an amendment
-such as was introduced in the House of Representatives last week, it
-is suggested by some that an attempt should be made to disregard or
-circumvent the Constitution as interpreted by the Supreme Court and to
-speculate on the change of its personnel and the chance of different
-views on the part of new incumbents. Surely, the simpler and wiser
-course would be to ascertain the wishes of the people in the manner
-provided by the Constitution. Assuming, as is so frequently asserted,
-that the people generally want a federal income tax, ratification of an
-amendment can be readily secured. The Congress, by a vote of two-thirds
-of both houses, can at once propose the necessary amendment, which will
-become effective when ratified by three-fourths of the states. The
-ratification can probably be secured in less than six months if there
-really exists any general sentiment in favor of such an amendment, for
-more than three-fourths of the state legislatures meet this winter. If
-deemed necessary, conventions could be called to meet within a few
-months. In any event, the delay ought not to exceed fourteen months.
-
-No student of our institutions can doubt that amendments to the
-Constitution will soon be thought necessary, and that such amendments
-will be submitted to the people. Our political system has not ceased
-to grow. Conditions are constantly changing, and powers which were
-adequate for the government of a federation of agricultural states may
-become insufficient for the necessities of the national government of a
-highly commercial and manufacturing people, with world-wide interests.
-Mr. Root's eloquent speech last night before the Pennsylvania Society
-has shown us how inevitably and irresistibly we are tending toward
-centralization. But it is mischievous and dangerous for the people to
-be taught that there is great or insurmountable difficulty in securing
-amendments to the Constitution in order to supply its defects or to
-meet changed conditions and that they must therefore accomplish their
-wishes by indirect means or by perverting delegated powers. The future
-contentment of the American people requires that they shall feel that
-they may readily, and are at liberty to, amend their organic law
-according to their mature judgment whenever they deem it necessary to
-do so. All that can be asked is that they shall act deliberately in the
-manner provided by the Constitution and under circumstances calculated
-to afford time and opportunity for error to be exposed, for theorizing
-and clamor and prejudice to exhaust themselves and "for the sober
-second thought of every part of the country to be asserted." If, then,
-it be determined to give to the national government the power to levy
-income taxes without apportionment, or to control successions to the
-estates of decedents, or any other power, the will of the sovereign
-people will have to be obeyed. But let us hope that when amendments are
-adopted they will be conservative and wise, that the reserved powers
-of the states will not be heedlessly curtailed to the embarrassment of
-the states, and that it will be appreciated that local self-government
-is still essential to the perpetuation of our republican and federal
-institutions.
-
-FOOTNOTES:
-
-[Footnote 59: Address delivered before the National Civic Federation at
-its annual meeting held in New York, December 13, 1906.]
-
-[Footnote 60: Constitutional Limitations, 7th ed., p. 705.]
-
-[Footnote 61: 157 United States Reports, p. 583.]
-
-
-
-
-THE DUTY OF CITIZENSHIP[62]
-
-
-At the outset of our deliberations, Republican delegates, it may be
-interesting to recall the circumstances of two prior national campaigns
-in which political symptoms and dissensions were quite analogous to
-those existing to-day. When the Republican state convention met in
-1880, and again in 1896, the outlook for the success of the Republican
-party had for a time been discouraging. In each of these campaigns
-there were many who feared that the party had been disrupted and that
-its usefulness might be coming to an end. In each campaign a wave
-of false doctrine, sentimentality and prejudice threatened to drown
-reason amid the prevailing excitement, clamor and declamation. But in
-each courage and soberness came before November, and the common sense,
-honesty, sanity and patriotism of the American people supported the
-sound principles and policies of national and constitutional government
-for which the Republican party stands.
-
-During the first three months of the political campaign of 1880,
-it seemed as though the Democratic candidate would be elected.
-The nomination of General Hancock had been received with great
-demonstrations of enthusiasm. He was personally attractive and
-popular, and at the outset little attention was paid to the fact that
-the platform of his party was radical and had declared in favor of
-"a tariff for revenue only" with the consequent abandonment of the
-protective system. The Republicans were not united; in some states they
-were hopelessly divided. The defection was certain to be large. In many
-Republican states the Greenback party, with its financial and social
-heresies, had increased enormously in strength, and it had nominated a
-national ticket. Maine had been carried in September by a combination
-of Greenbackers and Democrats. In November the Republican party was
-to lose New Jersey, California and Nevada, and, for the first time
-since the Civil War, it would fail to receive any electoral votes from
-the states south of Mason and Dixon's line. Yet Garfield was elected
-by 214 electoral votes against 155 for Hancock. New York, which had
-gone Democratic in 1876 with a plurality of 32,700, went Republican in
-1880 with a plurality of 21,000. Thus we see that, although there was
-then schism and dissension in the Republican ranks, and although the
-party lost Maine in September and New Jersey, California and Nevada in
-November, as well as every southern state, its candidates nevertheless
-were elected.
-
-A consideration of the circumstances of the campaign of 1896 will
-prove even more instructive and encouraging. The Republican party was
-then divided and threatened with ruin by defections. The leaders in
-the national convention at St. Louis had courageously refused to bend
-to the demands and threats of a numerous minority, who were urging a
-radical platform and a radical candidate. A large number of Republicans
-had bolted, and they were loudly proclaiming that they alone
-represented the true and overwhelming sentiment of the party. According
-to them all else was fraudulent, and all who did not agree with them
-were accused of having been corrupted by the moneyed interests. It was
-evident that this faction had set out to rule or ruin their party,
-and, having failed to coerce it, were determined to overthrow it. They
-organized a new party, which they called the National Silver party;
-they assembled in convention at St. Louis amid excitement and posing
-and virtuous homilies about reformation and social uplift quite similar
-to those which we have heard during the past summer; they prophesied
-the death of the Republican party for its alleged betrayal of the
-people, and they proceeded to endorse the candidacy and views of Mr.
-Bryan. The Populist party, likewise largely composed of dissatisfied
-and discontented Republicans, held its national convention at St.
-Louis, went through similar political performances and emotional
-displays, and endorsed the Democratic candidate.
-
-It would be difficult to exaggerate the enthusiasm in 1896 for Mr.
-Bryan. I comment upon it now in order that comparisons may be made and
-the lesson appreciated. Wherever he moved, immense and excited throngs
-pressed about him and wildly cheered his utterances. Much of the
-character of the present campaign was then in evidence. Bryan preached
-a social reformation and a crusade against established institutions,
-constitutional government and the supremacy of the law. He played
-upon envy, discontent and cupidity. He attracted to his standard the
-remnants of Coxey's "army," which two years before had marched to
-Washington, calling itself the "Army of the Commonweal of Christ." In
-our country such movements frequently mask in the robes of religion.
-Bryan denounced the President then in office. He assailed our judicial
-system, including the Supreme Court of the United States. He posed as
-a knight-errant and crusader who sought to uplift the poor and redress
-the wrongs of the nation. He repeated all the exploded claptrap of
-demagogues. And his eloquence, together with his apparent sincerity,
-made him a most dangerous candidate, far more dangerous than are our
-opponents of to-day.
-
-The combination of Democrats and former Republicans in 1896 was more
-formidable than if their vote had been divided and the discontented
-Republicans, Populists and Silverites had nominated a separate ticket.
-It would have been easier to defeat a divided enemy. Plurality and not
-majority in each state determines the choice of presidential electors,
-although a majority of the electors is necessary to elect a President.
-The situation was very critical because the times were hard, many good
-reasons for discontent existed, thousands of workmen in every state
-were unemployed, and agitators and demagogues found ready response to
-their appeals in the hearts of men who were suffering from hunger.
-
-Yet, even under such conditions, the defense of constitutional
-government and established institutions was safe in the hands of the
-thoughtful, sober and patriotic people of the country. A complete
-revulsion of public feeling took place before November. The Democratic
-party, which four years before had carried the nation with a plurality
-of 381,000 and the state of New York with a plurality of 45,500, was
-defeated by the Republican candidate with a plurality of nearly 604,000
-in the nation and over 268,000 in the state. McKinley received 271
-electoral votes against 176 for Bryan. That great success was secured
-in the face of the fact that ten western states which are normally
-Republican went Democratic; in other words, the Republican candidates
-were triumphantly elected in 1896 although Colorado, Kansas, Idaho,
-Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, South Dakota, Utah, Washington and Wyoming
-all cast their electoral votes for Mr. Bryan.
-
-The task of the Republican party in these prior campaigns was to bring
-home to the people the vital importance to them of the issues of
-those campaigns. Similarly our task in this campaign is to convince
-the voters of the country that they are again called upon to preserve
-the industrial system upon which the wages, income and property of
-millions of American citizens are based, as well as to defend the
-constitutional representative government under which for more than a
-century we have maintained political, religious and individual liberty
-and have prospered beyond all nations.
-
-At the beginning of this campaign and until recently many Republicans
-were disheartened. The menace to our institutions and future in the
-possible success of the Progressive party and the re-election of
-ex-President Roosevelt seemed as portentous as was the menace of
-Bryanism in 1896, in 1900 and in 1908. To some, therefore, it seemed
-at first as if it might be their patriotic duty to vote the Democratic
-ticket. Patriotism is ever more than party. But these Republicans now
-realize the folly of that course and the certainty that the Republican
-party will maintain its solidarity. We see clearly that the candidacy
-of Mr. Roosevelt is doomed to defeat, and that only a desire to work
-injury to the Republican party continues the campaign of the so-called
-Progressives.
-
-I have examined the published record as to contested seats in the
-national convention of the Republican party at Chicago, and I have
-endeavored to ascertain all of the facts. I believe that I have done
-so. In my judgment no fair-minded person who will take the trouble to
-read the evidence, who will look impartially at the facts and candidly
-seek to discover the truth, can doubt the fairness of the procedure
-or the correctness of the decisions. Most of the contests were wholly
-unjustifiable, if not fraudulent, and had to be abandoned. Indeed,
-it was shamelessly boasted by a well-known newspaper that the great
-majority of the contests had been gotten up in order to create a
-psychological effect, which, I take it, among plain people would mean
-the deliberate creation of a false impression. I will read you the
-language of one of the exemplars of the class of reformers who are too
-virtuous to remain in the Republican party and who profess to teach
-the people of this country political morality. The "Washington Times"
-contains the following in its issue of June 9, 1912: "For psychological
-effect as a move in practical politics it was necessary for the
-Roosevelt people to start contests on these early Taft selections in
-order that a tabulation of delegate strength could be put out that
-would show Roosevelt holding a good hand. In the game a table showing
-Taft 150, Roosevelt 19, contested 1, would not be very much calculated
-to inspire confidence, whereas, one showing Taft 23, Roosevelt 19,
-contested 127, looked very different. That is the whole story of the
-large number of southern contests that were started early in the game.
-It was never expected that they would be taken very seriously. They
-served a useful purpose, and now the national committee is deciding
-them in favor of Taft in most cases without real division."
-
-Of the 238 contests finally filed on behalf of ex-President Roosevelt,
-164 were abandoned. The contests which were not abandoned were decided
-on their merits. After studying the facts, I am convinced that the
-Taft delegates were legally and morally entitled to their seats.
-Unfortunately, the record is voluminous, and few will take the time or
-trouble to read the evidence. The cry of fraud is misleading many. But
-surely when such men as Senator Root and the presidents of Columbia
-and Cornell universities declare their conviction of the integrity of
-the procedure and of the decisions, we may well rest satisfied. In
-his speech notifying President Taft of his renomination, Senator Root
-said that neither in the facts nor in the arguments produced before
-the national committee, the committee on credentials, the convention
-itself, or otherwise, did there appear to be any just ground for
-impeaching the honesty and good faith of the decisions of the national
-committee. He further declared to President Taft that his title to
-the nomination was "as clear and unimpeachable as the title of any
-candidate of any party since political conventions began." Senator
-Root's high character, his great services to the nation and to the
-party, and his lofty sense of personal honor and responsibility,
-entitle him to have his word and his opinion under such circumstances
-unqualifiedly accepted by the people of the state of New York.
-
-The preference of the majority of the national convention being
-clearly for President Taft, should this majority nevertheless have
-cast him aside and nominated Mr. Roosevelt because of threats of
-disruption of the party similar to those of 1896, or because in a few
-states ex-President Roosevelt had secured a larger primary vote than
-President Taft in hasty contests in which misrepresentation undoubtedly
-had led many astray? What course did patriotism dictate to the majority
-of the delegates? Ought they to have surrendered, and, because of
-clamor and threats of disruption of the party, put aside their own
-preferences and instructions for President Taft and nominated Mr.
-Roosevelt? There were reasons why this course would have been an act of
-folly as well as of injustice.
-
-In the first place, the nomination of an ex-President of the United
-States for a third term would have been in violation of an unwritten
-rule established by Washington, Jefferson, Madison and Monroe, and
-followed ever since. The Republican party which, as a matter of sound
-principle and political ethics, had refused in 1880 to nominate
-ex-President Grant for a third term, notwithstanding his transcendent
-claims to the gratitude of the nation, could not stultify itself in
-1912 by nominating ex-President Roosevelt for a third term.
-
-The wisdom of maintaining this unwritten rule should be evident. The
-common sense of thoughtful, candid and patriotic men must convince them
-that nothing could be more dangerous than to permit any individual,
-however popular or eloquent, to wield the power of the presidential
-office for more than two terms. The New York convention of 1788, which
-ratified the Constitution of the United States, proposed an amendment
-to the effect "that no person shall be eligible to the office of
-President of the United States a third time," and this undoubtedly has
-ever since been the sentiment of the people of this state, although it
-was defied in 1880 when an attempt was made to force the nomination of
-ex-President Grant for a third term, notwithstanding the fact that only
-five years before the Republican state convention had declared in its
-platform "our unalterable opposition to the election of any president
-for a third term."
-
-There is not time to discuss the genesis or wisdom of this unwritten
-rule of political policy, which had never been violated by any
-political party until the nomination of ex-President Roosevelt by the
-Progressives. It is now pretended that there never was any such rule or
-principle of political policy and that Washington and Jefferson were
-governed solely by considerations of their own personal convenience.
-Three quotations from Jefferson's writings ought to be sufficient to
-explode this pretense. I take Jefferson because he is now one of the
-patron saints of the Progressive as well as of the Democratic party.
-
-In January, 1805, shortly after his re-election, Jefferson declared as
-follows: "General Washington set the example of voluntary retirement
-after eight years. I shall follow it. And a few more precedents will
-oppose the obstacle of habit to any one after awhile who shall endeavor
-to extend his term. Perhaps it may beget a disposition to establish
-it by an amendment of the Constitution. I believe I am doing right,
-therefore, in pursuing my principle." Again in 1807 he wrote to the
-legislature of Vermont: "I should unwillingly be the person who,
-disregarding the sound precedent set by an illustrious predecessor,
-should furnish the first example of prolongation beyond the second
-term of office." And fourteen years afterwards, in 1821, he published
-his "Autobiography," in which he said: "The example of four Presidents
-voluntarily retiring at the end of their eighth year, and the progress
-of public opinion that the principle is salutary, have given it in
-practice the force of precedent and usage; insomuch, that, should a
-President consent to be a candidate for a third election, I trust he
-would be rejected on this demonstration of ambitious views."
-
-But aside from all principle and precedent, the promises deliberately
-made by ex-President Roosevelt to the people of the United States
-rendered his candidacy impossible without what seems to many a breach
-of faith. The facts speak for themselves.
-
-On the 8th of November, 1904, President Roosevelt expressed to the
-people of the United States gratitude for his election, and appealed
-to them for their support and confidence during his second term,
-undoubtedly having in mind President McKinley's example in 1901, when
-he had declared that he would not accept a nomination for a third term
-if it were tendered him, and had pointed out that there were "questions
-of the greatest importance before the administration and the country,
-and their just consideration should not be prejudiced in the public
-mind by even the suspicion of the thought of a third term." President
-Roosevelt's language in 1904 was as follows: "On the 4th of March
-next I shall have served three and one-half years, and this three and
-one-half years constitutes my first term. The wise custom which limits
-the President to two terms regards the substance and not the form.
-Under no circumstances will I be a candidate for or accept another
-nomination." In December, 1907, he reiterated this declaration, and
-added the following words: "I have not changed and shall not change
-the decision thus announced." Yet on February 24, 1912, he gave to the
-press a letter in which he said: "I will accept the nomination for
-President if it is tendered to me, and I will adhere to this decision
-until the convention has expressed its preference."
-
-The statesman who had thus pledged his word could not break his promise
-to the people without sacrificing the good opinion of many citizens.
-And if the Republican national convention had joined ex-President
-Roosevelt in a repudiation of these solemn promises, it would have
-alienated a large body of voters who still hold in reverence the names
-and examples of Washington, Jefferson, Madison and Monroe, and who
-still believe in political consistency and morality, and it would have
-put the party on the defensive throughout the campaign upon an issue
-of plain and simple morals. The Republican party, moreover, could not
-afford--in fact it would have been hopeless--to ask for the continued
-support of the country on any such terms.
-
-Another reason why the majority in the Chicago convention should not
-have cast aside President Taft and nominated ex-President Roosevelt
-was because to have done so would have been an act of political
-treachery, ingratitude and dishonor. President Taft had earned and
-deserved renomination for great and faithful service to the nation and
-to the party. The custom generally followed had been to renominate
-a President who had served well and capably. The Republicans of New
-York had unanimously proclaimed in their platform of 1910, when
-ex-President Roosevelt himself controlled the state convention and
-dictated its policy: "We enthusiastically indorse the progressive
-and statesmanlike leadership of William Howard Taft, and declare our
-pride in the achievements of his first eighteen months as President of
-the United States. Each succeeding month since his inauguration has
-confirmed the nation in its high esteem of his greatness of character,
-intellectual ability, sturdy common sense, extraordinary patience and
-perseverance, broad and statesmanlike comprehension of public questions
-and unfaltering and unswerving adherence to duty." And nothing had
-occurred during the months intervening between this state convention
-and the national convention to shake that high and just estimate of
-the character and ability of President Taft. He had consented to
-run when he believed he could rely on the loyalty of Mr. Roosevelt
-as his friend, and subsequent withdrawal would have been a personal
-humiliation.
-
-In practical achievements, President Taft's administration had been
-notably successful and efficient, although not spectacular. It may
-be asserted with confidence that the laws enacted by Congress never
-had been administered more effectively, honestly and impartially
-than under President Taft. Without turmoil or agitation, and without
-threatening Congress, he had accomplished more in three and one-third
-years than his immediate predecessor in seven and one-half years. He
-had shown a consistent policy of real progressiveness and constructive
-statesmanship. In every branch of government he had confirmed President
-Roosevelt's panegyric of 1908, when he urged the American people to
-elect Mr. Taft because of his pre-eminent qualifications for the office
-of President of the United States.
-
-It may be true that after eighteen years of unselfish devotion and
-conspicuously efficient and faithful service to the American public,
-as solicitor general, United States circuit judge, governor of the
-Philippines, secretary of war and President of the United States,
-Mr. Taft had failed to secure popularity with the thoughtless, the
-discontented and the revolutionary, and with that part of the press
-that lives on sensationalism and muck-raking. But such popularity
-should hardly be the test of qualification for the great office of
-President of the United States. We know that Lincoln was so unpopular
-with the unthinking and impatient in 1864 that he despaired of
-re-election and that he expected defeat at the polls unless the army
-could save the day and change public opinion by some striking successes.
-
-Popularity with the unreasoning and discontented was easily within the
-reach of President Taft had he sought it. In view of the prestige of
-his high office and the reverence it commands, he had only to practice
-the well-known arts of the demagogue by which crowds are stirred and
-led astray--as well known to him as to all who read history. He had
-only to issue from time to time high-sounding declarations about his
-staunch patriotism, his own virtue, his uncompromising veracity, his
-self-sacrificing loyalty to duty, the infallibility of his judgment,
-the purity of his motives, and the corruption and mendacity of his
-adversaries. He had only to rail at corporations, at the builders of
-the industries of the country and at bankers and capitalists, in order
-to secure the applause of envy and discontent. He had only to inveigh
-against predatory wealth to become at once the idol of predatory
-poverty. But his self-respect would not allow him to stoop so low and
-to pander to what is weakest, if not basest, in human nature, and his
-sense of duty would not permit him thus to degrade the great office of
-President of the United States.
-
-The ingratitude of republics is proverbial; yet surely it would have
-been an unparalleled act of ingratitude for President Taft's own party
-to refuse him the renomination he had earned and deserved. The lesson
-that the repudiation of President Taft by his own party would have
-taught the country and future generations would have been demoralizing.
-It would have constituted a warning to all our present and future
-public officers that with us Americans conspicuously efficient and
-faithful public service goes for naught, and that Republican public
-officers, from the President of the United States down to the lowest,
-must not expect to be judged by their acts, ability and character, but
-as they have succeeded in cultivating the applause of the unthinking.
-
-The great issues before the people in the present critical campaign,
-however, are far more important than the personal qualifications,
-claims, or merits of the candidates. These issues are: (1) the
-constitutional right and power of Congress to protect American
-industries and to preserve our present industrial system; (2) the
-threatened overthrow of the representative system of government in
-state and nation by the introduction of the initiative, the referendum
-and the recall, and (3) the assault upon the administration of justice
-in American courts.
-
-Upon the tariff question, there is an irreconcilable difference between
-the principles of the Republican party and those of the Democratic
-party. The one insists that it is the legitimate duty and function of
-Congress in levying taxes to protect American industries and wages,
-whilst the other insists that Congress has neither the right nor the
-power under the federal Constitution to do so. I shall assume that
-political platforms, although they may not be binding programmes,
-certainly are intended to embody a declaration of the political faith
-and principles in which the respective candidates believe and which
-they intend to represent. If this be not so, then why are platforms
-adopted?
-
-The platform of the Republican party unqualifiedly pledges the party
-and its candidates to a protective tariff with duties so adjusted
-as adequately to protect American industries and wages. It concedes
-that readjustments must be made and that excessive rates should be
-reduced, but it insists that, in order to do so intelligently and
-fairly, correct information is indispensable. It favors securing
-this information by an expert commission and a non-partisan tariff
-board. It seeks the withdrawal of the tariff from politics in order
-that each industry may be dealt with on its merits by non-partisan
-commissions. It indicts the Democratic party for its refusal to
-provide funds for the continuance of such a tariff board and for the
-reckless and sectional tariff bills passed by the Democratic House
-of Representatives which wholly disregard the protection of American
-interests.
-
-Senator Root declared at the national convention that the Democratic
-party did not want to ascertain the facts upon which a just protective
-measure could be framed, but intended that there should be no
-protection for American industries, and he further declared that the
-Democratic House of Representatives had framed and passed a series
-of tariff bills for revenue only with complete indifference to the
-absolute destruction that their enactment would bring upon great
-American industries. He asserted that "the American people have now
-to pass, not upon the abuses of the tariff, but on the fundamental
-question between the two systems of tariff-making."
-
-This challenge the Democratic party met and answered in the first
-and cardinal plank adopted by its national convention at Baltimore,
-which pledged the party and its candidates to the ultimate attainment
-of the principles of free trade, because of the absence of power
-in the Congress of the United States to protect American labor and
-American industries. The plank reads as follows: "We declare it to
-be a fundamental principle of the Democratic party that the federal
-government, under the Constitution, has no right or power to impose or
-collect tariff duties except for the purpose of revenue." And there can
-be no doubt that this declaration was assumed not only to represent the
-present free-trade policy of the Democratic party but to be in full
-accord with Governor Wilson's personal views as an out-and-out free
-trader.
-
-The people of the United States are, therefore, now asked by the
-Democratic party to vote in favor of the proposition that, no matter
-what foreign competition there may be, even from Asiatics, the American
-national government has neither the _right_ nor the _power_ to protect
-a single industry or a single workman. Such a proposition may well
-amaze and delight foreign countries, and no wonder they all desire the
-success of the Democratic party. Every other national government not
-only has the power to protect its industries, but has again and again
-exercised that power whenever the interests of its people demanded
-protection. The power in one form or another is being exercised to-day
-against American products by almost every government in the world,
-including the colonies of England, as witness Canada. The power would
-be exercised by England again to-morrow if it should appear to be for
-her interest to do so. Yet, no matter that our factories may be closed
-and our wage-earners thrown out of work as in 1894, 1895 and 1896,
-no matter how easily Europe and Asia could make our country their
-dumping-ground and could make a prey of our necessities after closing
-our workshops and destroying our industries, no matter how beneficial
-to all classes it may be to have a diversity of industries--the
-Democratic party, nevertheless, proclaims that our national government
-is powerless, and that there is neither the _right_ nor the _power_ to
-enact a tariff except for revenue.
-
-We Republicans firmly believe that if there be one feature or element
-of right and power within the spirit and scope of the Constitution of
-the United States, and clearly vested in Congress, it is the right
-and power to impose duties for the purpose of protecting American
-industries and American labor. The very first tariff act, approved
-July 4, 1789, one hundred and twenty-three years ago, declared that
-one of its purposes, one of its objects, one of its inducing motives,
-was "the encouragement and protection of manufactures." Washington
-approved and signed that bill. Presidents Washington, Jefferson,
-Madison and Monroe--all of them of the generation that framed the
-federal Constitution--recognized the existence of the power to protect
-and recommended the protection of American industries. But the American
-people are now asked in 1912 to vote for a party and a platform which
-repudiate both the _right_ and the _power_ of Congress to protect
-American workmen, farmers and manufacturers.
-
-It is impossible in this outline of issues adequately to discuss
-the principles and policy of a protective tariff. The details of
-that important and vital subject must be taken up and analyzed at
-other times. Generalizations would be of little value. The facts are
-readily at hand, and they demonstrate that the material welfare of the
-country and of nearly every class and section has been promoted by the
-protective policy, and it will continue to be so promoted. Although we
-may now be willing to face free competition with Europeans, we cannot
-be blind to the menace and danger of free competition with Asiatics.
-Just across the Pacific ocean, with constantly cheapening freight and
-passenger rates, are populations of 50,000,000 in Japan, 450,000,000 in
-China, 300,000,000 in India--800,000,000--who will furnish efficient
-labor at wages ranging from 10 to 30 cents a day for twelve hours' work
-on the same kind of machines at which American men and women are now
-working. Shall we open the flood-gates? Shall we elect as President
-the historian who, but a few years ago in the quiet and impartial
-atmosphere of his study, declared to the world his sympathy for needy
-Asiatics and his opinion that "the Chinese were more to be desired,
-as workmen if not as citizens, than most of the coarse crew that came
-crowding in every year at the eastern ports"?
-
-This generation has had one bitter experience of Democratic tariff
-legislation. In 1892, the Democratic party was, for the first time in
-thirty-two years, placed in control of both houses of Congress and the
-presidency. It came into office committed to free trade, as it would
-now again come into office pledged to free trade. It passed the Wilson
-bill in August, 1894, and thereby took its first step towards the
-abandonment of the policy of protection for American industries. There
-followed, principally as the direct result of this Democratic tariff
-legislation and the antecedent menace, an acute period of industrial
-and financial depression. I had supposed that the fateful years 1894,
-1895 and 1896 would never be forgotten by those who suffered through
-them. As Governor Wilson himself well said in his "History of the
-American People," in describing this period of misery: "Men of the
-poorer sort were idle everywhere, and filled with a sort of despair.
-All the large cities and manufacturing towns teemed with unemployed
-workingmen who were with the utmost difficulty kept from starvation
-by the systematic efforts of organized charity." This was also a time
-of unprecedented social unrest and discontent and of Coxey's ragged
-"Army of the Commonweal of Christ" crying for food and work. It was a
-period of misery and depression, of popular discontent and disturbance,
-of strikes, riots, destruction of property, murder and maiming in
-industrial disputes. No one could deny, as the historian pointed out,
-that the country had fallen upon evil times and that American workmen
-found it harder than ever to live.
-
-We have only to recall to the people's minds the conditions of
-unemployment, poverty and misery which followed the last tariff
-legislation of the Democratic party, and compare conditions as
-they exist to-day. The people of this country will make a terrible
-mistake and a frightful blunder if they now vote to run the risk of a
-repetition of those days under the delusion that the currency system of
-the government was the cause of the business depression and misery that
-followed immediately upon the election of Cleveland in 1892 and the
-passage of the Wilson tariff law in 1894.
-
-Many are now telling the people that the tariff is solely responsible
-for the high cost of living and for the prevalence of social unrest
-and discontent. Such phenomena are world-wide and exist abroad as
-much as, if not more than, they exist here. In England, which has
-no protective tariff, the complaint against the high cost of living
-has been even louder than here. The real causes of the increase in
-the cost of living with us undoubtedly are: (1) enormous increase in
-the world's supply of gold, necessarily diminishing the purchasing
-value of the dollar, for the world's gold production, which from
-1850 to 1890 averaged $120,000,000 per annum and was $130,650,000 in
-1891, increased to fully $461,000,000 in 1911, (2) rapid increase of
-population without a corresponding increase of the production of food
-and other necessaries of life, (3) flocking to the city and abandoning
-the farm, (4) appreciation in land values, (5) increase in the price
-of raw materials, (6) higher rates of wages and decrease in the number
-of hours of work, (7) better standards of living, (8) exhaustion of
-some sources of supply, (9) extravagance in public expenditures, and
-(10) withdrawal of armies of civil servants from productive industry.
-These are the principal and controlling causes that tend to the higher
-cost of living; they are world-wide, and, if explained, they will be
-easily understood and recognized by intelligent and candid business
-men and workmen, who will at once perceive that these causes will not
-be removed in any degree by free-trade legislation. Last year serious
-disturbances occurred in Europe as a result of the prevailing high cost
-of food supplies there, and the British board of trade is now making an
-investigation into the cost of living, not only in England but also in
-Germany, France and Belgium. In fact, an international commission is at
-this moment inquiring into these causes. How preposterous it would be
-to say that the American protective tariff was the cause of the high
-cost of living in free-trade England or elsewhere in Europe!
-
-Nor is the protective tariff in any sense responsible for the spirit of
-social unrest and discontent except, perhaps, in so far as prosperity
-begets discontent and multiplies appetites. Throughout the civilized
-world in recent years there has developed a spirit of social unrest and
-discontent, of disregard of law, and of disrespect for moral principles
-and religious beliefs. To those who look below the surface, it is more
-and more evident that this world-wide symptom is due, in greatest
-measure, to the spread of Socialism. According to the teachings of
-the Socialists, avowed or unavowed (for many who are preaching its
-doctrines would resent being called Socialists), our entire social
-system and the system of laws under which we live are unjust and should
-be upset, property rights should be destroyed, and religious beliefs,
-which are the principal source of our respect for law and order and the
-rights of property, should be broken down. As an American student and
-writer has said, a single passage from Liebknecht stands fairly for
-opinions that may be quoted from twenty authoritative socialist sources
-in Europe. That passage is as follows: "It is our duty as Socialists
-to root out the faith in God with all our zeal, nor is any one worthy
-the name who does not consecrate himself to the spread of atheism." I
-believe that few American Socialists have gone to any such extreme,
-but such has certainly been the tendency and teaching of Socialism in
-Europe.
-
-Unfortunately the atmosphere of the present campaign is calculated
-to obscure and hide the true issues in controversy and the real
-danger that lurks under so much noise, declamation and enthusiasm.
-An avowed assault and an open declaration of war on society, on our
-form of government, or on our courts of justice would bring the points
-so clearly before the American people that none of us could for a
-moment doubt the outcome. We Republicans would hail and welcome an
-open attack, because we know that the people would then quickly and
-overwhelmingly rally to the support of our party. The more openly
-constitutional government and our social system are attacked, the more
-strongly will they become cemented in the affection and reverence of
-the people.
-
-Most of our political and social institutions which are now being
-assailed as antiquated are founded on truths which ought ever to be
-self-evident. These truths sound trite, but "trite truths are often the
-most valuable truths, though sometimes divested of force by their very
-triteness." We are constantly hearing talk about the principles of the
-Constitution being antiquated in the eyes of these modern iconoclasts,
-and the other day a leader of the Progressives in this state, who is
-himself a lawyer, referring to the Progressive judicial nominations
-boasted that they had selected men who did not believe in a "dead
-constitution." Yet these candidates are ready to accept a judicial
-office which they could not rightly fill for a minute without taking
-an oath to support the Constitution in which they do not believe.
-
-When a truth, be it political, moral, or religious, is once discovered
-and established, it is eternal; it loses none of its vitality because
-it has grown old; it never dies. If some religious Progressive--and our
-political Progressives affect much of the religiously emotional--should
-now preach a new religion and proclaim that existing religions and
-their restraints should be cast aside simply because they are old,
-the dullest man would readily see the utter fallacy and wickedness
-of such an argument. Imagine any one seriously arguing that the Ten
-Commandments are worthless and dead as rules of human conduct and
-self-restraint because they are four thousand years old and were first
-enunciated in an age not so rapid as our own--in an age when there
-were no printing presses, no steam engines, no electricity and no
-talking machines! Yet, so long as our civilization endures, so long
-as human intelligence lasts, so long as religion shall continue to
-comfort and sustain and uplift men and women, so long will the Ten
-Commandments be sound and true rules of conduct and the fundamental
-basis of all religions. Likewise as to the great political documents
-evidencing the progress of the human race upward towards liberty, like
-Magna Carta, the Bill of Rights, the Declaration of Independence, the
-Constitution of the United States: they embody and declare principles
-of political justice and fundamental truths which are eternal; and
-whilst majorities at times may ignorantly and recklessly disregard
-them or cast them aside for temporary objects, they are as eternal and
-imperishable as are the Ten Commandments.
-
-Of the many revolutionary schemes in the Progressive platform, both
-national and state, one of the most dangerous and far-reaching is the
-proposal to destroy the representative character of our government
-by substituting direct action by the people in place of action by
-legislatures and officers elected by the people. This is to be
-accomplished through the initiative and the referendum. The movement
-is doubly important at the present time because, as is well known,
-the Democratic candidate for the presidency, after teaching directly
-the contrary for many years, has become a recent convert to these
-ideas. Although such a scheme might be beneficial or harmless in the
-little town meetings of New England, in small municipalities, or in
-agricultural states having a homogeneous population less in number
-than some of the counties of the state of New York, the initiative
-and the referendum would be wholly unsuited to an empire such as ours
-with a population of nearly 100,000,000, or to a state such as New
-York with a population of nearly 10,000,000. Would it not be absurd
-and preposterous to have the thousands of bills annually introduced
-in Congress passed upon by the people at large, and would it not be
-equally absurd and preposterous for a state like New York, passing
-hundreds of bills every year, to give a small minority the right to
-compel the submission of every statute to the vote of the people? Would
-it not be little short of calamitous to have those least qualified to
-understand and appreciate the changes they were making pass upon and
-control legislation? The result would be chaos.
-
-The great men who founded our system of constitutional government were
-thoroughly familiar with the theory and operation of pure democracy
-or direct action by the people, as distinguished from representative
-government. They saw the past failures of pure democracy and the danger
-of any such system, and they deliberately declined to adopt it. In
-speaking of "the equal rights of man," Jefferson declared that "modern
-times have the signal advantage, too, of having discovered the only
-device by which these rights can be secured, to wit,--government by
-the people, acting not in person, but by representatives chosen by
-themselves."
-
-The plain truth is that the trouble with our legislatures and with
-Congress is the character of many of the men whom the people elect. The
-remedy is in the hands of the voters. If they will elect capable and
-honest men to legislative, executive and judicial office, we shall have
-a cure at once. We need a remedy, not a poison.
-
-Those who urge the introduction of the initiative, the referendum
-and the recall base their argument on the ground that some of our
-legislators and elective officers are incompetent or dishonest, and
-that, therefore, the people should reserve the right to control
-their actions and remove them. But if our legislators or other
-elective officers are incompetent or dishonest--if they are not
-truly representative of the people who elect them--then obviously
-the fault lies with those who choose them, and the remedy is to
-take such measures as will ensure the election of competent, honest
-and representative men. If the people are now too busy to concern
-themselves with the selection of honest and capable representatives,
-is it reasonable to expect that they will concern themselves about the
-merits of hundreds of statutes which they do not half understand, or
-about the qualifications of the officers they have elected and would
-recall? The fault is not with our representative system of government,
-but either with the party organizations that often nominate incompetent
-or dishonest men, or with the voters who tolerate such nominations
-and elect such candidates. Our system of government, as every system
-of free government, is based on the assumption that the people will
-conscientiously exercise the elective franchise, and unless we can
-depend upon an honest, sober-minded and patriotic majority to exercise
-that franchise, our system of government must ultimately prove a
-complete failure. The conscientious exercise of the elective franchise
-is not merely a privilege--it is the highest duty of citizenship.
-With the great increase in population, political parties and party
-organizations undoubtedly have become a practical necessity, and
-leadership is equally necessary; but it has also become indispensable
-that these party organizations shall be conducted honestly so as to
-represent truly the wishes of their party constituents. The urgent
-duty of citizenship is to see to it that these party organizations are
-conducted honestly and in a representative manner; but this is not to
-be accomplished by disrupting or destroying the great parties. Instead
-of pulling down the temple, we should drive out the money-changers.
-Instead of killing we should cure. What we urgently need is legislation
-providing for fair and honest party primaries and facilitating
-independent candidacies, and then we should go farther and impose a
-penalty or tax upon all qualified citizens who fail to cast a ballot at
-the annual primaries and elections prescribed by law.
-
-The initiative, the referendum and the recall would not cure present
-evils, but would in fact only intensify and perpetuate them. The power
-and control of unrepresentative and irresponsible party machines would
-be largely increased instead of being curtailed. Better men would not
-be nominated and elected, but quite the contrary; the self-seeker,
-advertiser and manipulator alone would be nominated. The exercise of
-the initiative, the referendum and the recall would be determined by
-exactly the same people who now control our nominations and elections.
-It is absurd to suppose that the very men who so often choose incapable
-or dishonest representatives or neglect to vote at all would exercise
-greater efficiency in supervising legislation, in recalling public
-officers and judges, or in setting aside judicial decisions.
-
-Equally absurd is the idea of legislation by popular vote. The
-importance of framing laws and constitutional amendments in clear and
-exact language and the impracticability of doing so without careful
-consideration and discussion and comparison with existing provisions,
-as in legislative committees, must be recognized by all thinking men.
-Our system of laws is becoming more and more complex every year, and
-unavoidably so. The people at large cannot be expected to know and
-understand a great and extremely complex system of laws, and it is
-no reflection on them to say that they cannot grasp the details of
-legislation any more than it would be to say that there are few men
-in the community competent to administer as judges the unavoidably
-intricate system of laws under which we live.
-
-We have only to look at recent experience in the state of New York
-in regard to the adoption of constitutional amendments, the most
-important function that can be exercised by a voter, to appreciate the
-folly of the proposed remedies. The total vote for and against these
-amendments has frequently been less than one-half--and at times barely
-one-quarter--of those who actually voted at general elections. Thus,
-to take three recent experiences: the total vote cast in 1909 on an
-important constitutional amendment was only 477,105 as against a total
-vote the year before of 1,638,350; the total vote in 1910 on another
-important constitutional amendment was 664,892 as against 1,445,249
-votes for the gubernatorial candidates, and seven amendments submitted
-in 1911 were defeated with an average total vote of 621,678. Similar
-and even more striking experiences will be found in other states. Is
-it likely that there would be a fuller or more representative and
-intelligent expression of public understanding in regard to complex
-legislative enactments, or in regard to the recall of judges or other
-public officers, or of judicial decisions than we find now in the case
-of important constitutional amendments?
-
-To render judges subject to recall would be utterly destructive of
-the character and independence of our judiciary. No self-respecting
-lawyer would serve on the bench under such conditions. An upright
-judge should fearlessly declare and enforce the law without regard
-to popular agitation or political pressure. Frequently he is called
-upon to decide between the individual on the one side and a clamorous
-majority on the other side of a case before him. Take, for example,
-our situation in New York with Tammany Hall controlling a majority of
-the voters of the city. The legislature at the dictation of Mr. Murphy
-passes another infamous Levy Election Law avowedly intended to prevent
-independent nominations even for the bench. The judges declare the act
-unconstitutional and protect the minority in their rights, just as we
-saw them protecting the Progressives a few weeks ago. According to Mr.
-Roosevelt and Mr. Straus, however, Tammany Hall should have the power
-to punish these judges by recalling them and should have the right to
-pass such disgraceful and tyrannical legislation by resort to the
-initiative and the referendum! Indeed, it is impossible to conceive
-of a scheme more surely calculated to shatter all our constitutional
-rights, as well as all certainty in the law. Chief Justice Marshall
-would have been repeatedly recalled for unpopular decisions which
-are now universally applauded even by the Progressives. Imagine the
-spectacle of recalling a Cullen or a Gray because he had dared to
-decide against the clamor or wishes of a majority controlled by Tammany
-Hall!
-
-I have nowhere seen a stronger statement of the objections to the
-recall of judges than in John Stuart Mill's work on "Representative
-Government," published in 1861, where he said: "If a judge could
-be removed from office by a popular vote, whoever was desirous of
-supplanting him would make capital for that purpose out of all his
-judicial decisions; would carry all of them, as far as he found
-practicable, by irregular appeal before a public opinion wholly
-incompetent, for want of having heard the case, or from having heard
-it without either the precautions or the impartiality belonging to
-a judicial hearing; would play upon popular passion and prejudice
-where they existed, and take pains to arouse them where they did not.
-And in this, if the case were interesting, and he took sufficient
-trouble, he would infallibly be successful, unless the judge or his
-friends descended into the arena, and made equally powerful appeals on
-the other side. Judges would end by feeling that they risked their
-office upon every decision they gave in a case susceptible of general
-interest, and that it was less essential for them to consider what
-decision was just, than what would be most applauded by the public, or
-would least admit of insidious misrepresentation."
-
-Probably no more crude, impracticable, or absurd scheme was ever
-proposed by any one claiming to have the first and elemental ideas
-of American constitutional government than the proposition to render
-subject to recall or reversal by a majority vote all decisions in
-constitutional cases affecting statutes passed under the police power.
-The term "police power" is the most comprehensive that could have been
-employed. Most of our individual rights are covered by that term; and
-when the Progressives say that a statute passed under the police power
-shall be valid and enforceable, notwithstanding the courts may declare
-it to be arbitrary, unjust and unequal and hence unconstitutional,
-if a temporary majority see fit to overrule the courts, they
-propose that practically all the most vital and cherished of our
-supposed inalienable individual rights--our personal and religious
-liberty--shall in final result be at the mercy of any temporary
-majority. In ultimate analysis, the proposition for the recall of
-judicial decisions would mean that the majority should act as umpire in
-any dispute as between themselves and the minority.
-
-The hatred of the courts which the Progressives now share in common
-with the Socialists, Anarchists and Populists, and that part of
-organized labor and labor unions typified and represented by such men
-as the McNamaras, the Debses and the Parks (who in truth shamefully
-misrepresent the great majority of law-abiding and patriotic members
-of these organizations), has forced into this campaign an unparalleled
-attack upon our judicial system and the administration of justice.
-
-When the New York state Progressive platform was first given to the
-press on September 3rd, the judiciary plank read as follows: "We
-heartily indorse the declarations of our national platform respecting
-the judiciary and favor their embodiment in the organic law of the
-state. We condemn the past attitude of the New York Court of Appeals
-toward various important and humane measures of social legislation."
-
-The unprecedented indecency of this attack upon the Court of Appeals
-immediately produced such a storm of indignation throughout the
-state that the clause appears later to have been amended so as to
-eliminate that sentence. The final form given to the public omits this
-denunciation of the highest court of our state, and confines the plank
-to the proposals of the national platform. I have time now to discuss
-only two of these planks.
-
-The Progressives declare in their extraordinary and revolutionary
-platform: "We believe that the issuance of injunctions in cases arising
-out of labor disputes should be prohibited, when such injunctions would
-not apply when no labor disputes existed." This should be compared
-with substantially the same declaration in the Bryan platform of 1908,
-in which the Democratic party declared: "We deem ... that injunctions
-should not be issued in any cases in which injunctions would not issue
-if no industrial dispute were involved."
-
-It must seem incredible that the cultured and talented man who now
-stands on the Progressive platform soliciting the votes of the people
-was the President of the United States who in a formal message to
-Congress on January 31, 1908, on the subject of injunctions in labor
-disputes, used the following language: "Even though it were possible,
-I should consider it most unwise to abolish the use of the process
-of injunction. It is necessary in order that the courts may maintain
-their own dignity, and in order that they may in an effective manner
-check disorder and violence. The judge who uses it cautiously and
-conservatively, but who, when the need arises, uses it fearlessly,
-confers the greatest service upon our people, and his pre-eminent
-usefulness as a public servant should be heartily recognized."
-
-During the campaign of 1908, President Roosevelt fiercely denounced
-Mr. Bryan and Mr. Gompers for the plank above quoted but which he
-has now adopted. He then wrote a long letter to Senator Knox in
-which he exposed the danger and dishonesty of this plank. It would
-be necessary to read the whole of the letter in order to appreciate
-President Roosevelt's indignation and horror that Bryan and Gompers
-should favor such a proposition. I shall quote only a few sentences as
-samples of the whole. President Roosevelt then wrote as follows: "This
-is the plank that promises the 'remedy' against injunctions which Mr.
-Gompers asked of Mr. Bryan's party. In actual fact, it means absolutely
-nothing; no change of the law could be based on it; no man without
-inside knowledge could foretell what its meaning would turn out to be,
-for no man could foretell how any judge would decide in any given case,
-as the plank apparently leaves each judge free to say when he issues
-an injunction in a labor case whether or not it is a case in which an
-injunction would issue if labor were not involved." Later the President
-continued: "Mr. Gompers, now Mr. Bryan's open and avowed ally, has,
-in the letter here quoted, attacked the federal courts in unmeasured
-terms of reproach because, by a long line of decisions, the equity
-courts have refused to make an outlaw of the business man, because his
-right to carry on a lawful business under the peace of the law has
-been protected by the process of injunction, because in a word one of
-the most vital and most fundamental rights of the business world--the
-right of a business man to carry on his business--has been sustained
-and not denied by the processes of the courts of equity. This sweeping
-attack of Mr. Gompers upon the judiciary has been made in a frank and
-open effort to secure votes for Mr. Bryan." Mr. Roosevelt concluded the
-letter as follows: "But there is another account against Messrs. Bryan
-and Gompers in this matter. Ephraim feedeth on wind. Their proposed
-remedy is an empty sham. They are seeking to delude their followers by
-the promise of a law which would damage their country solely because
-of the vicious moral purpose that would be shown by putting it upon
-the statute books, but which would be utterly worthless to accomplish
-its avowed purpose. I have not the slightest doubt that such a law as
-that proposed by Mr. Bryan would, if enacted by Congress, be declared
-unconstitutional by a unanimous Supreme Court, unless, indeed, Mr.
-Bryan were able to pack this court with men appointed for the special
-purpose of declaring such a law constitutional."
-
-The Progressive plank against the power of the courts to punish for
-contempt is equally revolutionary. It declares in favor of depriving
-the courts of the power to punish for contempt except after a trial by
-jury.
-
-The crusade to deprive the courts of the power to punish for contempt
-began at the time of the Chicago strike of 1894 when Eugene Debs and
-his fellow-conspirators were found to be guilty of open, continued and
-defiant disobedience of an injunction order of the United States court
-which had been duly served upon them. It will be recalled by most of
-you that if the courts had not then had power to punish for contempt
-without a prior conviction by a jury--and imagine the chance of an
-impartial jury-trial during the continuance of a great riot--the Debs
-party would have had the city of Chicago and the great railway commerce
-passing through it completely at its mercy. All who want to know the
-facts and to realize the danger from the condition of affairs then
-existing should read Mr. Cleveland's account of the strike in his book
-on "Presidential Problems," published in 1904, and the opinion of the
-Supreme Court of the United States unanimously upholding the punishment
-of Debs and his associates for contempt.
-
-The power of the courts to punish for contempt has, from the earliest
-history of jurisprudence and as far back as the annals of our law
-extend, "been regarded as a necessary incident and attribute of a
-court, without which it could no more exist than without a judge," and
-"a court without the power effectually to protect itself against the
-assaults of the lawless or to enforce its orders, judgments, or decrees
-against the recusant parties before it, would be a disgrace to the
-legislature, and a stigma upon the age which invented it." The Supreme
-Court of the United States declared in the Debs case that "this is
-no technical rule. In order that a court may compel obedience to its
-orders it must have the right to inquire whether there has been any
-disobedience thereof. To submit the question of disobedience to another
-tribunal, be it a jury or another court, would operate to deprive the
-proceeding of half its efficiency."[63]
-
-The bait now offered to the lawless and misguided among the laborers
-of America by Mr. Roosevelt is the abolition of the only effective
-means of preventing violence and the destruction of property in labor
-disputes, first, by taking away from the courts the power to issue
-injunctions and, secondly, by emasculating the power to enforce
-obedience to their orders and judgments. Of course, if any such
-revolutionary and anarchistic measures were now embodied in the organic
-law of this state, as proposed by the Progressive state platform,
-the community would be placed completely at the mercy of the violent
-and the lawless. Is it not lamentable and humiliating to see an
-ex-President of the United States and an ex-member of his cabinet and
-ex-ambassador thus pandering to the mob spirit for votes?
-
-In conclusion, I want to add that the American people know where
-President Taft and Vice-President Sherman stand on every great question
-before the people. They have been tried and not found wanting. These
-candidates can be trusted and relied upon to keep every pledge of their
-party's platform. If anybody can now tell where Governor Wilson stands,
-except as a free trader, a radical and an opportunist, he is much
-more discerning than most of us are. The glory of our party is that
-for fifty-six years, in victory and in defeat, it and its candidates
-have stood consistently and uncompromisingly for the principles of
-human liberty and human progress. It is still the party of principle
-and of progress, as it is the party of protection for American labor
-and industry. President Taft would be entitled to the gratitude of
-the whole nation, irrespective of party, if the only service of
-his administration had been his attempt in good faith to withdraw
-the tariff from party politics, to introduce some system in fixing
-the amount of necessary protection to be determined by experts and
-non-partisan boards, and to establish business-like methods of economy
-and efficiency in every department. Great honor, too, will the future
-historian record to his credit when recounting that in a period of
-political upheaval, of social unrest and discontent, of impatience with
-law, of pandering to revolutionary instincts, he stood as President of
-the United States firmly, uncompromisingly and sturdily for the right,
-and put all his trust and confidence in the sober second thought and
-profound patriotism of the American people, in their attachment to law
-and orderly progress, and in their determination that the American
-system of constitutional representative government "shall not perish
-from the earth."
-
-FOOTNOTES:
-
-[Footnote 62: Address as temporary chairman of the New York Republican
-State Convention, at Saratoga Springs, September 25, 1912.]
-
-[Footnote 63: 158 United States Reports, p. 594-595.]
-
-
-
-
-NOMINATING CONVENTIONS[64]
-
-
-The Direct Primary Law of 1911[65] abolished all political conventions
-except the state convention, but the Direct Primary Law of 1913[66]
-went further and abolished the state convention, striking the article
-on conventions and even the definition of a convention from the text
-of the law. Although the new law contains in section 45 a provision
-that nothing therein contained shall prevent a party from holding
-a party convention, to be constituted in such manner and with such
-powers in relation to formulating party platforms and policies and
-the transaction of business relating to party affairs, as the rules
-and regulations of the party may provide, not inconsistent with the
-Election Law, it was clearly the intention of its framers that such
-party conventions should not deal with the most important subject
-which parties had theretofore dealt with, namely, the nomination
-of candidates for public office. Indeed, section 46, as amended in
-1913, expressly provides that designations of candidates for party
-nominations shall be "by petition only" in the manner provided in the
-Election Law.
-
-The privilege of nominating elective state officers by means of
-delegate conventions thus denied by the Election Law of the state
-of New York ought, in my judgment, to be recognized as essentially
-a constitutional right, which the legislature should not be at
-liberty to abridge. The right to assemble peaceably for the purpose
-of nominating candidates is certainly a political right of permanent
-importance and vital concern to all citizens, and it should be
-guaranteed by constitutional provision and not left to abridgment or
-denial by the legislature. The present state constitution regulates
-the qualifications of voters, the registration of citizens entitled to
-vote, and the creation of registration and election boards. But it does
-not contain a single provision in regard to nominations for office,
-even for the office of governor, although nominations for state offices
-are of far greater importance to the body politic than many of the
-matters now regulated by constitutional provision or recited in the
-bill of rights. I desire to urge upon your careful consideration the
-value of nominating conventions as a constitutional right.
-
-The constantly increasing functions of the modern state have made
-the executive and administrative departments the most important and
-powerful branches of government, and the increasing complexity of
-governmental machinery has rendered it absolutely essential that
-competent and trained public officials should be chosen. Government
-has become an extremely difficult and scientific business, and special
-capacity, training and expert knowledge are more and more required
-in executive and administrative office. The test of a good government
-is more than ever its ability to produce good administration. If we
-are to have efficient and avoid wasteful administration, the greatest
-care must be exercised in selecting candidates. As Governor Throop
-said nearly a century ago, "there is perhaps no part of the duties
-of citizenship which requires more sound judgment and honesty and
-singleness of purpose than those relating to the nomination and
-election of executive and administrative officers." Indeed, good
-government depends in final results much more on the ability and
-character of the men who administer it than upon laws or institutions.
-The maxim, constantly on the lips of so many, that a government of
-laws and not of men is the controlling desideratum, may be grossly
-misleading, for the best system of laws in the hands of incompetent,
-inefficient and dishonest administrators will produce far worse results
-than an inferior system in the hands of competent, efficient and honest
-public officials. The most difficult task and the highest duty that our
-electorate are ever called upon to perform is, therefore, the selection
-of candidates for elective state office. In order to perform that duty,
-it is imperative that there should be adequate and reliable means
-of information, full opportunity for conference, exchange of views,
-debate and criticism as to the capacity and character of candidates,
-and effective methods of cooperation and organization in support of
-qualified candidates.
-
-The selection of a governor for the great state of New York,
-containing more than 10,250,000 inhabitants and comprising a political
-constituency larger than any other in this country, is certainly a
-matter of vital and profound concern to the whole body politic, to
-every citizen, to every community, to every party, to every class, to
-every interest. If the short ballot be now adopted, the successful
-administration of the whole state government will practically be staked
-upon the selection of qualified candidates for governor. All hope of
-governmental reform, efficiency and economy will then necessarily
-depend upon the statesmanship and character of one man, who will be
-vested with full executive and administrative powers over a population
-and a territory larger than some of the nations of the world. A wise
-and safe choice will be infinitely more essential and more difficult
-than in the past. In fact, if the views of certain advocates of the
-short ballot prevail, we are to vest all this power in the governor for
-a term of four years, without restraint of any kind except his sense
-of responsibility to the people, and without any effective check upon
-his will or caprice. We should have to trust him absolutely. We should,
-in truth, have precisely the definition of an elective despotism and
-tyranny--beneficent if we are so fortunate and blessed as to secure an
-exceptionally able and high-minded statesman for governor, baneful if
-an incompetent, untrained, or scheming politician or demagogue should
-be elected. The governor would then have it immediately within his
-power to become an absolute state boss through the use of an enormous
-and constantly increasing patronage, directly or indirectly reaching
-and touching every election district in the state. He would be able to
-break party lines asunder, to promote the interests of any group or
-faction, to punish adversaries, to cater to any class, to sacrifice
-the rights of minorities, to substitute his will or caprice for the
-policy of his party, to permit waste and extravagance, to dictate who
-should be his successor. A competent candidate for governor who would
-be so well known and tested as to be safely relied upon to resist this
-temptation would indeed be a phenomenon. If history teaches us that
-there is anything certain in human nature, if experience, which is of
-far more value than any mere reasoning or theorizing, has again and
-again demonstrated any practical and eternal truth in politics, it is
-that unrestrained power inevitably leads sooner or later to abuse and
-tyranny, and that no one official, be he emperor, king, president, or
-governor, can safely be entrusted with any such power.
-
-We should bear in mind that the extreme advocates of the short ballot,
-by eliminating all requirements for the approval and consent of the
-senate in regard to the appointment of heads of the great state
-departments, would make the governor supreme and independent of the
-legislature, even more independent and powerful than is the President
-under the Constitution of the United States. I sincerely hope that
-the Convention will not make this grave mistake. The number of state
-elective officers should not be reduced to less than four, namely,
-governor, lieutenant-governor, comptroller and attorney-general. The
-comptroller should be made an auditing officer charged with supervision
-as such over the various departments of the state and independent of
-the appointing power. The attorney-general should be made the head of a
-department of justice and the responsible legal adviser of the governor
-and of every state official. And the heads of all the great departments
-should be appointed by the governor with the approval and consent of
-the senate. No governor should be given the unrestrained power to
-appoint or to remove the heads of all departments. The requirement of
-the consent of the senate is a necessary and salutary restraint upon
-all governors, good or bad. It is better and safer that governors
-should be compelled to submit to some restraints than that absolute
-power should be vested in even the best and ablest and purest of men.
-The principle of a short ballot is the decrease of elective offices,
-but not necessarily the placing of absolute and unrestrained power in
-the hands of one man.
-
-It is quite true that a state constitution should deal only with
-permanent and fundamental provisions and should not attempt to regulate
-matters of detail which can be adequately dealt with by ordinary
-legislation and which are in their nature and operation readily
-changeable. I am in full accord in this, as in other respects, with
-the state platform adopted by the Republican party last year and on
-which the Republican delegates to the Constitutional Convention were
-elected. Subordinate and non-essential matters of mere regulation
-and detail ought not to be embodied in constitutions. But I venture
-to assert that in reason and sound policy there can be no more
-important, permanent, or fundamental constitutional provision than
-one relating to the manner of selecting the highest state officers
-in whom all the executive and administrative powers of our state
-government are to be vested. This is a subject eminently fit and
-proper for a constitution to regulate. If this convention cannot
-solve the problem of establishing a sound system of nomination for
-elective state offices, at least in outline and cardinal features,
-no legislature can be expected to do so. In any event, the new
-Constitution should emphatically declare that the right peaceably to
-assemble in a political convention composed of duly elected delegates
-or representatives for the purpose of nominating candidates for public
-office, state or local, should not be abridged, as it is abridged by
-the present Election Law.
-
-I further venture to assert that the question of nominating candidates
-by delegate conventions involves in its essence the perpetuation of
-the fundamental principles of representative government and of the
-republican form of government which the founders intended to establish
-and to guarantee to each state of the Union.
-
-The one great contribution which the English-speaking race has made
-to the science of politics has been the representative principle. It
-has been truly declared that every lasting liberty secured for the
-individual, every lasting reform towards stability in government and
-permanent effectiveness in administration, every lasting advancement
-made in politics during the past two centuries, has been by and through
-the representative system. The subordination of public officials to the
-law, and their liability under the law for every illegal act, sprang
-from the representative principle. The independence of the judiciary,
-that great bulwark of liberty and of the rights of the individual, has
-followed upon the growth and success of the representative principle.
-The vivifying spirit or essence of the representative principle is the
-determination of all questions of practical government by delegates or
-representatives chosen by the people, who it is assumed can act more
-intelligently and better discern the true interests of their country
-than a multitude of voters dispersed over an extensive territory.
-Government under the representative principle includes not merely
-legislation by the chosen representatives of the people, but the
-practical conduct of the executive department and its administrative
-branches by officials selected or nominated by representatives of the
-people. Despite all attacks upon our political institutions and all
-instances of mistakes and maladministration, the sound common sense of
-thoughtful citizens still confirms the judgment of the founders of our
-government that the only safe course is to follow the representative
-principle. This is as true to-day as it was when the "Federalist" was
-written. The direct nomination of executive or judicial officers is in
-utter disregard of that principle.
-
-If the function of legislation is in the long run most satisfactorily
-performed by a representative body composed of men from every locality
-and every part of a state, and if it would be unsafe to vest the
-lawmaking power in the executive branch, does it not likewise follow
-that the equally important function of selecting candidates for
-executive and judicial office and formulating party policies and
-platforms will be better performed by a representative body, such as
-delegate conventions, than by being left to the mass of voters? If
-more intelligent legislation and wiser action are likely to result
-from a representative body than from the confusion of a multitude of
-voters, is it not also evident that more intelligent and discriminating
-selection of executive officers will be made by chosen representatives,
-as in nominating conventions, than by the people at large?
-
-It should be borne in mind that our system of republican government
-differs from other representative governments in the practical
-and effective separation of powers. In England and in France the
-legislators, that is the delegates or representatives elected by the
-people, appoint and control all executive and administrative officers
-and carry on the executive and administrative branches of government.
-There the legislative and executive powers are practically united
-in the same body. Under our system the legislators do not elect or
-appoint executive officers. It is, therefore, essential, as I am
-profoundly convinced, that executive officers should be nominated by
-duly qualified representatives if the representative principle is to be
-maintained.
-
-Nomination of executive officers by direct primaries will inevitably
-be subversive of the true spirit of the representative system, and the
-secrecy of the vote in the nominating primaries will ultimately be
-destructive of all sense of responsibility. The enrolled voter marking
-his ballot in secret will frequently feel no sense of responsibility
-or accountability to his neighbors and fellow-citizens, and will
-frequently fail to appreciate that his vote is a sacred trust to be
-exercised for the good of the community. The secrecy of the primary
-vote thus does a great moral mischief in destroying the sense of
-political responsibility and accountability. A public declaration
-in connection with nominations for office, involving as it does a
-recommendation to other voters of fitness and qualification for the
-particular office, is a much more effective restraint on corruption
-and perversion of the popular vote than any scheme of secrecy which
-leaves no one publicly responsible for unfit and improper nominations.
-In my judgment, the primary system tends to promote the nomination
-of self-advertisers, demagogues and wire-pullers by irresponsible
-minorities, groups, factions, cabals, or secret societies, generally
-composed of persons acting in the dark and dominated or controlled by
-leaders who cannot be held to any accountability, however much they may
-abuse or prostitute the political power they exercise.
-
-The nomination of candidates for public office, whether national,
-state, or local, by means of party conventions, caucuses, or
-conferences, was introduced and long existed without any statutory
-regulation. The practice sprang up normally and from necessity as soon
-as the increase of population rendered it impracticable for the voters
-to come together in mass or town meeting. The body of voters, who could
-not spend the time necessary to investigate as to the qualifications
-of candidates, or attend political debates, and who could know little
-or nothing of the competency and character of candidates, naturally
-recognized that the best and safest course would be to elect delegates
-or representatives from each neighborhood, who, meeting delegates or
-representatives from other districts, could exchange views, criticize,
-discuss and agree upon policies and nominations, and thus act more
-intelligently, advisedly and wisely than would otherwise be possible.
-
-The growth of constituencies, the multiplication of elective offices,
-and the neglect of their political duties by the majority of electors
-led to many abuses in the management of nominating conventions, and
-legislation became necessary in order to prevent frauds in connection
-with the conduct of primaries and conventions. In promoting this
-legislation, it was argued that, if citizens were assured the right
-to be enrolled in the party to which they desired to belong and to
-vote at primaries and freely to exercise their choice for delegates to
-conventions, they would be stimulated to take part in the primaries,
-and that this would result in preventing party nominations for office
-from being controlled by those who made politics their business or
-used improper or corrupt methods. Hence the primary reform measures
-introduced by legislation in our state in the nineties.
-
-These measures, however, proved to be sadly disappointing to many of
-their promoters. This was not because the statutes were in themselves
-defective or inadequate, but because it was found to be impossible
-by mere legislative enactment to induce a majority of the electors
-to enroll in their parties or to take any active part or interest in
-politics. Although under these primary laws the nominating conventions
-could at any time have been readily controlled by the electorate at
-large, had the voters only taken the trouble to enroll and vote at the
-primaries, great dissatisfaction arose or was fomented or manufactured,
-and a demand created for the total abolition of the convention and
-the introduction of the experiment of a direct primary system, upon
-the notion that this would stimulate greater political interest,
-enable the enrolled voters to control and elect their own candidates,
-bring nominations closer to the people, and curtail and ultimately
-destroy the power of the politicians and bosses. The new experiment
-was based upon the assumption that if enrolled electors could vote
-directly for candidates instead of for representatives to nominating
-conventions, they would thereby be induced to take a more active
-interest in politics, to overthrow the control or domination of bosses
-and professional politicians, and to make better selections than had
-ever been made before. In a word, it was assumed in the face of all
-experience to the contrary that, if the voters had the direct power,
-they would perform their political duties, that better qualified and
-more competent and independent candidates would offer themselves or
-somehow would be brought to the attention of the electorate, and that
-nominations would then represent the will or choice of the majority in
-each party, and not the will of minorities, or the choice of bosses.
-How the majority were to ascertain the qualifications of particular
-candidates or cooperate to secure the nomination of the best qualified
-was left in the air. It seemed to be thought, following the absurd
-and exploded doctrines of Rousseau, that the people would always want
-and, by a process of political inspiration, would intuitively and
-instinctively select, the best men for public office.
-
-The result so far has refuted all these assumptions, hopes and
-promises. The people at large do not take part in the primaries, and
-the political machines are more powerful than ever. Thus, in New York
-county, the Republican vote for governor at the direct primaries of
-1914 was only 23,305, out of a total enrollment of 56,108 and a vote in
-November of 85,478; the Democratic primary vote was only 48,673 out
-of a total enrollment of 132,693 and a vote in November of 90,666, and
-the Progressive primary vote was only 6,972 out of a total enrollment
-of 19,705 and a vote in November of 5,604. It will be readily perceived
-from these figures that a small minority of the voters in each party
-took the trouble to participate in the direct primary elections,
-even in the case of the nomination for governor of our state, as to
-which there was an exciting contest in each party. An examination of
-the figures throughout the entire state will show that the voters in
-nearly all districts took less interest in direct primary elections for
-nominations than they were accustomed to take under the old convention
-system and that the controlling power is still being exercised by the
-organization, but now acting in secret and utterly irresponsible. For
-example, the Republican primary vote for governor in Bronx county was
-5,276 against a Republican vote of 29,865 in November, and in Richmond
-county the Republican primary vote for governor was 984 against a
-Republican vote of 5,477 in November. It is probably correct to assume
-that not one-half of the Republican or Democratic voters now enroll,
-and that, on an average, less than one-half of the enrolled voters
-take the trouble to go to the primaries, even when there is a serious
-contest, as was the case last year for governor. There were then
-three proposed Republican candidates, Whitman, Hedges and Hinman, and
-the result was that less than one-sixth of the Republican vote in
-November might have been sufficient to carry the primaries, the total
-Republican vote for governor having been 686,701 as against a total
-primary vote of 226,037 for the three candidates. Under the present
-direct primaries, the voters of a small portion of the state can put a
-candidate in nomination by petition; any number of names may be put on
-the official primary ballot, and a candidate may be put in nomination
-by a very small minority vote confined to a single locality. In fact,
-twenty or more names can be placed by petition on the official primary
-ballot of any party as candidates for any elective office, and the
-name of the person receiving the largest number of votes will be
-that of the candidate of a great party, to whose support the party
-will be committed and for whose conduct in office the party will be
-responsible, although the successful candidate may be entirely unknown
-to nineteen-twentieths of the voters at that particular primary. Under
-the present primary system, in view of the small number of those
-participating in primaries, an insignificant percentage of the voters
-at a primary could nominate a candidate of whose qualifications and
-personal character the majority of the party were wholly ignorant, or a
-candidate whom an overwhelming majority would utterly repudiate. Sulzer
-came very near carrying the direct primary of the Progressive party.
-This shows how readily the direct primary system engenders factions
-and irresponsibility, and how unfit it is for securing the expression
-of the intelligent and instructed will of the majority of any party.
-Moreover, there is no way of ascertaining for whom petitions are being
-circulated; no publicity is required even after the time for filing
-petitions, and the great majority of enrolled voters generally have no
-idea of the candidates for office on the official primary ballot until
-they open the official ballots at their polling-places. The press is
-either uninterested or partisan, and it fails adequately to discuss the
-qualifications and character of candidates.
-
-I submit that it is absurd to claim that such a method of nominating
-state officers to administer government for a population of over
-10,000,000 is more likely to secure competent and trustworthy
-candidates, or to express the real preference and the sober and
-intelligent judgment of the majority of the voters of each party, than
-the old method of nominating state officers by public conventions
-composed of delegates and representatives of the voters from each
-assembly or election district of the state, proceeding in the open with
-full opportunity for investigation, discussion and criticism.
-
-The conventions of the two great political parties held at Saratoga
-last year, at which the party platforms in respect of the approaching
-Constitutional Convention were adopted and fifteen delegates-at-large
-"recommended," were wholly unofficial and unregulated by law. What
-was practically the nomination by the conventions of candidates for
-delegates-at-large was unauthorized and operated only as a mere
-recommendation. They had to be nominated by petition as fully as
-if the conventions had never met. These conventions thus nominated
-delegates because they realized, and every thinking man in the state
-appreciated, that it would be preposterous to leave the selection and
-nomination of fifteen delegates-at-large to the mass of enrolled voters
-who would have no opportunity for conference and exchange of views in
-respect of the qualifications and character of the candidates. Some
-informed, responsible and representative body of men had to act, and
-therefore the conventions acted--in the very teeth of the law. They,
-however, refrained from considering candidates for the great office
-of governor, on the theory that it would be violating the spirit and
-intent of the Election Law to take any action in regard to candidates
-for that office! What inconsistency! The most important and vital
-subject of the governorship was left to the hazard of petitions
-circulated among the enrolled voters throughout the state. There were
-no organizations of any kind among the voters, except what are known as
-the political organizations, and no other means of communication and
-exchange of views or debate. Of course, it was confidently anticipated
-that the organization in each party would determine, or at least would
-have it within its power to determine, who should be the candidates of
-that party. Such proved to be the case. No candidate was nominated at
-the direct primaries for a state office unless he was supported by the
-regular organization or machine of his party. And that, I believe, will
-be the practical result of direct primaries in nine cases out of ten,
-and more readily and frequently and unsatisfactorily than under the old
-convention system.
-
-Careful observers of the operation of the primary law last year in this
-state, and for several years in other states, have become convinced
-that the result of this so-called reform has been not only to increase
-the power of the regular organization or machine but to render it
-utterly irresponsible. The organization now acts in secret behind
-closed doors and without accountability to any one except its own
-inner circle. The leaders have only to whisper their orders over the
-telephone to the workers in each district, preserving no record, and
-the desired result is accomplished. If an unfit and improper nomination
-is made, the leaders can disclaim all responsibility and say that
-such is the will of the sovereign people. As the vote at the primary
-is secret, no one can be blamed; there is no individual or group of
-individuals upon whom responsibility can ever be fastened. If it be
-argued that there is actual responsibility and that everyone knows
-it, then I answer that this is only by admitting that, after all, the
-secret machine or boss is in fact responsible and still rules, and now
-more effectively than ever.
-
-As has been pointed out by many able writers, the convention system in
-the past has been of inestimable service to this country. With all its
-vagaries, it afforded the highest test of a political representative
-institution in a democratic community and the soundest and purest
-application of the principle of representation or delegated authority;
-it operated to bind party elements firmly together; it afforded
-full opportunity for exchange of views, criticism and debate, for
-the propagation of principles, for the conciliation of factions;
-it inspired enthusiastic party life. The convention, if honestly
-conducted, was a thoroughly representative and deliberative body, and
-it was the true cause of party success and of the maintenance and
-perpetuation of party principles and policies, as well as political
-faith and devotion. In a word, the convention was and still is the best
-instrument ever devised for securing concert of choice and responsible
-and intelligent action by large bodies of voters belonging to the same
-political party and believing in the same political faith, principles
-and policies.
-
-I am not at all blind to the fact that there have been great abuses
-in the convention system, and that conventions have been at times
-corruptly organized or conducted. But I know of no form of abuse or
-corruption which could not have been remedied by appropriate and
-intelligent legislation, or which could not have been prevented in New
-York by action of the voters if the legislation of the past twenty-five
-years had been generally availed of by the majority in each party.
-The control of all nominations was in the hands of the majority, if
-they had only taken the trouble to enroll and vote for competent
-representatives at primary elections. There is no practical remedy for
-abuse of power, fraud, or corruption in nominations for office but
-the participation in politics of all voters as a duty of citizenship.
-The notion that the direct primary would eliminate the professional
-politician and the boss has been shown to be false in every state
-where the scheme has been tried. Indeed, quite the contrary has been
-the result, and the last condition is worse than the first; for, to
-repeat myself, manipulators, wire-pullers and political bosses now
-work in secret and by underground channels without any responsibility
-or accountability whatever, and are, nevertheless, able cynically to
-point to the direct primary as the expression of the people's sovereign
-will--a primary which may be carried by a very small minority of the
-party.
-
-I assume that all the members of this Constitutional Convention believe
-that the existence of political parties is essential to the success
-of free government and to permanence and stability of political
-policy, and that the perpetuation of party government is desirable
-for the welfare and best interests of this state. Men cannot secure
-results and compass their ends in politics, any more than in most
-other human concerns and matters requiring concerted action, except by
-organization, cooperation, discipline and responsibility. The value
-of the service rendered to the American people by the great political
-parties is incalculable, and if these parties are to be disrupted
-and their organization and cohesiveness undermined, the result must
-inevitably be a most serious injury to the body politic. Whether we
-regard political parties, on the one hand, as organizations of men
-believing in the same political faith, principles and policies and
-uniting to introduce or uphold those principles and policies, or, on
-the other hand, merely as organizations to secure office and administer
-government--both of which aspects present patriotic motives--it is
-desirable for the permanent welfare of the people of every free country
-that parties should be maintained, and particularly that there should
-be two great responsible parties, each striving for control and ready
-to assume the responsibility of government and of the adoption of
-particular measures. A public official who belongs to a great political
-party and owes his preferment to that party is under a double sense
-of responsibility for efficiency, honesty and consistency in public
-office. He has a sense of responsibility and duty to the state as a
-whole, and he has a sense of responsibility and duty to his party, and
-both are moral factors of inestimable worth in securing integrity,
-efficiency and industry in public office.
-
-In its real origin, the movement to abolish the convention system
-and introduce direct nominating primaries sprang not from any hope
-of reforming the existing political parties but from a desire to
-subvert and destroy the American system of government by political
-parties. The scheme was later taken up by men who sincerely desired to
-reform party management and correct party abuses, who conscientiously
-despaired of reform within the parties themselves, and who conceived
-and finally came to believe that betterment could be brought about only
-by uprooting and casting aside all the party machinery, organization
-and discipline which had been built up by the practical experience of
-over a century. The plea of bringing the government back to the people
-was catching and plausible, and it found eager response in the deeply
-rooted dislike of party machinery, party discipline and party constancy
-on the part of those who habitually neglect all attention to politics
-and the political duties of citizenship except during periods of
-popular excitement and upheaval.
-
-Although I am one of those who believe in independence in politics
-and in the right and duty of every citizen to vote against his party
-if in his judgment the public interests so require, I profoundly
-believe that party government and party organization and machinery are
-absolutely essential under our form of government. Political parties
-in America have given stability to governmental policies and have
-created the only effective restraint upon disintegration and individual
-caprice or demagogism. There must be coherence in political forces;
-there must be concentration and direction of the political energy of
-communities; there must be some systematic and practical method of
-investigating the qualifications of candidates and selecting competent
-public officials; there must be stability, harmony and cooperation in
-governmental policies. These can be secured in the long run only by
-and through permanently organized and disciplined political parties. No
-other method has yet been discovered by which effectively to express
-political opinion, to secure stability in governmental administration
-and policies, and to effectuate the real and permanent judgment of the
-people and promote their best interests.
-
-President Wilson some years ago, in referring to attacks upon party
-government in the United States, used the following striking language,
-which I think should be now recalled:
-
-"I know that it has been proposed by enthusiastic, but not too
-practical, reformers to do away with parties by some legerdemain of
-governmental reconstruction, accompanied and supplemented by some
-rehabilitation, devoutly to be wished, of the virtues least commonly
-controlling in fallen human nature; but it seems to me that it would be
-more difficult and less desirable than these amiable persons suppose
-to conduct a government of the many by means of any other device
-than party organization, and that the great need is, not to get rid
-of parties, but to find and use some expedient by which they can be
-managed and made amenable from day to day to public opinion." "Whatever
-their faults and abuses, party machines are absolutely necessary under
-our existing electoral arrangements, and are necessary chiefly for
-keeping the several segments of parties together.... It is important to
-keep this in mind. Otherwise, when we analyze party action, we shall
-fall into the too common error of thinking that we are analyzing
-disease. As a matter of fact the whole thing is just as normal and
-natural as any other political development. The part that party has
-played in this country has been both necessary and beneficial, and if
-bosses and secret managers are often undesirable persons, playing their
-parts for their own benefit or glorification rather than for the public
-good, they are at least the natural fruits of the tree. It has borne
-fruit good and bad, sweet and bitter, wholesome and corrupt, but it is
-native to our air and practice and can be uprooted only by an entire
-change of system."[67]
-
-For these reasons I earnestly urge upon the Constitutional Convention
-of the state of New York the restoration of nominating state
-conventions for elective state offices. I do so because I believe
-that they are the best means of maintaining political parties,
-of formulating their principles and policies, of purifying and
-disciplining their management, of stimulating political enthusiasm
-and disinterestedness, and of selecting and nominating fit and
-representative individuals as candidates for high public office. I
-further urge that the nominees of any such convention should not
-need any further designation than the filing of a certificate by the
-proper convention officers. If it be concluded, however, that the
-direct primary system should be continued for the purpose of party
-nominations, then it should be provided that the name of the nominee
-of the convention should be placed on the official primary ballot
-with the designation "nominated by convention." This would enable the
-enrolled voters to ratify or overrule the action of their convention.
-I am, however, convinced that this nominating primary would impose
-an unnecessary burden upon the electorate, and that it would be a
-mistake to increase the number of elections. We should then have
-three elections: first, the election of delegates to the nominating
-convention; second, the official primaries, and third, the general
-election. It seems to me that it would answer every purpose if adequate
-provision were retained for independent nominations by petition and
-if nominating primaries were dispensed with. This would enable voters
-belonging to any party to place candidates in the field in opposition
-to the nominees of the convention if they were dissatisfied with those
-nominees.
-
-Assuming that we are to continue the system of electing judges to our
-highest judicial offices, that is, judges of the Court of Appeals and
-justices of the Supreme Court, then I submit that candidates for these
-very important offices should be nominated by conventions and not by
-direct primaries. I regard this as even more essential in the case
-of nomination for judicial office than in the case of nomination for
-executive office.
-
-The qualities required in a candidate for high judicial office are
-knowledge of the law, love of justice, high personal character,
-calmness, impartiality and independence. Mere popularity, or what so
-often is necessary to popularity, good-fellowship, is the last quality
-we look for in a judge. The self-seeker and self-advertiser is seldom
-qualified by temperament or character for judicial office. It requires
-the most thorough investigation as to the professional learning, career
-and conduct of a candidate and the most sifting exchange of views
-before a judicial candidate can be intelligently and wisely selected.
-For want of adequate means of acquiring information, the public in
-such large constituencies as the whole state of New York (in the case
-of judges of the Court of Appeals) and the various judicial districts
-(in the case of justices of the Supreme Court) cannot intelligently
-estimate the qualifications of judicial candidates. It seems to me
-nonsense to argue that in parties composed of hundreds of thousands
-of enrolled electors dispersed throughout the state, the voters can
-investigate, or exchange views, or intelligently act in regard to the
-qualifications of lawyers who are proposed as candidates for judicial
-office--almost as preposterous as if we were to select judicial
-candidates by lot from the names placed on the official primary list.
-
-The test of fitness for judicial office should indisputably be
-higher and more technical than for other offices. That test should
-require special capacity and character, to be ascertained by careful
-investigation, exchange of views, open discussion and comparison of
-merits by responsible delegates or representatives charged with that
-particular duty and acting in public and personally accountable for
-mistake, perversion, or corruption. This test can be best secured by
-the convention system; practically it cannot be secured at all by any
-system of secret direct primaries.
-
-Reform in the selection of judges, if their selection is to be by
-election, lies not in schemes to reform human nature by legislative
-nostrums and to destroy publicity and responsibility, but in making the
-voters appreciate that the government is theirs, that political power
-is theirs, that theirs is the duty to send competent representatives
-to conventions, that theirs is the responsibility of electing
-competent men, and that they are vitally interested in having a
-competent, impartial and independent judiciary. Political conventions
-will be reliable and responsive if the people will only see to it
-that competent, honest and patriotic men are elected to represent
-them. There is no other course unless we uproot our whole system of
-republican government.
-
-Ten years of experimenting with our Election Law have produced the
-present hodge-podge under which no election is conducted without error
-and without inviting a lawsuit and from which all but experts and
-professional politicians turn away in irritation and disgust. The net
-result has been to complicate our elections and make them less and less
-responsive to the best public opinion, and more and more subject to the
-control of professional politicians, wire-pullers and bosses.
-
-In conclusion, though repeating myself, I earnestly submit that
-there can be no greater menace to our political institutions and
-to government by the people than the prevailing tendency to weaken
-and impair the representative principle in our state governments by
-nominating executive and judicial officers through direct secret
-primaries instead of through public conventions composed of delegates
-or representatives duly chosen by the enrolled voters of the parties
-and charged with the duty of selecting competent and honest candidates
-and directly accountable to the locality they represent for the failure
-to perform that duty. These delegates represent the people of the
-various districts of the state; they come together in public; they
-exchange and discuss views, or at any rate have full opportunity for
-debate and criticism; they vote in public for this or that candidate,
-and then they return to their neighbors, to those who sent them and for
-whom they spoke and voted, and face accountability and responsibility.
-Is not such a proceeding much more likely to secure competent and
-honest candidates than the present system of leaving the voter at
-large to slip into a dimly lighted booth and secretly place a cross on
-an unidentifiable ballot? The convention system is sound and should
-be preserved; it alone will perpetuate our parties and our form of
-government, and in casting the representative principle aside, as is
-necessarily done in the direct primary system of nominations for state
-and judicial office, we are beginning a process which, if not checked,
-will end in what Lincoln called political suicide.
-
-FOOTNOTES:
-
-[Footnote 64: Remarks before the Committee on Suffrage of the
-Constitutional Convention of the state of New York at Albany, June 16,
-1915.]
-
-[Footnote 65: Laws of 1911, ch. 891.]
-
-[Footnote 66: Laws of 1913, ch. 820.]
-
-[Footnote 67: Congressional Government, p. 97, and Constitutional
-Government in the United States, pp. 209, 210.]
-
-
-
-
-CATHOLIC PAROCHIAL SCHOOLS[68]
-
-
-The completion of this building, its dedication to education, and the
-opening of its doors as a Catholic parochial school are matters of
-no ordinary significance in this community. By means of the present
-function we are publicly emphasizing the religious character of the
-educational work to be undertaken here. Due respect for the opinion
-of our neighbors and fellow-citizens seems to call for some statement
-from the standpoint of the Catholic laity in explanation of the reasons
-which have impelled a comparatively poor congregation to incur this
-great expense and to assume an obligation of future maintenance which
-year after year will constitute a very serious and increasing burden.
-It is indeed a striking event that a congregation, very few of whom
-have large means, should have erected and equipped such a building,
-costing over $150,000, and should have pledged itself to support the
-school and ultimately to discharge the remaining mortgage indebtedness
-of $50,000.
-
-There is unfortunately much misunderstanding and criticism among our
-fellow-citizens of other denominations in regard to the attitude of the
-Roman Catholic Church towards the important and far-reaching subject
-of the education of children in the public schools, and the Catholic
-point of view is frequently misrepresented.
-
-In the first place, it is constantly asserted that Catholics are
-opposed to the public school system of America. On the contrary,
-Catholics approve and support the public schools, and willingly vote
-and pay their share of the taxes necessary for the maintenance of
-these schools. They believe that the state should provide free common
-schools for the education of children, so that every American child
-not only shall have an opportunity of securing a free education but
-may be compelled to take advantage of the opportunity thus provided.
-They recognize that in this country it is generally impracticable in
-the common schools to teach the tenets of religious faiths, because
-to compel children indiscriminately to study the doctrines of any
-particular religion in which their parents do not believe would destroy
-all religious freedom and would be contrary to fundamental rights.
-They recognize further that to attempt to teach in the public schools
-the tenets of the Catholic, the Jewish and the numerous Protestant
-denominations, would be quite impossible and inevitably would lead
-to religious chaos. They realize that absolute equality or religious
-freedom can be secured only by making the public schools non-sectarian.
-Catholics, therefore, favor the maintenance of the system of free
-common schools; they have heretofore supported and will continue to
-support the system, although they object to some of the details of
-management, and they will send and do send their children to these
-public schools wherever there are no Catholic schools. In fact, fully
-one-half of the Catholic children of our country are now attending
-public schools because of the lack of Catholic schools.
-
-Thousands of well-to-do Protestants and Jews--many in our own immediate
-neighborhood--send their children to private schools, whether day or
-boarding schools, in many of which the Protestant faith is taught.
-Yet no one suggests that, because these parents send their children
-to private schools, they are in any sense acting in hostility to the
-public schools, or to American institutions, or to the best interests
-of their own children. As parents, they have and ought to have the
-right to send their children to such schools as they think will afford
-them an education more complete and more conducive to the formation of
-moral character than they can secure at the public schools. Catholics
-are but exercising the same common right, and what, moreover, they
-believe to be their duty as parents, when they send their children to
-the parochial schools which are erected, equipped and maintained at
-their own expense.
-
-Another misrepresentation, and one which Catholics resent, is the
-statement that the parochial and other Catholic schools do not
-inculcate patriotism, and that they teach anti-American doctrines.
-Any candid investigator will readily find that this charge is wholly
-unfounded. In Catholic schools, patriotism, obedience to the law and
-loyalty to the Constitution are taught as a religious even more than
-a civic duty; the best and highest ideals of American patriotism and
-citizenship are exalted. No true American Catholic can be other than
-a good and patriotic American citizen. Children are taught in these
-schools that loyal obedience to the laws and religious tolerance are
-the two essential elements of good Catholic citizenship, and in every
-form and aspect they are impressed with the obligation as a religious
-duty to render unto CÊsar the things which are CÊsar's and unto God the
-things which are God's and to be ever thankful that in this country
-these two separate obligations are wholly reconcilable.
-
-The fundamental and controlling reason or motive for the establishment
-and maintenance of parochial schools is the profound conviction on the
-part of all Roman Catholics, in which conviction clergy and laity are
-a unit, that the welfare of the state, the stability of the Union, the
-continuance of civil and religious freedom, and the lasting happiness
-of the individual depend upon the code and standards of morality,
-discipline, self-restraint and temperance taught by religion. The
-student of history well knows that social order and civilized society
-have always rested upon religion; that there has never been a civilized
-nation without religion; that free government has never long endured
-except in countries where some religious faith has prevailed, and that
-our own country for three centuries has been an essentially religious
-country, by which I mean that the great majority of citizens have been
-believers in God and in some Christian religion. When the Constitution
-of the United States was established, the Americans were a truly
-religious people, and as a whole held firmly to one form or another
-of Christian faith. It has been recently pointed out by Archbishop
-Ireland in the Cathedral of St. Paul that in those days, "to stay
-away from religious service on Sunday was to invoke upon one's self
-serious public criticism." It is quite true that the great majority of
-Americans were then Protestants, but they were a religious majority.
-The Catholics can never forget that they owe the blessing of the
-religious liberty and tolerance which they now enjoy to a generation
-that was overwhelmingly Protestant and that it was first granted at an
-epoch when religious liberty and tolerance were practically unknown in
-Europe, whether in Catholic or Protestant countries.
-
-Lord Bryce in his great work on "The American Commonwealth" has
-reviewed the influence of religion in this country, and has declared
-that "one is startled by the thought of what might befall this huge
-yet delicate fabric of laws and commerce and social institutions
-were the foundation it has rested upon to crumble away." That
-foundation he recognized to be religion, and he admonished us that
-"the more democratic republics become, the more the masses grow
-conscious of their own power, the more do they need to live, not
-only by patriotism, but by reverence and self-control, and the more
-essential to their well-being are those sources whence reverence
-and self-control flow."[69] Catholics believe that those sources of
-reverence and self-control are to be found in religion, and that if
-we sow in irreligion we shall reap in irreligion. Hence the firm and
-uncompromising determination of Catholic clergy and laity that thorough
-and efficient religious instruction, so far as lies in their power,
-shall be a vital and essential element in the education of every
-American Catholic child.
-
-I very much doubt whether any respectable number of sensible and
-reflecting American citizens in our day would challenge the truth that
-morality is essential to the maintenance of civilized society and
-government, that the greatest influence for morality is to be found
-in the churches of the various denominations throughout the country,
-and that in teaching morality the churches are rendering a patriotic
-service and promoting the best interests and the highest policy of
-the state. I venture to assert that the only reasonable difference of
-opinion possible among candid and just men is as to the best way of
-inculcating religion in the young and the extent to which religious
-instruction is essential as a part of the complete education of
-children. On the one hand, there are those who conscientiously assert
-and sincerely believe that their children can receive all the religious
-training they need at home or at Sunday school and that they do not
-require any religious instruction in the daily schoolroom; on the
-other hand, there are those who conscientiously assert and sincerely
-believe that religion is the most essential part of the education of
-the child and of the forming of its moral character, that few parents
-have the time or the ability to teach religion to their children, and
-that religion can properly be taught only by making it part and parcel
-of the early schoolroom and of every day's instruction and study, while
-the mind and character of the child are plastic. The latter view is
-that of Catholics and of constantly increasing numbers of Protestants
-who send their children to private schools in which the doctrines of
-their faith are taught.
-
-In the Catholic view, the influence of the school upon the future
-manhood and womanhood and citizenship of the country cannot be
-over-estimated. The school is the nursery where the mind and heart
-of the impressionable child are moulded into enduring form; the
-subtle influence of daily religious surroundings, including example
-and suggestion in the classroom, is as strong and pervading as it is
-difficult to analyze; the lessons of the primary and elementary school
-are those that endure and in time dominate the child's mind; and the
-visible examples of daily discipline, uniformity of ideals, obedience,
-self-control and disinterested devotedness to Church and country,
-indeed the very atmosphere of the Catholic religious school, are of
-themselves formative and educative elements. It is the classroom that
-is the training field of character and good citizenship--of true
-manhood and womanhood. Yet many would wholly exclude and banish its
-most important and essential feature!
-
-Catholics believe that religion and the philosophy of Christianity are
-not to be taught haphazard, at odd moments, or by untrained persons,
-and that a firm grasp of the truths of the Catholic religion--or in
-fact of any religion--by the immature minds and hearts of children
-cannot be secured by merely reciting abstract maxims of morality, or
-without constant example and precept, daily lessons, long training and
-thorough drilling. They further believe that, except in rare instances,
-this cannot be done by home instruction or by attendance at Sunday
-school once a week. The immense sacrifices that Catholics have made
-and are making all over the country ought to demonstrate how sincere
-is their conviction upon this point. We may form some idea of the
-extent of this sacrifice from this building and from the fact that the
-assessed valuation of the Catholic parochial schools in the city of New
-York is now over $30,000,000.
-
-The story of the heroic struggles and sacrifices of Catholics in
-order to maintain their system of schools for the education of their
-children ought to be known to every American Catholic, for it is the
-most thrilling and inspiring page in the history of their church. The
-time remaining to me will permit only a brief review of the results
-accomplished. It is an accomplishment of which Catholics may justly
-feel proud.
-
-The greatest single religious fact in the United States to-day
-is undoubtedly the Catholic school system maintained by private
-individuals. The Catholic parish schools now number over 5,000, and
-the academies and colleges over 900, with over 1,500,000 pupils in
-attendance at these schools and colleges. More than 20,000 Catholic
-men and women unselfishly devote their lives to the work of teaching
-in these schools, academies and colleges. The system is crowned by a
-great Catholic university at Washington with an attendance of nearly
-1,500. This vast educational organization is maintained at a yearly
-cost of millions of dollars without any public aid whatever, except the
-exemption of school property from ordinary taxation. The efficiency
-of the Catholic schools and colleges has long been demonstrated by
-examinations and practical results, and it is at last generally
-conceded. The Catholic schools teach everything that is taught in the
-public schools and, in addition, they teach religion and religious
-morality. The standards of education in all secular branches are equal
-and in many instances superior to those of the neighborhood public
-or private schools. In other words, Catholic children are as well
-educated in the Catholic schools as in the public schools; they come
-from them as well trained and as patriotic as the children coming
-from any other schools, and in addition they are thoroughly grounded
-in the doctrines of their great religion. I say "great" because it is
-the great religion of all Christendom as well as of this country. When
-the Constitution of the United States was framed at the Philadelphia
-convention of 1787, there were only about 25,000 avowed Catholics in
-the whole Union. To-day they number 17,000,000. More than one-third of
-all who now attend Christian churches in the United States are Roman
-Catholics. The Catholic Church has several times as many members as any
-other religious denomination. The figures in the state of New York show
-that about 65 per cent., nearly two-thirds, of all regular attendants
-at Christian churches, are Roman Catholics, and that the remaining
-attendants are divided among many separate Protestant denominations.
-Hence the correctness of the assertion that the Catholic religion is
-the great religion of this country.
-
-It is true and should be added that Catholics hope that the day
-will come when the people of all denominations will more adequately
-appreciate the fact that religious instruction tends to promote the
-best and the most loyal citizenship, that the Catholic parochial
-schools are, therefore, rendering a public service, and that as such
-they should be allotted a reasonable part of the public educational
-fund raised from general taxation, measured by and limited to the
-actual saving to that fund, provided also that a required standard
-of education be maintained. In England, for example, the Catholic
-parochial schools receive grants of public moneys if they fulfil
-certain conditions of efficiency in secular instruction, staff
-qualification and equipment, and the extent of these grants is
-approximately the actual saving to the public fund. In the Catholic
-diocese of Long Island, in which we live, there are now over 68,000
-children being educated in the Catholic schools and colleges, and
-in Greater New York there are more than 130,000 children attending
-the parochial schools. All these children would have to be educated
-in the public schools and at the expense of the taxpayers if the
-Catholic schools did not educate them, and this Catholic education
-involves an immense direct saving to the public school fund. Statistics
-recently submitted to the Constitutional Convention sitting at Albany
-showed that the immediate saving to the city of New York alone from
-the parochial schools was fully $7,500,000 per annum, and that not
-one penny of this saving was being contributed by the city or the
-state to the cost of educating and training these Catholic children.
-Consequently, it is not unreasonable to believe that justice and
-tolerance will finally prevail, and that the day will come when it
-will be recognized as equitable and as a wise and enlightened public
-policy to provide that whenever any denomination, whether Catholic,
-Protestant, or Jewish, is, in addition to giving religious instruction,
-educating and training large numbers of children according to
-satisfactory secular standards and tests, and is thereby relieving the
-public educational fund, every such denominational school should be
-granted out of the public funds some part of the actual saving so made,
-because it is rendering a public service. A basis of adjustment will,
-I am confident, be ultimately worked out, which will be fair and just
-to all denominations. But in the meantime the private schools where
-both secular and religious training are given to children, including
-the Catholic parochial schools, must continue to be erected, equipped
-and supported wholly by the members of the various denominations. There
-are now numerous Protestant private schools where the Protestant faith
-is being taught; and what is true of the Catholic parochial schools is
-also true of the Protestant schools.
-
-We are all so accustomed to the blessings of absolute religious
-liberty that we really find it difficult to imagine that any other
-condition could ever have been tolerated in the free air of America,
-and we are very apt to overlook or minimize the value of the most
-precious privilege we enjoy. Yet, it is only a few generations since
-religious intolerance prevailed in the United States and Catholics were
-mercilessly and barbarously persecuted. The first constitution of the
-state of New York in 1777 discriminated against Catholics by permitting
-only Protestants to become citizens of the state, and this was done
-notwithstanding the fact that the Continental Congress had three years
-before entreated the states to bury religious intolerance forever
-in oblivion. At one time in the colony of New York Catholic priests
-were hunted as criminals, were condemned to perpetual imprisonment if
-apprehended, and were to suffer the death penalty if they broke prison
-and were retaken. Catholics could not hold civil or military positions,
-and could not even worship God according to their faith without
-becoming criminals and liable to imprisonment. The only period of full
-religious tolerance and liberty in our colonial history was for a short
-time during the term of Governor Dongan, who was a Roman Catholic.
-
-All this intolerance has happily passed away never to return, and
-religious liberty is now firmly established. I recall the past only in
-order to impress upon your minds that we should treasure this blessing
-and be ever grateful to the generation of Americans, overwhelmingly
-Protestant, which gave us religious freedom and in doing so went far
-toward atoning for the past persecution of Catholics.
-
-In conclusion, I must add that we Catholics of the Parish of St.
-Patrick of Glen Cove should acclaim our appreciation of the great
-service and unselfish devotion of the one person whose whole-hearted
-energy has made this school possible and without whose example we
-should despair of maintaining it. Long may this beautiful building
-endure as a splendid monument to the faith and patriotism of a Catholic
-priest, our beloved pastor, Bernard O'Reilly. We must also voice our
-cordial welcome and pledge of support to the Sisters of Notre Dame,
-worthy members of a great American Catholic sisterhood devoted to the
-education of children, who are now about to take up among us the task
-of teaching our children. They will labor week after week and year
-after year, devotedly and unselfishly, for a pittance barely sufficient
-to supply their absolute physical needs, with little or no expectation
-of public recognition. They will seek and find their reward solely in
-the inward satisfaction of the day's work and duty well done and in the
-inspiring and quickening maxim of their order and of their whole daily
-life that their holy task is ever
-
-Pro Deo et Ecclesia et Patria.
-
-FOOTNOTES:
-
-[Footnote 68: Remarks at the dedication of the Roman Catholic parochial
-school at Glen Cove, Long Island, New York, on September 6, 1915.]
-
-[Footnote 69: The American Commonwealth, new edition (1912), vol. II,
-pp. 793, 794.]
-
-
-
-
-THE FRANCE-AMERICA COMMITTEE OF NEW YORK[70]
-
-
-I ask you, Gentlemen, to rise and lift your glasses high to the joint
-toast of his Excellency the President of the United States, his
-Excellency the President of the Republic of France and his Majesty the
-King of England.
-
-I ask you again to rise and lift your glasses high to the joint
-toast of the other Allies: to his Majesty the King of the Belgians,
-whose valiant and heroic people have suffered frightfully and have
-again shown, as CÊsar taught us, that "_horum omnium fortissimi sunt
-Belgae_;" his Imperial Majesty the Czar of all the Russias, whose brave
-soldiers have stood so much of the brunt of the battle and paid such an
-awful toll, and to his Majesty the King of Italy, and his courageous
-army and navy, whose help may yet prove decisive.
-
-As the permanent object of the France-America Committee, which was
-organized long before the present war, is to perpetuate the traditions
-and bonds of friendship which bind the governments and peoples of
-France and America together, our guests will readily appreciate why
-France should seem, at the moment, to be foremost in our thoughts.
-
-Monsieur Homberg, Monsieur Mallet: Le Comité France-Amérique de New
-York éprouve un trÚs vif plaisir à saluer en vous les délégués de la
-République Française. Le Comité tient à vous témoigner l'amitié des
-Américains pour la France, notre admiration de l'héroïsme que le peuple
-français de toutes classes a montré pendant l'année affreuse qui vient
-de s'écouler, nos ardentes sympathies pour vos souffrances, et nos
-souhaits pour votre avenir.
-
-Notre hospitalité est malheureusement imprégnée d'une tristesse
-poignante, car un souci de tous les instants ne nous permet pas
-d'oublier la guerre brutale et féroce qui a dévasté une grande partie
-de la France et presque toute la Belgique, et qui menace non seulement
-les libertés des peuples français et belge, mais la civilisation de
-toute l'Europe. Il est vrai que notre gouvernement national, pour des
-raisons d'état, se trouve forcé de maintenir une neutralité légale,
-tâche si difficile et si complexe, mais le peuple américain ne saurait
-être indifférent aux malheurs et aux détresses des Français. Un grand
-Américain a bien dit que c'est en apprenant l'histoire de son pays
-que l'enfant américain apprend à aimer la France. Nous ne pourrions
-jamais oublier l'aide généreuse, la sympathie, le dévouement, et le
-désintéressement que le peuple français nous a témoignés au début
-de notre histoire. Le souvenir, Messieurs, en est ineffaçable.
-Innombrables sont mes compatriotes qui prient de tout cœur qu'une
-nouvelle Bataille de Poitiers contre les Sarrasins délivre bientÎt la
-belle et sainte terre de France de ses envahisseurs.
-
-Le service que la France a rendu aux Etats-Unis est souvent méconnu et
-quelquefois oublié. L'heure est venue de réfuter et les dénigrements et
-les préjugés. Le Comité France-Amérique voudrait saisir cette occasion
-pour rappeler hautement ce que nous devons à la France et exprimer
-la reconnaissance profonde que le peuple américain ressent envers le
-peuple français.
-
-La plupart des historiens, cherchant leurs matériaux dans les archives
-des gouvernements et dans les notes des rois et de leurs ministres,
-ne voient trop souvent qu'un calcul ou un motif intéressé dans
-l'aide que la France nous a apportée et dans l'amitié qu'elle nous a
-témoignée pendant notre Guerre d'Indépendance. Mais ceux qui cherchent
-consciencieusement à pénétrer jusqu'à l'âme du peuple français
-pendant les années de 1776 à 1781, comme l'avait fait l'historien
-Américain, James Breck Perkins, feu le président du Comité des Affaires
-EtrangÚres de notre CongrÚs National, attestent que cette aide, qui
-fut si efficace et qui seule a rendu notre succÚs possible, était
-désinteressée et n'était inspirée que par sympathie pour un peuple
-faible et par amour pour la liberté et la justice politique. La
-Fayette, l'ami intime et dévoué de Washington et de Franklin, était
-véritablement l'incarnation du sentiment d'enthousiasme exalté et de
-sympathie ardente que les Français ressentaient alors dans toutes
-les classes pour un peuple qui voulait être libre. Sans doute Louis
-XVI. et Vergennes y voyaient des avantages incidentels et des raisons
-d'état, mais c'était bien le peuple impatient et l'enthousiasme et
-le sentiment public de la nation entiÚre qui ont finalement forcé
-le gouvernement du Roi à nous envoyer une armée disciplinée sous
-Rochambeau et une flotte de guerre sous d'Estaing et de Grasse.
-L'importance incalculable du service rendu par les Français peut être
-estimée en nous rappelant que les deux tiers et les mieux équipées des
-troupes alliées à Yorktown étaient français, et que ce fut à Rochambeau
-que le commandant anglais avait cru devoir rendre son épée.
-
-En prenant part à notre Guerre d'Indépendance, le peuple français
-savait parfaitement que son aide lui coûterait un prix énorme et
-que les impÎts déjà trop lourds devraient être encore augmentés.
-L'historien Perkins déclare que le montant des dépenses de la France
-pour libérer l'Amérique s'est élevé à sept cent soixante douze millions
-de dollars, c'est à dire, à plus de trois milliards huit cent millions
-de francs.[71] De cette énorme dépense, qui a ruiné le trésor royal,
-comme l'avait bien prêdit Turgot, pas un sou n'a été remboursé à la
-France. Elle ne l'a jamais réclamé, et elle en refuserait fiÚrement
-aujourd'hui le remboursement en nous rappelant qu'elle avait stipulé
-dans le traité d'alliance avec les Etats-Unis d'Amérique du 6 Février,
-1778, qu'elle ne recevrait aucune indemnité pour sa coopération et
-ses sacrifices, et que même si le Canada était conquis, cette contrée
-serait annexée aux Etats-Unis et non pas retournée à la France. Ce
-traité, sans précédent en générosité dans l'histoire du monde, était
-le premier de tous les traités que les Etats-Unis ont faits et le seul
-traité d'alliance dans notre histoire.
-
-Ne serait-il pas souverainement juste, si le peuple américain, cent
-trente quatre ans aprÚs la bataille de Yorktown, reconnaissait ce
-service--je me refuse à l'appeler dette--en offrant au peuple français
-un crédit commercial du principal, c'est à dire, sept cent soixante
-douze millions, remboursable quand la France le pourrait? Même en
-francs, ce ne serait que l'équivalent d'une contribution insignifiante
-par chaque citoyen des Etats-Unis, et bien moins en valeur que l'impÃŽt
-qui a été payé volontairement et de bon cœur par le peuple français
-du dix-huitiÚme siÚcle pour nous aider. Quelle noblesse, quelle
-gloire, quelle splendeur de cœur, d'âme et d'esprit si les grands
-banquiers américains avaient pu proclamer au monde qu'ils avaient
-eux-mêmes offert le crédit en reconnaissance du passé! Nous serions
-vraiment fiers de notre génération si elle pouvait écrire une page
-aussi sublime, aussi impérissable dans l'histoire du monde. Alors,
-Messieurs, nul doute ne subsisterait quant au succÚs éclatant de votre
-mission, surtout si une parole éloquente pouvait toucher le cœur des
-Américains et leur rappeler combien ils doivent à la France, à cette
-république sœur et souffrante, et combien la question aujourd'hui n'est
-pas seulement une affaire commerciale pour notre propre profit avec nos
-meilleurs clients, mais aussi une question de gratitude pour un ami
-loyal et dévoué et de sympathie effective pour un grand et noble peuple
-qui souffre.
-
-Au nom de cette reconnaissance et de cette sympathie américaines que
-j'ai essayé d'exprimer en interprétant, j'en suis convaincu, la pensée
-de tous les Américains réunis ici, je lÚve mon verre en l'honneur de
-la République Française, de la France blessée mais si vivante, si
-courageuse, si valiante, et de ses représentants distingués qui nous
-honorent de leur présence, M. Octave Homberg et M. Ernest Mallet.
-Messieurs, j'ai l'honneur de vous présenter M. Homberg.[72]
-
-My Lord Chief Justice of England and Gentlemen of the British
-Commission: After the eloquent tributes of last night at the Pilgrims,
-I find it extremely difficult to express and convey to you the full
-import and sincerity of our welcome.
-
-Every tie that can bind one people to another binds the American
-people to the English. Most of us are of the Anglo-Saxon race and have
-the same blood coursing through our veins. To the great majority of
-Americans, England has ever been the mother country. We speak the
-same language, read the same literature, strive for the same ideals,
-are governed by the same principles of politics and jurisprudence,
-and entertain the same fundamental conceptions of right and wrong and
-justice as among men and among nations. The greater part of England's
-history is our history; her Magna Carta is our Magna Carta, and the
-immortal deeds of valor of the English, Scotch, Irish and Welsh are
-our heritage and the source of our inspiration. Our hearts, therefore,
-cannot but beat faster day after day as we read of the splendid heroism
-and noble self-sacrifice of your great race.
-
-To our minds the noblest and the most truly glorious page in the
-history of England was written by Sir Edward Grey when, on behalf
-of your government, my Lord, he refused to break the plighted faith
-of England to avoid involving his country in the greatest and most
-disastrous war in the history of the world, a war for which England
-was not prepared, for which Sir Edward and his colleagues knew she
-was not prepared, and which threatened and might involve the ruin of
-the British Empire. There is a nobility and sublimity, inexpressible
-by mere words, in the act of sending that small but now immortal
-British army to Belgium in August of last year, to face tenfold its
-number, to die for strangers--for a mere "scrap of paper," as a treaty
-was cynically and immorally called--solely that the honor of England
-might be kept inviolate. England has never been grander or nobler than
-on that day. The glory she then gained cannot fade. Gentlemen, the
-Anglo-Saxon race never rose to higher renown than when the British
-statesmen of to-day showed on such a grand scale that the spirit of the
-Light Brigade at Balaclava still lives:
-
- "Their's not to reason why,
- Their's but to do and die."
-
-And we Americans were then prouder than ever before to belong to the
-Anglo-Saxon race.
-
-England may prevail in this war, or she may fail. But whatever may
-happen, whatever may be decreed by Providence, your magnificent and
-unselfish heroism in springing to the defense of Belgium has added
-to England's renown and to our race a glory which is priceless and
-infinitely beyond the whole cost of the war, a glory worth dying for,
-a glory that will thrill and uplift generations of men for all time,
-a glory that will ever inspire acts of patriotic service and valorous
-self-sacrifice, of chivalry and honor.
-
-Although, Gentlemen of the British Commission, the deep sympathy of
-the great majority of Americans is naturally with the Allies in the
-present war, we want you to return to England appreciating why we must
-loyally support the neutrality which the President of the United States
-has proclaimed. The policy of this country in regard to European wars
-was fixed in 1793. One of the most important and enduring of the many
-services that President Washington rendered to the United States was
-when he stood firm as a rock against the abuse and clamor of that day
-in upholding and enforcing neutrality in favor of England as against
-the demands of her then enemies. We have consistently adhered to that
-principle for more than one hundred and twenty years. It has been our
-fixed and constant policy, not a football of politics, or of newspaper
-propaganda, or of temporary emotion or expediency, but the sober
-judgment and conscience of the nation. The essence of this policy is
-that it is the duty of our government, not only to the present but to
-future generations, to avoid being drawn into European wars unless
-our honor or our vital interests become involved. During more than
-a century we have invited the inhabitants of every nation of Europe
-to come here and become a part of our country, and we have impliedly
-assured them of our adherence to this traditional policy of neutrality.
-If, now, we also should draw the sword, out of heartfelt sympathy and
-friendship for the Allies, or in indignation at the outrage of the
-violation of Belgium, we might become hereafter constantly involved in
-European conflicts in which we should have no other than a humanitarian
-interest, and as a result find the devoted friends and relatives of
-to-day the inflamed and bitter enemies of to-morrow.
-
-My Lord and Gentlemen of the British Commission, we want you to return
-to England realizing how difficult and complex is the task of our
-President. Under our system of government, he alone can speak for
-the nation and commit us in our foreign relations, upon him alone is
-imposed the awful burden of responsibility and duty, and patriotism
-commands us as Americans loyally to support him, whatever may be our
-individual opinions or sentiments as to particular measures or grave
-omissions. We want you to return profoundly convinced that in standing
-by our policy of neutrality, we are not indifferent, or callous, or
-pusillanimous, or mercenary; and that our President is striving on our
-behalf to do what is right as God gives him to see the right, not only
-by the Americans now living but by those future generations for whom we
-are the trustees. Above all, we want you to return to England firmly
-believing that we unqualifiedly approve and extol the noble and heroic
-action of England in drawing her sword in defense of Belgium, and that
-our heartfelt sympathy and good wishes are with you and your heroic
-sailors and soldiers at the front.
-
-Gentlemen, I ask you to rise and lift your glasses high and drain them
-in honor of the distinguished representatives of England. I have the
-pleasure of presenting to you the Right Honourable Lord Reading, the
-Lord Chief Justice of England.
-
-FOOTNOTES:
-
-[Footnote 70: Remarks as presiding officer at a luncheon given in honor
-of the members of the Anglo-French Credit and Finance Commission, at
-the Hotel Knickerbocker, New York, October 1, 1915.]
-
-[Footnote 71: France in the American Revolution, p. 498; see also the
-introduction by Ambassador Jusserand, p. xv. The accuracy of these
-figures has not been independently verified. An examination of the late
-Mr. Perkins' papers does not disclose the source of his statement. The
-French archives show a direct expenditure of 1,507,500,000 livres, but
-these figures do not include payments made in and after the year 1783.
-Professor Marion of the CollÚge de France is of opinion that the total
-expenditure probably reached 2,000,000,000 livres. Marion, _Histoire
-FinanciÚre de la France, 1715-1789_, vol. I, p. 303, Paris, 1914; see
-also Gomel, _Les Causes FinanciÚres de la Révolution Française_, vol.
-II, p. 36, Paris, 1893. Fiske, in his Critical Period, p. 35, states
-the expenditure to have been 1,400,000,000 francs.]
-
-[Footnote 72: M. Homberg replied in French, and Mr. Guthrie then
-continued as above.]
-
-
-
-
-INDEX
-
-
- American ideals, 37, 161, 267.
-
- Ancestor-worship, 27-29.
-
- Anglo-French Commission, 261.
-
- Anson, Sir William R., 104, 106.
-
- Aristotle, 14.
-
- Athens, 42.
-
- Australia, 81.
-
- Ayers, In re, 118.
-
-
- Bakers case, 57, 153.
-
- Bancroft, George, 30.
-
- Bankers, Case of the, 106.
-
- Bar, should defend the courts against criticism, 70, 127, 147, 158;
- duty to defend constitutional guaranties, 85, 86;
- efforts to secure proper judicial nominations, 139-141;
- professional responsibility, 142-143.
-
- Barons, Articles of the, 5.
-
- Bate's case, 17.
-
- Belgium, 261, 262, 267, 270.
-
- Bill of Rights, New York statute of 1787, 19, 23;
- permanent nature, 20, 21, 203;
- the federal bill of rights, 74, 83;
- must be enforced by the courts, 77-78;
- ineffective where legislative power is supreme, 77-78.
- _See_ Constitutions and Constitutional limitations.
-
- Blackstone, Sir William, 99, 168.
-
- Bonham's case, 10.
-
- Bosses, Political, their power increased by direct primaries, 142,
- 236, 238;
- efforts to overthrow them, 230-231, 245;
- Woodrow Wilson on, 242.
-
- Bracton, Henry de, 102.
-
- Bradford, William, 30n, 38-39.
-
- Bryan, William J., 180-182, 213-215.
-
- Bryce, Viscount, 69, 251.
-
-
- Carlisle _vs._ United States, 101.
-
- Charter, _see_ Constitutions and Magna Carta.
-
- Chisholm _vs._ Georgia, 89, 95.
-
- Church and State, Separation of, germ of idea in Magna Carta, 11, 12;
- an American political principle, 12;
- opposed by Puritans, 32, 33;
- accomplished by the Pilgrims, 32, 34.
-
- Clark _vs._ Barnard, 96.
-
- Class legislation, may lead England to restrain temporary
- majorities, 11;
- masking as social reform, 43;
- dangers of, 74, 79, 85, 124;
- New York tenement law of 1884, 85;
- involved in graduated taxation, 165, 166.
-
- Cleveland, Grover, 149, 151, 216.
-
- Cohens _vs._ Virginia, 93.
-
- Coke, Sir Edward, 23, 105.
-
- Common law, silent as to the equal protection of the laws, 36;
- may be changed by the legislature, 68-69, 134-138, 155;
- the birthright of Americans, 98;
- soundness of common-law rules, 132-134.
-
- Commune consilium, antecedent of parliament, 16;
- power to impose taxes, 16.
-
- Communism, a conceit of Plato's, 38;
- failure of the experiment in Plymouth colony, 37-39;
- in the colony of Virginia, 38.
-
- Congress, decay through increase of executive power, 44;
- power to regulate interstate commerce, 61;
- cannot regulate internal affairs of the several states, 61;
- acts of, 61, 62, 68, 100, 121, 126;
- limitations upon, 74, 78, 81, 169-171;
- proposes amendments to the Constitution, 74, 89;
- attempts to curtail the federal courts, 88, 125;
- duty to enforce constitutional amendments, 110;
- duty to uphold the Constitution, 171-172;
- protection of American industries and wages, 193-197;
- dissatisfaction with, 205-206.
-
- Consolidated Gas Co. case, 122.
-
- Cooley, Thomas M., 90, 161-162.
-
- Constitutions, principles rooted in Magna Carta, 1;
- intended to endure forever, 20, 21, 203;
- unwise to create political body to enforce, 25;
- may be deprived of practical force by failure to observe
- constitutional restraints, 46, 75;
- explanation would dispel prejudice against the courts, 48;
- nature and purpose to declare general principles, 52;
- a rule of interpretation, 154-155;
- antiquated in the view of modern iconoclasts, 202;
- small vote on amendments, 208-209;
- should deal only with fundamentals, 224, 225.
- _See_ Magna Carta and Mayflower Compact.
-
- Constitution, Federal, sources of, 1, 31, 98;
- enforced by the courts, 25, 42 sqq., 70 sqq., 87 sqq., 109 sqq.;
- supremacy of, 71 sqq., 87, 111, 113;
- considered and ratified, 74, 88, 89;
- easily amended, 82-85, 89, 91-92, 175, 176, 208;
- necessity for deliberation in amending, 84-85, 176-177;
- rule for construing, 97-98;
- oath to support, 171-172;
- attempts to circumvent, 175;
- embodies eternal truths, 203.
- _See_ Constitutional limitations.
-
- Constitutional government, depends upon constitutional morality, 26;
- its debt to the Pilgrims, 29, 32, 35;
- characterized by equality before the law, 35.
-
- Constitutional limitations, idea in Magna Carta, 6-7;
- recognized in statute of 42 Edward III., 7, 8;
- common to every American constitution, 8, 73;
- not imposed upon parliament, 9-11, 76-77, 107;
- their enforcement left to the courts, 25, 45, 47, 70 sqq., 87, 109,
- 113, 127;
- growing impatience with, 42, 43, 48, 124, 202;
- could be nullified if judges followed the prevailing
- morality, 45, 46;
- enforcement by the courts necessary, 70 sqq.;
- binding upon Congress, 74-75, 171-172;
- Elihu Root on, 75;
- make possible constitutional morality, 86;
- to be observed by the President, 171-172.
- _See_ Constitutions, Due process of law, Constitutional morality,
- Judiciary, and Fundamental laws.
-
- Constitutional morality, a condition of permanent free
- government, 26, 42;
- discussed generally, 42-86;
- growing tendency to disregard, 42;
- its disregard caused the overthrow of Grecian democracy, 42;
- its essence is self-imposed restraint, 42;
- its necessity should be taught, 48, 85-86.
-
- Conventions, Constitutional, their duty to secure the privileges
- of Magna Carta, 2;
- the first American, 29-30, 37;
- Ohio convention of 1912, 61, 64;
- the federal convention of 1787, 89, 256;
- in New York, 154, 186, 235, 257.
-
- Conventions, Nominating, discussed generally, 219-246;
- right to, should be guaranteed by the Constitution, 220, 225;
- their origin, 229;
- abuses of, 229, 237;
- movement to abolish, 230, 239-240;
- their merits and advantages, 236-237, 242-246.
-
- Cotting _vs._ Kansas City Stock Yards Co., 123.
-
- Courts, _see_ Judiciary.
-
- Coxey's Army, 181, 199.
-
- Criminal Procedure, delays in, 126, 143-146.
-
- Cromwell, Oliver, 34-35.
-
- Crown, power limited by Magna Carta, 11, 12, 24-25;
- former exercise of legislative power, 17;
- maxim that "the king can do no wrong," 98, 102, 105, 108, 114;
- sued under the Petition of Right, 99-102;
- not suable in tort, 102.
-
- Cullen, Chief Judge, 80, 139, 210.
-
-
- Davis _vs._ Gray, 115.
-
- Day in court, 13, 121, 150.
-
- Debs case, 148-151, 212, 215-216.
-
- Declaration of Independence, proclaimed the inalienable rights of the
- individual, 4, 81;
- relation to the Mayflower Compact, 30;
- its spirit perpetuated, 76;
- marked human progress towards liberty, 203;
- its truths eternal, 203.
-
- Demagogue, his plea that the people are infallible, 43;
- his well-known arts, 192.
-
- Democracy, the fallacies of absolute, 39-40, 43, 165;
- in Plymouth colony, 39;
- historical failures, 42, 75, 205.
-
- Democratic party, principles and recent campaigns, 178 sqq.;
- tariff legislation, 195-198;
- on use of injunctions, 213-214.
-
- Despotism, equal laws a feature of, 36;
- will result from increasing power of the executive, 44.
-
- Dicey, A.V., 15, 103.
-
- Dies parentales, 27.
-
- Due course of law, in New York bill of rights of 1787, 23.
-
- Due process of law, universal application in the United States, 18;
- equivalent of "law of the land" (q.v.), 18;
- substance of expression in Magna Carta, 18;
- history of expression in America, 18-19, 23-24;
- meaning, 19, 22-24;
- earliest use, 22-23;
- term meaningless to man in the street, 48;
- principle applied in the Tenement House case, 54;
- in the Ives case and Employers' Liability cases, 65, 68.
-
-
- Education, Catholic parochial schools, 247-260;
- primary and elementary, 253;
- the Catholic university, 255;
- public grants to private schools, 256, 257.
-
- Edward I., 100.
-
- Edward III., 7, 8, 11, 22, 23.
-
- Edward the Confessor, 7.
-
- Egyptians, 27, 168.
-
- Election Law (New York), 209, 219.
-
- Elections, primary elections a menace, 39, 142, 227-228, 231-236,
- 238, 245-246;
- presidential, 178 sqq.;
- nomination of candidates, 207, 219-246;
- vote on constitutional amendments, 208-209;
- effect of the short ballot, 222-224;
- secret ballot objectionable, 228;
- some New York statistics, 231-233;
- origin of primaries, 239-240;
- to judicial office, 243-245.
- _See_ Conventions.
-
- Electorate, responsible for political evils, 205-206, 245;
- voting a duty, 206, 238, 245;
- indifference and negligence of, 207, 208, 209, 230-232, 237, 240;
- remedy for corruption, 237-238.
-
- Eleventh amendment, main treatment, 87-129;
- text, 91;
- possibly qualified, 97, 110.
-
- Employers' Liability cases, 61-64, 67-68, 121.
-
- English church, its part in Magna Carta, 3, 4, 11, 12;
- freed from the crown by Magna Carta, 11, 12.
-
- England, political thought in the 13th and 14th centuries, 6-9, 18-19;
- taxation, 9, 16-18;
- courts, 10, 17, 76, 77, 103-107;
- class legislation, 11;
- acts of Supremacy and Uniformity, 32, 36-37;
- debt to Puritanism, 34-35;
- in the World War, 35, 261, 267-270;
- labor legislation, 79;
- protective tariff, 196;
- cost of living, 199, 200;
- board of trade, 200;
- union of legislative and executive powers, 227-228;
- state aid to parochial schools, 256.
- _See_ English church and Parliament.
-
- Entick _vs._ Carrington, 104.
-
- Equality before the law, 31, 35, 152, 161.
-
- Europe, political ideas in the 13th century, 6;
- in 1620, 35;
- the great war, 35, 41, 267 sqq.;
- source of legislative schemes, 76;
- industrial competition with the United States, 196-197;
- high cost of living, 200.
-
- Executive, and legislative power in England, 17;
- power limited by Magna Carta, 24-25;
- increase in power threatens despotism, 44, 223-224;
- shifting responsibility to the courts, 47;
- duty to uphold the Constitution, 171-172;
- sentiment against a third term, 186-188;
- now most powerful branch of the government, 220;
- should not exercise the lawmaking power, 227;
- control of foreign relations, 269.
-
-
- Feather _vs._ The Queen, 104.
-
- Federalist, quoted on judicial power, 71-72, 109.
-
- Fifteenth amendment, 83, 110.
-
- Fifth amendment, 19, 68.
-
- Fitts _vs._ McGhee, 118.
-
- Fitzwater _vs._ Warren, 138.
-
- Five Knights case, 15.
-
- Fourteenth amendment, 24, 36, 68, 110, 111, 169.
-
- France, early charters of liberties, 5;
- _les lois fondamentales_, 7;
- legislative and executive powers, 76, 77, 227-228;
- forced loans, 164;
- French Revolution, 164;
- cost of living, 200;
- friendly relations with America, 261-266;
- in the World War, 261, 262-266;
- aid to American revolutionists, 262-264;
- treaty of alliance with America of 1778, 265.
-
- France-America Committee, 261.
-
- Fuller, Chief Justice, 46, 173.
-
- Fundamental laws, idea revived by Magna Carta, 6-7;
- in Greece and Rome, 6;
- in France, 7;
- a controlling principle of American constitutions, 8, 73;
- idea abandoned in England, 9;
- theory may yet be applied by English courts, 11.
- _See_ Constitutions.
-
-
- Gaynor, William J., 54, 55, 57.
-
- Georgia, 89, 90, 95.
-
- Glen Cove parochial school, 247, 259.
-
- Government, origin and importance of separation of powers, 4, 13, 16,
- 17, 18, 227;
- depends more upon men than upon laws, 28, 206, 221;
- governmental powers derived from the consent of the governed, 30;
- government by the legislature preferable to government by the
- judiciary, 45, 46;
- the form may survive the substance, 46;
- constant extension of governmental functions, 74, 80, 120, 220;
- the American government different from others, 76, 161, 227;
- trend toward centralization in America, 176;
- local self-government essential, 177;
- need of trained experts, 220-221.
- _See_ Congress, Constitutional government, Democracy, Executive,
- Judiciary, Legislature, Minorities, Majorities, Representative
- government, and State governments.
-
- Graduated taxation, general discussion, 159-177;
- exempts the majority and burdens the minority, 160, 163, 166;
- a means to break up large fortunes, 160, 169-170;
- may amount to confiscation, 163-166;
- necessarily arbitrary, 163;
- as forced loans in France, 164;
- Lecky's views, 164-165;
- McCulloch's views, 165-166;
- views of Leroy-Beaulieu, 166.
-
- Great Britain, 10, 101.
- _See_ England.
-
- Great Charter, _see_ Magna Carta.
-
- Greece, fundamental laws in, 6;
- ancestor-worship, 27;
- Athenian democracy, 42, 75.
-
- Gunter _vs._ Atlantic Coast Line, 96.
-
-
- Habeas corpus, Writ of, the bulwark of personal liberty, 15, 16;
- its antecedent in Magna Carta, 15;
- in England, 15, 107;
- rendered effective by the courts, 77.
-
- Hamilton, Alexander, 71, 74, 88, 161.
-
- Hampden, John, 17, 34.
-
- Hans _vs._ Louisiana, 95.
-
- Hearn, Lafcadio, 28, 29n.
-
- Henry VIII., 32, 36.
-
- Holden _vs._ Hardy, 60.
-
- Hunter _vs._ Wood, 119n.
-
-
- Impositions, Case of, 17.
-
- Income Tax cases, 173, 175.
-
- Income Tax, 159, 173-175.
-
- Inheritance Tax, 159-160, 167-173.
-
- Initiative and Referendum, a menace to our republican form of
- government, 39, 193;
- origin in distrust of legislatures, 44;
- agitation for, 47, 204;
- in Australia, 81;
- a scheme of the Progressives, 204-209.
-
- Injunctions, as used to restrain state officers, 87-88, 97, 109-114;
- to restrain officers of the crown in England, 106-107;
- to restrain criminal proceedings, 117-119;
- to prevent the enforcement of unconstitutional state statutes, 120,
- 125, 127, 128;
- use in connection with strikes and labor disputes, 146-152, 212-217;
- New York practice, 148, 151-152.
-
- Inquisition, Writ of, 14, 15.
-
- Institutions, the slower their growth the more enduring they are, 1;
- English source of American institutions, 98, 266-267;
- the Roman Catholic church and American institutions, 249-250.
-
- Intestate succession 167-169.
-
- Ives case, 65-69, 153.
-
-
- Jacobs case, 49-57, 153, 154.
-
- James I., 17, 30n, 31n.
-
- Japan, 27-29, 197.
-
- Jefferson, Thomas, 186, 187, 189, 197, 205.
-
- John, King, 4, 7, 12, 25.
-
- Judges, qualifications, 13, 14, 70, 142, 243-245;
- bound by principles, rules and precedents, 46;
- not infallible, 47;
- duty to enforce the law, 128, 129, 209;
- selection and tenure, 139-142, 243-245;
- should be defended against unjust criticism, 69-70, 126-128, 157-158.
- _See_ Judiciary and Recall.
-
- Judiciary, power to annul unconstitutional laws, 7-9, 25, 42 sqq.,
- 70 sqq., 87 sqq., 109 sqq.;
- former dependence upon the crown, 10, 17;
- has no power over legislation in England and France, 11, 76, 77, 107;
- importance recognized in Magna Carta, 13, 14;
- defended against unjust criticism, 43 sqq., 130-158, 181, 193,
- 211-212;
- government by, 45-46;
- rules for determining the constitutionality of a statute, 45, 46, 52;
- charged with having usurped power over legislation, 45, 70, 81;
- examples of alleged abuse of power, 48-68;
- cannot control legislative discretion, 52;
- should avoid judicial legislation, 62, 135;
- necessity of defending against unfair criticism, 69, 70,
- 126-128, 158;
- must enforce the Bill of Rights, 77;
- control over executive and administrative officers, 103-107,
- 111, 114;
- necessity for confidence in, 126-128;
- the bulwark of liberty, 128, 226;
- independence of, 141, 142, 226;
- not responsible for delays, 142-146.
- _See_ Judges, Constitutional limitations, Injunctions, and Recall.
-
- Judiciary, Federal, jurisdiction to enjoin state officers, 87,
- 108-110, 113, 117, 119;
- efforts to curtail power of, 88, 125;
- jurisdiction limited, 97;
- power to annul state laws a necessity, 108, 109, 112, 116, 124-129;
- compels the states to obey the Constitution, 113;
- power to enjoin criminal prosecutions by the states, 117-119;
- causes of dissatisfaction with, 126;
- oath of office of judges, 127;
- constituted as a bulwark of liberty, 128;
- assaults upon, 128, 146-152;
- issuance of injunctions in labor disputes, 213-217;
- power to punish for contempt, 215-217.
- _See also_ Supreme Court.
-
- Jurisprudence, as a science, 13, 52.
-
- Jury-trial, origin in Magna Carta, 15, 19-20;
- early history, 19-20;
- a right assured by the judicial power, 78;
- not in cases of contempt, 215.
-
- Justice, political justice secured by Magna Carta, 1, 4, 13-15;
- the highest political liberty, 13;
- uniformity and certainty essential in its administration, 13;
- social justice, 43, 81-82;
- delays in its administration, 125, 126, 142-146.
-
-
- Knisley _vs._ Pratt, 137, 155.
-
-
- Labor, competition of foreign workmen, 196, 197, 198;
- conditions in 1896, 198-199.
- _See_ Master and servant.
-
- Labor laws, in New York, 50, 56, 58, 59, 137, 156.
-
- Labor unions, attitude toward the courts, 131, 140-141;
- some labor leaders, 131, 147, 212;
- opposition to injunctions, 146-152.
-
- Labourers, Statute of, 79.
-
- Langford _vs._ United States, 103.
-
- Langton, Stephen, 5, 12.
-
- Law, how to be administered, 13;
- wiser than those who administer it, 14;
- principle of the supremacy of the law, 14, 103-107, 111, 114;
- just and equal laws, 31, 35, 36, 37, 152;
- equality before the law, 35, 36, 161;
- growing disregard of, 43, 201;
- touches every individual, 85.
- _See_ Common law, Due process of law, Fundamental laws,
- Law of the land, Justice, Judges, and Judiciary.
-
- Lawlessness, manifested in alleged reforms, 43;
- and in labor organizations, 150, 217;
- its growth in connection with the spread of socialism, 201.
-
- Law of the land, a phrase wiser than those who wrote it, 5;
- the epitome of ancient and forgotten wisdom, 5-6;
- guaranteed by Magna Carta, 9, 18, 21, 22;
- the equivalent of "due process of law" (q.v.), 18;
- meaning, 18, 19, 21, 22;
- in American constitutions, 18-19, 23-24;
- in the Petition of Right, 23.
-
- Lawyers, _see_ Bar.
-
- Lecky, W.E.H., 164.
-
- Legislation, formerly not a panacea for all ills, 9;
- practical reforms needed, 44, 205-206;
- alleged social legislation, 49-54, 153, 154;
- particular legislation criticized as being arbitrary, crude,
- experimental, meddlesome, and oppressive, 52, 80, 82, 120-125,
- 163, 245;
- a rule of construction, 154-155;
- necessity for exact language, 208;
- great volume of statutes, 204, 208.
- _See_ Class legislation and Social legislation.
-
- Legislature, taxation originally its chief function, 9;
- limitations upon, 43-46, 51, 70, 71, 78, 81, 124;
- corruption charged by social reformers, 44;
- abandoning constitutional questions to the courts, 47;
- duty to apply constitutional principles, 52;
- supreme in its sphere, 52;
- power to protect the public health, 59, 60.
- _See_ Constitutional limitations, Legislation, and Congress.
-
- Leroy-Beaulieu, Pierre Paul, 166.
-
- Liberty, Civil, guaranteed by Magna Carta, 1, 4, 5;
- Declaration of Independence, 4, 81;
- early charters of the French kings, 5;
- writ of habeas corpus its bulwark, 15, 16;
- conditions necessary for its perpetuation, 26, 36, 37;
- guaranteed by the Constitution, 51, 76;
- legislative interference with, 74, 80;
- of vital concern to everyone, 84;
- guarded by the common law, 98;
- its essence, 124;
- some political documents, 203;
- threatened by temporary majorities (q.v.), 211.
-
- Liberty, Constitutional, Justice Story on, 25;
- in the custody of the American people, 26;
- the Pilgrim Fathers assist at its birth in America, 30.
-
- Liberty, Religious, secured by the New York constitution, 12;
- idea of, in Magna Carta, 12, 13;
- established in America by the Pilgrims of Plymouth, 32, 34;
- our greatest blessing, 34;
- secured by the courts, 77-78;
- favored by non-sectarian public schools, 248;
- fostered in America by Protestants, 251, 259;
- formerly denied to Catholics in New York, 258;
- secured temporarily in New York by Governor Dongan, 259.
-
- Lincoln, Abraham, 26, 191, 246.
-
- Lottery case, 46.
-
-
- Madison, James, 88, 186, 189, 197.
-
- Magna Carta, general treatment, 1-26;
- marked our greatest political epoch, 1;
- saved England from despotism, 1;
- the source of representative government, 1-2, 16, 18;
- the foundation of liberty and justice, 1, 4;
- reissues and confirmations, 2, 3, 7, 8, 20, 22;
- extolled by the royal governor of New York, 2;
- crystallized and perpetuated English liberties, 2, 3, 5, 21;
- all Americans enjoy its privileges, 2, 3, 5;
- granted at Runnymede, June 15, 1215, 3;
- still on the English statute books, 3;
- a battle-cry against tyranny, 3, 11;
- modern criticism of, 3-4, 7, 8, 15, 19;
- the value of its traditions, 4-5, 26;
- based upon eternal truths and to endure forever, 5, 21, 203;
- established the rights of the individual as against the
- government, 6, 7;
- long regarded as an unalterable fundamental law, 6-10;
- limited the power of the king, 11, 12, 24-25;
- denounced by the Pope, 12;
- established the supremacy of the law, 14;
- translated and explained in the churches, 14;
- guaranteed the writ of habeas corpus, 15;
- separated legislative and executive power, 16;
- prevented taxation without the consent of parliament, 16-17;
- the law of the land, 18-22;
- jury-trial, 19, 20;
- supplemented by the statute of 1354, 22-23;
- justified revolution for cause, 25.
-
- Majorities, Temporary, may yet be restrained in England, 11;
- arbitrary action, 40, 124;
- their alleged infallibility a dangerous doctrine, 43;
- the proposal to free them from all restraints, 43;
- their ever-changing opinions and desires as a rule of constitutional
- construction, 45-46;
- oppressive class legislation, 74, 78-79;
- need to be restrained, 75;
- exercise of the taxing power, 165;
- would overrule the courts, 211.
- _See_ Minorities.
-
- Mallet, Monsieur, 262, 266.
-
- Marbury _vs._ Madison, 8, 72, 100, 124.
-
- Marshall, Chief Justice, his decision in Marbury _vs._
- Madison, 8-9, 72-73, 100;
- on the Constitution, 21;
- on the suability of a state, 88;
- on the eleventh amendment, 93-94, 95;
- on restraining state officers, 113-114;
- on civil liberty, 124;
- on the duty of judges, 129;
- unpopular decisions, 210.
-
- Martial law, as the alternative of injunctions, 151.
-
- Master and servant, three common-law rules changed by
- Congress, 62-63, 68;
- the common law to be changed by the legislature, not by the courts,
- 68-69, 134-135, 137-138, 155;
- soundness of the common-law rules, 132-134.
- _See_ Workmen's Compensation.
-
- Mayflower, 27, 29, 30, 32, 37.
-
- Mayflower Compact, main treatment, 27-41;
- its interest to Americans, 29, 30, 31, 40;
- called the first written constitution, 30;
- text as preserved by Governor Bradford, 30n-31n;
- its covenant for just and equal laws, 31, 35-37;
- initiated republican government, 31, 40.
-
- Minorities, English courts may yet have to protect, 11;
- their protection entrusted by the founders to the
- courts, 25, 43, 75, 76, 78;
- secure under representative government, 40;
- threatened by the short ballot, 223.
- _See_ Judiciary.
-
- Monroe, James, 186, 189, 197.
-
- Morality, a condition of social welfare and individual
- happiness, 250, 252;
- taught in Catholic schools, 250, 255.
- _See_ Constitutional Morality.
-
-
- Natural rights, a cardinal principle of Magna Carta, 6.
-
- New York city, tobacco workers in tenements, 49-57;
- board of health, 50;
- death-rate, 51;
- tenement-house conditions, 55-57;
- courts, 141, 142;
- parochial schools, 254, 257.
-
- New York state, constitution, 12, 19, 23, 24, 49, 258;
- Court of Appeals, 50, 57, 65, 80, 138, 139, 141, 145, 146,
- 154-156, 212;
- Bar Association, 75, 131, 140;
- conflicts with the federal courts, 87;
- practice as to injunctions, 148, 151-152;
- population, 204, 234;
- religious denominations, 256.
-
- North Carolina _vs._ Temple, 95.
-
-
- Officers, Public, responsibility of, 14, 103-106, 111, 114, 226;
- fair criticism desirable, 47;
- greater permanency of tenure advocated, 143;
- their selection important, 221;
- in New York, 222-224.
-
- Osborn _vs._ U.S. Bank, 112-114.
-
-
- Parliament, and Magna Carta, 3;
- its power formerly limited, 7, 8, 10;
- its supremacy, 9-11, 17-18, 76-77, 107;
- formerly believed to exist to uphold Magna Carta, 10, 25;
- its consent to taxation necessary, 16;
- parliament of 1265 developed from the _commune consilium_, 16;
- prototype in parliament of Simon de Montfort, 18;
- labor laws, 79;
- statute on the Petition of Right, 101.
-
- Parties, Political, essential to free government, 206, 238-242;
- should follow the representative principle, 207;
- effect of initiative and referendum upon, 207;
- corruption not cured by primaries, 236, 238;
- party government, 238-242.
-
- People _vs._ Koerner, 145.
-
- People _vs._ Lochner, 57-58, 153.
-
- People _vs._ Lustig, 145.
-
- People _vs._ Turley, 143.
-
- Perkins, James Breck, 263, 264.
-
- Persecution, Religious, in 16th and 17th centuries, 33-34;
- by Puritans in Massachusetts, 33;
- often really political, 33n, 34;
- in England, 36-37;
- of Catholics in America, 258-259.
-
- Petition of Right, relation to Magna Carta, 15, 23;
- procedure under, 99-102.
-
- Phelps, Edward J., 26n.
-
- Pilgrim Fathers, debt of America to, 29, 32, 34, 35;
- framed first written constitution, 30;
- their tolerance, 32, 33;
- their relation to the Puritans, 32, 34;
- hated by both Puritans and Cavaliers, 32;
- separated Church and State and established religious liberty, 32, 34;
- their experiment in communism, 37-39;
- established representative government in America, 39;
- military preparedness, 41.
- _See_ Mayflower Compact.
-
- Plymouth colony, government of, 23, 37, 39;
- Governor Bradford's annals of, 30n;
- freedom from religious persecution, 33;
- absorbed by Massachusetts in 1691, 37.
-
- Poindexter _vs._ Greenhow, 112.
-
- Police power, exercised by the legislature, 60;
- its just exercise not hindered by the courts, 81-82;
- very comprehensive, 211.
-
- Precedents, their value in the law, 22;
- judges bound by, 46;
- danger of establishing, 52.
-
- Primary elections, _see_ Elections.
-
- Progressive party, 183, 204, 211, 217.
-
- Prohibition, Writ of, 107.
-
- Prosecuting attorney, his work, 143, 144, 146.
-
- Prout _vs._ Starr, 110.
-
- Public service corporations, legislative oppression of, 120;
- right of appeal to the courts, 121-126;
- regulation necessary, 126.
-
- Puritans, their relation to the Pilgrims, 32, 34;
- their views, 32-33;
- our debt to them, 34;
- their influence in England, 34-35.
-
-
- Quakers, 33n.
-
- Quo warranto, Writ of, 107.
-
-
- Railroads, oppressed by legislation, 120, 121, 123.
-
- Recall, a menace to our republican governments, 39, 193,
- 205-207, 209-211;
- agitation for, 47;
- applied to judicial decisions, 211.
-
- Referendum, _see_ Initiative.
-
- Religion, growing disrespect for, 201;
- impracticable to teach it in the public schools, 248;
- the foundation of our social order, 250-252;
- should be taught systematically to school children, 252-254, 256;
- religious denominations in the United States, 255-256.
- _See_ Liberty and Persecution.
-
- Representative government, foundation laid by Magna Carta, 4, 16, 18;
- synonymous with the republican form of government guaranteed by the
- Constitution, 31, 39, 75, 76, 227;
- first established in America by the Pilgrims, 31, 39, 40;
- a development from democracy, 39;
- menaced by modern political nostrums, 39, 43, 204-211, 228, 245-246;
- the form may survive the substance, 46;
- depends upon the electorate, 206;
- involved in nominating conventions, 225 sqq.;
- contribution of English-speaking race, 226.
-
- Republican form of government, _see_ Representative government.
-
- Republican party, campaigns, 178 sqq.;
- principles, 217-218;
- New York convention of 1914, 234.
-
- Revolution, American, 25, 162, 262-266.
-
- Roman Catholic church, parochial schools, 247-260;
- sacrifices for education, 247, 254;
- attitude toward public schools, 248-249;
- teaches character, good citizenship and morality, 250, 252,
- 253, 255, 256;
- increasing strength in the United States, 256;
- formerly persecuted in America, 258-259.
-
- Rome, 6, 27, 44, 168.
-
- Roosevelt, Theodore, 56-67, 121, 153-156, 159-160, 183-189,
- 209, 213-215.
-
- Root, Elihu, 75, 153, 176, 185, 194.
-
-
- Separation of powers, _see_ Government.
-
- Shintō, worship of, 27-29.
-
- Ship-Money, Case of, 17.
-
- Short ballot, _see_ Elections.
-
- Sixteenth amendment, 83, 83n.
-
- Socialism, tends to destroy religion, morality and law, 201;
- opposition of Socialists to the courts, 211.
- _See_ Communism.
-
- Social reform, as class legislation, 43;
- practical reform can be effected by electing legislators of
- character and ability, 44;
- not to be accomplished by exalting the legislature at the expense
- of the courts, 44, 45, 84, 140;
- not impeded by the courts or our constitutions, 56, 68-69,
- 81-82, 135, 137, 155.
-
- Standish, Myles, 33, 41.
-
- State governments, American, reserved powers of the states, 61,
- 62, 177;
- suability of a state, 87 sqq.;
- theory of immunity from suit, 98;
- prohibitions against, 110;
- compelled to obey the federal Constitution, 113;
- state officers are suable, 114;
- conflicts with the federal courts, 117-128;
- right to regulate inheritances, 160, 167-172;
- governmental functions, 172;
- threatened by primaries, 246.
-
- Strikes, use of injunctions to suppress, 146-152, 212-215;
- Pullman strike of 1894, 148, 151, 215-216.
-
- Supremacy and Uniformity, Acts of, 32, 36-37.
-
- Supreme Court, Federal, some important decisions, 8, 57, 60, 61,
- 62, 72, 89, 93, 95, 96, 100, 101, 113, 173;
- view of due process of law, 21-22;
- attacks upon, 63, 64, 68;
- jurisdiction of suits against states, 93 sqq.
- _See_ Judiciary.
-
-
- Taft, William H., 184, 190-193, 217-218.
-
- Tariff, doctrine of protective, 193-201;
- non-partisan commissions, 194, 218;
- free trade favored by the Democrats, 195, 198;
- act of July 4, 1789, 196;
- evils of Democratic legislation, 198, 199;
- not responsible for the high cost of living, 199.
-
- Taxation, the chief legislative function in the 13th and 14th
- centuries, 9, 16;
- provisions in Magna Carta, 16;
- control of parliament over, 16, 17;
- early controversies in England, 16-18;
- and representation, 16-17, 162-163;
- essentially a legislative function, 17;
- inheritance tax, 159-160, 167-173;
- income tax, 159, 173-175;
- power to tax is the power to destroy, 160;
- conflict of state and federal, 160;
- should be equal and apportioned, 161;
- taxing power liable to abuse, 161;
- proportional taxation, 161-163;
- federal rule of apportionment, 173-174;
- excise tax, 173.
- _See_ Graduated taxation.
-
- Tenement case, _see_ Jacobs case.
-
- Throop, Governor, 221.
-
- Truth, indispensable even in political discussions, 69;
- trite truths often the most valuable, 202;
- eternal, 203.
-
- Turgot, Baron de L'Aulne, 264.
-
-
- Unconstitutional laws, American doctrine based upon the statute
- of 1369, 7, 8, 11;
- doctrine formerly recognized in England, 7-10;
- English courts may yet annul, 11;
- examples, 49, 57, 61, 65, 122, 123, 137, 209;
- Hamilton's views, 71-72;
- cannot always be annulled by the courts, 170-171.
- _See_ Constitutional limitations.
-
- United States of America, termed a government of laws and not
- of men, 124;
- population, 204;
- debt to France, 262-266;
- treaty of alliance with France, 265;
- policy of neutrality in European wars, 268-270;
- foreign relations in the hands of the President, 269.
-
- United States _vs._ Lee, 101.
-
- United States _vs._ O'Keefe, 100.
-
-
- Vassal _vs._ Massachusetts, 90.
-
-
- Washington, George, 35, 186, 187, 189, 197, 263, 268.
-
- Willcox _vs._ Consolidated Gas Co., 122.
-
- Wilson, Woodrow, 195, 198, 217, 241.
-
- Workmen's Compensation laws, federal enactments, 61-64, 67-68;
- New York statute, 65-69;
- legislation not prevented by the courts or the Constitution,
- 68-69, 82;
- general discussion, 132-138;
- should be confined to hazardous employments, 134-136;
- the British act, 135.
-
-
- Young, Ex parte, 119n.
-
-
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-<div style='text-align:center; font-size:1.2em; font-weight:bold'>The Project Gutenberg eBook of Magna Carta and Other Addresses, by William D. Guthrie</div>
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-<div style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:1em; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Title: Magna Carta and Other Addresses</div>
-
-<div style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:1em; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Author: William D. Guthrie</div>
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-<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>Release Date: January 06, 2021 [eBook #64197]</div>
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-<div style='margin-top:2em; margin-bottom:4em'>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MAGNA CARTA AND OTHER ADDRESSES ***</div>
-
-
-
-
-
-<p class="ph1">MAGNA CARTA AND OTHER ADDRESSES</p>
-
-
-
-<div class="bbox" style="margin-top: 10em;">
-<p class="center" ><small>
-COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY PRESS<br />
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-LONDON<br />
-HUMPHREY MILFORD<br />
-<span class="smcap">Amen Corner</span>, E.C.</small>
-</p></div>
-
-
-
-
-
-<p class="ph2" style="margin-top: 10em;">MAGNA CARTA</p>
-<p class="ph3">AND OTHER ADDRESSES</p>
-
-<p class="ph6">BY</p>
-
-<p class="ph4">William D. Guthrie</p>
-
-<p class="center">
-<img src="images/illus1.jpg" alt="pic" />
-</p>
-
-
-<p class="ph5" style="margin-top: 10em;">New York</p>
-<p class="ph4">COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY PRESS</p>
-<p class="ph6">1916</p>
-
-<p class="ph6"><i>All rights reserved</i></p>
-
-
-
-
-
-
-<p class="ph6" style="margin-top: 10em;"><span class="smcap">Copyright</span>, 1916,</p>
-<p class="ph5"><span class="smcap">By</span> COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY PRESS.</p>
-
-<p class="ph6">Set up and electrotyped. Published August, 1916.</p>
-
-
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-
-<div class="chapter">
-<h2 class="nobreak" >CONTENTS</h2>
-</div>
-
-
-
-
-
-<table summary="toc" width="80%">
-<tr><td></td><td></td><td>PAGE</td></tr>
-
-<tr><td align="right">I.</td> <td><a href="#MAGNA_CARTA1">MAGNA CARTA</a></td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_1">1</a></td></tr>
-
-<tr><td></td><td>Address before the Constitutional Convention of the State
-of New York at its celebration of the seven-hundredth
-anniversary of Magna Carta, Albany, June 15, 1915.</td><td></td></tr>
-
-<tr><td align="right">II.</td> <td><a href="#THE_MAYFLOWER_COMPACT5">THE MAYFLOWER COMPACT</a></td> <td align="right"><a href="#Page_27">27</a></td></tr>
-
-<tr><td></td><td>Response to the toast, "The Mayflower Compact," at the
-twenty-first annual banquet of the Society of Mayflower
-Descendants in the State of New York, held at the Hotel
-St. Regis, New York, November 23, 1915.</td><td></td></tr>
-
-<tr><td align="right">III.</td> <td><a href="#CONSTITUTIONAL_MORALITY10">CONSTITUTIONAL MORALITY</a></td> <td align="right"><a href="#Page_42">42</a></td></tr>
-
-<tr><td></td><td>Address before the Pennsylvania State Bar Association
-at its eighteenth annual meeting, held at Cape May,
-New Jersey, June 25, 1912.</td><td></td></tr>
-
-<tr><td align="right">IV.</td> <td><a href="#THE_ELEVENTH_AMENDMENT23">THE ELEVENTH AMENDMENT</a></td> <td align="right"><a href="#Page_87">87</a></td></tr>
-
-<tr><td></td><td>Address before the New York State Bar Association at
-its thirty-first annual meeting, held in New York, January
-25, 1908.</td><td></td></tr>
-
-<tr><td align="right">V.</td> <td><a href="#CRITICISM_OF_THE_COURTS50">CRITICISM OF THE COURTS</a></td> <td align="right"><a href="#Page_130">130</a></td></tr>
-
-<tr><td></td><td>Read as a supplement to the report of a committee of the
-New York State Bar Association submitted at the thirty-sixth
-annual meeting of the Association, held at Utica,
-January 24, 1913.</td><td></td></tr>
-
-<tr><td align="right">VI.</td> <td><a href="#GRADUATED_OR_PROGRESSIVE_TAXATION59">GRADUATED OR PROGRESSIVE TAXATION</a></td> <td align="right"><a href="#Page_159">159</a></td></tr>
-
-<tr><td></td><td>Address before the National Civic Federation at its
-annual meeting, held in New York, December 13, 1906.</td><td></td></tr>
-
-<tr><td align="right">VII.</td> <td><a href="#THE_DUTY_OF_CITIZENSHIP62">THE DUTY OF CITIZENSHIP</a></td> <td align="right"><a href="#Page_178">178</a></td></tr>
-
-<tr><td></td><td>Address as temporary chairman of the New York Republican
-State Convention, Saratoga Springs, September
-25, 1912.</td><td></td></tr>
-
-<tr><td align="right">VIII.</td> <td><a href="#NOMINATING_CONVENTIONS64">NOMINATING CONVENTIONS</a></td> <td align="right"><a href="#Page_219">219</a></td></tr>
-
-<tr><td></td><td>Remarks before the Committee on Suffrage of the Constitutional
-Convention of the State of New York, Albany,
-June 16, 1915.</td><td></td></tr>
-
-<tr><td align="right">IX.</td> <td><a href="#CATHOLIC_PAROCHIAL_SCHOOLS68">CATHOLIC PAROCHIAL SCHOOLS</a></td> <td align="right"><a href="#Page_247">247</a></td></tr>
-
-<tr><td></td><td>Remarks at the dedication of the Roman Catholic parochial
-school at Glen Cove, Long Island, New York,
-September 6, 1915.</td><td></td></tr>
-
-<tr><td align="right">X.</td> <td><a href="#THE_FRANCE-AMERICA_COMMITTEE_OF_NEW_YORK70">THE FRANCE-AMERICA COMMITTEE OF NEW
-YORK</a></td> <td align="right"><a href="#Page_261">261</a></td></tr>
-
-<tr><td></td><td>Remarks as presiding officer at a luncheon given in honor
-of the members of the Anglo-French Credit and Finance
-Commission at the Hotel Knickerbocker, New York,
-October 1, 1915.</td><td></td></tr>
-
-<tr><td></td><td><a href="#INDEX">INDEX</a></td> <td align="right"><a href="#Page_271">271</a></td></tr>
-</table>
-<hr class="chap" />
-
-<div class="chapter">
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_1" id="Page_1"></a>[Pg 1]</span></p>
-
-<h2 class="nobreak" id="MAGNA_CARTA1">MAGNA CARTA<a id="FNanchor_1" href="#Footnote_1" class="fnanchor">[1]</a></h2>
-</div>
-
-
-<p class="drop">T<span class="uppercase">o</span> the student of American institutions it must appear singularly
-impressive and instructive that the members of the Constitutional
-Convention of the state of New York have paused in their important
-work to celebrate the seven-hundredth anniversary of the Great
-Charter of English Liberties and to look back reverently through the
-centuries to the sources of our constitutional law and to the days
-when our ancestors were laying the foundations of civil liberty and
-political justice. It is, indeed, no exaggeration to assert that
-Magna Carta marked the greatest political epoch in the history of our
-race, in that it saved England from becoming one of the arbitrary and
-degrading despotisms which arose in Europe after the overthrow of the
-feudal system, and that from its principles sprang representative and
-constitutional government, with all that these terms have grown to mean
-to Americans. This ceremony must again emphasize the great truth that
-everything which has power to win the obedience and respect of men must
-have its roots deep in the past, and that the more slowly institutions
-have grown, so much the more enduring are they likely to prove.</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_2" id="Page_2"></a>[Pg 2]</span></p>
-
-<p>Two hundred and eighteen years ago the royal governor of New York is
-reported to have exclaimed to the legislature of the colony: "There
-are none of you but are big with the privileges of Magna Carta." And
-to-day, Mr. President, can it not be said with equal force and pride
-that there are no Americans but are big with the privileges of Magna
-Carta? Long may that continue to be true! To provide that the spirit
-of these privileges shall endure forever, so far as lies in human
-power, is the highest and noblest duty of every American constitutional
-convention.</p>
-
-<p>Other speakers will treat of the historical and political aspects of
-Magna Carta and of its reissues and confirmations by king after king
-and parliament after parliament. I am to speak of the legal value of
-some of the cardinal features of the Great Charter as antecedents of
-principles which are closely connected with our present political life
-and which continue to invigorate our system of constitutional law. But
-my treatment of this large and important aspect of the subject must
-necessarily be inadequate, in view of the limited time at your disposal.</p>
-
-<p>It is undoubtedly true that Magna Carta contained much that was old in
-1215 and much that subsequently became antiquated because inapplicable
-to changed conditions; yet it then crystallized and served to
-perpetuate the fundamental principles of the liberties of Englishmen.
-Solemnly confirmed no less than thirty-seven times by seven kings of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_3" id="Page_3"></a>[Pg 3]</span>
-England, it naturally became in the eyes of Englishmen the embodiment
-of their deepest and most firmly rooted rights and liberties and their
-great and stirring battle-cry against tyranny. The reissue of 1225
-still remains on the English statute books as in full force and effect,
-so that, as an English historian has recently said, every act appearing
-on the statute rolls is in a sense an act amending Magna Carta.</p>
-
-<p>The spirit of Magna Carta, as it thus survived, has for centuries
-inspired Englishmen and Americans, even though its letter may be dead
-and most of its provisions may long ago have become obsolete and their
-exact meaning hidden beneath the ruins of the past. Indeed, provisions
-of the Great Charter were frequently violated by king and parliament
-after 1215, and were allowed to fall into neglect for generations at a
-time; but it cannot be doubted that, if the principles they embodied
-had been observed, they would have secured permanent political liberty
-and constitutional government to England long before the seventeenth
-century, and that only disregard of those principles made possible the
-five centuries of tyranny and oppression recorded by English history.</p>
-
-<p>It may likewise be true, as some historians of the scientific school
-are now contending, that the framers of the Great Charter and the
-representatives of the English church, baronage and people gathered on
-the meadows at Runnymede on the 15th day of June, 1215, had little or
-no grasp of the science of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_4" id="Page_4"></a>[Pg 4]</span> politics or of constitutional principles
-as we understand them. It is probably true that they had no very
-definite conception of the theory of representative government, or of
-the separation of governmental powers, or of those inalienable rights
-of the individual which our Declaration of Independence was later to
-proclaim, just as it is probably true that very few of them could even
-read the language in which the charter was written. But statesmen and
-lawyers, in dealing with the practical problems of constitutional
-government, will not minimize the value of Magna Carta, and our debt
-to the generation that forced it from King John, merely because the
-underlying principles may not have been fully grasped by its framers
-and its traditions may be based on legends and myths. It is enough that
-the charter contained the germ and the spirit of civil liberty and
-political justice.</p>
-
-<p>It may be conceded that the framers of Magna Carta builded better than
-they knew, and likewise that many of the traditions as to the intent,
-meaning and scope of its provisions&mdash;traditions which were so potent
-and inspiring during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries&mdash;were
-founded, as is now asserted, upon legends and myths. Yet, these legends
-and traditions, growing up and clustering around Magna Carta, served
-to keep alive and perpetuate its spirit. They generated the sentiment
-which impelled men to patriotic and heroic sacrifice in the cause of
-liberty; they sustained generation after generation in the recurring
-struggles for political<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_5" id="Page_5"></a>[Pg 5]</span> justice and equality before the law; they
-formed and preserved a public morality which prevented violations of
-the principles of the Great Charter, and they were of incalculable
-inspiration and encouragement to Englishmen and Americans, if not to
-the whole world. The great traditions of Magna Carta have made its
-heritage peculiarly valuable and its service to humanity immortal. It
-is because of these traditions that Magna Carta is doubly sacred to us,
-as it was to our forefathers.</p>
-
-<p>Many of us, however, venture to believe that the unknown author of the
-original Articles of the Barons or of the Great Charter itself&mdash;if
-it was not the learned Stephen Langton, who had been educated at the
-University of Paris and was familiar with Roman and canonical law and
-the charters of liberties which the kings of France had been granting
-to their subjects&mdash;knew far more of the underlying and vivifying
-principles of jurisprudence and politics than some of our modern
-critics are willing to attribute to that generation. Be this as it
-may, the political instinct of our race must have guided the framers
-to the eternal truths upon which the Great Charter of Liberties was
-based, even though they imperfectly comprehended these truths, or
-did not comprehend them at all. A single phrase like "the law of the
-land" in a political document is often wiser than is realized, not
-merely by the masses who acclaim it, but even by the leaders who write
-it. It may happily serve to preserve and compress into very small
-compass the relics of ancient wisdom, not<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_6" id="Page_6"></a>[Pg 6]</span>withstanding the fact that
-later generations are frequently puzzled to decipher the contents
-and discover the meaning. Such a phrase, as has been well said of
-the language of a nation, "sometimes locks up truths which were once
-well known, but which in the course of ages have passed out of sight
-and been forgotten. In other cases it holds the germs of truths, of
-which, though they were never plainly discerned, the genius of its
-framers caught a glimpse in a happy moment of divination, ... and often
-it would seem as though rays of truths, which were still below the
-intellectual horizon, had dawned upon the imagination as it was looking
-up to heaven."<a id="FNanchor_2" href="#Footnote_2" class="fnanchor">[2]</a></p>
-
-<p>First and foremost among the cardinal principles of Magna Carta was
-the idea, then beginning again to germinate throughout Europe, that
-the individual has natural rights as against the government, and that
-those rights ought to be secured to him by fundamental laws which
-should be unalterable by king or council. No one can study the history
-of European politics during the great constructive thirteenth century
-without being impressed by the fact of the revival of this conception
-in men's minds, not only in England, but on the Continent, where it
-manifested itself in varying forms and in different connections. I say
-revival, because the same conviction had prevailed hundreds of years
-before in both Greece and Rome; but it had been lost for centuries.</p>
-
-<p>The idea that the fundamental laws of the land<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7"></a>[Pg 7]</span>&mdash;the pious and good old
-laws of Alfred and of Edward, as the English called them, or <i>les lois
-fondamentales</i>, as the French were then calling them&mdash;were unalterable
-and that any governmental regulation, or edict, or statute to the
-contrary should be treated as void and null, is plainly enunciated in
-the first chapter of Magna Carta, where King John grants to the freemen
-of the kingdom "all the underwritten liberties, to be had and held by
-them and their heirs, of us and our heirs forever," and in chapter
-sixty-one, where the king covenants that he "shall procure nothing from
-any one, directly or indirectly, whereby any part of these concessions
-and liberties might be revoked or diminished; and if any such thing
-has been procured, let it be void and null." It is certain that during
-the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries the theory generally prevailed
-in England that the concessions and liberties of the Great Charter
-had been granted forever and were unalterable by the king, or even by
-parliament. Thus, we find parliament enacting in 1369, with the consent
-of Edward III., that the Great Charter of Liberties should be "holden
-and kept in all points, and if any statute be made to the contrary,
-that shall be holden for none."</p>
-
-<p>One of the scholarly critics of Magna Carta suggests that this
-enactment of 1369 was quite an "illogical theory" on the part of
-parliament, because, to quote his language, "if parliament had power
-to alter the sacred terms of Magna Carta, it had power to alter the
-less sacred statute of 1369 which<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_8" id="Page_8"></a>[Pg 8]</span> declared it unalterable."<a id="FNanchor_3" href="#Footnote_3" class="fnanchor">[3]</a> The
-conclusive answer to this kind of reasoning, at least as it must
-seem to statesmen and lawyers, is that Magna Carta was then regarded
-as something very different from and much higher than any ordinary
-statute. The people of that day would have protested, if the logic
-of parliament had then been challenged by the learned, that Magna
-Carta was a permanent charter of liberties and as such not subject to
-amendment or nullification by mere statute. But logical or illogical
-as the act of 42 Edward III. may have been at the time, or may seem to
-be to the logicians of the twentieth century, it serves to show that
-in the fourteenth century the English people understood and intended,
-and the king and parliament expressly agreed and conceded, that the
-liberties guaranteed by the Great Charter, then being again and again
-confirmed, were unalterable, and that any statute to the contrary
-should be "holden for none."</p>
-
-<p>The spirit of that declaration still lives in every American
-constitution. We certainly have here the antecedent of the great
-controlling principle underlying the whole structure of American
-constitutional law, that any statute in conflict with the fundamental
-laws, so far as we see fit to perpetuate them in constitutional
-provisions, shall be void and null, in the language of the Great
-Charter, or holden for none, in the language of the time of Edward III.
-Chief Justice Marshall in the great case of Marbury <i>vs</i>. Madison, in
-1803, was but following these ancient<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9"></a>[Pg 9]</span> declarations when, speaking for
-
-the Supreme Court of the United States, he settled&mdash;we hope for all
-time&mdash;the beneficent and indispensable doctrine that a statute contrary
-to an American constitution must be treated by the courts as void and
-null and holden for none.</p>
-
-<p>I do not overlook the fact that this idea of fundamental laws
-unchangeable by statute long slumbered in England, and that the
-contrary&mdash;the legal supremacy of parliament&mdash;was subsequently
-established. In studying this aspect of the Great Charter, we must
-recall that the conditions of life in England during the thirteenth and
-fourteenth centuries were very much simpler than those existing later,
-and that it was not then realized, or at most only vaguely and dimly,
-that the legislative power could change the laws regulating the rights
-and duties of individuals as among themselves or in their relation to
-the government. The modern habit of imagining that in legislation is to
-be found the panacea for all ills and of measuring the efficiency of
-a government by the number of statutes it has produced was unthought
-of. Probably the only legislative function in the minds of Englishmen
-during the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries was taxation, and as yet
-men hardly realized the necessity for broader regulative or legislative
-powers.</p>
-
-<p>Nevertheless, the doctrine that the permanent fundamental principles of
-the law of the land guaranteed by Magna Carta were inviolable prevailed
-in England long after the fourteenth century, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10"></a>[Pg 10]</span> in fact was declared
-in the English courts as late as the seventeenth century. Bonham's case
-is the most familiar instance of the recognition of that doctrine. The
-views of English lawyers, judges and statesmen have changed in this
-respect, and it is now settled that parliament is supreme and that it
-can amend or repeal Magna Carta in any respect it may see fit. The
-changed view undoubtedly met with ready acquiescence, partly because of
-the necessity for amendments of the law in order to cope with changing
-conditions, partly because of the unwillingness of the English people
-to leave questions of constitutional power to the courts, in view of
-the dependence of the judges upon the crown, but principally because
-of the confident belief that parliament existed primarily for the very
-purpose of upholding and protecting the rights and liberties secured to
-the people by the Great Charter of Liberties, and that the people could
-rely upon parliament never to consent to the violation of those rights
-and liberties.</p>
-
-<p>Repeatedly from the seventeenth century to our own day legislation
-has been criticized in Great Britain and Ireland on the ground that
-it was in conflict with Magna Carta, and always the strongest and
-most effective argument against proposed legislation has been that
-it would violate the principles of the Great Charter of Liberties.
-During the past thirty years thoughtful observers of English politics
-have remarked that private property in England is, on the whole, less
-secure from attack on<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11"></a>[Pg 11]</span> the part of the government in our day than
-it was at the time of the Stuarts. Whenever the increase of class
-legislation and attacks on private property shall lead Englishmen to
-place checks and restraints upon the power of temporary majorities, so
-as more effectively to protect personal and property rights&mdash;an event
-which, I believe, must inevitably come to pass sooner or later&mdash;then
-the stirring battle-cry will again be Magna Carta, and the result
-may be a return to the spirit of the declarations of Magna Carta and
-of the statute of Edward III., that any statute contrary to the law
-of the land guaranteeing the fundamental rights and liberties of the
-individual shall be void and null and holden for none. And to make that
-ancient, sound and honest principle really an effective protection to
-the individual and to minorities, the courts of justice of England may
-at last be empowered, as they are with us, to refuse to give force
-and effect and to hold for none any statute in conflict with the
-fundamental law of the land.</p>
-
-<p>Of an importance no less vital than the idea of a permanent law of
-the land safeguarding the fundamental rights and liberties of the
-individual, was the express declaration in the first chapter of Magna
-Carta that the English church, <i>Anglicana ecclesia</i>, should be free
-from interference on the part of the crown and that her rights should
-be entire and her liberties inviolable. In this provision we have the
-germ of an independent church and the idea of the separation of Church
-and State.</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12"></a>[Pg 12]</span></p>
-
-<p>It is reasonable to assume and, in view of the surrounding
-circumstances and the language then employed, it is highly probable
-that, under the lead of Langton, who was born of English parents and
-intensely patriotic, probably himself the author of the clause, the
-churchmen of that day conceived that the religion of the English people
-ought to be free from governmental control, and that the English church
-had interests and privileges independent of the crown and independent
-likewise of the interests and policies of Rome. At that very time
-the English churchmen, in cooperating with the barons and people of
-England to secure Magna Carta, were acting against the will of Rome;
-indeed, as we know, the Pope promptly denounced the Great Charter
-and the patriot primate, because the Pope considered that the Great
-Charter was derogatory to the dignity of King John as a vassal of the
-Holy See. In this provision of Magna Carta relating to the English
-church, even though it was disregarded for centuries, we recognize
-the idea of religious liberty and the American political principle
-of the separation of Church and State, as also, though vaguely, the
-great principle underlying the noble declaration in our own state
-constitution that "the free exercise and enjoyment of religious
-profession and worship, without discrimination or preference, shall
-forever be allowed in this state to all mankind."</p>
-
-<p>The provisions of the Great Charter relating to the administration
-of justice were undoubtedly<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13"></a>[Pg 13]</span> those which were of chief concern to
-the people at large, as they were certainly, if observed, those most
-essential for the security of their liberties. The framers knew that
-it was in the courts that the king of England would keep his promises,
-if at all, and that the king's government would only be as good as his
-judges were learned, independent and impartial. In these provisions of
-Magna Carta we find the principle of the separation and independence
-of the judicial power and the soundest and highest conceptions of the
-administration of justice, conceptions far in advance of those to be
-found in any other document or enactment of that age.</p>
-
-<p>The framers had grasped the great truth that jurisprudence is a
-science, that the law must be administered by men learned in that
-science and bound to obey its rules and follow its precedents, that
-uniformity and certainty are essential to the administration of
-justice, and that the highest political liberty is the right to justice
-according to law and not according to the will of the judge or the
-judge's master, or according to the judge's individual discretion, or
-his notions of right and wrong. They had also arrived at the conclusion
-that every Englishman was entitled as of absolute right to a day in a
-court which would hear before it condemned, which would proceed upon
-notice and inquiry, and which would render judgment only after a fair
-trial. The plain people of England knew full well that the struggle
-for their old laws&mdash;the laws of their land, pious, good, fixed and
-perma<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14"></a>[Pg 14]</span>nent, as they devoutly believed them to be&mdash;would be fruitless
-unless they secured permanent courts and learned, independent and
-impartial judges; and they instinctively felt, if they did not clearly
-perceive, that the law is infinitely wiser than those who may be called
-upon to administer it, and that, as Aristotle had declared fifteen
-hundred years before, "to seek to be wiser than the laws is the very
-thing which is by good laws forbidden."</p>
-
-<p>It was Magna Carta that established in England the doctrine of the
-rule of law administered in fixed courts by learned and independent
-judges bound to obey the law; and it was Magna Carta that established
-the greatest of all the English constitutional doctrines, that of
-the supremacy of the law over every official however high. When the
-Great Charter was being translated and explained in the cathedrals,
-churches and monasteries of England, the people fully understood the
-tremendous significance and value to them, determined as they were to
-establish a rule of law and put an end to arbitrary decrees, of the
-famous covenant in chapter forty-five that the king would "appoint as
-justices, constables, sheriffs, or bailiffs only such as know the law
-of the realm and mean to observe it well," and of the covenants in
-chapter seventeen that the "common pleas shall not follow our court,
-but shall be held in some fixed place"&mdash;in chapter eighteen that the
-petty assizes should be held in the county court&mdash;in chapter thirty-six
-that the writ of inquisition should be freely "granted, and never
-denied"&mdash;in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15"></a>[Pg 15]</span> chapter forty that "to no one will we sell, to no one
-will we refuse or delay, right or justice," which in time came to be
-interpreted as a universal guaranty of free and impartial justice to
-all classes high and low.</p>
-
-<p>For many generations in England and in America it was believed that
-the writ of habeas corpus, justly esteemed the great bulwark of
-personal liberty, had its direct guaranty or at least its antecedent
-in Magna Carta. Such was the contention of counsel in the Five Knights
-case of 1627, and such was the declaration of the Petition of Right
-of 1628. This view is now being challenged on the ground that the
-exact procedure subsequently developed was not provided for in Magna
-Carta and was not in the minds of its authors. Even if this be so,
-the underlying principle of chapter thirty-six and its promise that
-the writ of inquisition should be freely "granted, and never denied"
-naturally led in time, after the passing of trial by combat, to the
-right of speedy inquisition by grand jury and trial by petit jury.
-At all events, the principle of the writ of habeas corpus was for
-centuries assumed to be embodied in Magna Carta.</p>
-
-<p>Professor Dicey lecturing at Oxford on "The Law of the Constitution"
-has well remarked that, although the English Habeas Corpus acts declare
-no principle and define no rights, they are for practical purposes
-worth a hundred constitutional articles guaranteeing individual
-liberty. As in England, so with us. Without the writ of habeas corpus<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16"></a>[Pg 16]</span>
-there would be no liberty worthy of the name and no rights of personal
-freedom of any practical value. We have only to read the leading cases
-in our courts to realize how great a part the writ has played and still
-plays in securing and rendering effective the fundamental principles of
-American liberty.</p>
-
-<p>Chapters twelve and fourteen of Magna Carta dealt with the subject of
-taxation, and they laid the foundation of our representative system
-and of the separation of the legislative from the executive power. As
-has been suggested, the only legislative function that the people of
-England in the thirteenth century contemplated as closely affecting
-them or as likely to create any pressing grievance was that of
-taxation. It was, therefore, expressly provided in the Great Charter
-that, aside from the three existing feudal aids, more or less fixed,
-the power to impose taxes should not be exercised without the consent
-of the <i>commune consilium</i>. This common council is the body that fifty
-years later developed into the famous parliament of Simon de Montfort
-of 1265.</p>
-
-<p>In the controversies in regard to taxation subsequently arising,
-whether in parliament, in the courts, or in the forum of public
-opinion, it was always insisted that Magna Carta prevented taxation
-without the consent of parliament, just as in the eighteenth century
-our ancestors contended that Magna Carta prevented taxation without
-representation, that is, prevented the imposition of taxes except by
-a legislative body in which the taxpayers were represented.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17"></a>[Pg 17]</span> We have
-only to refer to the arguments in the great constitutional cases before
-the courts of England in the seventeenth century, such as the famous
-case of Impositions in the reign of James I. and the still more famous
-case of Ship-Money in the reign of Charles I., to realize how much
-the people relied upon Magna Carta as establishing the doctrine that
-parliament alone could impose taxes.</p>
-
-<p>The counsel for Bate in the former case and for Hampden in the
-latter case may not have apprehended the philosophical theory of the
-separation of governmental powers elaborated by Montesquieu in the next
-century, and they may not have contended that taxation was essentially
-a legislative function and, therefore, could not be exercised by the
-king; but in final analysis they affirmed these principles when they
-asserted that parliament alone could impose taxes. The judgment of a
-majority of the court in the Ship-Money case, as had been the judgment
-in the case of Impositions, was in favor of the crown, but the appeal
-to the country cost Charles I. his head and ultimately resulted in
-vesting in parliament the exclusive power to legislate and hence to
-tax. If England had then had an independent judiciary charged with
-the duty of enforcing the fundamental law of the land, the levying of
-the taxes in both of these cases would have been held contrary to the
-letter, as it was certainly contrary to the spirit, of Magna Carta.</p>
-
-<p>It is no answer to say that the parliament of to-day finds its
-prototype not in the old common<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18"></a>[Pg 18]</span> council referred to in Magna Carta,
-but in the parliament of 1265, nor is it an answer to say that the idea
-of taxation in its abstract form is essentially modern and was quite
-unknown in 1215. I do not suggest that the people of England in 1215 or
-even in 1265 understood the virtues of the representative system, or
-the principles of taxation or of the separation of powers. The point
-is that the direct consequence of the provisions of Magna Carta was a
-parliament based, theoretically at least, on the representative idea as
-well as on the principle that there could be no legislation without the
-consent of parliament.</p>
-
-<p>The most famous of all the chapters of Magna Carta and the most
-important and far-reaching from a juridical point of view is
-undoubtedly the thirty-ninth, which provides that "no freeman shall be
-taken or imprisoned or disseised or exiled or in any way destroyed, nor
-will we go upon him nor send upon him, except by the lawful judgment of
-his peers or by the law of the land."</p>
-
-<p>The substance of this provision as to "the law of the land," or its
-equivalent "due process of law," is of universal application throughout
-the United States as a constitutional limitation upon the powers of
-government, and it is to be found not only in the Constitution of the
-United States but in the constitution of every state of the Union. It
-is now firmly established in American and English constitutional law,
-and it is familiar knowledge, that the terms "the law of the land" and
-"due process of law" are exactly<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19"></a>[Pg 19]</span> equivalent in meaning and in legal
-force and effect. The earliest use of the phrase "due process of law"
-in American constitutions seems to have been in the fifth amendment to
-the Constitution of the United States, ratified in 1791. None of the
-state constitutions then in existence contained that term, but nearly
-all of them used the phrase "the law of the land." The phrase "due
-process of law" will be found in the New York bill of rights of 1787.</p>
-
-<p>Until recent years, it had been assumed that the term "the lawful
-judgment of his peers" in Magna Carta meant trial by jury according
-to the modern understanding of that term, and that the term "the law
-of the land" meant laws conforming to those fundamental principles of
-justice which protect every individual in the full enjoyment of life,
-liberty and property secure from the arbitrary exercise of the powers
-of government. That is still the technical legal meaning of these
-two terms both in England and in America, although their practical
-effect and operation are different with us, because of our system of
-written constitutions which the legislative branch may not disregard or
-violate. Both of these meanings, however, are now challenged by certain
-critics as being without foundation in either the provisions or the
-history of the Great Charter.</p>
-
-<p>Some historians contend that the familiar provision of Magna Carta
-could not have meant trial by a jury of twelve and a unanimous verdict,
-because such a jury, according to our present knowledge, did not
-exist until the second half<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20"></a>[Pg 20]</span> of the fourteenth century. But it is
-quite immaterial whether the exact form of our jury-trial existed in
-England in 1215, or when the Great Charter was subsequently reissued or
-confirmed, provided that the foundations of the system had then been
-laid. It is sufficient for us that the antecedents of the modern jury
-system in all its three forms of grand jury, criminal jury and civil
-jury existed at the time of Magna Carta and were preserved by it. As
-the jury system developed, with the changes inevitably attending all
-such institutions of legal procedure and machinery, the form for the
-time being, whatever its exact nature, became "the lawful judgment of
-his peers" within the intent and meaning of the Great Charter. In any
-event, the latest confirmations of that instrument occurred at a time
-when the jury system as now in force was being firmly established.
-It is, therefore, easy to understand how the provision "the lawful
-judgment of his peers" in the course of time came to be regarded as
-intended to guarantee the common-law jury of twelve with unanimity in
-verdict.</p>
-
-<p>Thus many, if not most, of our constitutional provisions now apply to
-conditions not at all contemplated by their framers although clearly
-within the principle enunciated and the spirit of the language used.
-Much of the efficacy of our federal and state bills of rights, or of
-any similar provisions which this Convention may embody in the new
-constitution, would be practically nullified if the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21"></a>[Pg 21]</span> language used
-were to be interpreted as being limited to the particular conditions
-existing when they were adopted. It is the spirit and the expanding
-principles of constitutional provisions which should always control.
-The letter killeth.</p>
-
-<p>A charter of liberties, a bill of rights, or a constitution is not
-an ephemeral enactment designed to meet only the conditions existing
-at the time of its adoption. It embodies and perpetuates permanent
-principles. It is designed to endure "forever," in the language
-of Magna Carta, and "to approach immortality as nearly as human
-institutions can approach it," in the lofty phrase of Marshall, the
-great Chief Justice of the United States. Under any other rule of
-interpretation, Magna Carta would have become antiquated long before
-the discovery of America.</p>
-
-<p>By the phrase "the law of the land," in chapter thirty-nine, the
-fundamental principles and axioms of the existing law were perpetuated.
-Exactly what those fundamental principles and axioms were then
-understood to be is not now capable of accurate exposition. The
-judges and the people of those days certainly had some definite
-ideas of reasonably just and fixed rules of conduct adequate for the
-solution of the simple questions arising in the controversies then
-being submitted for adjudication. Had the judges been pressed for a
-comprehensive or philosophical definition of "the law of the land,"
-they might have said that they would not attempt to define the term
-any more than they would attempt to define justice itself, and that,
-as the Supreme<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22"></a>[Pg 22]</span> Court of the United States declared only a few years
-ago, it is better to ascertain the intent of such an important phrase
-in a great constitutional document by the gradual process of judicial
-inclusion and exclusion as practical experience may dictate and as
-the cases presented for decision may require; in other words, that
-their decisions would in time sufficiently declare and perpetuate the
-principles of the law of</p>
-
-<p>
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">"A land of settled government,</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">A land of just and old renown,</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Where freedom slowly broadens down</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">From precedent to precedent."</span><br />
-</p>
-
-<p>The phrase "the law of the land," as used in Magna Carta, must have
-been intended at the time to include procedure as well as substantive
-law, but the term "due process of law," now its current equivalent,
-originally related only to procedure. A very early, if not the
-earliest, use of the term "due process of law" will be found in a
-statute of the year 1354, 28 Edward III., in which it was provided that
-no person should be condemned without being first brought to answer by
-due process of the law, the exact wording in the quaint Norman-French
-of the day being "<i>saunz estre mesne en respons par due proces de
-lei</i>." As at the same time the Great Charter was being expressly
-confirmed "to be kept and maintained in all points," the provision
-in regard to <i>due proces de lei</i> in the act of 1354 was undoubtedly
-intended to be supplemental to the provisions of the Great Charter
-and to apply only<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23"></a>[Pg 23]</span> to persons being brought to trial in a court of
-justice. It is true that in the seventeenth century Lord Coke used the
-phrase "due process of law" as the equivalent of "the law of the land,"
-but in the contemporaneous Petition of Right of 1628 mention is made
-specifically of the "Great Charter of the Liberties of England" and its
-provision as to "the law of the land," and reference is made separately
-to the act of 28 Edward III. and its provision that no man should be
-prosecuted "without being brought to answere by due process of lawe."</p>
-
-<p>The same distinction in the use of these terms will be found in the
-history of the Plymouth colony as early as 1636 and also in the early
-history of the state of New York. The New York charter of liberties and
-privileges of 1683 speaks of "being brought to answere by due course
-of law," the words evidently being taken either from the act of Edward
-III. of 1354, or from the Petition of Right of 1628. The New York
-constitution of 1777 used the term "the law of the land" but did not
-use the term "due process of law." In the New York bill of rights of
-1787, we find the phrases "the law of the land," "due process of law"
-and "due course of law," and in one section the phrase "due process
-of law according to the law of the land." Both terms, "the law of
-the land" and "due process of law," are used with evidently the same
-meaning in the present constitution of the state of New York, that
-is to say, "the law of the land" is used in section I of Article I.
-and "due process of law"<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24"></a>[Pg 24]</span> in section 6. The separate history of each
-section, the former first appearing in the constitution of 1777 and the
-latter in the constitution of 1821, will account for the difference in
-terminology.</p>
-
-<p>It would be interesting to trace the varying uses of these terms in
-our forty-eight state constitutions, but that must be left for some
-other occasion. A majority of the state constitutions, including most
-of the recent constitutions, now contain the term "due process of law."
-As that term is the one used in the fourteenth amendment, which is
-applicable to all the states, it might be preferable, for the sake of
-uniformity and certainty, to adopt that form as less likely to confuse.
-Moreover, the phrase "due process of law" lends itself readily to a
-more comprehensive and inclusive definition if we define the word
-"due" to mean <i>just and appropriate</i> and the word "process" to mean
-<i>substantive provision</i> as well as procedure.</p>
-
-<p>Finally, it may be of interest to notice the sanction and security
-devised for enforcing the covenants of Magna Carta. A body or tribunal
-of twenty-five barons, called executors, was created by chapter
-sixty-one, who were to "be bound with all their might, to observe
-and hold, and cause to be observed, the peace and liberties we have
-granted and confirmed to them," and who were to have power to compel
-the king himself, even by force, to keep the promises he had made.
-The clause providing this security or legal sanction was crude, but
-it was not necessarily an impracticable innovation. Although<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25"></a>[Pg 25]</span> the
-plan utterly failed, it remained of immense value in principle. That
-principle established the right of the subjects to compel the king of
-England to obey a body of fixed laws outside and beyond his will; it
-justified revolution for just cause, and it inspired our forefathers
-in their struggle against George III. The influence of this idea upon
-public sentiment as justifying revolution, particularly during the
-seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, cannot well be over-estimated.
-The ineffectiveness of this provision of Magna Carta served also to
-demonstrate the futility of such a tribunal and security, and to lead
-the English people to look thereafter solely to the courts of justice
-and to parliament for the protection of their rights and liberties.
-The founders of our own republican governments may have been warned
-by the failure of this sanction that it would be unwise to create any
-political body with power to enforce constitutional provisions, and
-it may have been for this reason that they left the enforcement of
-constitutional limitations and the protection of the individual and
-minorities to an independent non-political forum composed of impartial
-judges learned in the law and meaning "to observe it well," according
-to the spirit of Magna Carta.</p>
-
-<p>In closing his great commentaries on the Constitution of the United
-States, Mr. Justice Story admonished the American people that,
-although the whole structure of our constitutional liberty was erected
-by architects of consummate skill and fidelity, with<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26"></a>[Pg 26]</span> its defences
-impregnable from without, it might nevertheless perish in an hour by
-the folly or corruption or negligence of its only keepers, the people.
-It cannot, indeed, be too often declared that, if constitutional
-government and fundamental rights are to endure, they must be
-maintained and preserved by competent leaders and representatives of
-the people constantly teaching the value of the traditions of Magna
-Carta and the necessity of adhering to constitutional principles and
-observing constitutional morality. The members of this Convention are
-not likely to disregard the living spirit of the Great Charter of
-English Liberties and its enduring value to Americans. It was Lincoln
-who said that "as a nation of freemen we must live through all time,
-or die by suicide." But we shall perpetuate free government and civil
-liberty only as we adhere to two essential conditions: the one, that
-our fundamental rights shall continue to be inviolable by the state,
-the other, that they shall be equal. "If not inviolable, they are not
-rights, but only enjoyments on sufferance; if not equal, they are but
-the privileges of a class, whatever that class may be."<a id="FNanchor_4" href="#Footnote_4" class="fnanchor">[4]</a></p>
-
-
-
-<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1" href="#FNanchor_1" class="label">[1]</a> Address before the Constitutional Convention of the state
-of New York at its celebration of the seven-hundredth anniversary of
-Magna Carta, Albany, June 15, 1915.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_2" href="#FNanchor_2" class="label">[2]</a> Guesses at Truth, 1st series, 3d ed. (1847), pp. 324-325.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_3" href="#FNanchor_3" class="label">[3]</a> W.S. McKechnie, <i>Magna Carta</i>, 2d ed. (1914), p. 159.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_4" href="#FNanchor_4" class="label">[4]</a> Edward J. Phelps, Orations and Essays (1901), p. 127.</p></div></div>
-
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27"></a>[Pg 27]</span></p>
-<div class="chapter">
-<h2 class="nobreak" id="THE_MAYFLOWER_COMPACT5">THE MAYFLOWER COMPACT<a id="FNanchor_5" href="#Footnote_5" class="fnanchor">[5]</a></h2>
-</div>
-
-
-<p class="drop">W<span class="uppercase">herever</span> Americans gather, at home or abroad, those who can claim
-the proud heritage of descent from the Pilgrims on the Mayflower are
-accustomed annually to join in thanks-giving for all that they owe
-to their ancestors. The spirit which prompts these celebrations is
-singularly wholesome, and indeed holy. Among the natural instincts of
-the heart, common to all races, is a longing for communion with the
-past, which manifests itself in the worship of ancestors. That this
-spirit of reverence has been from the earliest ages a most powerful
-religious and patriotic force is a fact familiar to us in the history
-of the Egyptians, the Greeks and the Romans. We readily recall the
-beautiful ceremonial of pagan Rome on the <i>dies parentales</i>, when
-violets and roses and wine, oil and milk were offered and <i>aves</i> were
-chanted to the spirits of their dead.</p>
-
-<p>An impressive example of the survival of this instinct in modern times
-is afforded by the Japanese, who daily, at innumerable household
-shrines and public temples erected to Shintō, worship their<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28"></a>[Pg 28]</span>
-ancestors as the gods of the home and of the nation. When, twenty-years
-ago, Japan so easily defeated the Chinese Empire with ten times the
-population of Japan, the surprise and marvel of the world impelled one
-of the most brilliant writers of our generation to seek the source of
-the fortitude, the indomitable spirit and the military valor of the
-Japanese. He did not expect to find it in their form of government
-or in their laws, for he realized the great truth that mere forms of
-government and laws possess no magical or supernatural virtue and are
-of little moment in nations in comparison with the moral character of
-their leaders and their people. He discovered, as he believed, that the
-secret of the civil and martial power of the Japanese and the source
-of their moral energy and virtue&mdash;I use virtue in the Latin sense of
-valor&mdash;lay in the vital and all-pervading worship of their ancestors,
-based upon the deep-rooted belief that all things are determined by the
-dead. He found that this homage excited at once the deepest emotion
-and the most powerful inspiration of the race, shaping their national
-character, directing their national life, teaching them reverence,
-obedience, self-restraint, temperance, loyalty, courage, devotion and
-sacrifice, and making them ever conscious of the prodigious debt the
-present owes to the past, as well as keenly sensible of the duty of
-love and gratitude to the departed for their labors and suffering.
-"They," the dead, he eloquently wrote, "created all that we call
-civilization,&mdash;trusting us to correct such mistakes as<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29"></a>[Pg 29]</span> they could not
-help making. The sum of their toil is incalculable; and all that they
-have given us ought surely to be very sacred, very precious, if only
-by reason of the infinite pain and thought which it cost." And then he
-added, "Yet what Occidental dreams of saying daily, like the Shintō
-believer: '<i>Ye forefathers of the generations, and of our families,
-and of our kindred,&mdash;unto you, the founders of our homes, we utter the
-gladness of our thanks</i>'?"<a id="FNanchor_6" href="#Footnote_6" class="fnanchor">[6]</a></p>
-
-<p>In the reverential spirit so beautifully expressed by this Japanese
-prayer, I venture upon a necessarily brief and imperfect review of a
-subject of transcendent and enduring interest to Americans&mdash;the debt
-that American constitutional government, under which we enjoy the
-blessings of civil and religious liberty and of just and equal laws,
-owes to your ancestors of the Mayflower.</p>
-
-<p>In these days of superlative comfort and affluence, it is difficult for
-us assembled in this palatial hall, feasting better than the CÊsars
-feasted and served as not even princes were served three hundred years
-ago&mdash;difficult, if not impossible, is it to carry our minds from this
-gorgeous and almost oppressive luxury back through the centuries to
-November, 1620, to the Mayflower covered with snow and ice and buffeted
-by fierce winter winds off the bleak and desolate coast of Cape Cod.
-Equally difficult is it to picture to ourselves and in imagination to
-breathe the air of that first American constitutional convention, in
-the cramped and chilling cabin of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30"></a>[Pg 30]</span> the Mayflower, when the Pilgrim
-Fathers were assisting, as Bancroft says, at "the birth of popular
-constitutional liberty," and were discussing the provisions of what
-has since been called the first written constitution ever framed by
-a people for their own government from the time history began to
-record human politics and human successes and failures. I need not
-stop to read the contents of the completed draft of that constitution,
-conceived in the then vague prompting, which one hundred and fifty-six
-years later was to be proclaimed in our Declaration of Independence
-as a self-evident truth, that all governments must derive "their just
-powers from the consent of the governed." Nor shall I read the names
-of the forty-one immortals who executed that compact in order to
-evidence their covenant of due consent and promise of obedience to its
-provisions and spirit. Surely, if there be one constitutional document
-which should be familiar to all Americans, and particularly to the
-descendants of the Pilgrims, it is the Mayflower Compact of November
-21, 1620.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31"></a>[Pg 31]</span><a id="FNanchor_7" href="#Footnote_7" class="fnanchor">[7]</a></p>
-
-<p>Many of us believe that the compact thus entered into was the prototype
-of the Constitution of the United States, that the government it
-established was the beginning of the republican form of government
-now guaranteed alike to nation and state, and that the covenant it
-contained for just and equal laws was the germ from which has since
-developed our whole system of constitutional jurisprudence. This
-covenant reads: "We ... doe by these presents solemnly &amp; mutualy in
-y<sup>e</sup> presence of God, and one of another, covenant &amp; combine our selves
-togeather into a civill body politick, for our better ordering &amp;
-preservation &amp; furtherance of y<sup>e</sup> ends aforesaid; and by vertue hearof
-to enacte, constitute, and frame such just &amp; equall lawes, ordinances,
-acts, constitutions, &amp; offices, from time to time, as shall be thought
-most meete &amp; convenient for y<sup>e</sup> generall good of y<sup>e</sup> Colonie, unto
-which we promise all due submission and obedience." Surely, this
-simple, comprehensive and lofty language, in the style of the Bible
-open before the Pilgrims, embodies the true and invigorating spirit of
-our constitutional polity as it flourishes to-day.</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32"></a>[Pg 32]</span></p>
-
-<p>In order to appreciate the political greatness and the moral grandeur
-of the work of the Pilgrims, we should recall that, when the Mayflower
-Compact was framed, in no part of the world did there exist a
-government of just and equal laws, and that in no country was there
-real religious liberty or the complete separation of Church and State.</p>
-
-<p>In fact, the great and now fundamental principle of the separation
-of Church and State was first made a living reality by the Pilgrims,
-although, in theory at least, it antedated the voyage of the Mayflower.
-It was the essence of their holy covenant of congregation entered into
-years before. And to the Pilgrims chiefly are due the credit and honor
-of incorporating this principle into Anglo-American polity. A wide gulf
-separated the Pilgrims from the Puritans in this respect. The Pilgrims,
-first known in England as the Separatists and Brownists&mdash;hated alike
-by Puritan and Cavalier&mdash;advocated religious liberty and the complete
-separation of Church and State. The Puritans, however, when they
-secured power in England and later in New England, were intolerant in
-religion and opposed both to religious liberty and to the separation of
-Church and State. They were determined that the state should dominate
-in religious as well as in civil affairs and that it should regulate
-the religion of all; in truth, they sought to impose a dominant
-theocracy as completely as Henry VIII. and Elizabeth were determined to
-have a state church under their own spiritual supremacy and to abolish
-all "diversity of opinions,"<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33"></a>[Pg 33]</span> if necessary by rack, fire and the
-scaffold. The Pilgrim, personifying him as you love to in the lofty and
-generous spirit of Robinson at Leyden, believed in religious freedom,
-or, as it is differently phrased, in liberty of conscience; the Puritan
-was determined that all should be coerced by legislation and the sword
-to conform to his religious views as the only true faith. Although the
-Puritan theocracy found its most complete development and tyranny in
-Massachusetts, the colony of Plymouth remained liberal and tolerant.
-Notwithstanding the terrible record of sanguinary persecutions among
-other religious denominations of that age, no instance is recorded of
-religious persecution by the Pilgrims or in the Plymouth colony.<a id="FNanchor_8" href="#Footnote_8" class="fnanchor">[8]</a>
-You will recall that the famous Pilgrim captain, Myles Standish,
-never joined the Plymouth church, that no witches were ever burned
-in Plymouth, and that when a malicious woman accused a neighbor of
-witchcraft, she was promptly convicted of slander and thereupon fined
-and publicly whipped. The excesses and fury of religious persecution
-by Protestants and Catholics alike were the products of the fierce,
-intolerant and blind spirit of that age. We should judge them not by
-the standards of the twentieth century, but by those of the sixteenth
-and seventeenth centuries, and must not overlook the fact<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34"></a>[Pg 34]</span> that in many
-cases these persecutions were as much political as they were religious.</p>
-
-<p>In the history of New England the Pilgrim is often confused with the
-Puritan, undoubtedly because the Puritan soon dominated and ultimately
-absorbed the Pilgrim. Nevertheless, the differences between them on
-this question of religious tolerance and the separation of Church and
-State were implacable, to adopt the word of a great American historian.
-Yet, in differentiating between Pilgrim and Puritan and in recalling
-the facts as to the origin of religious freedom and the separation of
-Church and State, the greatest of all the blessings we now enjoy&mdash;in
-giving most of the glory to the Pilgrims, notwithstanding the claims
-of Catholic Maryland&mdash;I am not at all unmindful that in religion and
-in politics the Pilgrim and the Puritan had many views in common, that
-our debt to both is quite inseparable, and that our gratitude to them
-should be eternal.</p>
-
-<p>It is certainly impossible to exaggerate the debt we owe to the Puritan
-spirit&mdash;fierce, indomitable and undaunted, even if intolerant, for it
-was that spirit which cemented the foundations of our nation. It was
-the Puritan spirit that gave to England her noblest figures and her
-most inspiring traditions of battlefields. Towering above all other
-Englishmen is the lofty figure of the Puritan Cromwell, and second
-only to him are the Puritans Hampden, Pym, Selden, Milton, Vane, Hale.
-Hampden&mdash;the highest type of English gentleman, with a nobility and
-fearlessness of character, self-control,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35"></a>[Pg 35]</span> soundness of judgment and
-perfect rectitude of intention, to which, as Macaulay declared, "the
-history of revolutions furnishes no parallel or furnishes a parallel in
-Washington alone." If to-day England is to preserve her empire, upon
-which she boasts the sun never sets, she must appeal to the energy and
-fortitude and courage of the Puritan. She must invoke the spirit of
-Oliver Cromwell, whose mighty arm made the name of England terrible
-to her enemies and laid the foundations of her empire, who led her to
-conquest, who never fought a battle without gaining it, whose soldiers'
-backs no enemy ever saw, who humbled Spain on the land and Holland on
-the sea, and who left a tradition of military valor which is now the
-inspiration of the splendid courage, heroism and sacrifice of England's
-soldiers on the continent of Europe.</p>
-
-<p>A most important aspect of the Pilgrims' contribution to our political
-institutions is the provision for just and equal laws contained in
-the Mayflower Compact, for, as I have already suggested, in that
-provision is embodied the essence of our whole constitutional system.
-It has become a truism that the characteristic of the American system
-of constitutional government is equality before the law. We Americans
-accept this doctrine as of course. But we should appreciate that civil
-equality or equality before the law was practically unknown in Europe
-when the Mayflower Compact was written. In this country its development
-sprang in great measure<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36"></a>[Pg 36]</span> gradually from the seed first sown by the
-Pilgrims. Neither the phrase "equality before the law," so familiar to
-us as expressing a fundamental and self-evident truth, nor the term
-"the equal protection of the laws," now contained in the fourteenth
-amendment, is to be found in the English common law. Nor was either
-term, or any equivalent, in legal use in America at the time of the
-adoption of the Constitution of the United States. Indeed, the phrase
-"equality before the law" is said to be a modern translation from the
-French. Nevertheless, equality in duty, in right, in burden and in
-protection is the thought which has run through all our constitutional
-enactments from the beginning.</p>
-
-<p>The Pilgrim Fathers perceived, long before it was generally
-appreciated, that equal laws might fall far short of political justice
-and liberty, and hence they provided for "just and equal laws." They
-realized, perhaps indistinctly, that equality in itself, without other
-elements, is not sufficient to guarantee justice, and that, under a
-law which is merely <i>equal</i>, all may be equally oppressed, equally
-degraded, equally enslaved. They well knew that equality is one of
-the pervading features of most despotisms, and that a law may be
-equal and yet be grossly arbitrary, tyrannical and unjust. Obviously,
-a law confiscating all property of a certain kind would be equal if
-it applied to all having that particular kind of property. The laws
-of England then in force providing for one form of worship, "for
-abolishing diversity of opinions," as the title of the act of 31 Henry
-VIII. recited, or compelling<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37"></a>[Pg 37]</span> all to attend the same church and to take
-the same oath of religious supremacy and the sacraments of the same
-religious denomination, were all equal laws, because they applied to
-every one, no matter what his conscience might dictate. In the cabin of
-the Mayflower, the Pilgrim Fathers seem to have had a vision revealing
-to them the fundamental and essential political truth that equality is
-but an attribute of the liberty they were then seeking at the peril of
-their lives and the sacrifice of their fortunes, and that true liberty
-requires <i>just</i> as well as <i>equal</i> laws. To repeat, it was the Pilgrims
-who first sowed in our soil the seed of just and equal laws, and that
-seed has grown into the fixed rule of the American constitutional
-system, a rule which has spread through all our political and civil
-rights and duties until it reaches, pervades, unites and invigorates
-the whole body politic.</p>
-
-<p>The history of the Plymouth colony from 1620 until its absorption
-by the colony of Massachusetts in 1691, teaches us many lessons in
-political philosophy. There are two which I desire to recall to you
-to-night: one as to the right to private property, the other as to pure
-democracy.</p>
-
-<p>The Pilgrims began government under the Mayflower Compact with a
-system of communism or common property. The experiment almost wrecked
-the colony. As early as 1623, they had to discard it and restore the
-old law of individual property with its inducement and incentive to
-personal effort. All who now urge communism in one form or another,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38"></a>[Pg 38]</span>
-often in disguise, might profitably study the experience of Plymouth,
-which followed a similarly unfortunate and disastrous experiment in
-Virginia. History often teaches men in vain. Governor Bradford's
-account of this early experiment in communism in his annals of "Plimoth
-Plantation" is extremely interesting. The book is rich in political
-principles as true to-day as they were three hundred years ago. After
-showing that the communal system was a complete failure and that as
-soon as it was abandoned and a parcel of land was assigned in severalty
-to each family, those who had previously refused to work became "very
-industrious," even the women going "willingly into y<sup>e</sup> feild" taking
-"their litle-ons with them to set corne, which before would aledg
-weaknes, and inabilitie," Bradford proceeds as follows:</p>
-
-<p>"The experience that was had in this com̅one course and condition,
-tried sundrie years, and that amongst godly and sober men, may well
-evince the vanitie of that conceite of Platos &amp; other ancients,
-applauded by some of later times;&mdash;that y<sup>e</sup> taking away of propertie,
-and bringing in com̅unitie into a comone wealth, would make them
-happy and florishing; as if they were wiser then God. For this
-comunitie (so farr as it was) was found to breed much confusion &amp;
-discontent, and retard much imployme̅t that would have been to their
-benefite and comforte. For y<sup>e</sup> yong-men that were most able and fitte
-for labour &amp; service did repine that they should spend their time &amp;
-streingth<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39"></a>[Pg 39]</span> to worke for other mens wives and children, with out any
-recompence. The strong, or man of parts, had no more in devission
-of victails &amp; cloaths, then he that was weake and not able to doe
-a quarter y<sup>e</sup> other could; this was thought injuestice. The aged
-and graver men to be ranked and equalised in labours, and victails,
-cloaths, &amp;c., with y<sup>e</sup> meaner &amp; yonger sorte, thought it some indignite
-&amp; disrespect unto them.... Let none objecte this is men's corruption,
-and nothing to y<sup>e</sup> course it selfe. I answer, seeing all men have this
-corruption in them, God in his wisdome saw another course fiter for
-them."<a id="FNanchor_9" href="#Footnote_9" class="fnanchor">[9]</a></p>
-
-<p>Although the colony of Plymouth began as a pure democracy under which
-all the men were convened to decide executive and judicial questions,
-the increase of population and its diffusion over a wider territory
-necessarily led to the transaction of official business through chosen
-representatives. The representative system was thus established by
-the Pilgrims in New England perhaps more firmly than elsewhere, and
-it became the cardinal principle of whatever efficiency, strength and
-stability our republican governments now have. This system is menaced
-by the enthusiasm for change and by the fads of recent years, such
-as the initiative, the referendum, the recall and direct primaries.
-In these political nostrums has been revived the crude notion that
-the masses, inexperienced as they are in the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40"></a>[Pg 40]</span> difficult and complex
-problems of government, are instinctively better qualified to guide
-than the educated few who are trained, instructed and competent, and
-who, acting as the representatives of all, are bound in good conscience
-and sound policy to consider and protect the rights of the minority, of
-the individual, of the humble and weak, against the arbitrary will or
-selfish interest or prejudice of the majority.</p>
-
-<p>There is no time to-night, even if your patience would bear with me
-longer, to trace the growth of the political principles which we find
-in the history of the Plymouth colony and underlying the experiment
-in republican government there initiated under the Mayflower Compact.
-If the tree is to be judged by its fruit, the framing of that compact
-in 1620 was one of the most important events in the history of the
-American people, and the document itself is one of the most interesting
-and inspiring of American constitutional documents. But I feel that
-I may appropriately suggest to you questions which are of immediate
-and urgent concern to us all, and they are whether the quickening
-and stirring message of the Mayflower has really endured&mdash;whether
-the sterling qualities of the Pilgrim and the Puritan have
-survived&mdash;whether the descendants of the Pilgrims have inherited and
-can perpetuate the invincible spirit, the unconquerable moral energy,
-the indomitable steadfastness of their ancestors&mdash;and whether these
-qualities are available in our own day to guide the nation safely and
-wisely through the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41"></a>[Pg 41]</span> inevitable crisis which we are approaching as the
-whole civilization of Europe is being daily more and more engulfed in
-the abyss of this awful war. These are problems which our generation
-must face sooner or later. And who should be better qualified to guide
-us&mdash;for it is leadership that we need&mdash;than men who inherit the spirit
-and the traditions of the Pilgrim and the Puritan?</p>
-
-<p>In this crisis, the greatest in our national affairs since 1861, I
-hope we shall profit by the example of the founders of Plymouth, who,
-as Palfrey wrote, "gave diligent heed to arrangements for the military
-defence of the colony." It may be also that Providence will give us, in
-the descendant of a Pilgrim, the captain who shall be both our shield
-and our weapon as Myles Standish was the shield and the weapon of your
-ancestors.</p>
-
-
-
-<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_5" href="#FNanchor_5" class="label">[5]</a> Remarks responding to the toast, "The Mayflower Compact,"
-at the twenty-first annual banquet of the Society of Mayflower
-Descendants in the State of New York, held at the Hotel St. Regis, New
-York, November 23, 1915.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_6" href="#FNanchor_6" class="label">[6]</a> Lafcadio Hearn, <i>Kokoro</i>, pp. 289-290.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_7" href="#FNanchor_7" class="label">[7]</a> The original manuscript of the Mayflower Compact has been
-lost or destroyed. The text, as preserved by Governor Bradford in his
-annals entitled "Of Plimoth Plantation," is as follows:
-</p>
-<p>
-"In y<sup>e</sup> name of God, Amen. We whose names are under-writen, the loyall
-subjects of our dread soveraigne Lord, King James, by y<sup>e</sup> grace of
-God, of Great Britaine, Franc, &amp; Ireland king, defender of ye faith,
-&amp;c., haveing undertaken, for y<sup>e</sup> glorie of God, and advancemente of
-y<sup>e</sup> Christian faith, and honour of our king &amp; countrie, a voyage to
-plant y<sup>e</sup> first colonie in y<sup>e</sup> Northerne parts of Virginia, doe by
-those presents solemnly &amp; mutualy in ye presence of God, and one of
-another, covenant &amp; combine our selves togeather into a civill body
-politick, for our better ordering &amp; preservation &amp; furtherance of
-y<sup>e</sup> ends aforesaid; and by vertue hearof to enacte, constitute, and
-frame such just &amp; equall lawes, ordinances, acts, constitutions, &amp;
-offices, from time to time, as shall be thought most meete &amp; convenient
-for y<sup>e</sup> generall good of y<sup>e</sup> Colonie, unto which we promise all due
-submission and obedience. In witnes wherof we have hereunder subscribed
-our names at Cap-Codd y<sup>e</sup> 11. of November, in y<sup>e</sup> year of y<sup>e</sup> raigne
-of our soveraigne lord, King James, of England, France, &amp; Ireland
-y<sup>e</sup> eighteenth, and of Scotland y<sup>e</sup> fiftie fourth. An<sup>o</sup>: Dom. 1620."
-Printed in the Collections of the Massachusetts Historical Society, 4th
-series, vol. III, pp. 89-90. See also the text in Bradford's History of
-Plymouth Plantation, ed. W.T. Davis (1908), p. 107.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_8" href="#FNanchor_8" class="label">[8]</a> The legislation against the Quakers as enforced in the
-Plymouth colony seems to have been essentially political. The records,
-so far as we have them, indicate that the Quakers were proceeded
-against because of their attempts to disturb the peace and overthrow
-established law and order, and not because of their religious beliefs.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_9" href="#FNanchor_9" class="label">[9]</a> Collections of the Massachusetts Historical Society, 4th
-series, vol. III, pp. 134-136.</p></div></div>
-
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42"></a>[Pg 42]</span></p>
-<div class="chapter">
-<h2 class="nobreak" id="CONSTITUTIONAL_MORALITY10">CONSTITUTIONAL MORALITY<a id="FNanchor_10" href="#Footnote_10" class="fnanchor">[10]</a></h2>
-</div>
-
-
-<p class="drop">T<span class="uppercase">he</span> text of this address is taken from Grote's "History of Greece." The
-historian, reviewing the state of the Athenian democracy in the age
-of Kleisthenes, points out that it became necessary to create in the
-multitude, and through them to force upon the leading men, the rare and
-difficult sentiment which he terms constitutional morality. He shows
-that the essence of this sentiment is self-imposed restraint, that few
-sentiments are more difficult to establish in a community, and that its
-diffusion, not merely among the majority, but throughout all classes,
-is the indispensable condition of a government at once free, stable
-and peaceable. Whoever has studied the history of Greece knows that
-the Grecian democracy was ultimately overthrown by the acts of her own
-citizens and their disregard of constitutional morality rather than by
-the spears of her conquerors.</p>
-
-<p>We American lawyers would be blind, indeed, if we did not recognize
-that there is at the present time a growing tendency throughout the
-country to disregard constitutional morality. On all sides we find
-impatience with constitutional restraints, manifesting itself in many
-forms and under many<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43"></a>[Pg 43]</span> pretences, and this impatience is particularly
-strong with the action of the courts in protecting the individual and
-the minority against unconstitutional enactments favoring one class
-at the expense of another. However worded and however concealed under
-professions of social reform or social justice, the underlying spirit
-in most instances is that of impatience with any restraint or rule of
-law.</p>
-
-<p>We are meeting again the oldest and the strongest political plea of
-the demagogue, so often shown to be the most fallacious and dangerous
-doctrine that has ever appeared among men, that the people are
-infallible and can do no wrong, that their cry must be taken as the
-voice of God, and that whatever at any time seems to be the will of
-the majority, however ignorant and prejudiced, must be accepted as
-gospel. The principal political battle-cry to-day seems to be that,
-if the people are now fit to rule themselves, they no longer need any
-checks or restraints, that the constitutional form of representative
-government under which we have lived and prospered has become
-antiquated and unsatisfactory to the masses, and that we should adopt a
-pure democracy and leave to the majority itself the decision of every
-question of government or legislation, with the power to enforce its
-will or impulse immediately and without restraint.</p>
-
-<p>We find many political and social reformers advocating an absolute
-legislative body, whose edicts, in response to the wishes, interests,
-or prejudices of the majority, shall at once become binding on all,
-no<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44"></a>[Pg 44]</span> matter how unjust or oppressive these edicts may be. Those who
-are loudest in thus demanding the supremacy of the legislative power
-are equally loud in charging that our legislatures are inefficient or
-corrupt and in proclaiming distrust of the people's representatives in
-legislative bodies. In one breath we are asked to vest legislatures
-with power and discretion beyond the control of the courts, and in the
-next breath we are told that legislative bodies are not to be trusted
-by the people, and hence that we must have the initiative and the
-referendum.</p>
-
-<p>Other reformers would vest greater power in the executive, so as to
-enable him to dictate to legislatures whatever he deemed or professed
-to think best for the common welfare or for social progress. In the
-final analysis this would, of course, reduce us to a despotism pure and
-simple, and place Congress and the state legislatures in the condition
-of the Roman senate in the second century. Argue as we may from the
-admonitions and experience of the past, the defiant answer is that
-the people will select the executive and are prepared to trust him,
-an answer that singularly disregards the fact that they now select
-the legislators whom they no longer trust, and that practical reform
-in legislation is ready to their hand if they will only insist upon
-character and ability in their representatives.</p>
-
-<p>Others again would deny to the courts the power and duty to declare
-unconstitutional and void any enactment of a legislative body that was
-in conflict with the constitution, or, if not going quite so far,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45"></a>[Pg 45]</span>
-would give the courts power to disregard constitutional limitations
-whenever the judges found or fancied that an enactment was in
-consonance with prevailing morality or the opinion of the majority in
-respect of matters relating to the police power or social progress or
-social justice. They would have the judiciary interpret and enforce a
-constitution not according to the mandate of the people who adopted it,
-nor according to the true meaning and intent of the language employed
-by the framers, nor according to settled general rules and principles,
-but according to the ever-changing desires or notions or opinions
-of the majority and the personal ideas of so-called progressive or
-sympathetic judges. Many of those who charge the judiciary with having
-usurped the power to determine whether a particular enactment does or
-does not conflict with the fundamental and supreme law as established
-by the people themselves, would now place a far greater power in
-the hands of the courts by authorizing them to expand or contract a
-constitution by judicial construction, and would thus in reality vest
-in the judges an arbitrary discretion. Under this doctrine, practically
-every constitutional restraint could be readily circumvented,
-perverted, or nullified; constitutional rights could be frittered away,
-and great landmarks of human progress could be undermined.</p>
-
-<p>We should then have government by the judiciary with a vengeance. Our
-constitutional system would be no longer reasonably fixed and stable,
-no longer regulated by the justice of necessary general rules,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46"></a>[Pg 46]</span> but
-would be subject to constant uncertainty and change as judges might
-think the moral atmosphere of the moment or the will or opinion or
-interests of the majority required. It would, of course, be better to
-have no constitutional restraints at all, and to vest supreme power
-and corresponding responsibility in the legislative branch of our
-government. It is of the essence of judicial power that judges in
-deciding cases shall be bound by principles, rules and precedents, that
-they shall not be permitted to exercise arbitrary discretion, and that
-they shall be required to give reasons for their decisions. A court
-bound by no rules or principles at all would not be exercising judicial
-power as we understand that term. If we were to vest in legislatures
-or courts the discretion to obey or disobey constitutional restraints
-according as the prevailing moral or political sentiment might seem
-to dictate, we would at once deprive such restraints of all practical
-force and effect, and would have a constitution only in name and form
-and not in substance. As the late Chief Justice Fuller, <i>clarum et
-venerabile nomen</i>, so well said in the Lottery case, "our form of
-government may remain notwithstanding legislation or decision, but, as
-long ago observed, it is with governments as with religions, the form
-may survive the substance of the faith."<a id="FNanchor_11" href="#Footnote_11" class="fnanchor">[11]</a></p>
-
-<p>The limited time at my disposal compels me to confine this address
-to the aspect of constitutional morality which is presented by the
-criticism of the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47"></a>[Pg 47]</span> courts for refusing to enforce unconstitutional
-statutes. This seems to me to be the most dangerous of all the lines
-of attack. I regret that I have not time to deal with other important
-aspects of my subject, such as the movement for the recall of judges
-and judicial decisions, the agitation for the initiative and the
-referendum, and the growing practice on the part of legislatures and
-executives of abandoning the consideration of constitutional questions
-and leaving this duty to the courts, thus casting upon the judges the
-sole responsibility and frequently the unpopularity and even odium of
-enforcing constitutional restraints.</p>
-
-<p>Few of us, I assume, would seriously suggest that the judicial
-department is to be above criticism, or that it is to be deemed
-sacrosanct so that we must bow and submit in silence, without the right
-of challenge, criticism, or censure, to whatever the courts declare to
-be law. Such a view would be absurd. Of course, judges make mistakes
-as the wisest and best men make mistakes. They are not infallible. But
-neither are our legislative bodies infallible, nor is the crowd. There
-must be the fullest liberty of criticism and if need be of censure of
-our judges as of all other public officials. Fair and just criticism,
-however, would be distinctly educational, and it could tend only to
-restore the courts to public favor and confidence. The danger is not in
-freedom of criticism, but in unfair and unfounded criticism supported
-by distorted or false statements. Our judicial system is inherently
-sound enough and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48"></a>[Pg 48]</span> strong enough to withstand and overcome any fair
-criticism. We should, therefore, encourage the fullest discussion of
-judicial decisions in constitutional cases in order that constitutional
-principles may be adequately explained and the necessity for the
-observance of constitutional morality brought home to the people.
-Let us, however, insist that the facts be truthfully stated. If the
-reasons and principles of justice which support most of the decisions
-criticized could be explained to all classes in simple language and
-in terms intelligible to laymen as well as to lawyers, much of the
-misapprehension of judicial decisions and prejudice against the courts
-and constitutional restraints would be dispelled. To tell the man in
-the street or in the workshop that a statute is in conflict with the
-guaranty of due process of law or of the law of the land, conveys no
-meaning to his mind; yet, if he understood the fundamental principles
-involved and the consequences of disregarding them, he might be
-persuaded of the justice and propriety of the decision under discussion.</p>
-
-<p>I shall call your attention to a few examples of alleged abuse or
-usurpation of power by the judiciary, and endeavor to show the
-characteristics of much of the criticism of the judges and the manner
-in which the masses are being constantly prejudiced and inflamed
-against the courts.</p>
-
-<p>The case in the New York courts which probably is being more criticized
-and misrepresented than any other is known as the Tenement House
-Tobacco<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49"></a>[Pg 49]</span> case (Matter of Jacobs),<a id="FNanchor_12" href="#Footnote_12" class="fnanchor">[12]</a> decided in January, 1885.
-The courts then held unconstitutional an act which forbade the
-manufacture of tobacco products in certain tenement houses in New
-York and Brooklyn, because the statute unwarrantably and unreasonably
-interfered with the liberty of the individual. The enactment was an
-attempt on the part of the owners of large tobacco factories to destroy
-the competition of cigar manufacturers who worked at home. It was
-not an honest health measure at all; it was not in fact designed to
-protect the health of tobacco workers, and it did not contain a single
-provision tending in any degree to secure sanitary conditions of work
-or living. Not one word in the opinions of the courts in the Jacobs
-case prevented the legislature from adopting regulations to secure
-wholesome conditions in the manufacture of any article. Since that
-decision, the New York constitution has been carefully revised by a
-constitutional convention in 1894, and in addition has been repeatedly
-amended, no less than nineteen separate amendments having been adopted
-by the people, whilst a large number of additional proposed amendments
-have been rejected. But in neither the revision nor in any of the
-amendments, whether adopted or rejected, was any change suggested in
-the rule of constitutional law declared in the Tenement House case,
-although the subject was directly called to the attention of the
-convention. For more than a quarter of a century, the people of the
-state of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50"></a>[Pg 50]</span> New York have acquiesced in the decision of the Court of
-Appeals as fair, just and satisfactory.</p>
-
-<p>Jacobs with his wife and two children lived in a tenement house in the
-city of New York and occupied an apartment of seven rooms in a building
-where there were only three other apartments, all of equal size. In
-this apartment he carried on the trade of manufacturing cigars, and
-the rooms in which he did so were separated from the sleeping and
-cooking-rooms. The testimony showed that there was no odor of tobacco
-in these sleeping and cooking-rooms. The conditions under which he was
-carrying on his trade in his own home for the support of himself and
-his family were much more healthful than if he and his assistants had
-been compelled to work in a crowded factory, particularly in 1884, when
-there were no such sanitary conditions in factories as now prevail
-under the beneficent operation of our present public health and labor
-laws. It was shown that, when this legislation was enacted, 840,000,000
-cigars were being manufactured annually in the city of New York, of
-which about 370,000,000, or 44 per cent., were made in the homes of
-dwellers in tenement or apartment houses, and that about two thousand
-artisans were supporting themselves and their families by thus working
-at home. The board of health of the city of New York had officially
-declared, after careful investigation, as set forth in the brief of
-Mr. Evarts, then the leader of the American bar, "that the health of
-the tenement-house population is not jeopardized by the manufacture
-of cigars in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51"></a>[Pg 51]</span> those houses; that this bill is not a sanitary measure,
-and that it has not been approved by this board." It also appeared
-from this brief that while the death-rate in the city of New York
-generally was 31 in each 1,000, it was only 9 in each 1,000 in the
-tenement houses where cigars were being manufactured. The act, if valid
-and enforceable, would have crushed the competition of home workers
-with the tobacco factories; it would have deprived the tenement-house
-dweller of the liberty to exercise his trade of cigar-making at home
-even under the most sanitary conditions, and it would have driven
-every such workman and the working members of his family into crowded
-and generally unhealthful factories, to be harassed and oppressed by
-strikes and lockouts and the other troubles which attend modern labor
-conditions, to say nothing of being exposed to all the mischiefs,
-physical and moral, that are inseparable from crowded workshops. The
-court held that the statute was not a legitimate health regulation and
-released Jacobs from imprisonment. The principle of constitutional
-law recognized and applied was that an individual cannot be made a
-criminal for working at a lawful trade in his own home under sanitary
-conditions, and cannot be compelled by discriminatory legislation to
-labor in a crowded factory. If the provisions of the act had not been
-declared to be in conflict with the constitutional guaranty of personal
-liberty, similar statutes could have been passed with respect to all
-kinds of home work, and all artisans, whether men or women, could
-have<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52"></a>[Pg 52]</span> been driven into factories at the dictation of factory owners
-or trade-unions having sufficient political influence to secure the
-necessary legislation.</p>
-
-<p>I digress here a moment to point out that people urging particular
-enactments too often overlook the effect of disregarding a principle
-and establishing a precedent. Constitutions declare general rules or
-principles of justice, which sometimes do not coincide with the justice
-of particular cases. The framing of general rules of conduct so as to
-bring about practical justice in the greatest number of cases and with
-the fewest exceptions, constitutes the science of jurisprudence, of
-which constitution-making is but a branch, and the application of these
-general rules to practical affairs is the duty of legislatures and
-courts. The statutes before the courts are frequently recognized and
-conceded to be only entering wedges and experiments, and, if sustained,
-are certain to be followed by others far broader and more radical. If
-legislative power exists to regulate a subject, the extent or degree
-of its exercise is essentially for the legislature to determine in its
-discretion and cannot be controlled by the courts. Hence, a court must
-always consider, in determining the constitutionality of a statute, not
-merely the features of the particular statute before it and not merely
-the justice or merits of the particular case as between man and man or
-between the state and the individual, but what might be done under the
-same principle if the statute before it were upheld and a precedent
-established. Thus,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53"></a>[Pg 53]</span> if we once grant the power of a legislature to
-prohibit work at home under sanitary conditions in one trade, then
-every trade becomes subject to the same power of regulation and
-prohibition, and all working men and women can be driven into crowded
-factories.</p>
-
-<p>In the Jacobs case, Presiding Justice Noah Davis, speaking for the
-intermediate appellate court sitting in the city of New York, and
-undoubtedly acquainted with conditions then and there existing, used
-the following language: "A careful study of the act has satisfied us
-that its aim was not 'to improve the public health by prohibiting
-the manufacture of cigars and preparation of tobacco in any form in
-tenement houses in certain cases, and regulating the use of tenement
-houses in certain cases,' as declared in the title, but to suppress
-and restrain such manufacture in the cases covered by the act for
-the purpose of preventing successful competition injurious to other
-modes of manufacturing the same articles.... If the act were general
-and aimed at all tenement houses, and prohibited for sanitary reasons
-the manufacture of cigars and tobacco in all such buildings, or if it
-prohibited such manufacture in the living-rooms of all tenants, another
-case would be presented. But in the form in which it comes before us it
-is so unjust in its inequality, so harsh and oppressive upon the labor
-of poverty, so keenly discriminative in favor of the stronger classes
-engaged in the same occupation, that it certainly ought not to have
-been enacted; but,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54"></a>[Pg 54]</span> being enacted, ought to be held invalid because it
-deprives the appellant of his right and liberty to use his occupation
-in his own house for the support of himself and family, and takes
-away the value of his labor, which is his property protected by the
-Constitution equally as though it were in lands or money, without due
-process of law."<a id="FNanchor_13" href="#Footnote_13" class="fnanchor">[13]</a></p>
-
-<p>Discussing the Jacobs case, Mr. P. Tecumseh Sherman of the New York
-bar, who is reputed to be one of the best informed men in our state
-upon the subject of labor conditions and labor legislation and who was
-at one time a state commissioner of labor, said in a letter published
-a few weeks ago that the tenement-house statute, although purporting
-to be for the public health, was not a reasonable regulation for that
-purpose, because it arbitrarily selected one article and forbade its
-manufacture under certain conditions not generally unsanitary, and he
-added that "as matter of fact, the act was not designed to protect
-health but to put out of business one set of competitors in a trade
-war."</p>
-
-<p>Now let me call your attention to two examples of the manner in which
-this decision is being criticized. In an address delivered at Yale
-University last month, the mayor of the city of New York, who for many
-years had been a justice of the state supreme court, criticized the
-courts and derided the administration of justice in his own state.
-He referred to the Jacobs case in the following language: "The first
-case I shall call your attention to is known in my<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55"></a>[Pg 55]</span> own state as the
-Tenement House Tobacco case.... You know what a condensed population
-we have in a part of the city of New York. Well, benevolent men and
-women in going around there found in little rooms in these crowded
-tenements certain things being manufactured that were not wholesome.
-They found tobacco being manufactured into its various products in the
-living-rooms of these poor tenements. Benevolent people who helped the
-poor saw it and they saw the evils of it. They saw little children born
-into this world and brought up in bedrooms and kitchens in the fumes
-and odors of tobacco. They also saw longer hours of work than would be
-the case if workers left their work at the shop and went home. So they
-went to the legislature and got a law passed forbidding the manufacture
-of tobacco in the living-rooms of these tenements." Mayor Gaynor
-then proceeded to criticize and condemn the Court of Appeals for its
-reasoning and decision.</p>
-
-<p>The facts, however, were that the statute was not limited to "the
-living-rooms of these tenements," but applied to every room, and that
-the promoters of this legislation were not the benevolent men and
-women who visit and help the poor, as Mayor Gaynor imagined, but the
-owners of tobacco factories who desired to crush the competition of
-independent workers. Nor was there anything in the case before the
-courts to support the statement that any one had seen "little children
-born into this world and brought up in bedrooms and kitchens<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56"></a>[Pg 56]</span> in the
-fumes and odors of tobacco." No such conditions were before the courts,
-and the contrary was proved by unimpeached evidence in the Jacobs case,
-as any one reading the record could see. But, even if the picture
-had been true, the decision in this case did not in any way whatever
-prevent proper legislation prohibiting the manufacture of tobacco
-products in the bedrooms and kitchens of crowded tenement houses or
-under unsanitary conditions.</p>
-
-<p>Ex-President Roosevelt is equally inaccurate in his criticism of
-the Jacobs case. He is reported as having said in one of his recent
-speeches that "the decision of the court in this case retarded by at
-least twenty years the work of tenement-house reform and was directly
-responsible for causing hundreds of thousands of American citizens now
-alive to be brought up under conditions of reeking filth and squalor,
-which measurably decreased their chance of turning out to be good
-citizens." The truth is that the decision did not retard tenement-house
-reform by a single day, and did not prevent the enactment of a single
-provision for securing sanitary conditions for those who work at home.
-In fact, the necessary legislation has since been readily secured and
-enacted in New York without any amendment of the state constitution.
-Our public health and labor laws now regulate the manufacture of
-tobacco and other articles in homes and require and secure sanitary
-conditions, and licenses authorizing manufacturing at home are issued
-sub<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57"></a>[Pg 57]</span>ject to cancellation at any time if the surroundings become
-unsanitary.</p>
-
-<p>Mr. Sherman characterized as absurd the statement made by Mr. Roosevelt
-in regard to the effect of this decision, and added that "so far, then,
-from having done harm in the way of sanitary reform, the decision in
-the Jacobs case has done good by giving the reform a proper direction
-and object. Mr. Roosevelt's criticism receives a ready chorus of
-approval from a large body of ill-informed reformers who seek to
-prevent some of the evils of 'sweating' by arbitrarily forbidding all
-home manufacture in tenements. But the vast majority of tenement houses
-in New York are of a class better described as apartment houses, which
-are perfectly sanitary, and in such houses there is much home work
-of a good kind, such as fine sewing, art work, &amp;c., and under good
-conditions; and it would be a deplorable and unnecessary interference
-with liberty to forbid such work as an incident to the prevention of
-home work in unsanitary slums."</p>
-
-<p>Another New York case which is being similarly criticized and
-misrepresented is what is known as the Bakers case, or People
-<i>vs.</i> Lochner.<a id="FNanchor_14" href="#Footnote_14" class="fnanchor">[14]</a> The decision in this case declaring a statute
-unconstitutional was that of the Supreme Court of the United States
-and not of the New York Court of Appeals; in fact the latter court
-sustained the act, although by a divided court. Mayor Gaynor explained
-this decision to his audience at Yale, composed largely of law
-students,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58"></a>[Pg 58]</span> in the following language: "The next case in order was the
-bake-oven case in my state. A bake-oven, you know, is underground. And
-if any of you ever were in a bake-oven I do not need to say another
-word about bake-ovens. It is the hottest and most uncomfortable place
-on the face of the earth. It is a hard place to work in. It is hot and
-unhealthy, and no one can stand it without injury to health. So in the
-same way in the state of New York we had an act passed prescribing
-sanitary regulations for the bakeries.... These bake-ovens are
-exceptional. They are underground and as hot as Tophet, if I may use
-such an expression here.... The law was passed prescribing regulations
-for them. One of the regulations was that ten hours a night was all
-that a baker should work in these places." And Mr. Roosevelt is
-reported in the newspapers as criticizing this decision and stating to
-his audiences that "this New York law prevented the employment of men
-in filthy cellar bakeries for longer than ten hours a day."</p>
-
-<p>The statute in question applied to manufacturers of bread, biscuits and
-confectionery. Taken in connection with the then existing Public Health
-Law, it contained adequate provisions for securing the best conditions
-of sanitation and ventilation and for safeguarding bakers from the
-effects of heat and of breathing flour or other particles. There was no
-distinction drawn in the act as to hours of labor between sanitary and
-unsanitary conditions of work, or between bakers and other employees,
-or between<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59"></a>[Pg 59]</span> night and day work. The power of the legislature to prevent
-the manufacture of bread or other articles of food in cellars or in
-underground bake-ovens or in filthy and unsanitary places, whether
-above or below ground, was not challenged. The provisions of the act
-tending to secure sanitary conditions were not interfered with or set
-aside by the courts, and they have ever since been enforced as valid
-for all purposes. The act was not confined in its operation to workmen
-compelled to labor at night underground, but applied to everyone
-employed day or night in factories, above or below ground, in which
-bread, confectionery, or biscuits were manufactured. It is true that
-medical authorities were cited to the courts in support of the view
-that the trade of a baker was injurious to health, but such authorities
-were based upon statistics gathered under conditions of labor which
-could not have existed then and cannot exist now in New York if the
-elaborate regulations of our public health and labor laws be duly
-enforced. There were, however, conflicting medical authorities cited to
-the court, which asserted that the trade was not unwholesome.</p>
-
-<p>Lochner owned a bakery at Utica in which he worked himself and
-employed three or four workmen. There was only one oven, and it was
-above ground. The building was clean, especially well ventilated and
-sanitary. The only question before the court in the case was whether
-Lochner could be made a criminal and imprisoned for permitting his
-workmen to labor more than ten hours in any<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60"></a>[Pg 60]</span> day under the best
-sanitary conditions, and the Supreme Court held that this could not be
-done without violating his constitutional rights. Had the conditions
-of work in bread, biscuit, or confectionery factories in the state of
-New York been shown to have been unusually dangerous and necessarily
-unwholesome, the law would undoubtedly have been sustained by the
-Supreme Court, as was the Utah miners' act in Holden <i>vs.</i> Hardy.<a id="FNanchor_15" href="#Footnote_15" class="fnanchor">[15]</a>
-No one who has studied the decisions of the New York courts or of
-the Supreme Court of the United States can doubt that any statutory
-provision reasonably tending to protect the health of bakers and other
-workmen and to prevent labor in unhealthful places would be upheld as
-clearly within the police power of the legislature.</p>
-
-<p>The act, moreover, was one-sided and discriminatory in that it made the
-employer a criminal but left the workman free to do as he saw fit. A
-baker working for A for ten hours in one day was left at liberty to go
-next door to B, A's competitor, and, if he saw fit, work another ten
-hours for B. In fact, as I am told, the informer on whose testimony
-Lochner was convicted frequently worked ten hours a day for Lochner and
-a number of hours additional in another bakery. If the act had been
-honestly conceived in a desire to safeguard the health of bakers, it
-would, of course, have provided some punishment for any violation of
-the law on the part of the workmen, and not have left<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61"></a>[Pg 61]</span> them at liberty
-to disregard its spirit whenever they saw fit to do so.</p>
-
-<p>The principle involved in this Bakers case was universal, and if
-employers in bread, biscuit, or confectionery factories could be made
-criminals for permitting their employees to labor more than ten hours
-in any one day, the legislature could enact similar legislation as to
-every other employment. No court would then have power to regulate
-the degree of the exercise of legislative discretion in such cases.
-The provision, which at first limited the workday to ten hours, could
-thereafter be changed to eight hours, or even to six hours, as was
-advocated in More's "Utopia."</p>
-
-<p>In February of this year, Mr. Roosevelt delivered an address before
-the Ohio constitutional convention, in which he discussed the decision
-of the Supreme Court of the United States in the Employers' Liability
-cases,<a id="FNanchor_16" href="#Footnote_16" class="fnanchor">[16]</a> decided while he was President. The court then held that
-the act of Congress of June 11, 1906, sometimes erroneously called
-the National Workmen's Compensation Act, attempted to regulate the
-internal affairs of the several states as well as interstate commerce,
-that it consequently included a subject not within the constitutional
-power of Congress, and that the two matters were so blended that they
-were incapable of separation unless the court made a new statute in
-the place of the one enacted by Congress. Conscientiously entertaining
-this view, the majority of the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62"></a>[Pg 62]</span> court would have been guilty of the
-plainest constitutional immorality if they had not declared that the
-act was beyond the power of Congress and declined to give it effect. No
-honest men, believing as the majority did, could have done otherwise
-than obey the constitutional mandate expressly reserving to the states
-the legislative powers not delegated to Congress. In the light of
-the long-established and wise rule that courts should avoid judicial
-legislation and not revise or give effect to a statute in a manner
-not clearly intended by the legislative body, the justices could not,
-of course, have upheld and enforced the statute simply because the
-individual cases before them excited their sympathy or involved the
-claims of widows. The remedy was obvious and simple. Congress was
-then in session, and within a few days an amended statute could have
-been enacted so as to limit the act to interstate commerce, which
-alone was within the constitutional power of Congress to regulate.
-After the lapse of three months, such a law was enacted, and being
-plainly confined to interstate commerce, as the original statute should
-have been, and would have been if properly and competently drafted,
-the amended act was unanimously sustained by the Supreme Court as
-constitutional in the Second Employers' Liability cases, decided this
-year,<a id="FNanchor_17" href="#Footnote_17" class="fnanchor">[17]</a> when it was held that Congress had power to change the
-common law rules as to assumption of risk, contributory negligence and
-fellow-servants' acts in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63"></a>[Pg 63]</span> connection with the regulation of interstate
-commerce.</p>
-
-<p>Speaking of the first decision, Mr. Roosevelt said: "When I was
-President, we passed a National Workmen's Compensation Act. Under it
-a railway man named Howard, I think, was killed in Tennessee, and his
-widow sued for damages. Congress had done all it could to provide
-the right, but the court stepped in and decreed that Congress had
-failed. Three of the judges took the extreme position that there was
-no way in which Congress could act to secure the helpless widow and
-children against suffering, and that the man's blood and the blood
-of all similar men when spilled should forever cry aloud in vain for
-justice. This seems a strong statement, but it is far less strong than
-the actual facts; and I have difficulty in making the statement with
-any degree of moderation. The nine justices of the Supreme Court on
-this question split into five fragments. One man, Justice Moody, in
-his opinion stated the case in its broadest way and demanded justice
-for Howard, on grounds that would have meant that in all similar cases
-thereafter justice and not injustice should be done. Yet the court,
-by a majority of one, decided as I do not for one moment believe the
-court would now decide, and not only perpetuated a lamentable injustice
-in the case of the man himself, but set a standard of injustice for
-all similar cases. Here again I ask you not to think of mere legal
-formalism, but to think of the great immutable principles of jus<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64"></a>[Pg 64]</span>tice,
-the great immutable principles of right and wrong, and to ponder what
-it means to men dependent for their livelihood, and to the women and
-children dependent upon these men, when the courts of the land deny
-them the justice to which they are entitled."</p>
-
-<p>Now, if this argument meant anything it certainly meant that, in
-the opinion of the speaker, an ex-President of the United States,
-the justices of the Supreme Court should have disregarded the
-Constitution as they understood it in order to allow a widow to
-recover notwithstanding the unconstitutionality of the act under and
-by virtue of which she was suing. You will not find a single word of
-reference by Mr. Roosevelt in his whole address to the only point
-upon which the majority, speaking by Mr. Justice White, decided the
-cases. Of course, the statement of what was actually decided would have
-been tame and unsensational. The criticism in form and substance was
-based upon a distorted and unfair statement of what was decided, and
-it was calculated to create in the minds of the members of the Ohio
-constitutional convention, as well as in the minds of the uninformed
-public, the belief that the justices of the Supreme Court of the United
-States had "set a standard of injustice for all similar cases" and
-had denied to Congress the power to pass a fair and just employers'
-liability statute properly limited to interstate commerce. The contrary
-was plainly the truth, as the subsequent decision of the court had
-clearly shown, for<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65"></a>[Pg 65]</span> this latter decision was rendered and published
-before Mr. Roosevelt made his address.</p>
-
-<p>Another example of distorted statement and unfair criticism of the
-courts will be found in the same address. It related to the decision of
-the New York Court of Appeals in the case of Ives <i>vs.</i> South Buffalo
-Railway Company,<a id="FNanchor_18" href="#Footnote_18" class="fnanchor">[18]</a> decided last year, in which the court held that a
-statute concededly novel and revolutionary, creating liability on the
-part of an employer to his workmen although the employer and his agents
-were wholly free from negligence or fault of any kind and had neglected
-no duty of care, supervision or selection, was unconstitutional because
-taking the property of the employer and giving it to the workman
-without due process of law. Ives was a brakeman employed by the
-defendant railway company. While walking on the top of the cars of a
-very long train, he gave a signal to the engineer to close up a space
-or slack and was thrown to the ground by the resulting jar, concededly
-without any negligence on the part of the railway company, and probably
-through his own carelessness. The injury consisted of a sprained ankle
-and slight bruises. There was no claim in the complaint that the injury
-was in any sense permanent, and as matter of fact Ives sued for loss of
-wages during only five weeks, claiming fifty dollars as the measure of
-his damage. I am informed that the injury was not serious, that Ives
-entirely recovered and resumed his work within<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66"></a>[Pg 66]</span> four weeks after the
-injury, that the railroad company ultimately paid him for his loss of
-time, that he has since been continuously employed by the same company
-at similar work, and that in no sense whatever was his ability to earn
-his livelihood impaired.</p>
-
-<p>Let us turn to the picture drawn by Mr. Roosevelt in describing this
-case for the instruction and guidance of a constitutional convention.
-"I am not thinking of the terminology of the decision, nor of what seem
-to me the hair-splitting and meticulous arguments elaborately worked
-out to justify a great and terrible miscarriage of justice. Moreover,
-I am not thinking only of the sufferers in any given case, but of the
-tens of thousands of others who suffer because of the way this case was
-decided. In the New York case, the railway employee who was injured
-was a man named, I believe, Ives. The court admits that by every moral
-consideration he was entitled to recover as his due the money that the
-law intended to give him. Yet the court by its decision forces that
-man to stagger through life maimed, and keeps the money that should be
-his in the treasury of the company in whose service, as an incident of
-his regular employment and in the endurance of ordinary risks, he lost
-the ability to earn his own livelihood. There are thousands of Iveses
-in this country; thousands of cases such as this come up every year;
-and while this is true, while the courts deny essential and elementary
-justice to these men and give to them and the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67"></a>[Pg 67]</span> people in exchange for
-justice a technical and empty formula, it is idle to ask me not to
-criticize them. As long as injustice is kept thus intrenched by any
-court, I will protest as strongly as in me lies against such action."</p>
-
-<p>To repeat, as a matter of fact, Ives was not maimed; he was not
-permanently injured; he was not deprived of the ability to earn his
-livelihood. Nor did the Court of Appeals admit that by every moral
-consideration Ives was entitled to recover as his due the money that
-the law intended to give him. Had that point been before a court of
-justice, however sympathetic and sentimental, I doubt very much whether
-it could have held that Ives was entitled, by any moral consideration
-whatever, to compel the railway company to compensate him for the
-four or five weeks' loss of wages resulting from no fault on its
-part but from his own carelessness. The statements that "the court
-by its decision forces that man to stagger through life maimed" and
-that "he lost the ability to earn his own livelihood" were simply so
-much fiction, but, of course they were very effective with emotional
-audiences and highly calculated to inflame Mr. Roosevelt's hearers
-and readers against the courts. I venture to assert that it would be
-difficult to find or indeed to conceive a more unwarranted and unfair
-misrepresentation of the facts actually before a court.</p>
-
-<p>Another current misrepresentation is that the Supreme Court of the
-United States in the Second Employers' Liability cases upheld as
-constitutional<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68"></a>[Pg 68]</span> a statute of Congress identical with the statute held
-unconstitutional by the New York Court of Appeals in the Ives case.
-The people are being told that the New York courts hold the provision
-requiring due process of law in the fourteenth amendment to mean one
-thing, whilst the Supreme Court of the United States holds exactly
-the same provision in the fifth amendment to mean the contrary. But
-those who will take the trouble to read the two statutes will at once
-perceive that the act of Congress differs radically from the New York
-Workmen's Compensation Act. The act of Congress, although abolishing
-or restricting the rules as to fellow-servants' acts, assumption of
-risk and contributory negligence, imposes liability on common carriers
-by railroad only for "injury or death resulting in whole or in part
-from the <i>negligence</i> of any of the officers, agents, or employees of
-such carrier, or by reason of any defect or insufficiency, <i>due to
-its negligence</i>, in its cars, engines, appliances, machinery, track,
-roadbed, works, boats, wharves, or other equipment." On the other hand,
-the New York statute created liability not in one dangerous employment,
-such as the business of common carrier by railroad, but in many other
-employments not necessarily dangerous, and wholly irrespective of
-negligence or fault on the part of the employer or any of his officers,
-agents, or employees. In fact, there is nothing in the New York
-decision or in the opinions of the judges which would invalidate a
-statute identical with the act of Congress if now<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69"></a>[Pg 69]</span> enacted by the New
-York legislature. The Ives case, far from preventing such a statute,
-would be an authority in its support.</p>
-
-<p>I regret that we have not time to consider further these particular
-decisions. In my opinion they correctly and wisely applied established
-principles of constitutional law and constitutional justice and were
-morally right and just. I am now pleading for fairness and temperance
-in discussing the decisions of our courts and for the imperative
-necessity of founding these discussions upon the truth. Ambassador
-Bryce said in a recent address: "To counsel you to stick to facts
-is not to dissuade you from philosophical generalizations, but only
-to remind you ... that the generalizations must spring out of the
-facts, and without the facts are worthless." In other words, a regard
-for fact, which is but another term for truth, is or should be as
-indispensable in law and politics as it is in philosophy.</p>
-
-<p>The criticisms of which the above are fair samples must be refuted
-because they find constant repetition and have the authority of
-distinguished leaders of public opinion, who at the present time seem
-to have the confidence of the people. Their statements are naturally
-accepted as true. The judges are being similarly misrepresented and
-assailed on all sides, and they cannot defend themselves. Thus far
-the bar at large has seemed indifferent, and a misconception of what
-constitutes good taste imposes silence upon the counsel engaged in the
-cases which are criticized. The people are being<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70"></a>[Pg 70]</span> misled, prejudiced
-and inflamed by false statements and unfair criticism. If the courts
-are not defended, they may bend before the storm of undeserved censure.
-Constituted as humanity is, there is grave danger that the judges will
-be unconsciously intimidated and coerced by this abuse and clamor.
-Is it not high time that the members of our profession should charge
-themselves with the task of defending the courts by placing the facts
-before the people? The bar associations of the country will never be
-called upon to render a greater service to the profession and to the
-community than that of stemming this tide of misrepresentation and
-intemperate abuse and striving to restore confidence in the learning,
-impartiality and independence of our judges, in the justice of their
-decisions, and in the necessity of their enforcing constitutional
-restraints.</p>
-
-<p>Not only are the decisions of the courts constantly distorted and
-misrepresented, but the people are also being taught that the courts
-have usurped the power to declare void any statute in conflict with the
-constitution, and that no such power was ever intended to be conferred
-by the framers of national or state constitutions. Surely by this time
-it ought to be manifest that if the courts may not adjudge invalid and
-refuse to give force and effect to unconstitutional enactments, it
-is of little or no use to declare in constitutions that legislatures
-shall not pass bills of attainder, or ex post facto laws, or laws
-abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press, or<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71"></a>[Pg 71]</span> prohibiting the
-free exercise of religion, or denying the right to trial by jury, or
-imprisoning without trial, or suspending the writ of habeas corpus, or
-confiscating private property.</p>
-
-<p>Speaking on this subject of judicial power and duty, Hamilton in the
-"Federalist" used language which cannot be too often repeated. He
-clearly showed that in 1788 it was understood and contemplated that the
-courts should exercise the power to adjudge invalid any statute which
-was in conflict with the Constitution. In fact, such power had then
-already been exercised by state courts. He said that constitutional
-limitations "can be preserved in practice no other way than through the
-medium of courts of justice, whose duty it must be to declare all acts
-contrary to the manifest tenor of the Constitution void. Without this,
-all the reservation of particular rights or privileges would amount to
-nothing.... There is no position which depends on clearer principles
-than that every act of a delegated authority, contrary to the tenor of
-the commission under which it is exercised, is void. No legislative
-act, therefore, contrary to the Constitution, can be valid. To deny
-this would be to affirm that the deputy is greater than his principal;
-that the servant is above his master; that the representatives of
-the people are superior to the people themselves; that men acting by
-virtue of powers may do not only what their powers do not authorize,
-but what they forbid.... The interpretation of the laws is the proper
-and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72"></a>[Pg 72]</span> peculiar province of the courts. A constitution is, in fact, and
-must be regarded by the judges, as a fundamental law. It therefore
-belongs to them to ascertain its meaning, as well as the meaning of
-any particular act proceeding from the legislative body. If there
-should happen to be an irreconcilable variance between the two, that
-which has the superior obligation and validity ought, of course, to be
-preferred; or, in other words, the Constitution ought to be preferred
-to the statute; the intention of the people to the intention of their
-agents. Nor does this conclusion by any means suppose a superiority
-of the judicial to the legislative power. It only supposes that the
-power of the people is superior to both; and that where the will of the
-legislature, declared in its statutes, stands in opposition to that
-of the people, declared in the Constitution, the judges ought to be
-governed by the latter rather than the former. They ought to regulate
-their decisions by the fundamental laws, rather than by those which are
-not fundamental."<a id="FNanchor_19" href="#Footnote_19" class="fnanchor">[19]</a></p>
-
-<p>Equally conclusive and equally worthy of constant repetition is the
-reasoning of Chief Justice Marshall in Marbury <i>vs.</i> Madison, where
-he said: "To what purpose are powers limited, and to what purpose is
-that limitation committed to writing, if these limitations may, at any
-time, be passed by those intended to be restrained? The distinction
-between a government with limited and unlimited powers is abolished, if
-those limits do not confine the persons on whom<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73"></a>[Pg 73]</span> they are imposed, and
-if acts prohibited and acts allowed are of equal obligation. It is a
-proposition too plain to be contested, that the Constitution controls
-any legislative act repugnant to it; or, that the legislature may
-alter the Constitution by an ordinary act. Between these alternatives
-there is no middle ground. The Constitution is either a superior
-paramount law, unchangeable by ordinary means, or it is on a level
-with ordinary legislative acts, and, like other acts, is alterable
-when the legislature shall please to alter it. If the former part
-of the alternative be true, then a legislative act contrary to the
-Constitution is not law: if the latter part be true, then written
-constitutions are absurd attempts, on the part of the people, to limit
-a power in its own nature illimitable."<a id="FNanchor_20" href="#Footnote_20" class="fnanchor">[20]</a></p>
-
-<p>This decision of the Supreme Court to the effect that it is the duty
-and within the power of the courts to construe constitutions and to
-refuse to enforce unconstitutional enactments was rendered in 1803.
-Yet, notwithstanding that the Constitution of the United States has
-been amended four times since that decision, and that every state
-constitution has been again and again remodeled or amended, no American
-constitution has ever denied to the courts the power to construe
-constitutions or the duty to refuse to enforce statutes which are in
-conflict with constitutional limitations. If the power to declare void
-any statute in conflict with the Constitution of the United States
-was deemed necessary<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74"></a>[Pg 74]</span> in 1788 when Hamilton was writing his famous
-essays, it certainly ought to be far more necessary in our day of
-multiform legislation, vast increase in the functions of the state, and
-incompetent, reckless and oppressive class legislation interfering in
-almost every conceivable manner with the rights and liberties of the
-individual.</p>
-
-<p>Moreover, the Constitution of the United States would probably never
-have been adopted if the people had understood, as is now pretended,
-that Congress was to be at liberty to disregard constitutional
-limitations and guaranties and that there would be no way whatever of
-preventing a violation by Congress of the constitutional rights of the
-individual except at the polls. All students of our history know that
-the Constitution was accepted by the people upon the distinct pledge
-that amendments embodying a bill of rights to protect the individual
-against Congress would be immediately adopted. And one of the first
-acts of the First Congress in September, 1789, was to submit the ten
-amendments known as the federal bill of rights, which were thereupon
-ratified by the states and became an integral part of the Constitution.
-But of what avail or benefit were these amendments if Congress was not
-to be effectively restrained and bound by them? It is no exaggeration
-to say that if the courts should now be deprived of the power to
-protect litigants who invoke constitutional guaranties and should
-be compelled to enforce, as valid laws, statutes which violate the
-limitations<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75"></a>[Pg 75]</span> upon legislative power which the people have deliberately
-embodied in their fundamental law, our constitutions would become
-dead letters, and we might as well turn to the pure and unrestrained
-democracy of Greece and await her fate.</p>
-
-<p>In an inspiring address delivered this year before the New York State
-Bar Association on the subject of judicial decisions and public
-feeling, Senator Root eloquently said: "A sovereign people which
-declares that all men have certain inalienable rights, and imposes
-upon itself the great impersonal rules of conduct deemed necessary
-for the preservation of those rights, and at the same time declares
-that it will disregard those rules whenever, in any particular case,
-it is the wish of a majority of its voters to do so, establishes
-as complete a contradiction to the fundamental principles of our
-government as it is possible to conceive. It abandons absolutely the
-conception of a justice which is above majorities, of a right in the
-weak which the strong are bound to respect. It denies the vital truth
-taught by religion and realized in the hard experience of mankind, and
-which has inspired every constitution America has produced and every
-great declaration for human freedom since Magna Carta&mdash;the truth that
-human nature needs to distrust its own impulses and passions, and to
-establish for its own control the restraining and guiding influence of
-declared principles of action."</p>
-
-<p>In many of the current assaults upon the judicial department,
-in support often of schemes having<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76"></a>[Pg 76]</span> their birthplace on the
-continent of Europe, we find the complaint that in declaring
-statutes unconstitutional the courts in this country&mdash;state and
-federal&mdash;exercise greater power than the courts of other countries are
-authorized to exercise. As if that were an argument against American
-institutions! Every schoolboy knows that the framers intended that our
-government should differ from every other government in the world. The
-founders not only intentionally departed from the examples of existing
-governments, but anxiously sought to establish a new form of republican
-government, which would perpetuate the spirit of the Declaration of
-Independence, secure the inalienable rights of the individual, and
-protect the minority against the oppression or tyranny of the majority.
-It was because these rights of the individual against majorities and
-every form of governmental power were to be made secure and sacred, as
-the founders believed, that we were to differ from other governments.
-And the essential and effective feature of that difference was to lie
-in the power vested in the judicial department to uphold and protect
-these rights. High sounding declarations of the rights of man would
-mean very little if they were not to be enforceable by the courts.</p>
-
-<p>When our form of government is compared with that of other countries,
-and we are told that in England or in France or elsewhere so-called
-progressive measures have been forced into immediate operation by
-the will of the majority, and that the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77"></a>[Pg 77]</span> courts there were powerless
-to interfere, is it seriously intended to suggest to the people
-of the United States that they should, therefore, cast aside all
-constitutional restraints, all their ancient and honest constitutional
-principles, and leave the protection of life, liberty and property
-wholly in the hands of the legislative branch? Are there not still
-certain rights which even those who are assailing our institutions,
-under the protection of the very Constitution they deride, would want
-to have protected by our courts? When it is urged that the courts
-should not have power to declare an act unconstitutional, but should
-be compelled to enforce all legislative enactments although some of
-them might conflict with the Constitution, is it realized that the bill
-of rights would then be left to the arbitrary discretion or caprice
-of the legislature, and that consequently it would be of no more
-practical protection to the individual than the paper constitutions
-of some of the South American republics which, too, contain eloquent
-declarations of the rights of the individual? Is it forgotten or
-overlooked that in England and France and all the other countries with
-whose systems of government ours is being compared, the legislative
-power is practically supreme, and that it can outlaw or disseize or
-imprison at its mere will&mdash;that it can deny religious liberty, abridge
-the freedom of speech or of the press, pass bills of attainder and ex
-post facto laws, suspend the writ of habeas corpus, impose cruel and
-unusual punishments, deny to the individual accused of crime the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78"></a>[Pg 78]</span> right
-to a jury-trial or even any hearing at all, confiscate private property
-without compensation, and impair the obligation of contracts?</p>
-
-<p>Let us, for example, suppose that Congress or a state legislature saw
-fit to imprison those who did not profess the religion of the majority,
-or observe its forms and tenets. Who could then protect the minority
-against such tyrannical enactments except the courts, and how could
-the courts shield them save by declaring the statute unconstitutional
-and void and refusing to enforce it? We have only to go back a few
-generations to find just such laws in England and in the American
-colonies, and it is the repetition of them that our constitutions seek
-to prevent. Suppose again that Congress or a state legislature should
-pass a statute abridging the freedom of speech or of the press and
-making those who violated the statute subject to criminal prosecution
-and imprisonment. How could the individual be then protected except
-by the judiciary, and how could the judiciary protect him unless by
-exercising the power to declare the statute unconstitutional?</p>
-
-<p>Do the agitators who are attacking our constitutional system explain
-to their listeners that in the foreign governments with which they
-are making comparisons the legislative power could compel workmen
-in any trade to work as many hours a day, at such rates of wages,
-and under such conditions as the majority saw fit to enact? Suppose
-that the Pennsylvania legislature should pass a statute compelling
-laborers in coal mines to labor twelve or<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79"></a>[Pg 79]</span> more hours a day for a
-compensation fixed by it and providing that refusal should constitute
-a crime. Or similarly in the case of railroad employees. In doing so,
-the legislature would find a precedent in the famous English Statute
-of Labourers as well as in numerous other European enactments. The
-Pennsylvania legislature might pass an act, similar to that enacted by
-the British parliament in 1720 and again in 1800, making it a crime
-for laborers to combine to obtain an advance of wages or to lessen or
-alter their hours of work. Is it inconceivable that the time may come
-when the majority of the voters in Pennsylvania will believe that it is
-imperative thus to regulate labor in coal mines and on the railroads,
-both of which industries are indispensable, serve every household in
-the state, affect every individual, rich or poor, and compel all to pay
-tribute? Might not prejudice and self-interest tempt or impel to such
-a statute, and might not the majority enact it, particularly if those
-affected were aliens without political power? Is it inconceivable that
-the owners of the coal mines and the railroads may some day control a
-majority in the legislature? But how could these miners and railroad
-employees be protected from such enactments and criminal prosecutions
-thereunder unless the courts had the power to declare statutes
-unconstitutional and to refuse to enforce them because depriving the
-individual of his constitutional rights?</p>
-
-<p>In nine cases out of ten the answer to these suggestions by those who
-to-day are assailing the judicial<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80"></a>[Pg 80]</span> department would undoubtedly be
-that no one intends to go to any such extreme, and that no one wishes
-to be placed or to place any one else entirely at the mercy of the
-legislature. Thus, they would concede that some rights should still be
-safeguarded by the courts. But does not this answer contain the gist of
-the whole problem and the whole principle and virtue of the American
-system of constitutional restraints? If the critics of our system
-would have some rights, and particularly their own, protected by the
-courts, must they not then confess that in truth they only wish changes
-where the rights of others are concerned, and that they would cling
-to the Constitution and invoke the protection of the judicial power
-in all those respects in which their own personal liberty and their
-own personal and property rights are affected? Chief Judge Cullen of
-the New York Court of Appeals recently said that "the great misfortune
-of the day is the mania for regulating all human conduct by statute,
-from responsibility for which few are exempt, since many of our most
-intelligent and highly educated citizens, who resent as paternalism
-and socialism legislative interference with affairs in which they are
-interested, are most persistent in the attempt to regulate by law the
-conduct of others."<a id="FNanchor_21" href="#Footnote_21" class="fnanchor">[21]</a></p>
-
-<p>I do not doubt that if we could have an exhaustive debate before
-a great tribunal of American public opinion and could step by
-step analyze and sift the arguments against the judicial power in
-constitu<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81"></a>[Pg 81]</span>tional cases, we would find in the final analysis that those
-who are so fiercely charging the courts with usurping power by refusing
-to enforce unconstitutional enactments would still want the continued
-protection of the courts so far as their own constitutional rights and
-liberties were concerned, and that they were only asking modification
-and curtailment in respect of the rights and liberties of others. I
-am confident that if it were left to the people of the United States
-to determine by their votes the simple question whether they would
-place in the hands of Congress or of their state legislatures the
-fundamental, elemental, inalienable rights which every American citizen
-now enjoys&mdash;the inalienable rights proclaimed in the Declaration of
-Independence&mdash;an overwhelming vote would be cast against any such
-change. Indeed, support for this conviction may be found in the recent
-experience of Australia, that hotbed of radicalism. An attempt by
-constitutional amendment to curtail the power of the judiciary in
-labor controversies and to confer upon the Australian parliament all
-power necessary to deal with labor matters was there the subject of a
-referendum and met with a decisive defeat at the polls. Are we likely
-to be less conservative than the Australians, or to be less mindful of
-the necessity for wise constitutional guaranties and restraints?</p>
-
-<p>The truth is that our constitutions, national and state, do not stand
-in the way of any fair and just exercise of what is called the police
-power, or of measures for social progress or social justice, and
-that<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82"></a>[Pg 82]</span> they do not prevent reasonable and just regulations tending to
-secure the health and promote the welfare of the community at large,
-or the enactment of proper and reasonable factory laws or proper and
-reasonable workmen's compensation acts. The main source of trouble is
-that the statutes which the courts are compelled to refuse to enforce
-are very often hastily and crudely drawn, and are often inherently
-unreasonable and unjust.</p>
-
-<p>But, even if this be not so; even if the people, after full statement
-of the facts and thorough explanation of the effect of the change, upon
-mature consideration desire to vest greater power in our legislatures,
-or to curtail the power of the courts, the means are within their
-reach. In New York and in other states, the Constitution can be easily
-amended within two years.</p>
-
-<p>It has been repeatedly asserted that the Constitution of the United
-States has become practically unamendable, when as a matter of fact its
-amendment does not involve any greater difficulties than were intended
-or than would seem reasonably necessary, or than would be provided
-if we were now framing a new national constitution. The prescribed
-machinery of a vote by two-thirds of both houses of Congress and
-ratification by three-fourths of the states simply compels deliberation
-and prevents hasty and unconsidered action. If the people of the
-country really desire a particular amendment to the Constitution of the
-United States, it ought to be readily obtainable within less than two
-years.</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83"></a>[Pg 83]</span></p>
-
-<p>Thus, the first ten amendments were proposed by Congress in September,
-1789, and were adopted in those days of slow travel and difficult
-communication by eight states within six months and by the requisite
-three-fourths within two years. The twelfth amendment, proposed in
-1803, was ratified in nine months. The thirteenth amendment, proposed
-by Congress in 1865, was ratified by the legislatures of twenty-seven
-out of the then thirty-six states within ten months; and the fifteenth
-amendment, the latest, proposed in February, 1869, was ratified by
-twenty-nine out of the thirty-seven states within one year. The delay
-in the adoption of the proposed sixteenth amendment authorizing
-Congress to levy an income tax is due wholly to the fact that there is
-a serious difference of opinion as to whether or not this power should
-be conferred, although the advocates of the amendment confidently
-proclaimed the existence of an almost universal desire on the part of
-the people for such an amendment to the Constitution.<a id="FNanchor_22" href="#Footnote_22" class="fnanchor">[22]</a></p>
-
-<p>One of the most insidious suggestions that can possibly be made to
-the people at large is that there is an insurmountable difficulty
-in securing amendments to our constitutions, just as misleading and
-dangerous as it is for them to be told that their<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84"></a>[Pg 84]</span> desires are being
-thwarted by the judiciary and that they must accomplish reforms either
-by coercing the courts or by undermining the foundations of their
-constitutions. The future contentment of the people requires that
-they shall feel that the governments, state and federal, are their
-governments, that they themselves are ultimately the sovereign power,
-and that they are at liberty to amend the organic law from time to
-time as their mature and deliberate judgment shall deem necessary
-or desirable. All that the conservatives can ask or do ask is that
-the people shall act deliberately and under circumstances calculated
-to afford time and opportunity for full explanation and a full
-understanding of the scope and tendency of the proposed changes, to
-the end that errors may be discovered and exposed, that theorizing,
-sentimentalism, clamor and prejudice may exhaust themselves, and that
-the sober second thought of every part of the country may be asserted.
-If it be then determined to amend our constitutions, even to the extent
-of placing life, liberty and property at the unrestrained discretion
-and mercy of our legislators, the will of the sovereign people will
-have to be obeyed. Let us hope and pray, however, that when amendments
-are adopted, they will be conservative and wise, that the rights of the
-minority as against the majority will not be heedlessly sacrificed for
-the temporary advantage of one class over another, and that it will
-be appreciated that individual liberty should be the vital concern
-of every man, rich or poor, as<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85"></a>[Pg 85]</span> being essential to the perpetuation
-of the institutions which we cherish as peculiarly and preeminently
-American. Let us especially try to avoid permitting any class to make
-use of constitutional amendments or of statutory enactments for its own
-special purposes. Let us, whilst meeting in full sympathy, generosity
-and charity the legitimate demands of the laboring classes and of
-the poor and humble, nevertheless keep our eyes open to prevent any
-such vicious results as would arise from constitutional or statutory
-provisions framed nominally for the benefit of labor but really for the
-purpose of serving the interests of a particular class against another,
-as we have seen was the case in the New York tenement-house legislation
-of 1884. In the meantime, pending such amendments in the due, orderly
-and reasonable course prescribed by our constitutions, let us be
-faithful and devoted to our constitutional system, which for more than
-a century has carried us through every storm and so often "in spite of
-false lights on the shore." Let us also be truthful and fair and, if
-possible, temperate in our criticism of all public officials, whether
-legislative, executive, or judicial.</p>
-
-<p>Finally, a word about the special duty of our profession. It is not
-the pulpit nor the press, but the law which reaches and touches every
-fibre of the whole fabric of life, which surrounds and guards every
-right of the individual, which grasps the greatest and the least of
-human affairs, and which comprehends the whole community and every
-human<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86"></a>[Pg 86]</span> right. We lawyers, if worthy of our profession, are in duty
-bound not merely to defend constitutional guaranties before the courts
-for individual clients, but to teach the people in season and out of
-season to value and respect the constitutional rights of others and to
-respect and cherish the institutions which we have inherited. It is our
-duty to preach constitutional morality to the rich and to the poor, to
-all trades and to all professions, to all ranks and to all classes, in
-the cities and on the plains. It is for us to convince the members of
-every class that, in the long run, disregard of the fundamental rights
-of others would be in conflict with their own permanent welfare and
-happiness, and cannot be permitted if we are to remain a free people.
-What higher duty, what nobler task could engage us than to teach the
-value and sacredness of the ancient and honest principles of justice
-embodied in our constitutions, immortal as the eternal truths from
-which they derive their origin, and to preach to all classes the virtue
-of political justice and self-imposed political restraints, without
-which there can be no true constitutional morality.</p>
-
-
-
-<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_10" href="#FNanchor_10" class="label">[10]</a> Address before the Pennsylvania State Bar Association at
-its eighteenth annual meeting, held at Cape May, New Jersey, June 25,
-1912.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_11" href="#FNanchor_11" class="label">[11]</a> 188 United States Reports, p. 375.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_12" href="#FNanchor_12" class="label">[12]</a> 98 New York Reports, p. 98.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_13" href="#FNanchor_13" class="label">[13]</a> 33 Hun's Reports, pp. 380, 382, 383.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_14" href="#FNanchor_14" class="label">[14]</a> 177 New York Reports, p. 145; 198 United States Reports,
-p. 45.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_15" href="#FNanchor_15" class="label">[15]</a> 169 United States Reports, p. 366.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_16" href="#FNanchor_16" class="label">[16]</a> 207 United States Reports, p. 463.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_17" href="#FNanchor_17" class="label">[17]</a> 223 United States Reports, p. 1.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_18" href="#FNanchor_18" class="label">[18]</a> 201 New York Reports, p. 271.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_19" href="#FNanchor_19" class="label">[19]</a> The Federalist, Ford's edition, pp. 520, 521, 522.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_20" href="#FNanchor_20" class="label">[20]</a> 1 Cranch's Reports, pp. 176-177.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_21" href="#FNanchor_21" class="label">[21]</a> 204 New York Reports, p. 534.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_22" href="#FNanchor_22" class="label">[22]</a> Since this address was delivered, the sixteenth amendment
-has been ratified. It was proposed by Congress July 16, 1909, and
-declared effective February 25, 1913. The seventeenth amendment was
-proposed by Congress May 15, 1912, and declared effective May 31,
-1913. In view of this demonstration, it should certainly not be any
-longer urged that the Constitution of the United States is practically
-unamendable.</p></div></div>
-
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87"></a>[Pg 87]</span></p>
-<div class="chapter">
-<h2 class="nobreak" id="THE_ELEVENTH_AMENDMENT23">THE ELEVENTH AMENDMENT<a id="FNanchor_23" href="#Footnote_23" class="fnanchor">[23]</a></h2>
-</div>
-
-
-<p class="drop">O<span class="uppercase">f</span> the important questions of constitutional law now before the
-country, none more vitally affects the peace and harmony of our dual
-system of government than that of the power of a federal court to
-enjoin a state officer from enforcing the provisions of a state statute
-which is in conflict with the Constitution of the United States.
-This question usually arises in connection with the eleventh article
-of amendment, which provides that "the judicial power of the United
-States shall not be construed to extend to any suit in law or equity,
-commenced or prosecuted against one of the United States by citizens
-of another state, or by citizens or subjects of any foreign state."
-Serious controversies regarding the issuance of injunctions by federal
-courts against state officers have arisen in New York, North Carolina,
-Alabama, Missouri, Kansas, Minnesota, and other states. A convention
-of attorneys-general from a number of states, held at St. Louis in
-September and October, 1907, adopted a memorial to the President and
-Congress praying that the jurisdiction of the circuit courts of the
-United States might be curtailed in respect of suits brought to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88"></a>[Pg 88]</span>
-restrain state officers from enforcing state laws or the orders of
-state administrative boards. The President in his annual message to
-Congress called the matter to the attention of that body, and stated
-that discontent was often expressed with the use of the process
-of injunction by the courts where state laws were concerned. The
-assembling of Congress was marked by the introduction of numerous bills
-to curtail the power of the federal courts to issue injunctions and by
-the offering of several joint resolutions to amend the Constitution
-of the United States, which had the same object. The question will,
-perhaps, figure prominently in the next presidential campaign. It may,
-therefore, be appropriate to review at this time the history of the
-eleventh article of amendment to the Constitution of the United States
-in order to see what light that history throws upon the purpose of its
-framers. Did they intend, in prohibiting suits by an individual against
-a state, to deny to the courts of the United States the power to enjoin
-a state officer from enforcing a state statute in conflict with the
-Constitution of the United States?</p>
-
-<p>In 1787 and 1788, when the adoption of the Constitution was under
-consideration by the people of the United States, conflicting views
-were entertained as to the suability of a state by an individual for
-the recovery of claims against it. Hamilton, Madison and Marshall
-expressed the opinion that a state would not be suable by an
-individual under the Constitution as drafted. A number of prominent<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89"></a>[Pg 89]</span>
-men, conspicuous among whom were Edmund Pendleton, Patrick Henry and
-George Mason, were of opinion that the language of the judicial clause
-conferred jurisdiction to entertain and determine such a suit. Some
-urged this as an objection to the Constitution. Others, including
-James Wilson of Pennsylvania and Edmund Randolph of Virginia, two of
-the most distinguished lawyers and publicists of the day and members
-of the Constitutional Convention, contended not only that jurisdiction
-was conferred but that it was wise and necessary that such jurisdiction
-should exist. Wilson urged that "when a citizen has a controversy
-with another state, there ought to be a tribunal where both parties
-may stand on a just and equal footing," and Randolph argued that the
-jurisdiction would tend "to render valid and effective existing claims,
-and secure that justice, ultimately, which is to be found in every
-regular government." The Constitution of the United States was adopted
-as submitted with the understanding that amendments would be promptly
-proposed. The First Congress submitted twelve amendments, ten of which
-were adopted, but the suability of a state was not mentioned in any of
-them.</p>
-
-<p>The question was presented for judicial decision in 1792 in an action
-brought by Chisholm, a citizen of the state of South Carolina, against
-the state of Georgia in the Supreme Court of the United States under
-its original jurisdiction.<a id="FNanchor_24" href="#Footnote_24" class="fnanchor">[24]</a> The action was in assumpsit to recover
-a debt. The court then consisted of Chief<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90"></a>[Pg 90]</span> Justice Jay and Justices
-Cushing, Wilson, Blair, Johnson and Iredell. On February 18, 1793,
-the court held, Mr. Justice Iredell alone dissenting, that under the
-Constitution as originally adopted a state could be sued in that court
-by a citizen of another state in an action of assumpsit to enforce
-the payment of a contract debt. This decision, which was followed by
-the commencement of the suit of Vassal <i>vs.</i> Massachusetts, created
-irritation and alarm among the states, and particularly among those
-which were heavily burdened with debt. The anti-Federalist prints were
-loud in invectives against the decision, which was termed a violation
-of the sovereignty of the states, and it was declared that the people
-were "called upon to draw their swords against this invasion of their
-rights." It has been said, though with some exaggeration, that "the
-states fairly rose in rebellion against the decision." Four states
-formally protested. Although Georgia had been the first state to
-invoke the original jurisdiction of the Supreme Court, it nevertheless
-refused to appear in the Chisholm suit, and filed a remonstrance and
-protestation against the exercise of jurisdiction. After the decision,
-it openly defied the authority of the national judiciary. Indeed, it
-is stated by McMaster, Cooley and other writers that the legislature
-of Georgia at once passed a law subjecting to death without benefit
-of clergy any officer who should attempt to serve a process in any
-suit against the state, but no record of any such statute can be
-found. Probably, as some one has suggested, the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91"></a>[Pg 91]</span> supposed law was a
-bill which passed only the lower branch of the legislature. At all
-events, the legislatures of Virginia, Massachusetts and Connecticut
-instructed their senators and representatives to secure the adoption of
-an amendment to the Constitution which should prevent suits against a
-state by an individual.</p>
-
-<p>On February 20, 1793, two days after the opinions in Chisholm <i>vs.</i>
-Georgia were delivered, a resolution was offered in the United States
-Senate proposing an amendment of the Constitution in the following
-terms: "The judicial power of the United States shall not extend to
-any suits in law or equity, commenced or prosecuted against one of the
-United States by citizens of another state or by citizens or subjects
-of any foreign state."</p>
-
-<p>The proposed amendment was debated to some extent in the Second
-Congress, but it was not passed. In the Third Congress, on January
-2, 1794, Caleb Strong, one of the senators from Massachusetts, moved
-the adoption of a resolution which changed the form of the proposed
-amendment so as to read as follows: "The judicial power of the United
-States shall not <i>be construed to</i> extend to any suit in law or equity,
-commenced or prosecuted against one of the United States by citizens of
-another state, or by citizens or subjects of any foreign state."</p>
-
-<p>The amendment was finally accepted in this form on March 4, 1794, and
-was at once submitted to the legislatures of the several states for
-ratification, but up to March, 1797, there were still eight states<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92"></a>[Pg 92]</span>
-which had not acted upon it, probably because the political clamor
-had subsided, and there was no longer any demand for amendment. In
-fact, Congress had to request the President to communicate with the
-outstanding states upon the subject. Finally, in a message from
-President Adams to Congress dated January 8, 1798, the proposed
-amendment was declared to have been ratified by three-fourths of the
-states, and it thereupon became the eleventh article of amendment to
-the Constitution of the United States. New Jersey and Pennsylvania had
-refused to ratify it, while South Carolina and Tennessee had taken no
-action.</p>
-
-<p>The unusual and peculiar wording of the amendment first attracts
-attention. Instead of declaring how the Constitution shall read
-in the future, it declares how it shall "not be construed." This
-phraseology was used for political reasons and as a concession to the
-susceptibilities of the advocates of state rights. Extremists wanted a
-declaration that would not only overrule the recent construction of the
-Constitution by the Supreme Court and deny that such a power had ever
-existed, but would also oust all jurisdiction in pending as well as in
-future cases. The amendment, therefore, does not purport to amend or
-alter the Constitution, but to maintain it unchanged, while controlling
-its scope and effect by authoritatively declaring how it shall not be
-construed.</p>
-
-<p>Speaking of the language of the amendment, Chief Justice Marshall said
-in the case of Cohens<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93"></a>[Pg 93]</span> <i>vs.</i> Virginia: "It is a part of our history,
-that, at the adoption of the Constitution, all the states were greatly
-indebted; and the apprehension that these debts might be prosecuted in
-the federal courts formed a very serious objection to that instrument.
-Suits were instituted, and the court maintained its jurisdiction.
-The alarm was general; and, to quiet the apprehensions that were so
-extensively entertained, this amendment was proposed in Congress,
-and adopted by the state legislatures. That its motive was not to
-maintain the sovereignty of a state from the degradation supposed to
-attend a compulsory appearance before the tribunal of the nation, may
-be inferred from the terms of the amendment. It does not comprehend
-controversies between two or more states, or between a state and a
-foreign state. The jurisdiction of the court still extends to these
-cases: and in these a state may still be sued. We must ascribe the
-amendment, then, to some other cause than the dignity of a state. There
-is no difficulty in finding this cause. Those who were inhibited from
-commencing a suit against a state, or from prosecuting one which might
-be commenced before the adoption of the amendment, were persons who
-might probably be its creditors. There was not much reason to fear that
-foreign or sister states would be creditors to any considerable amount,
-and there was reason to retain the jurisdiction of the court in those
-cases, because it might be essential to the preservation of peace. The
-amendment, therefore, extended to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94"></a>[Pg 94]</span> suits commenced or prosecuted by
-individuals, but not to those brought by states.</p>
-
-<p>"The first impression made on the mind by this amendment is, that
-it was intended for those cases, and for those only, in which some
-demand against a state is made by an individual in the courts of the
-Union. If we consider the causes to which it is to be traced, we are
-conducted to the same conclusion. A general interest might well be felt
-in leaving to a state the full power of consulting its convenience in
-the adjustment of its debts or of other claims upon it; but no interest
-could be felt in so changing the relations between the whole and its
-parts, as to strip the government of the means of protecting, by the
-instrumentality of its courts, the Constitution and laws from active
-violation."<a id="FNanchor_25" href="#Footnote_25" class="fnanchor">[25]</a></p>
-
-<p>It will also be observed that the amendment does not refer to suits
-against a state by one of its own citizens. This was undoubtedly
-because the Constitution did not extend the judicial power of the
-United States, when dependent upon the character of the parties,
-to controversies between a state and its own citizens, but only to
-controversies between a state and citizens of another state or citizens
-or subjects of foreign states. The distinction between jurisdiction
-dependent upon the nature or subject matter of the controversy
-irrespective of the character of the parties, such as cases arising
-under the Constitution, laws and treaties of the United States, and
-jurisdiction dependent upon the character of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95"></a>[Pg 95]</span> the parties irrespective
-of the nature or subject matter of the controversy, had probably not
-then been as clearly recognized as was subsequently done by Chief
-Justice Marshall. The failure of the eleventh amendment to mention
-suits against a state by its own citizens gave rise nearly one hundred
-years later to the contention that a state could be sued in a circuit
-court of the United States by one of its own citizens in a case arising
-under the Constitution. This was urged at the October term, 1889, in
-Hans <i>vs.</i> Louisiana and North Carolina <i>vs.</i> Temple,<a id="FNanchor_26" href="#Footnote_26" class="fnanchor">[26]</a> but the court
-overruled the contention and held that a state could not be sued by
-an individual in a United States court even in a case arising under
-the Constitution. Mr. Justice Bradley delivered the opinion of the
-court. He criticized the reasoning of the majority in Chisholm <i>vs.</i>
-Georgia, and upheld the dissenting opinion of Mr. Justice Iredell to
-the effect that, under the Constitution as originally adopted, no suit
-could be maintained against a state by an individual to enforce its
-debts except by its consent. Mr. Justice Harlan, however, while he
-concurred in holding that a suit directly against a state by one of its
-own citizens to enforce a debt was not within the judicial power of
-the United States, criticized the comments made by Mr. Justice Bradley
-upon the decision in Chisholm <i>vs.</i> Georgia as not necessary to the
-determination of the case, and expressed the opinion that the prior
-decision was based upon a sound inter<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96"></a>[Pg 96]</span>pretation of the Constitution as
-that instrument was then worded.</p>
-
-<p>It has been stated in opinions of the Supreme Court that a state
-can be sued in a court of the United States by an individual if it
-waives its immunity and consents to be sued. But it is difficult to
-perceive how the consent or waiver of a state can, in any case and
-under any circumstances, confer upon the federal courts jurisdiction
-of a suit against it by a citizen of another state or a citizen or
-subject of a foreign state in the face of the imperative mandate of
-the amendment that "the judicial power of the United States shall <i>not
-be construed to extend</i> to" any such suit. It is true that the court
-in the case of Clark <i>vs.</i> Barnard said that the immunity of a state
-from suit in a federal court was a personal privilege which it might
-waive at pleasure and that its appearance as a party defendant in a
-court of the United States would be a voluntary submission to its
-jurisdiction,<a id="FNanchor_27" href="#Footnote_27" class="fnanchor">[27]</a> but in that case the state intervened as an actor
-and its intervention was such that it could be treated substantially
-as a plaintiff and the jurisdiction sustained on the ground that a
-state may sue an individual in a federal court. Although in the more
-recent case of Gunter <i>vs.</i> Atlantic Coast Line,<a id="FNanchor_28" href="#Footnote_28" class="fnanchor">[28]</a> Mr. Justice White,
-delivering the opinion of the court, declared it to be an elementary
-proposition that a state could waive its immunity, it will be observed
-that in that case<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97"></a>[Pg 97]</span> the suit was in fact against an officer of the
-state of South Carolina, and that the state itself was not a party to
-the record. It seems to me, with all deference, that the court has
-not yet squarely passed upon the point, nor, so far as I know, has it
-ever questioned the fundamental principle that a federal court cannot
-exercise jurisdiction in any case to which the judicial power of the
-United States, as delegated and defined in the Constitution, does not
-extend. An entirely different question is presented when we consider
-whether an officer of a state can consent or be authorized to consent
-to be sued in a federal court; in other words, whether he can waive the
-defense that the state is a necessary party to the suit. It does not
-follow that, because a state cannot be sued, it may not authorize its
-agent to defend on the merits without pleading the absence of the state
-as the real party in interest, and the denial of jurisdiction over the
-state as principal does not necessarily imply a denial of jurisdiction
-over the officer when doing or attempting to do an illegal act as its
-agent or representative. So, also, a different question is presented
-under the later amendments, which may be held to have qualified the
-eleventh amendment in authorizing Congress to enforce their provisions
-by appropriate legislation. As to that point I am not now prepared to
-express an opinion.</p>
-
-<p>In construing the eleventh amendment for the purpose of ascertaining
-its true intent and meaning, as indeed in construing most of the
-provisions of the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98"></a>[Pg 98]</span> Constitution and its contemporaneous amendments,
-reference to the history and to the common law of England is generally
-the safest guide as to what was understood and intended at the time.
-In that history will be found the true sources of our institutions,
-for these are essentially and predominantly English. The legal and
-political institutions of England were constantly in the minds of the
-framers and of the people. The common law had long been regarded with
-affection and reverence as the birthright of Americans and the guardian
-at once of their private rights and their public liberties. Indeed,
-the Continental Congress, assembled in October, 1774, had declared the
-colonies entitled as of right to the common law.</p>
-
-<p>The theory of the immunity of a state or of the United States from
-suit by an individual without its consent is frequently asserted to
-be analogous to the monarchical principle as to the immunity of the
-king from suit without his consent commonly expressed in the maxim
-that "the king can do no wrong." The idea seems to have been that in
-England it would be considered an invasion of the sovereignty of the
-crown and derogatory to its dignity to subject the king to a suit by
-an individual except with his consent, to be granted or refused in his
-arbitrary discretion. It is very doubtful whether any such idea finds
-support in the common law or history of England, or in the traditional
-usage and experience of that country to any such extent as is often
-insisted upon.</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99"></a>[Pg 99]</span></p>
-
-<p>On the contrary, it had long been regarded in England as settled law
-that the subject was entitled to an effective legal remedy for any
-invasion of his legal rights by the king or the government. He had a
-right to sue the king for the restitution of property or money or for
-the recovery of damages for breach of contract, and to sue officers
-of the crown for any tortious acts. The practice established for
-centuries had been to present to the king a petition praying leave to
-sue him, and the custom had been for the king as of course to endorse
-on the petition his fiat that right be done. Thereafter the action
-proceeded as any other action between subject and subject. This right
-was conceded to aliens as well as to subjects. Although the leave to
-sue was nominally or theoretically granted as a matter of grace and not
-upon compulsion, it was in fact the constitutional duty of the king to
-grant it, and it was seldom denied. Under the common law, the subject
-was entitled as a matter of right&mdash;as one of the immemorial liberties
-of Englishmen&mdash;to inform his king of the nature of any grievance, and
-thereupon, in the language of Blackstone, "as the law presumes that
-to know of any injury and to redress it are inseparable in the royal
-breast, it then issues, as of course, in the king's own name, his
-orders to his judges to do justice to the party aggrieved."</p>
-
-<p>The nature of the proceeding under a petition of right has been passed
-upon by the Supreme Court of the United States in several cases, and
-its decisions clearly show that the remedy is not to be regarded<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100"></a>[Pg 100]</span> as
-a mere matter of grace, but as a right to sue and obtain redress in
-the class of cases to which it applies. Thus, Chief Justice Marshall,
-delivering the opinion of the court in Marbury <i>vs.</i> Madison at the
-February term, 1803, said: "In Great Britain the king himself is sued
-in the respectful form of a petition, and he never fails to comply with
-the judgment of his court."<a id="FNanchor_29" href="#Footnote_29" class="fnanchor">[29]</a> In United States <i>vs.</i> O'Keefe the
-court at the December term, 1870, examined the nature of the remedy
-in construing the act of Congress of July 27, 1868, now section 1068
-of the United States Revised Statutes. Mr. Justice Davis, speaking
-for the court, said: "This valuable privilege, secured to the subject
-in the time of Edward the First, is now crystallized in the common
-law of England. As the prayer of the petition is grantable <i>ex debito
-justitiae</i>, it is called a petition of right, and is a judicial
-proceeding, to be tried like suits between subject and subject.... It
-is of no consequence that, theoretically speaking, the permission of
-the crown is necessary to the filing of the petition, because it is
-the duty of the king to grant it, and the right of the subject
-to demand it. And we find that it is never refused, except in very
-extraordinary cases, and this proves nothing against the existence of
-the right.... If the mode of proceeding to enforce it be formal and
-ceremonious, it is nevertheless a practical and efficient remedy for
-the invasion by the sovereign power of individual<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101"></a>[Pg 101]</span> rights."<a id="FNanchor_30" href="#Footnote_30" class="fnanchor">[30]</a> And in
-the later case of Carlisle <i>vs.</i> United States the court held that,
-under the proceeding known as the petition of right, the government
-of Great Britain accorded "the right to prosecute claims against such
-government in its courts" not only to subjects but to aliens.<a id="FNanchor_31" href="#Footnote_31" class="fnanchor">[31]</a>
-Later still in the famous case of United States <i>vs.</i> Lee, which
-was an action at law to recover the property known as the Arlington
-National Cemetery from the possession of officers of the United States
-government, Mr. Justice Miller, delivering the opinion of the court,
-said: "It is believed that the petition of right, as it has been
-practised and observed in the administration of justice in England, has
-been as efficient in securing the rights of suitors against the crown
-in all cases appropriate to judicial proceedings, as that which the
-law affords to the subjects of the king in legal controversies among
-themselves."<a id="FNanchor_32" href="#Footnote_32" class="fnanchor">[32]</a></p>
-
-<p>The remedy under the petition of right has continued unimpaired to the
-present time. The procedure is now regulated by the statute 23 and 24
-Victoria, ch. 34, passed July 3, 1860. The statute provides that the
-king by means of this proceeding may be sued at law or in equity as
-the particular case may require, and that the remedy afforded "shall
-comprehend every species of relief claimed or prayed for in any such
-petition of right, whether a restitution of any incorporeal right, or
-a return of lands or chattels, or a payment of money or damages,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102"></a>[Pg 102]</span> or
-otherwise." In granting or refusing the petition, the king acts under
-the advice of the home secretary, and the latter is responsible to
-parliament in case he shall arbitrarily or wrongfully advise a refusal.</p>
-
-<p>The petition of right, however, is available only in cases in which it
-is sought to obtain restitution of lands or goods, or, if restitution
-cannot be given, compensation in money, or where the claim arises out
-of a contract, as for goods supplied to the crown or to the public
-service. It does not extend to cases of tort. If the king personally
-should commit or threaten to commit a tort, such, for example, as a
-trespass, he could not be proceeded against in either a civil or a
-criminal court; the ordinary law courts have no means of restraining or
-punishing him personally or affording redress against him for any wrong
-done by him personally. Not only does the maxim that "the king can do
-no wrong" prevent any ordinary court from granting relief against the
-king himself, but the courts have no jurisdiction against him in cases
-of tort.</p>
-
-<p>Nevertheless, this ancient and fundamental maxim never meant that the
-king was above the law or could violate the law with impunity, nor was
-it ever understood in any such sense as that everything done by the
-king was to be regarded as just and lawful. On the contrary, it was
-fearlessly proclaimed in the days of Bracton that the king was below
-the law and bound to obey it, and in his coronation oath he swears to
-observe and respect it.</p>
-
-<p>But whatever might have been the personal im<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103"></a>[Pg 103]</span>munity of the king, it
-had been settled at common law long prior to the adoption of the
-Constitution of the United States that immunity from suit did not
-extend to any officer or servant of the crown. The very exemption
-of the king from responsibility before the courts in cases of tort
-conclusively established the personal responsibility of some officer or
-servant of the crown, and the direction or authority of the king did
-not constitute any warrant or defense for a wrongful and illegal act
-done by any officer or servant. As the Supreme Court said in the case
-of Langford <i>vs.</i> United States: "The English maxim does not declare
-that the government, or those who administer it, can do no wrong; for
-it is a part of the principle itself that wrong may be done by the
-governing power, for which the ministry, for the time being, is held
-responsible."<a id="FNanchor_33" href="#Footnote_33" class="fnanchor">[33]</a></p>
-
-<p>The boast of Englishmen for centuries had been that no officer of the
-government was above the ordinary law. In his interesting lectures at
-Oxford as a successor of Blackstone in the Vinerian professorship,
-Professor Dicey says: "In England the idea of legal equality, or of the
-universal subjection of all classes, to one law administered by the
-ordinary courts, has been pushed to its utmost limit. With us every
-official, from the prime minister down to a constable or a collector
-of taxes, is under the same responsibility for every act done without
-legal justification as any other citizen. The reports abound with
-cases in which officials have been brought before the courts, and
-made, in their personal capacity, liable<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104"></a>[Pg 104]</span> to punishment, or to the
-payment of damages, for acts done in their official character but in
-excess of their lawful authority. A colonial governor, a secretary of
-state, a military officer, and all subordinates, though carrying out
-the commands of their official superiors, are as responsible for any
-act which the law does not authorize as is any private and unofficial
-person."<a id="FNanchor_34" href="#Footnote_34" class="fnanchor">[34]</a> And Anson in his "Law and Custom of the Constitution"
-points out that the English Constitution "has never recognized any
-distinction between those citizens who are and those who are not
-officers of the state in respect of the law which governs their conduct
-or the jurisdiction which deals with them." In the famous case of
-Entick <i>vs.</i> Carrington (1765), a secretary of state sought immunity
-as an officer of the crown from a suit for damages by pleading reasons
-of state for an unlawful act, but Lord Chief Justice Camden declared
-that "with respect to the argument of state necessity or a distinction
-that has been aimed at between state offences and others, the common
-law does not understand that kind of reasoning, nor do our books take
-notice of any such distinctions."<a id="FNanchor_35" href="#Footnote_35" class="fnanchor">[35]</a> And one hundred years later,
-in the case of Feather <i>vs.</i> The Queen, Lord Chief Justice Cockburn
-declared that "no authority is needed to establish that a servant of
-the crown is responsible in law for a tortious act done to a fellow
-subject, though done by the authority of the crown, a position which
-appears to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105"></a>[Pg 105]</span> us to rest on principles which are too well settled to
-admit of question, and which are alike essential to uphold the dignity
-of the crown on the one hand, and the rights and liberties of the
-subject on the other."<a id="FNanchor_36" href="#Footnote_36" class="fnanchor">[36]</a></p>
-
-<p>Moreover, the rule of <i>respondeat superior</i> does not apply to the
-king. The conclusive legal presumption is that the king can do no
-legal wrong, and this leads to the further conclusive presumption
-that, in the eye of the law, he cannot authorize or direct a wrong.
-Every executive officer of the crown is, therefore, treated as if he
-were a principal, and as such is held personally responsible whenever
-any legal right of the subject has been invaded by him, although he
-may have acted under the direct order of the king, by his command
-and even in his presence. The civil irresponsibility of the king for
-tortious acts could not have been maintained with any show of justice
-if the officers and agents of the crown had not been held personally
-responsible for any illegal acts committed by them, and if the king had
-not been compelled to act through responsible agents. From the earliest
-times it has been deemed essential that the king should always act
-through an officer or servant, in order that there might be some one
-upon whom responsibility could be fastened. Lord Coke declares in his
-"Institutes" that "the king, being a body politique, cannot command
-but by matter of record." Custom and statute early required that all
-executive acts to which the sovereign was of necessity a party should
-be done in certain<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106"></a>[Pg 106]</span> forms and authenticated by the signature or seal
-of some officer. The intervention of an officer was always necessary.
-In fact, some minister or officer of the crown can be held fully
-responsible for any illegal act. Anson states that "there is hardly
-anything which the sovereign can do without the intervention of written
-forms, and nothing for which a minister is not responsible."</p>
-
-<p>Although the cases in England against officers of the crown were
-generally at law, there can be no reasonable doubt that the Court of
-Chancery, at the time when our Constitution was adopted, had full
-power, by means of the writ of injunction, to restrain an officer of
-the crown from violating the law where the remedy at law in a suit for
-damages or for possession of property, real or personal, would have
-been wholly inadequate and ineffective. The great state trial, known as
-the case of the Bankers,<a id="FNanchor_37" href="#Footnote_37" class="fnanchor">[37]</a> in which Lord Somers was overruled by the
-House of Lords, left no doubt as to the principle and the jurisdiction
-of the courts in suits against crown officers. As Professor Goodnow
-has shown in his work on "Comparative Administrative Law," the English
-courts had long been accustomed in one way or another to control
-servants of the crown and executive officers of the government and to
-compel them to obey the law. All the great writs, which were at first
-prerogative writs, had been originally issued to control administrative
-or judicial officers. Such was the original function of man<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107"></a>[Pg 107]</span>damus,
-habeas corpus, quo warranto, prohibition. Injunctions, it is true, seem
-rarely to have been made use of in England as a means of preventing
-administrative action, and only a few cases can be found where they
-were so used, but, on settled principles, any administrative or
-executive officer threatening to do an illegal act which would injure
-the individual in his property rights was amenable to the jurisdiction
-of courts of equity in controversies requiring their intervention.</p>
-
-<p>It is also true that no cases are to be found in England where
-officers have been held responsible in damages for enforcing an act
-of parliament or have been restrained from carrying its provisions
-into effect, but this, of course, is the result of the legislative
-sovereignty of parliament and of the fact that there are no
-constitutional limitations imposed upon it. Nevertheless, the same
-principles which make government officers in England subject to
-the ordinary law and the ordinary courts for any illegal act done
-or threatened would clearly authorize the issuance of injunctions
-restraining the enforcement of an unconstitutional statute if there
-were any constitutional limitations upon the legislative power of
-the English parliament. Thus, for example, a colonial statute, or a
-municipal or administrative rule, by-law, or ordinance in conflict with
-an act of parliament would be illegal and void, and, within settled
-principles, its enforcement could be restrained if other grounds of
-equity jurisdiction existed.</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108"></a>[Pg 108]</span></p>
-
-<p>In the light of the long-settled and well-known rules of the common
-law, establishing the distinction between suits against the king
-under the petition of right and suits against officers of the crown
-for violating the legal rights of individuals, it is most significant
-and persuasive, if not convincing, that the framers of the eleventh
-amendment confined its language to suits directly against a state,
-and did not attempt to prohibit suits against officers of a state
-when acting as its representatives. They could hardly have intended
-that such a principle as that "the king can do no wrong" should
-have any place in our system of government to the prejudice of the
-constitutional rights of individuals. We have no king to whom it can
-be applied. They surely did not intend to afford less protection and
-less redress against the invasion of the rights of citizens by those
-in power than was afforded in monarchical England to the subjects of
-the king. They could not have been ignorant of the famous cases which
-had established the legal responsibility of all officers of the English
-government and their subordination to the jurisdiction of the ordinary
-courts of justice. They must have contemplated that state statutes
-might be passed in conflict with the Constitution of the United States,
-and that these statutes would necessarily have to be enforced or
-attempts made to enforce them by state officers. And they must have
-appreciated that if state officers, as agents of their respective
-states, were granted immunity from suit in a court of the United<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109"></a>[Pg 109]</span>
-States because they were acting for and on behalf of their states, the
-Constitution could in many respects be rendered wholly ineffective and
-nugatory.</p>
-
-<p>The failure to prohibit suits against officers of a state must,
-therefore, have been intentional. Indeed, it is highly improbable that
-any one at the time conceived that the language adopted was broad
-enough to prohibit suits against officers of a state. On the contrary,
-it is proper to assume that the framers of the eleventh amendment did
-not intend to permit an officer of a state, while acting under the
-color or excuse of an unconstitutional state statute, to invade or
-deny any right guaranteed by the Constitution of the United States,
-or that such a state officer should be immune from suit in a court of
-the United States merely because he was acting in a representative
-capacity as an agent of the state. The courts of the United States were
-specially charged with the preservation of the Constitution, so far,
-indeed, as it can be preserved by judicial authority. The "Federalist"
-shows how clearly it was contemplated that the federal courts were to
-have power to overrule state statutes in manifest contravention of the
-Constitution. If state officers were withdrawn from the jurisdiction
-of the national courts, their oath to support the Constitution of the
-United States might become a mere empty ceremony of no enforceable
-obligation or sanction. If officers of a state could not be sued in
-equity in a federal court in an action to enjoin the enforcement
-of unconstitutional state statutes, many of the provisions of the
-Constitution,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110"></a>[Pg 110]</span> of equal authority with the eleventh amendment, might
-not be effectually enforceable except by the grace of the states.
-The prohibitions against the states, which existed when the eleventh
-amendment was adopted, such as that no state shall emit bills of
-credit, or make anything but gold and silver coin a tender in payment
-of debts, or pass any bill of attainder, or any ex post facto law,
-or any law impairing the obligation of contracts, or lay imposts or
-duties on imports or exports, might to a great extent be nullified
-and rendered practically ineffective, if officers of a state could
-not be sued in a federal court. Indeed, the thirteenth, fourteenth
-and fifteenth amendments would be deprived of a great part of their
-intended effect if state officers enforcing unconstitutional state laws
-and clothed with the power of the state could not be sued and enjoined
-in a federal court.</p>
-
-<p>As each of these subsequent amendments, however, provides that
-"Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate
-legislation," it has been suggested that this provision may be
-construed as limiting the prohibition of the eleventh amendment
-and as empowering Congress to confer on the courts of the United
-States jurisdiction of suits against states or state officers as an
-appropriate means of enforcing the later amendments. Mr. Justice
-Shiras referred to this view in the case of Prout <i>vs.</i> Starr and
-said: "Much less can the eleventh amendment be successfully pleaded
-as an invincible barrier to judicial inquiry whether the salutary
-provisions of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111"></a>[Pg 111]</span> the fourteenth amendment have been disregarded by state
-enactments."<a id="FNanchor_38" href="#Footnote_38" class="fnanchor">[38]</a></p>
-
-<p>The courts of the United States and of the several states have
-generally adopted and applied the English common law as to the
-amenability of executive and administrative officers to the
-jurisdiction of the ordinary courts and their personal responsibility
-for any illegal acts done by them or under their direction. There
-is no longer any question but that the eleventh amendment does not
-shield state officers from suits at law in a court of the United
-States to recover damages for any invasion of private rights under
-the color of an unconstitutional statute, or to recover possession of
-real property in the custody of such officers. The rule is axiomatic
-that no officer in this country is so high that he is above the
-Constitution of the United States, and that no officer of the law,
-state or national, may violate it under the color or excuse of a
-statute, national or state, in conflict with its provisions. The fact
-that an officer has acted on behalf of a state under the direction or
-authority of an unconstitutional statute, or under the orders of a
-superior, constitutes no defense to an action at law for restitution
-or for damages for any invasion of individual rights any more than the
-command of the king or the prime minister would constitute a defense
-in England. The alleged law is treated as a nullity and as absolutely
-void for all purposes, except perhaps as negativing the existence of
-malice or bad faith or<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112"></a>[Pg 112]</span> criminal intent. But it confers no warrant or
-authority and affords no defense or protection.</p>
-
-<p>The fundamental reasoning upon which these conclusions are based is
-that the state, the abstract political entity, can speak and act
-only by valid laws, that an unconstitutional statute cannot be its
-legal act, that it cannot, legally speaking, authorize any act in
-conflict with the Constitution, that no officer of a state, not even
-the governor, can have any legal duty or legal executive function to
-disregard or violate the Constitution, and that whatever wrong is
-attempted in its name is to be conclusively imputed to its officer, who
-cannot plead his representative capacity. The distinction between the
-government of a state and the state itself is elucidated by Mr. Justice
-Matthews in the leading case of Poindexter <i>vs.</i> Greenhow.<a id="FNanchor_39" href="#Footnote_39" class="fnanchor">[39]</a></p>
-
-<p>Most difficult, however, are questions which arise in connection
-with suits in equity to restrain state officers from enforcing state
-statutes alleged to be unconstitutional. The plainest principles of
-justice would seem in many cases to require a preventive remedy, for
-it might be of vital importance that an officer be restrained from
-doing an unlawful act to the irreparable injury of the individual.
-Manifestly, it would be unfair and unjust to tell the latter that
-he must wait until his rights have been violated or his property
-confiscated or destroyed. This point was first presented to the
-Supreme Court in 1824 in the leading case of Osborn <i>vs.</i> Bank of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113"></a>[Pg 113]</span>
-the United States.<a id="FNanchor_40" href="#Footnote_40" class="fnanchor">[40]</a> It was then declared, in one of Chief Justice
-Marshall's famous opinions, that, notwithstanding the eleventh
-amendment, a circuit court of the United States had jurisdiction in
-equity to restrain a state officer from executing or enforcing an
-unconstitutional state statute when to execute it would violate rights
-and privileges of a complainant guaranteed by the Constitution of the
-United States, and would work irreparable damage and injury to him, for
-which no plain, adequate and complete remedy could be had at law.</p>
-
-<p>The general doctrine of the Osborn case has never been departed from,
-and it has sustained innumerable suits which have protected property
-rights from the enforcement of state statutes in conflict with the
-Constitution of the United States. It is no exaggeration to say that
-this doctrine, more than any other, has rendered the Constitution
-an effective shield against oppressive, tyrannical and confiscatory
-legislation, and compelled the states to obey the supreme law of the
-Constitution. The reasoning of Chief Justice Marshall is very logical
-and lucid, and it is most convincing. If, as was then conceded to be
-indisputable, the privilege or immunity of the state as principal was
-not communicated to the officer as agent, and if an action at law would
-lie against the officer in which full compensation ought to be made
-for a legal injury resulting from any unlawful act done in pursuance
-of an unconstitutional and void statute, there existed no reason why<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114"></a>[Pg 114]</span>
-the preventive power of a court of equity should not equally apply to
-such an officer or why it should not restrain him from the commission
-of a wrong which it would punish him for committing. "If," continues
-the Chief Justice, "the party before the court would be responsible for
-the whole injury, why may he not be restrained from its commission, if
-no other party can be brought before the court?" It was pointed out
-that the very fact that the state could not be sued was a reason for
-permitting the suit to proceed in its absence against the officer or
-agent. We have here another example of how, in the evolution of legal
-principles, the same causes produce the same results. As in England
-the fact that the king could not be sued in the ordinary courts for a
-wrong led to the rule that his immunity or irresponsibility was not to
-be extended to his servants or agents and that the latter were to be
-held personally liable for whatever they did under the king's orders
-in violation of the legal rights of an individual, so with us the fact
-that a state could not be sued in a federal court led to the rule that
-its immunity or irresponsibility was not to be extended to its officers
-and that they were suable as responsible principals, even when acting
-under a state statute and as the agents or representatives of the state.</p>
-
-<p>Chief Justice Marshall also said in the Osborn case that it might "be
-laid down as a rule which admits of no exception, that, in all cases
-where jurisdiction depends on the party, it is the party named in the
-record. Consequently the eleventh<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115"></a>[Pg 115]</span> amendment, which restrains the
-jurisdiction granted by the Constitution over suits against states,
-is, of necessity, limited to those suits in which a state is a party
-on the record. The amendment has its full effect, if the Constitution
-be construed as it would have been construed had the jurisdiction of
-the court never been extended to suits brought against a state, by the
-citizens of another state, or by aliens. The state not being a party
-on the record, and the court having jurisdiction over those who are
-parties on the record, the true question is not one of jurisdiction,
-but whether, in the exercise of its jurisdiction, the court ought to
-make a decree against the defendants; whether they are to be considered
-as having a real interest, or as being only nominal parties." This
-reasoning was reaffirmed by the Supreme Court as late as 1872 in the
-case of Davis <i>vs.</i> Gray,<a id="FNanchor_41" href="#Footnote_41" class="fnanchor">[41]</a> which was a suit against the governor of
-the state of Texas. But in later cases it has been repudiated, and the
-court has declared that "it must be regarded as a settled doctrine of
-this court, established by its recent decisions, 'that the question
-whether a suit is within the prohibition of the eleventh amendment is
-not always to be determined by reference to the nominal parties on the
-record.'"<a id="FNanchor_42" href="#Footnote_42" class="fnanchor">[42]</a></p>
-
-<p>It may, nevertheless, be now interesting and valuable to re-examine
-the doctrine enunciated by Chief Justice Marshall and to inquire
-whether, after all,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_116" id="Page_116"></a>[Pg 116]</span> it does not embody the true and sound rule which
-should govern this question, particularly in view of the fact that
-the decisions which have departed from his reasoning have failed to
-indicate any definite criterion to guide us in determining when a suit
-against a state officer is and when it is not to be deemed a suit
-against the state within the true meaning of the eleventh amendment.
-The question must be considered as if the jurisdiction of the federal
-courts had never been extended to suits by an individual against a
-state. The controlling inquiry in a suit against a state officer ought
-logically to be whether the relief or remedy sought can properly be
-granted in the absence of the state as a party defendant; in other
-words, whether the state is or is not a necessary and indispensable
-party; and this inquiry should be determined by the result or burden
-of the judgment which may be entered. If, for example, the suit is
-to enjoin the enforcement of an unconstitutional statute regulating
-rates or imposing taxes, it must be presumed that the state has not
-authorized the wrong, that it can have no legal concern or interest in
-a void enactment of its legislature, and that it cannot be heard to
-assert any right to have its officers violate the Constitution of the
-United States for its benefit. If, on the other hand, the relief or
-remedy sought will affect the property rights or funds of the state,
-or compel it to pay its debts, or require the specific performance of
-a contract by the state, or the doing or omitting to do any act by the
-state itself, the court<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117"></a>[Pg 117]</span> must needs hold that it is a necessary and
-indispensable party, and that, as it cannot be sued in a federal court
-for want of jurisdiction over it, the suit must be dismissed. This
-dismissal, however, would not be for want of jurisdiction or judicial
-power over the individual state officer as defendant, nor because the
-suit was against the state&mdash;for the state was not a party and its
-presence was sought to be dispensed with&mdash;but because the state was an
-indispensable party defendant and the suit could not proceed in its
-absence. The result of recurring to this view would be to simplify the
-consideration of many cases and reconcile much conflicting reasoning.
-We should then have a definite and logical criterion to guide us in
-cases against state officers. If the court found that the state was not
-a necessary and indispensable party, the issue in such cases would be
-narrowed to the inquiry whether the relief should be granted against
-the officer within established principles of equity, jurisprudence and
-procedure.</p>
-
-<p>There remains the question as to enjoining criminal prosecutions.
-Should the jurisdiction of a court of equity be ousted simply because
-the state has authorized its officers to enforce unconstitutional
-regulations affecting property rights by a criminal instead of a
-civil action? The Supreme Court has held that, notwithstanding the
-general principle that a court of equity has no jurisdiction of a
-bill to stay criminal proceedings, it may nevertheless enjoin a state
-officer from instituting such proceedings where property rights
-are about to be invaded and destroyed<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118"></a>[Pg 118]</span> through the instrumentality
-of an unconstitutional statute providing for its enforcement by
-criminal proceedings. The nature of an essentially civil question or
-controversy, such as one between shippers or passengers on the one
-side and a railroad company on the other as to the reasonableness of
-rates, cannot be changed by legislative fiat. The exercise of such a
-jurisdiction to restrain criminal proceedings has been found necessary
-in many recent cases where a defense on a criminal trial before a jury
-would afford no fair or adequate protection to those whose property
-rights were affected. The litigation, for example, under a bill in
-equity to restrain the enforcement of an unconstitutional criminal
-statute regulating rates presents a controversy of a civil nature with
-the officer and not with the state, and the only question is, whether
-a court of equity should intervene, or should leave those against
-whom criminal proceedings are threatened to their defense by demurrer
-to the indictment or trial on the merits. The latter will always be
-done when a defense at law will afford reasonably fair and adequate
-protection. But when a defense at law will not afford due protection
-and irreparable injury to property is threatened, there exists no
-reason why a court of equity should not intervene in such a case and
-grant protection and relief.</p>
-
-<p>It may seem to many doubtful whether the two leading cases which are
-now attracting so much attention, namely, In re Ayers<a id="FNanchor_43" href="#Footnote_43" class="fnanchor">[43]</a> and Fitts
-<i>vs.</i> McGhee,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_119" id="Page_119"></a>[Pg 119]</span><a id="FNanchor_44" href="#Footnote_44" class="fnanchor">[44]</a> necessarily presented any question under the
-eleventh amendment, and whether they should not have been disposed
-of solely upon the ground that a court of equity ought not to have
-enjoined the threatened suits or prosecutions. Probably neither of
-the suits in equity discussed in these two cases would have been
-maintainable under the general principles of equity jurisprudence even
-if the state had been suable in a court of the United States, for no
-irreparable injury was threatened and the opportunity of defense at law
-seemed to afford reasonable protection.</p>
-
-<p>The question of the right to sue a state officer to restrain the
-enforcement of an unconstitutional statute regulating the rates and
-charges of railroad companies is now pending in some of its aspects
-before the Supreme Court in important cases involving statutes of
-Minnesota and North Carolina. These cases have been fully and ably
-argued and are under advisement, and they may lead to a reconsideration
-of some of the reasoning in the prior cases. A comprehensive decision
-may, therefore, shortly be delivered which will remove some of the
-reasons for the existing misunderstanding and conflict between the
-states and the federal courts.<a id="FNanchor_45" href="#Footnote_45" class="fnanchor">[45]</a></p>
-
-<p>The time at our disposal renders it impossible to consider the many
-noteworthy and interesting cases which have arisen under the eleventh
-amendment and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_120" id="Page_120"></a>[Pg 120]</span> which frequently carry us into the realm of public
-law and statesmanship. The leading decisions are, of course, in the
-Supreme Court, but many instructive opinions will be found in the lower
-federal courts. The constant increase of governmental functions and
-of interference with individual liberty and action is certain to be a
-fruitful source of litigation in the future and will call for frequent
-consideration of the scope of the eleventh amendment.</p>
-
-<p>In discussing the subject of suits to restrain the enforcement of
-state statutes alleged to be unconstitutional, we should not overlook
-or pass unnoticed the attempts made in recent enactments regulating
-rates and charges to coerce or intimidate railroad and other public
-service corporations into immediate obedience and abandonment of
-their constitutional right to appeal to the courts, by imposing upon
-them enormous and unreasonable fines and penalties, or by threatening
-them with the forfeiture of the protection of the government. Heavy
-fines or penalties are attached to violations of the law; and, as
-the transactions of these corporations are generally very numerous,
-disobedience of a statute, if only in good faith for the purpose
-of testing its validity, would in a few days involve the risk of
-bankruptcy. The avowed or ill-concealed purpose of these fines and
-penalties and of the resort to the criminal law is to prevent any
-interference by courts of equity. The idea, advanced in many quarters
-and under many disguises, seems to be that corporations shall be
-outlawed unless they consent to abandon<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_121" id="Page_121"></a>[Pg 121]</span> their right to appeal to
-the courts for protection against unconstitutional statutes and void
-and oppressive enactments. This unfair spirit is widespread. For
-example, while the Federal Employers' Liability Act, recently declared
-unconstitutional by the Supreme Court of the United States, was under
-advisement by that court, President Roosevelt in his Jamestown speech
-criticized the railroad companies for having contested the validity of
-the statute and suggested that "the law should be such that it will be
-impossible for the railroads successfully to fight it without thereby
-forfeiting all right to the protection of the federal government under
-any circumstances."</p>
-
-<p>The courts have repeatedly pointed out that the owners of property
-devoted to a public use are entitled to a fair and adequate judicial
-investigation if they contend that the rates or charges prescribed by a
-legislature are unreasonable and confiscatory. This is but recognizing
-that the owners of railroads and other property are entitled to a
-day in court, just as the humblest person is entitled to his day in
-court when his constitutional and vested property rights are invaded
-by the government. If the private property of the individual is to
-be taken for a public use, it would, of course, be obviously unfair
-and unjust to permit the legislature to say conclusively what should
-be paid to him, and deny him any adequate opportunity in the courts
-to review the legislative fiat. The same principle applies to public
-service corporations. They are entitled to appeal to the courts to
-pass upon the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_122" id="Page_122"></a>[Pg 122]</span> validity of any legislation which attempts to compel
-them to render services at a rate fixed by the legislature if they
-contend that such rate is unreasonably low and confiscatory; and,
-pending the judicial investigation, they ought not to incur the risk
-of accumulating and ruinous penalties. The New York Public Service
-Commissions Act of last year recognizes this in principle. But, instead
-of granting a fair hearing or providing for any judicial proceeding
-in which the reasonableness of the statutory rates may be promptly
-investigated, the constant effort seems to be to render resort to the
-courts so dangerous that property owners will abandon their right
-to a day in court rather than take the risks involved in allowing
-penalties to accrue and accumulate, which might subject their property
-to confiscation. Thus, in the recent New York gas statute, declared
-unconstitutional by the United States circuit court, no judicial
-investigation was afforded and the penalties imposed were at the
-rate of $1,000 for each overcharge or violation of the law. As the
-Consolidated Gas Company alone had upwards of 390,000 customers, an
-overcharge on only one month's bills, pending an attempt to test the
-law in good faith, would involve the fabulous total of $390,000,000 in
-penalties, or nearly five times the value of the whole property of the
-company. In fact, if the New York statute, at least in this respect,
-is not nullified by the Supreme Court on the pending appeal,<a id="FNanchor_46" href="#Footnote_46" class="fnanchor">[46]</a> the
-Consolidated Gas Company may be<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_123" id="Page_123"></a>[Pg 123]</span> absolutely ruined for having asserted
-its legal right to a fair judicial investigation before being compelled
-to accept what it insisted and what the court has so far held was a
-confiscatory and unreasonable rate; that is to say, for daring to
-insist upon a fair judicial hearing before being condemned. The Kansas
-statute regulating stockyards, which was declared unconstitutional by
-the Supreme Court,<a id="FNanchor_47" href="#Footnote_47" class="fnanchor">[47]</a> imposed penalties which might have aggregated
-$15,000,000 in one day, or nearly twice the value of all the property
-of the stockyards company. The recent railroad statute in North
-Carolina imposes fines which would amount to $2,500,000 per day, and
-in a few days would bankrupt the railroad companies. The Minnesota
-railroad statute imposes penalties which in one month might aggregate
-several hundred million dollars.</p>
-
-<p>Speaking of these penalties, United States Circuit Judge Lochren justly
-said: "There is no question but that such legislation is vicious,
-almost a disgrace to the civilization of the age, and a reproach upon
-the intelligence and sense of justice of any legislature which could
-enact provisions of that kind."</p>
-
-<p>If any such policy of coercion and intimidation can possibly be
-enforced by the state or national governments, in any form or under
-any subterfuge whatever, we shall no longer be living under a
-constitutional government with effective guaranties of individual
-rights and liberties. If Congress or a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_124" id="Page_124"></a>[Pg 124]</span> state legislature can compel
-any class of persons to submit to an unconstitutional statute by
-imposing ruinous fines and penalties, or other provisions intended
-to operate <i>in terrorem</i>, or by threatening to deprive that class of
-the protection of the government, then the constitutional limitations
-imposed by the people can be readily circumvented and nullified,
-and our supposed rights and liberties will exist only in the grace
-or self-restraint of legislatures. One class is selected to-day,
-but another class will be selected to-morrow, depending only on the
-interest or prejudice or temptation or caprice of the temporary
-majority. Such an exercise of arbitrary and irresponsible power is in
-utter conflict with the whole theory of our institutions and in utter
-disregard and defiance of those fundamental and immutable principles of
-justice under which alone free governments can exist. As Chief Justice
-Marshall said in the great case of Marbury <i>vs.</i> Madison&mdash;and the court
-was then facing a hostile executive, a hostile Congress and a hostile
-public opinion&mdash;"The very essence of civil liberty certainly consists
-in the right of every individual to claim the protection of the laws
-whenever he receives an injury. One of the first duties of government
-is to afford that protection.... The government of the United States
-has been emphatically termed a government of laws and not of men. It
-will certainly cease to deserve this high appellation if the laws
-furnish no remedy for the violation of a vested legal right."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_125" id="Page_125"></a>[Pg 125]</span><a id="FNanchor_48" href="#Footnote_48" class="fnanchor">[48]</a></p>
-
-<p>Some of the bills now pending before Congress propose to deprive the
-federal courts of the power to issue preliminary injunctions in these
-cases. This would be a policy fraught with immeasurable danger to
-property interests as well as to personal liberty. It would frequently
-amount to a complete denial of justice. The delay of litigation might
-readily be attended by ruin. But, undoubtedly, some reform is called
-for. There can be no question that preliminary injunctions against the
-enforcement of state statutes regulating public service corporations
-should never be granted without prior notice to the representatives of
-the people, and full opportunity for them to be heard, and then only
-upon the clearest showing of threatened irreparable injury pending the
-delay of a full hearing on the merits. Such cases ought not only to
-be given the earliest possible hearing, but the courts should insist
-that both sides proceed with the utmost expedition in the taking of
-testimony. A hearing in open court and not before a master would
-greatly facilitate this result. The people are entitled to a speedy
-determination of the questions involved in order that they may promptly
-have the benefit of the statute if it be constitutional, or that they
-may at once amend it if it be unconstitutional. There is no reason why
-in the majority of cases such a suit should not be ready for final
-hearing and actually be heard within sixty days, or why it should
-not be finally disposed of in the appellate courts within less than
-a year. It should have preference on all<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_126" id="Page_126"></a>[Pg 126]</span> calendars. The Expedition
-Act of Congress, applicable to cases arising under the Anti-Trust
-and Interstate Commerce laws, would furnish a good model for cases
-involving the validity of state laws.</p>
-
-<p>The conditions which now confront the people in many states, where
-statutes regulating public service corporations are often tied up
-for years by litigation, tend to create discontent, impatience
-and dissatisfaction with the courts and to engender a desire for
-revolutionary change from an intolerable situation. Laws regulating
-public utilities are often essential for protection against those who
-otherwise would have the power to make a prey of the necessities of the
-people, and it is disgraceful that the enforcement of such laws can be
-delayed by litigation for years after their enactment. As the delays
-in our criminal procedure are crying for remedy, so the delays in this
-class of litigation are crying for immediate and effective relief. It
-is of paramount importance that the people should be convinced that
-they can obtain in the courts, and especially in the federal courts,
-a prompt determination of all litigation affecting the validity of
-legislation regulating public service corporations which they or their
-representatives have deemed necessary for their protection against
-extortion or oppression. In most cases, however, it will be found that
-the representatives of the state are as much to blame for the delays as
-are their adversaries.</p>
-
-<p>But, above all other considerations, stands the necessity for
-maintaining the absolute confidence<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_127" id="Page_127"></a>[Pg 127]</span> of the people at large in the
-wisdom and impartiality of the federal judges, who are so often
-called upon to determine the validity of state statutes alleged to
-conflict with the Constitution of the United States and in so doing
-to administer justice as between the state and the individual&mdash;as
-between the majority and the minority. It should be a matter of
-profound concern to us as lawyers to make all laymen appreciate
-that the exercise of this jurisdiction by the federal courts is
-necessary for the preservation and perpetuation of the Constitution,
-and that it is right and just that every citizen should have the
-privilege of appealing to the national courts for the protection of
-rights and liberties guaranteed to him by the national Constitution.
-Equally important is it that the people should appreciate that in
-entertaining suits to restrain the enforcement of state laws alleged
-to be unconstitutional, the federal judges are only performing their
-duty according to their oath of office, which in the noble language
-prescribed in 1789 pledges them "to administer justice without respect
-to persons," to "do equal right to the poor and to the rich," and
-to "faithfully and impartially discharge and perform" their duty
-"agreeably to the Constitution and laws of the United States." An
-examination of the cases in which injunctions have been granted against
-the enforcement of state laws must satisfy any candid mind that in the
-great majority of cases the power has been impartially exercised, with
-tact and wise discretion, and that<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_128" id="Page_128"></a>[Pg 128]</span> such injunctions have been granted
-only when property rights seemed to be threatened with irreparable
-injury. It would be too much to expect infallibility in all these
-cases. But errors are corrected on appeal.</p>
-
-<p>Assaults upon our judiciary and unwarranted and unjust criticism of
-our judges undermine the people's trust in the courts and threaten
-the whole structure of our civilization. The United States judges
-are justly sensitive to public opinion and distressed by unjust and
-ignorant criticism. They know how important it is that they should
-retain public confidence. They realize, as their opinions constantly
-show, that "next to doing right, the great object in the administration
-of public justice should be to give public satisfaction." But they
-cannot sacrifice truth to popularity, the Constitution to present
-expediency. Those who assail the federal judges should bear in mind
-that the founders in their wisdom constituted the judicial power our
-bulwark against unadvised, hasty and tyrannical action on the part of
-those in power and our shield against "those sudden and strong passions
-to which we are exposed," and which, if unchecked and unrestrained,
-may lead to ruin. However unpopular and disagreeable the task may be
-of setting aside an act of Congress or of a state legislature, however
-painful it must be to any just man to become the subject of calumny,
-a federal judge has no choice, no discretion, no will of his own, but
-must hear and decide according to his conscience every case<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_129" id="Page_129"></a>[Pg 129]</span> submitted
-to him within the jurisdiction of his court as conferred and imposed
-by the Constitution and laws of the United States. Let us always bear
-in mind the lofty words of the great Chief Justice in the case of
-Aaron Burr, in the decision which excited so much public prejudice and
-clamor one hundred years ago, when, speaking of the duty of a judge,
-he said: "If he has no choice in the case; if there is no alternative
-presented to him but a dereliction of duty, or the opprobrium of those
-who are denominated the world, he merits the contempt as well as the
-indignation of his country who can hesitate which to embrace."<a id="FNanchor_49" href="#Footnote_49" class="fnanchor">[49]</a></p>
-
-
-
-<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_23" href="#FNanchor_23" class="label">[23]</a> Address before the New York State Bar Association at its
-thirty-first annual meeting held in New York, January 25, 1908.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_24" href="#FNanchor_24" class="label">[24]</a> 2 Dallas' Reports, p. 419.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_25" href="#FNanchor_25" class="label">[25]</a> 6 Wheaton's Reports, pp. 406-407.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_26" href="#FNanchor_26" class="label">[26]</a> 134 United States Reports, pp. 1, 22.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_27" href="#FNanchor_27" class="label">[27]</a> 108 United States Reports, p. 447.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_28" href="#FNanchor_28" class="label">[28]</a> 200 United States Reports, pp. 283, 284.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_29" href="#FNanchor_29" class="label">[29]</a> 1 Cranch's Reports, p. 163.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_30" href="#FNanchor_30" class="label">[30]</a> 11 Wallace's Reports, p. 183.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_31" href="#FNanchor_31" class="label">[31]</a> 16 Wallace's Reports, p. 156.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_32" href="#FNanchor_32" class="label">[32]</a> 106 United States Reports, p. 205.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_33" href="#FNanchor_33" class="label">[33]</a> 101 United States Reports, p. 343.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_34" href="#FNanchor_34" class="label">[34]</a> The Law of the Constitution, 8th ed., p. 189.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_35" href="#FNanchor_35" class="label">[35]</a> Reported by Hargrave, 19 Howell's State Trials, pp. 1030,
-1073.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_36" href="#FNanchor_36" class="label">[36]</a> 6 Best and Smith's Queen's Bench Reports (1865), p. 297.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_37" href="#FNanchor_37" class="label">[37]</a> Reported in 14 Howell's State Trials, pp. 1-114.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_38" href="#FNanchor_38" class="label">[38]</a> 188 United States Reports, p. 543.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_39" href="#FNanchor_39" class="label">[39]</a> 114 United States Reports, p. 270.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_40" href="#FNanchor_40" class="label">[40]</a> 9 Wheaton's Reports, p. 738.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_41" href="#FNanchor_41" class="label">[41]</a> 16 Wallace's Reports, p. 220.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_42" href="#FNanchor_42" class="label">[42]</a> In re Ayers, 123 United States Reports, p. 487.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_43" href="#FNanchor_43" class="label">[43]</a> 123 United States Reports, p. 443.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_44" href="#FNanchor_44" class="label">[44]</a> 172 United States Reports, p. 516.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_45" href="#FNanchor_45" class="label">[45]</a> Ex parte Young (Attorney General of Minnesota), reported
-in 209 United States Reports, p. 123, and the case of Hunter (Sheriff
-of Buncombe County, N.C.) <i>vs.</i> Wood, 209 United States Reports, p.
-205.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_46" href="#FNanchor_46" class="label">[46]</a> Willcox <i>vs.</i> Consolidated Gas Co., 212 United States
-Reports, p. 19.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_47" href="#FNanchor_47" class="label">[47]</a> Cotting <i>vs.</i> Kansas City Stock Yards Co., 183 United
-States Reports, p. 79.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_48" href="#FNanchor_48" class="label">[48]</a> 1 Cranch's Reports, p. 163.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_49" href="#FNanchor_49" class="label">[49]</a> 4 Cranch's Reports, Appendix, pp. 507-508.</p></div></div>
-
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_130" id="Page_130"></a>[Pg 130]</span></p>
-<div class="chapter">
-<h2 class="nobreak" id="CRITICISM_OF_THE_COURTS50">CRITICISM OF THE COURTS<a id="FNanchor_50" href="#Footnote_50" class="fnanchor">[50]</a></h2>
-</div>
-
-
-<p class="drop">T<span class="uppercase">he</span> attacks upon our courts which are constantly being published in the
-press throughout the country disclose a feeling of hostility towards
-the present system of administering justice that is probably the most
-portentous sign of our times. That the lawlessly inclined, who are
-fortunately still in the minority, should be hostile to those who are
-charged with the duty of enforcing and compelling obedience to the laws
-of the state or nation is not at all surprising and is perhaps almost
-inevitable in populous communities. But it is indeed surprising, and
-a legitimate cause for profound anxiety and misgiving, that thousands
-of honest, industrious, moral and law-abiding citizens should believe
-that the laws are not being impartially or justly administered, and
-that this erroneous belief should be inculcated, not only by the press
-and unprincipled demagogues and politicians but by reputable leaders
-of American labor and American public opinion, and even by educators.
-This belief has become so widespread and so fixed in the minds of vast
-numbers of our people of all classes, educated and uneducated, that
-only<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_131" id="Page_131"></a>[Pg 131]</span> the most exhaustive consideration and discussion of the subject
-would be now adequate. Numerous letters received by the sub-committee
-of the New York State Bar Association, some of which are submitted with
-its report, show the intensity of the hostility towards the courts and
-the extent to which it is based upon ignorance, prejudice and malice.
-The fact that the writers of most of these letters are sincere need not
-be challenged, but, this being conceded, many of the statements show an
-utter failure to investigate the facts and an entire indifference to
-the truth, and some are obviously puerile, or inexcusably inaccurate
-and reckless. On the other hand, the spirit shown in letters from some
-of the labor leaders must inspire the hope of their loyal assistance in
-an impartial and thorough investigation. A great amount of good might
-be accomplished by cooperation with them. Such a letter, for example,
-as that recently received from Mr. Hugh Frayne, the general organizer
-of the American Federation of Labor, indicates that exchange of views
-might lead to desirable results. However irksome and laborious the
-task may be, it would be a great service to the country at large if
-some joint committee appointed by the New York State Bar Association
-and the other bar associations of the state would undertake to
-investigate all cases affecting labor or social legislation and publish
-a report showing the true facts and the principles of law involved in
-each case. The pity is that many of the critics of our courts are<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_132" id="Page_132"></a>[Pg 132]</span>
-lamentably ignorant of the subjects about which they write or declaim,
-and&mdash;unconsciously and unintentionally in some instances&mdash;misrepresent
-and distort the facts.</p>
-
-<p>It will be practicable at the present time to review only a few of the
-points suggested by the investigations of your sub-committee.</p>
-
-<p>The subject of just compensation to employees for injuries received
-in the course of their work is one of the most important and
-far-reaching of those discussed by our correspondents, and its
-increasing difficulties and complexities call for much more study than
-we have been able to give it. The revolution wrought by machinery,
-the inevitable dangers attending its use, the crowding of men, women
-and children into factories and workshops require modifications
-in the rules of law governing the duties and responsibilities of
-employers. The rules of the common law, which are now condemned by
-so many and sought to be cast aside, were originally dictated by the
-soundest considerations of public policy, of practical affairs and
-government, and of justice as between man and man. The duties of the
-master toward the servant, as regulated by these rules, were humane
-and commensurate with the needs of the times that evolved them, and
-the rules themselves are still proper and just in the great majority
-of cases. Under them, the master is required to exercise the same
-degree of care for his servant that he should for his own safety, and
-he is bound to furnish a reasonably safe place in which his servant<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_133" id="Page_133"></a>[Pg 133]</span>
-is to work, supply reasonably safe implements and machinery, select
-fellow-servants reasonably competent and prudent, and, where the nature
-of the business requires an overseer or superintendent, appoint one who
-is reasonably competent and prudent. The application of these rules
-regulating the conduct and duties of the master, in conjunction with
-the rules regulating the conduct and duties of the servant&mdash;such as the
-assumption of the ordinary risks of the employment, the fellow-servant
-doctrine, and the rule as to contributory negligence&mdash;unavoidably
-creates extremely difficult and complex questions. These rules are
-still proper and just in their application to such cases as involve
-the domestic relation between the farmer and his farm hands, the small
-contractor and his workmen, the householder and his house servants,
-the butcher, painter, carpenter, or blacksmith and his workmen. In all
-these cases it is, it seems to us, as true on principle to-day as it
-was half a century ago that the master is not bound to take more care
-of his servant than he may be reasonably expected to take of himself,
-and that a servant has better opportunities than his master of watching
-and guarding against the conduct and preventing the negligence of
-his fellow-servant. It is as true now as it ever was that, so long
-as liability is based on the theory or principle of negligence, a
-servant ought, generally speaking, to be held to assume the ordinary
-and obvious risks of the employment upon which he enters and for which
-he presumably stipulates for<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_134" id="Page_134"></a>[Pg 134]</span> adequate and satisfactory compensation.
-Likewise, in the majority of cases, it is as true to-day as it ever
-was that the servant who has been guilty of contributory negligence
-should not be allowed to charge his master with responsibility for the
-injury. The reasoning of the judges establishing and maintaining these
-doctrines at the common law has never been refuted. Nevertheless, they
-are mere rules of law, subject to change, not by the judiciary, but
-by the legislature; and, in the opinion of the writer, there is no
-provision in the state or national constitution which would prevent
-their abrogation if this were deemed necessary or desirable by a
-legislative body.</p>
-
-<p>But modern industrialism, the development of machinery, the employment
-of large numbers of men and women in crowded factories, and work
-in connection with dangerous instrumentalities of manufacture and
-transportation, etc., have changed conditions, so that what is still
-true of the farm, the household, the small artisan, the carpenter, the
-painter, the butcher, the grocer, etc., is not true of the busy hives
-of manufacture, of transportation by steam or electricity, or of other
-hazardous industries. The increase in accidents, the apparent certainty
-that many casualties are inevitable, the recklessness engendered by
-the modern struggle for existence, the increasing difficulty in many
-employments of measuring degrees of fault, the pressing necessities
-and improvidence of the poor: these and other considerations well
-warrant the interposition of the legislature as the lawmaking power
-of the state,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_135" id="Page_135"></a>[Pg 135]</span> in order to make changes in the law&mdash;changes which the
-courts should not attempt to make, for their duty or function is not
-to legislate but to declare what the law has been or now is. Instead,
-then, of abusing the courts, how much wiser and more decorous would
-it be for labor organizations, labor leaders, or social reformers to
-petition the legislature to amend the law, and to abandon the attempt
-to intimidate and coerce the judiciary into making the desired change.
-One of our correspondents speaks of "the venomous fellow-servant
-doctrine." Yet the responsibility for the continuance of that doctrine,
-if it has become undesirable in any employment or in all employments,
-rests wholly with the legislature and not with the courts. We should
-be surprised if any lawyer or student professing the slightest
-knowledge of American constitutional law would seriously assert that
-the legislature could not change that doctrine without amending or
-tinkering our constitutions.</p>
-
-<p>It is, however, fit and proper to add that many lawyers and laymen
-are convinced that to abolish the existing rules indiscriminately in
-every case where the relation of master and servant may exist would be
-a mistake from the standpoint of public policy and practical justice,
-and that such a radical measure would do more harm than good. Certainly
-that is the judgment of competent observers of the operation of the
-British statute. A change in the law which would be wise if confined
-to large factories and hazardous employments, to labor in connection<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_136" id="Page_136"></a>[Pg 136]</span>
-with dangerous machinery, to service on railroads, in large electrical
-works, etc., etc., might be extremely unwise, unjust and oppressive if
-applied, for example, to the small farmer, the artisan, the mechanic,
-or the householder. A rule concededly wise and just in the one case
-might be the extreme of folly and oppression in the other. An accident
-on a farm caused by the negligence or drunkenness of a farm hand
-might, under some of the proposed reforms or innovations, bankrupt
-the most prudent farmer for causes quite beyond his control; and a
-similar disaster might easily overtake the small artisan, mechanic, or
-householder, and sweep away the savings of years. It is, of course, no
-answer to say that the farmer, the artisan, the householder employing
-men or women can insure. Why should this form of taxation be levied
-upon slender earnings, which are frequently insufficient to make
-both ends meet? Why should the farmer or artisan of limited means
-be compelled to pay tribute to private insurance companies so often
-engaged in combinations to extort the highest possible premiums?</p>
-
-<p>Let every master be responsible for his own negligence, but let
-the line be drawn short of making every master&mdash;every employer of
-another&mdash;the insurer of the safety of his servant to the extent of
-rendering the master liable for injuries resulting from no fault of his
-own but from the carelessness and negligence of the servant himself or
-of a fellow-servant.</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_137" id="Page_137"></a>[Pg 137]</span></p>
-
-<p>An interesting example of the operation of a statute in connection
-with established rules of law will be found in the case of Knisley
-<i>vs.</i> Pratt.<a id="FNanchor_51" href="#Footnote_51" class="fnanchor">[51]</a> The legislature had prescribed certain devices for the
-protection of women and children, including a provision that cogs on
-machinery should be properly guarded. In enacting this provision, as
-the courts were bound to assume by the settled rules of construction,
-the legislature was fully aware of the existing law in the state of
-New York in regard to the assumption of obvious and ordinary risks of
-employment by men and women of full age and capacity. The plaintiff
-in the Knisley case was a woman of full age and capacity, and she
-was well aware of the danger she was running in approaching too near
-machinery in operation. Had the statute been competently drawn, it
-would have provided&mdash;<i>assuming, of course, the draftsman and the
-legislature so intended</i>&mdash;that the rule of assumption of risk should
-not apply to cases within its purview; in other words, it would have
-provided that the master should be liable for any injury to a servant
-arising from the master's neglect to furnish the protection required
-by the statute whether or not the servant knew of such neglect or
-contributed in any way to his own injury. No provision of state or
-federal constitution prevented the legislature from enacting that the
-employer should be absolutely liable for the consequence of his own
-deliberate neglect to obey a statutory provision intended to protect
-human life and particularly the lives of women and children.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_138" id="Page_138"></a>[Pg 138]</span> There
-is not the remotest intimation by the court in the Knisley case that
-the legislature could not so alter the law. After the decision in that
-case had been announced, a change in the law could have been readily
-made within a week, for the legislature was then in session&mdash;February,
-1896. Yet seventeen years have passed without such an enactment, and in
-the meantime the Court of Appeals has been assailed before the whole
-country for its lack of sympathy with the poor and helpless and with
-social progress as evidenced among other things by this decision!</p>
-
-<p>It is true that the doctrine of the Knisley case has been recently
-overruled by the Court of Appeals in the case of Fitzwater <i>vs.</i>
-Warren.<a id="FNanchor_52" href="#Footnote_52" class="fnanchor">[52]</a> But many lawyers believe that the court might better have
-left this change to the legislature, which could have made it seventeen
-years ago if it had so desired, and not have furnished additional
-ground for the criticism that our courts are resorting to judicial
-legislation. Despite the Fitzwater case, it would still be wise for
-the legislature, <i>if it deems that the rule of law should be as now
-announced</i>, to enact a properly drawn statute declaring that whenever
-a statutory provision requires a master to supply guards or other
-protection for his servants in hazardous employments or in connection
-with the use of dangerous machinery, his neglect to do so shall render
-him liable irrespective of the doctrines of assumption of risk,
-fellow-servant's fault, or contributory negligence.</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_139" id="Page_139"></a>[Pg 139]</span></p>
-
-<p>The manner in which nominations have been made in recent years for
-judicial office and particularly for the Court of Appeals has also
-invited very serious criticism on the part of our correspondents.</p>
-
-<p>As is well known, the bar of the state of New York, with almost entire
-unanimity, has been endeavoring for many years to separate nominations
-for judicial office from other nominations, and thereby to divorce
-the bench from politics. It was the bar that has urged and forced the
-renomination of judges for the Court of Appeals on a non-partisan
-basis. It was the bar that urged and forced the renomination and
-election of Judge Gray and Chief Judge Cullen and other members of
-our highest court. It is simply slanderous to charge that any of the
-present judges of that great court were nominated at the request or
-dictation of what our correspondents call "the interests." The contrary
-is the truth; and the whole history and conduct of the court refute an
-accusation which is as contemptible as it is unfounded.</p>
-
-<p>The bar of the state was practically unanimous in urging the passage
-last year of the measure known as the Judicial Candidates Bill, which
-proposed that the names of judicial candidates should no longer be
-printed in the party column on the general and official ballot, but
-on a separate ballot, or in a separate column of the voting machines,
-without party designation in either case, to the end that candidates
-for judicial office might be voted for as individuals and not as
-members or candidates of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_140" id="Page_140"></a>[Pg 140]</span> any political party. There was then an
-excellent opportunity for the professed social reformers and labor
-leaders who are so vehemently assailing our judicial system to aid in
-a movement to eliminate from politics the election of judges. But it
-was not availed of. The bill was defeated. It had little support from
-the press and very little, if any, support from social reformers or the
-representatives of labor. It will undoubtedly be introduced again this
-year; it has been once more approved by the Association of the Bar of
-the City of New York, and it will probably be again approved by the
-state association and by the bar of the state at large. Let the labor
-organizations now assist and cooperate in procuring the enactment of
-this law, and help to secure the election of judges on their own merits
-and personal character apart from considerations of political service
-or the favor or support of political leaders or bosses, or of any
-particular class.</p>
-
-<p>A few years ago in the city of New York an earnest attempt was made
-by the bar to secure the election of justices of the Supreme Court on
-a non-partisan and non-political basis. A committee of members of the
-bar nominated lawyers of the highest standing in their profession, of
-recognized ability and learning and of unimpeachable character. These
-nominees were defeated, and to that defeat the labor organizations
-greatly contributed. These organizations then gave no support whatever
-to the movement to secure a separation of the courts from politics, and
-they were quite indifferent to the nomina<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_141" id="Page_141"></a>[Pg 141]</span>tion of men of the highest
-character and of the highest qualifications for judicial office.</p>
-
-<p>The plain truth on this point may serve and be useful as an object
-lesson. The least competent and the least experienced of the justices
-of the Supreme Court in the county of New York and elsewhere throughout
-the state are generally those who have been nominated because they were
-endorsed by labor organizations or were supposed to be acceptable to
-them. Everywhere throughout the country it is said that whenever labor
-organizations dictate or control the nomination of judges, they select
-lawyers of inferior education and talents and not of superior character
-and independence. It is high time that this truth was well pondered by
-labor.</p>
-
-<p>One of the real causes for the discontent with the administration of
-justice in our state courts, and particularly in the larger cities,
-is that judges are nominated and elected not because of their legal
-ability and personal character, but because of their party affiliations
-or their supposed friendship or sympathy for or inclination to favor
-one class as against another. If the personnel of our Court of Appeals
-and Appellate Divisions has thus far been kept uniformly high and
-pure, it is because of the constant efforts of the bar. If labor
-organizations and the people at large will now cooperate with the
-bar, who in this matter are the proper leaders of public opinion,
-there will be infinitely less occasion for complaints of delay or
-incompetency or partiality in the administration of justice. The
-multiplication<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_142" id="Page_142"></a>[Pg 142]</span> of incompetent judges means the multiplication of the
-causes of delay, new trials, denial or miscarriage of justice, expense,
-discontent and suspicion. The cure for these evils is with the people
-themselves, and it will be brought about only when they shall insist
-upon the nomination and election of lawyers of learning, character and
-independence.</p>
-
-<p>It must be plain to all who have studied the facts and reflected upon
-existing tendencies that during the past twenty years the amendments
-to the laws regulating nomination and election to public office have
-served to strengthen and perpetuate the control of political leaders
-and political machines. Many bills introduced and loudly acclaimed as
-reforms have in truth proved to be not reforms at all, but steps in the
-dark and backward.</p>
-
-<p>Some of our correspondents blame the courts for the "law's delay,"
-yet there is no defect in our system for which competent judges
-are less responsible. In most instances of delay in civil cases,
-the blame belongs to the lawyers. Nothing has done more to bring
-the administration of justice into disrepute than the practice of
-adjourning cases term after term and year after year on excuses which
-sometimes are not well founded. There need be no unreasonable delay
-even in the city of New York, and would not be, if lawyers were ready
-to try their cases when they are first reached on the calendars. The
-judges are constantly complaining of the dilatoriness of the bar.
-Another cause of delay is the practice of bringing suits and taking<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_143" id="Page_143"></a>[Pg 143]</span>
-appeals for the purpose of coercing settlements. A higher sense of
-professional responsibility ought to be cultivated, and there should
-be some severe penalty or professional ostracism for lawyers who abuse
-the process of the courts of justice and disregard the ethics of their
-profession.</p>
-
-<p>In like manner, in criminal cases the real cause of delay in nearly
-every case is the failure or inability of prosecuting officers to press
-their cases diligently; and the frequent change in the personnel of our
-officeholders is likewise a cause of much delay. Whenever one official
-succeeds another, the period during which the new incumbent is learning
-what occurred before he came into office and familiarizing himself
-with the pending cases is so much time lost. Greater permanency in the
-tenure of office of prosecuting officers would probably conduce to
-greater speed and greater efficiency in the enforcement of the law. Nor
-can it be doubted that many public officials and their assistants do
-not feel the same degree of responsibility for the prompt dispatch of
-public business that they would feel if representing private clients.
-The remarks of Mr. Justice Scott in the recent case of People <i>vs.</i>
-Turley are indeed timely, and should be commended to the attention of
-all prosecuting officers throughout the state. He used the following
-language: "There is much well-justified complaint at the present
-time of the slowness with which the criminal law is enforced, and
-especially of the great length of time which is frequently permitted
-to elapse between a conviction<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_144" id="Page_144"></a>[Pg 144]</span> and the review of the conviction by
-the appellate courts. Among persons not conversant with the rules of
-criminal procedure, the courts are not unnaturally, but most unjustly,
-charged with a large share of responsibility for this condition. The
-blame rests elsewhere. The appellate courts are powerless to act until
-the appeal is brought before them by those charged with that duty. When
-the matter is brought up for a hearing, the delay is ended, and the
-appeal is invariably promptly decided. The present is a particularly
-flagrant case. The defendant was convicted in March, 1909, and was
-almost immediately released on bail pending an appeal, under a
-certificate of reasonable doubt. The record is not voluminous, and the
-questions of law involved are neither difficult nor intricate, and yet
-the defendant has been at large for three years and a half before the
-appeal is brought on for argument. Of course under such circumstances
-the defendant was quite satisfied and was in no haste to have his
-appeal argued. The duty to bring it on promptly rested, as it rests in
-every case, upon the district attorney, who had it in his power at any
-time to force a hearing of the appeal by moving to dismiss it. This
-court has never shown itself to be unwilling to support and cooperate
-with the district attorney in compelling appeals in criminal cases to
-be argued with all reasonable promptness. The remedy for unreasonable
-delays in the final disposition of criminal appeals lies in his
-hands."<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_145"></a>[Pg 145]</span>
-<a id="FNanchor_53" href="#Footnote_53" class="fnanchor">[53]</a></p>
-
-<p>A number of important murder cases will be readily recalled where years
-have elapsed between the conviction of the accused and the argument
-in the Court of Appeals. Not only does this unnecessary delay deprive
-the judgment of conviction of much of its effect as an example and
-deterrent precedent, but in cases of reversal and new trials evidence
-is sometimes lost, and the guilty thus escape. In the latest reported
-murder case from New York county, People <i>vs.</i> Lustig,<a id="FNanchor_54" href="#Footnote_54" class="fnanchor">[54]</a> the
-defendant was convicted of murder in the first degree in June, 1910,
-but the appeal was not brought on for hearing in the Court of Appeals
-until June 14, 1912, when it was decided and reversed within two weeks
-after the argument, viz., on June 29, 1912. In the meantime, as we are
-informed, material witnesses had disappeared, and the defendant is now
-at large on his own recognizance, and probably will not be tried again!</p>
-
-<p>Another case of apparently inexcusable delay is People <i>vs.</i>
-Koerner.<a id="FNanchor_55" href="#Footnote_55" class="fnanchor">[55]</a> The crime of murder was committed in September, 1896. The
-defendant was indicted within a month thereafter, and was convicted of
-murder in the first degree on March 1, 1897. The appeal was argued in
-the Court of Appeals within four court months, on October 22, 1897,
-and the judgment was reversed on November 23, 1897. The case was
-then re-tried, and resulted in a judgment of guilty of murder in the
-second degree on<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_146" id="Page_146"></a>[Pg 146]</span> March 15, 1898. The records of the courts show that
-the appeal from this judgment was not brought on for argument in the
-Appellate Division until December 12, 1906, and then resulted in an
-affirmance by that court on January 11, 1907, and that the appeal was
-not argued in the Court of Appeals until February 19, 1908, when the
-judgment was affirmed without opinion in less than three weeks!</p>
-
-<p>Yet for the delays in these and similar cases the courts are criticized
-and their administration of criminal justice intemperately assailed
-by the press and other critics, notwithstanding the diligence of
-the judges in disposing of appeals when duly presented for their
-consideration.</p>
-
-<p>It may be true that the pressure of innumerable cases compels the
-district attorney in New York county to delay the argument of appeals;
-but the remedy is to provide him with additional competent assistants
-and certainly not to indulge in indiscriminate criticism or unfounded
-abuse of the courts, or to resort to panaceas of reform in criminal
-procedure, which too often only multiply technicalities, deprive the
-individual of necessary protection, and create more or less confusion.</p>
-
-<p>I shall now ask attention to the subject of injunctions in connection
-with strikes. I shall not argue the proposition that strikers in
-industrial controversies, or labor and labor organizations should not
-be above the law, or a law unto themselves. I assume that this is
-still a self-evident proposition in this state and may still be taken
-for granted. History<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_147" id="Page_147"></a>[Pg 147]</span> certainly teaches us that in a free country no
-class can safely be released from the duty of obeying the laws, and
-that if disobedience be permitted in favor of the laboring classes, the
-industrious, honest and law-abiding laborer will be the worst sufferer
-in the long run. Nor will time be taken to point out that no civilized
-community can long permit any class to maim, or murder, or destroy
-property, or violently prevent others from earning their living, in
-order to coerce compliance with the demands of that class.</p>
-
-<p>There would, of course, never be occasion for the use of injunctions
-in labor disputes if there were no threats of violence and no danger
-of injury to persons or property. If the labor organizations of this
-country will now earnestly, effectively and sincerely cooperate with
-the bar in the endeavor to put an end to violence and riots, which
-are the unfortunate but apparently inevitable attendants of every
-protracted modern strike, there will no longer be any occasion for
-condemning the courts on account of the issuance of injunctions, for
-there will then be no necessity for injunctions.</p>
-
-<p>One aspect of the injunction problem is emphasized in the
-correspondence now submitted, and should be dealt with here. It is the
-matter of giving notice to the defendants before an injunction order
-is granted. Recently, when the United States Supreme Court adopted its
-new rules, including one as to injunctions, Mr. Gompers and other labor
-leaders loudly proclaimed that they had secured a great victory. Thus,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_148" id="Page_148"></a>[Pg 148]</span>
-Mr. Gompers is reported in the "Literary Digest" of November 16, 1912,
-as calling the new rule a reform and "a step in the right direction,
-and one of the things labor has long been fighting for." But, as
-every one familiar with the subject well knows, there is nothing in
-the new rules that materially changes the pre-existing practice in
-regard to injunctions. The authoritative treatises on federal equity
-procedure by Mr. Foster and Mr. Street conclusively show this. No
-case has been cited to us and we have found none where the defendants
-enjoined were not granted by the courts as much facility in moving to
-dissolve or modify injunction orders as is provided for in the new
-rule. The learned and impartial editor of the "New York Law Journal"
-well said in the issue of December 11, 1912: "The only portion of the
-new procedure which has attracted the attention of the daily press is
-the rule regarding preliminary injunctions. This, however, is no more
-than an adoption of good New York practice, and, indeed, of good equity
-practice everywhere, viz.: that no <i>ex parte</i> injunction shall go out
-except as a stay-order to show cause why a preliminary injunction
-should not issue."</p>
-
-<p>The case most often cited by labor leaders is known as the Debs
-case growing out of the Pullman strike at Chicago in 1894. If any
-fair-minded critic of the courts will take the trouble to read the
-unanimous, patriotic and inspiring opinion of the Supreme Court of the
-United States in the Debs case,<a id="FNanchor_56" href="#Footnote_56" class="fnanchor">[56]</a> or what<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_149" id="Page_149"></a>[Pg 149]</span> ex-President Cleveland
-wrote on the subject in his book on "Presidential Problems," published
-in 1904, he will at once realize that the issuance of the injunction
-order and the subsequent punishment of Debs and his associates for
-deliberately and defiantly disobeying it were both proper and necessary.</p>
-
-<p>For nearly twenty years and since the Debs case in 1894-1895, the labor
-leaders, agitators and demagogues of the country have been assailing
-the courts and denouncing "government by injunction" on the pretense,
-among others, that the judges denied the defendants in that case
-any opportunity to be heard, when as a matter of fact, they had the
-fullest notice and opportunity to be heard, but deliberately elected
-to disobey and defy the court. Indeed, in no jurisdiction is it true
-that a defendant is denied the right to a hearing upon the matter of an
-injunction against him, and the sub-committee has been unable to learn
-of a single case in which a judge has refused to give the defendant a
-hearing either upon an application to grant or continue an injunction,
-or to set one aside. A permanent injunction order is never granted
-without notice to those affected and an opportunity to be heard; nor
-is even a temporary restraining order issued without notice of hearing
-unless the danger of irreparable injury from delay be very grave, and
-then the order is made returnable at the earliest practicable date,
-so as to afford the defendants an opportunity to be promptly heard.
-If a temporary restraining order should be granted improvidently on
-insufficient<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_150" id="Page_150"></a>[Pg 150]</span> papers and upon an <i>ex parte</i> application, it is well
-known that the order may be and frequently is vacated immediately on
-the <i>ex parte</i> application of the defendants. Most lawyers are familiar
-with such cases. The fact is that laboring men have always been
-afforded a hearing and a day in court in connection with injunction
-orders, and that no man has ever been punished for contempt by an
-American court without due notice to him and full opportunity to
-present his excuse or defense. Indeed, were any man punished without
-notice and opportunity to be heard, the order for his punishment would
-be without jurisdiction and utterly void.</p>
-
-<p>I may add that the lawless and violent among the members of labor
-organizations will not in the end gain any real liberty or advantage
-for the laboring classes, even if they succeed in abolishing the writ
-of injunction in labor disputes and with it the power of the courts to
-punish disobedience as a contempt of court. Destruction of property
-and assaults upon peaceful workingmen cannot permanently be tolerated
-in any civilized community. Sooner or later, the government must
-afford protection in one form or another; otherwise chaos, anarchy and
-barbarism are inevitable. If injunctions cannot be issued to restrain
-the violent and protect the property of the innocent and law-abiding
-citizen, simply because he is an employer or property owner, then
-resort will finally have to be had to the club of the policeman or
-the bayonet of the militiaman or regular. It is no use blinking this
-certainty.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_151" id="Page_151"></a>[Pg 151]</span> That was plainly the alternative presented by the Pullman
-strike; and President Cleveland then wisely preferred the orderly and
-peaceful procedure of a court of justice to the police power of the
-army. Under military rule, the laboring man may receive no hearing at
-all, and martial law with its arbitrary practices and despotic power
-will have to be substituted for the regular procedure of impartial
-courts of justice acting upon full notice to all affected and affording
-full opportunity to be heard.</p>
-
-<p>The New York Code of Civil Procedure in sections 602-630 has long
-protected the rights of a striker as adequately as any other system
-of procedure, state or federal, domestic or foreign, and even better
-than the recent rule of the United States Supreme Court, which some
-labor leaders are acclaiming as a boon. Lest we forget, it may be
-useful to recall the exact language of section 626, which has been the
-statutory law since 1895. It is as follows: "Where the injunction order
-was granted without notice, the party enjoined may apply, upon the
-papers upon which it was granted, for an order vacating or modifying
-the injunction order. Such an application may be made, without notice,
-to the judge or justice who granted the order, or who held the term
-of the court where it was granted; or to a term of the appellate
-division of the supreme court. It cannot be made without notice, to any
-other judge, justice or term, unless the applicant produces proof, by
-affidavit, that, by reason of the absence or other disability of the
-judge or justice<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_152" id="Page_152"></a>[Pg 152]</span> who granted the order, the application cannot be made
-to him; and that the applicant will be exposed to great injury, by the
-delay required for an application upon notice. The affidavit must be
-filed with the clerk; and a copy thereof, and of the order vacating or
-modifying the injunction order, must be served upon the plaintiff's
-attorney, before that order takes effect."</p>
-
-<p>As is well known to all lawyers, a restraining or injunction order is
-never granted by a state or federal court in New York without notice
-to the defendants except when proof is submitted to the judge by
-affidavit or verified complaint which shows that, unless the defendant
-be immediately enjoined, irreparable loss or damage will result to the
-applicant before the matter can be heard on notice. If the court has
-sworn proof thus submitted to it that the defendants are threatening
-immediate injury to person or destruction of property, it is the duty
-of the judge&mdash;and may it ever be the duty of every American judge&mdash;to
-issue an injunction without delay, for delay in such a case would in
-most instances work a complete denial of justice.</p>
-
-<p>If our system of equal laws impartially administered is to endure,
-the courts must continue to shield and protect the individual by
-means of injunction orders, and they should not be deprived of the
-power of exercising one of the most beneficent remedies afforded by
-any system of laws and one indispensable to the due and satisfactory
-administration of distributive and equal justice.</p>
-
-<p>Some typical examples of misrepresentation of our<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_153" id="Page_153"></a>[Pg 153]</span> courts by leaders of
-public opinion will be recalled in connection with the Tenement House
-Tobacco case, the Bakers case, the Ives case, and other cases involving
-so-called social legislation.<a id="FNanchor_57" href="#Footnote_57" class="fnanchor">[57]</a></p>
-
-<p>When Mr. Roosevelt's statements in regard to the Tenement House case
-were recently challenged by four lawyers, including Senator Root, Mr.
-Milburn and Mr. Marshall, as being inaccurate and likely to mislead
-the voters of the state, he made no correction whatever, but urged
-the people to accept his statements and those of a settlement worker
-instead of the record of the case before the Court of Appeals. This
-incident will serve to show the difficulty of combating such inaccurate
-statements, which are given the utmost publicity by the press
-throughout the country, whereas the refutation is generally ignored.
-A report of Mr. Roosevelt's public comments, when his attention was
-called to his manifestly incorrect statement of the decision in the
-Tenement House case, quotes him as saying:</p>
-
-<p>"I am informed that these four gentlemen attacked the statements as
-being contrary to both the facts and the law. The first was the case
-of the tenement-house cigar manufacturers. Now I will read to you what
-is said by one of the women who knows the conditions of tenement-house
-life as few other women, and as hardly any man, knows them, by Florence
-Kelly in a book called 'Some Ethical Gains through Legislation,' and
-I cordially commend to Mr. Root and his associates who signed his
-protest<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_154" id="Page_154"></a>[Pg 154]</span> to study that book and to ponder what is meant by the word
-'ethical' in connection with legislation. Of the Jacobs case, to
-which I referred, Mrs. Kelly says: 'To the decision of the Court of
-Appeals in the case In re Jacobs is directly due the continuance of the
-tenement manufacture and of the sweating system in the United States
-and its present prevalence in New York.' That is the statement of a
-woman who, as regards knowledge of tenement-house conditions, knows so
-much more than those four great corporation lawyers that her little
-finger is thicker than their loins when you come to study what they
-know and what she knows of the subject of which they have ignorantly
-presumed to speak."</p>
-
-<p>And yet all that these lawyers did was to point out the inaccuracy
-of Mr. Roosevelt's statements as to what the courts had held, and to
-suggest that this inaccuracy would be demonstrated by reference to
-the records of the courts, which are open to all who care to take the
-trouble to ascertain the truth.</p>
-
-<p>It should be recalled in connection with any fair and candid
-consideration of the Tenement House case that the constitutional
-convention of 1894 had ample opportunity to change the rule in that
-case if it had then been thought to interfere with the attainment of
-"social justice." Although the subject was called to the attention of
-the convention, it was deemed advisable to make no change. The rule
-is reasonable and well-settled in the interpretation of constitutions
-and it was well known to the distinguished members of that convention
-that "where a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_155" id="Page_155"></a>[Pg 155]</span> clause or provision in a constitution, which has
-received a settled judicial construction, is adopted in the same words
-by the framers of another constitution, it will be presumed that the
-construction thereof was likewise adopted."</p>
-
-<p>Another judicial decision denounced by Mr. Roosevelt a few days before
-the last election is the Knisley case discussed above. Speaking of
-this case, he told his audience, and through the press told the whole
-country, that "the Court of Appeals threw out the case and declared
-the law unconstitutional on this ground: that the legislature could
-not interfere with the liberty of that girl in losing her arm.... The
-trouble was that they knew law but didn't know right, and still more,
-as I have stated, that they had arrogated to themselves the right that
-the people should have&mdash;the right to decide what the common sense and
-justice of the people demand." Yet there was not one word anywhere in
-the record or in the opinion of the Court of Appeals which suggested
-that the act was unconstitutional or that the legislature did not
-have full power to change the common law rule in such cases and make
-the employer liable to his injured workmen or workwomen if he failed
-to comply with a statute prescribing guards or other protection for
-employees. The most superficial investigation would have disclosed
-the fact that the Court of Appeals has never intimated in any case
-that such a statute would be unconstitutional, and that in the Knisley
-case it neither had before it nor decided any question con<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_156" id="Page_156"></a>[Pg 156]</span>cerning the
-constitutionality of an act of the legislature.</p>
-
-<p>Shortly before the election, Mr. Roosevelt caused to be published in
-the "Saturday Evening Post" of Philadelphia, under the title of "The
-Deceitful Red Herring," the following statement: "Our platform demands
-an eight-hour law for women in industries.... But the Court of Appeals
-of New York has said that the ten millions of people of my state have
-not got that right if they wish to exercise it. In New York the people
-did not ask for an eight-hour day&mdash;asked for only a ten-hour day for
-women. Then the Court of Appeals said that under their interpretation
-of the Constitution the small sweat-shop keeper or the big factory
-owner may work haggard women twelve, fourteen or sixteen hours a day,
-if he chooses, and we cannot stop it."</p>
-
-<p>As a matter of fact, however, as the slightest investigation would have
-disclosed, the New York Court of Appeals had never decided anything of
-the kind. Moreover, there was in our state when Mr. Roosevelt published
-this statement a statute limiting the hours of labor for women to nine
-hours per day and fifty-four hours per week,<a id="FNanchor_58" href="#Footnote_58" class="fnanchor">[58]</a> and for thirteen
-years prior to the recent amendment there had been a statute limiting
-the hours of labor of women to ten hours per day and sixty hours per
-week. These statutes had been regularly enforced for years, and their
-constitutionality had never been even questioned, so far as I have been
-able to ascertain.</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_157" id="Page_157"></a>[Pg 157]</span></p>
-
-<p>Immediately after the publication of this article in the "Saturday
-Evening Post," a communication was addressed to the publisher by a
-well-known and reputable member of the New York bar, Mr. Alfred E.
-Ommen, pointing out the misstatement in regard to the Court of Appeals
-and conclusively showing its error; but this important periodical, with
-perhaps the largest circulation of any American weekly, saw fit to
-leave uncorrected this untrue and grossly misleading statement, and it
-has not yet withdrawn it, and probably never will do so.</p>
-
-<p>Such is the tenor of the criticisms of the courts to be found in public
-speeches and in all forms of publication. They find constant repetition
-in the press, and carry the authority of distinguished leaders of
-public opinion and of men who at the present time have the ear and the
-confidence of the people. The statements of such men are naturally
-accepted as accurate and true. Who would believe it possible that any
-such statements as the above could be made by an ex-President of the
-United States unless they were true? As the draft of this report is
-being revised, an advertisement proclaims a renewal by Mr. Roosevelt
-of his attack on the courts, and a new assailant and critic appears
-in the person of Mr. William Randolph Hearst, who seems desirous to
-emulate Mr. Roosevelt in his abuse of the courts. The press at large
-continues to give the fullest publicity to all attacks on the courts
-and little or no space to any refutation of them. The judges are<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_158" id="Page_158"></a>[Pg 158]</span>
-being misrepresented and assailed on all sides. They cannot defend
-themselves. The bar at large so far has seemed indifferent; and in the
-great forum of public opinion judgment is going by default.</p>
-
-<p>If these misleading criticisms are not refuted, and the courts are not
-defended, they may bend before the storm of undeserved censure and
-the clamor of the crowd. There is grave danger that the judges will
-be unconsciously intimidated and coerced by this abuse. Indeed, some
-recent decisions are ominous. Is it not then fit and proper that the
-members of our profession should charge themselves specially with the
-task of defending the courts and placing the facts before the people?
-The bar associations of the country will never be called upon to render
-a greater service to the profession and to the community at large
-than that of stemming this tide of misrepresentation and intemperate
-abuse, and of restoring confidence in the learning, impartiality and
-independence of our judges, in the justice of their decisions, and in
-the necessity of their enforcing constitutional restraints.</p>
-
-
-
-<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_50" href="#FNanchor_50" class="label">[50]</a> Read as a supplement to the report of a committee
-appointed by the New York State Bar Association submitted at the
-thirty-sixth annual meeting of the Association held at Utica, January
-24, 1913.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_51" href="#FNanchor_51" class="label">[51]</a> 148 New York Reports, p. 372.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_52" href="#FNanchor_52" class="label">[52]</a> 206 New York Reports, p. 355.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_53" href="#FNanchor_53" class="label">[53]</a> 153 N.Y. Appellate Division Reports, p. 674.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_54" href="#FNanchor_54" class="label">[54]</a> 206 New York Reports, p. 162.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_55" href="#FNanchor_55" class="label">[55]</a> 154 New York Reports, p. 355; 117 N.Y. Appellate Division
-Reports, p. 40; and 191 New York Reports, p. 528.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_56" href="#FNanchor_56" class="label">[56]</a> 158 United States Reports, p. 564.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_57" href="#FNanchor_57" class="label">[57]</a> See discussion <i>supra</i>, pp. 48-70.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_58" href="#FNanchor_58" class="label">[58]</a> See the New York Labor Law, sec. 77.</p></div></div>
-
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_159" id="Page_159"></a>[Pg 159]</span></p>
-<div class="chapter">
-<h2 class="nobreak" id="GRADUATED_OR_PROGRESSIVE_TAXATION59">GRADUATED OR PROGRESSIVE TAXATION<a id="FNanchor_59" href="#Footnote_59" class="fnanchor">[59]</a></h2>
-</div>
-
-
-<p class="drop">T<span class="uppercase">he</span> recent message of the President to the Congress has strikingly
-brought to the attention of the American public the subject of
-graduated or progressive taxation upon inheritances and incomes. Acting
-upon the suggestions contained in the message, bills providing for such
-taxes have already been introduced in the House of Representatives.
-Amendments to the Constitution have also been proposed, one of which
-is to authorize Congress to tax inheritances amounting to or exceeding
-$50,000 and to levy an income tax without apportionment. The pending
-bills provide that successions of $10,000 and under and incomes of
-$4,000 and under are to be wholly exempted from the proposed taxes. The
-proposed graduated scales are to run from three-quarters of one per
-cent. on inheritances or successions over $10,000 and not exceeding
-$25,000 up to twenty-five per cent. on inheritances or successions
-exceeding $30,000,000, and from two per cent. on incomes exceeding
-$4,000 per annum and not exceeding $8,000 up to six per cent. on all
-incomes over $64,000. It is also suggested that Congress by<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_160" id="Page_160"></a>[Pg 160]</span> means of
-such taxes should seek, not merely to raise revenue for the support of
-the national government, but also to solve social problems by breaking
-up fortunes assumed to be swollen to an unhealthy size and thus bring
-about a redistribution of wealth.</p>
-
-<p>In considering these proposed measures, it should be borne in mind
-that, if they or any similar propositions become laws, the result will
-be&mdash;and such undoubtedly is the intention&mdash;to exempt the majority of
-property owners from this form of taxation and to cast the burden
-upon a very small minority. It should also be realized that this
-proposed progressive taxation, particularly as to inheritances, is
-conceded to be only a first step, and that increases in the scale of
-progression are contemplated and will certainly follow. Indeed, the
-President declares that "at first a permanent national inheritance tax
-... need not approximate, either in amount or in the extent of the
-increase by graduation, to what such a tax should ultimately be." As
-the states have full power to levy taxes on inheritances and at the
-present time are deriving probably as much as $10,000,000 per annum
-from this source, it must be manifest that, if the scale adopted by
-Congress be high, the resources of the states will be correspondingly
-curtailed. In case of conflict, national taxes would take precedence
-over state taxes. We should also bear in mind that the power to tax is
-the strongest of all governmental powers, that it involves the power to
-destroy, that it generally knows no limitation except the discretion
-and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_161" id="Page_161"></a>[Pg 161]</span> moderation of the lawmakers, and that of all powers it is the one
-most liable to abuse.</p>
-
-<p>From the time of the Declaration of Independence to the present hour,
-the distinctive feature of the American system of government has been
-equality before the law, not merely equality of rights but equality
-of duties and equality of burdens. Equality has been demanded in all
-things including especially taxation. The few exceptions in taxation,
-particularly in times of war, do not affect the general rule that has
-been followed. The courts have declared that according to American
-ideals "common justice requires that taxation, as far as possible,
-should be equal." Experience has shown that the only effectual
-protection against injustice and discrimination in taxation lies in the
-observance of some rule of equality and apportionment; and, although it
-is true that absolute equality is not always attainable, nevertheless
-an approximation to equality should be regarded as indispensable. As
-Hamilton said, "The genius of liberty reprobates everything arbitrary
-or discretionary in taxation." And Judge Cooley in his famous work
-on "Constitutional Limitations" said: "It is of the very essence of
-taxation that it be levied with equality and uniformity, and to this
-end, that there should be some system of apportionment. Where the
-burden is common, there should be common contribution to discharge it.
-Taxation is the equivalent for the protection which the government
-affords to the persons and property of its citizens; and as all are<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_162" id="Page_162"></a>[Pg 162]</span>
-alike protected, so all alike should bear the burden, in proportion to
-the interests secured."<a id="FNanchor_60" href="#Footnote_60" class="fnanchor">[60]</a></p>
-
-<p>In proportional or equal taxation, whereby every property owner
-contributes toward the expenses of the common government according to
-the amount of property he owns or inherits, or according to the income
-he enjoys, we find a perfectly safe and consistent rule and a definite
-and logical principle upon which to work. Proportional taxation
-subjects to the burden of government fairly and equally all property
-owners without distinction and without discrimination. Nothing is left
-to mere discretion or to the play of arbitrary and irresponsible power,
-and no class is likely to be unjustly singled out or discriminated
-against. Where property is as generally distributed as it is in this
-country, a proportional tax ordinarily reaches in one form or another a
-majority of the constituents of those who vote the taxes, and the sense
-of responsibility to these constituents operates as a conservative
-force and as a check upon unfair and unjust taxes, as well as upon
-improvident and extravagant expenditures. A proportional tax generally
-creates a large body of tax-paying voters whose property interests
-impel them to watch their representatives closely and to hold them to
-strict accountability. We then have taxation in its practical operation
-going hand in hand with representative responsibility, which was the
-cardinal principle for which our War of Independence was fought.
-A legislator who is conscious of the fact that a large, if<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_163" id="Page_163"></a>[Pg 163]</span> not a
-controlling, number of his constituents will feel the burden of any tax
-he votes, is necessarily more careful, more prudent, more economical
-and more inclined to be just than if no such sense of responsibility
-exists.</p>
-
-<p>On the other hand, where the great majority of voters are to be
-exempted from taxation, and where, accordingly, they will feel that
-they have no personal interest in governmental expenditures, they
-will be likely to take little or no pains to see that there is a
-fair apportionment of taxes which others must pay, or any economy in
-governmental expenditures for which others must provide. Their sense of
-justice and civic duty will become blunted. It will follow that, if the
-lawmakers are at liberty to enact laws which exempt the great majority
-of their constituents from taxation and cast the burden and expense
-of government on the few rich, frequently less than two or three per
-cent. of the voters in their respective districts, there will exist
-no practical restraint upon expenditure, but, on the contrary, every
-temptation to extravagance, wastefulness and injustice.</p>
-
-<p>A graduated or progressive tax is necessarily arbitrary, for there
-is no definite rule or principle to apply to the scale. The rate,
-reasonable at first, may ultimately become confiscatory. There is
-nothing to check or stop the ascending scale. One act of injustice will
-lead to another. The appetite will grow and produce fresh injustice. If
-a tax of twenty-five per cent. on large fortunes now seems to some but
-a moderate beginning, where will the tax<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_164" id="Page_164"></a>[Pg 164]</span> stop, and who is to determine
-what is or is not reasonable and beyond what point a legislative body
-shall not go? A few advocates of progressive taxation have already
-suggested fifty per cent. as a maximum applicable to the so-called
-surplus of large fortunes, but others more radical and less responsible
-may readily advocate a tax of one hundred per cent. upon the surplus
-they regard as superfluous or unhealthful. There is, indeed, no limit
-to the possible ascent in the scale of progression, and no power to
-prevent abuse and oppression on the part of temporary and irresponsible
-majorities. The rich would then be completely at the mercy of mere
-numbers.</p>
-
-<p>During the French Revolution, the experiment was tried under the name
-of compulsory loans. These loans finally absorbed fifty per cent. of
-such incomes as the majority of the legislative assembly saw fit to
-consider as <i>abondants</i>, and one hundred per cent. of all incomes which
-they thought were <i>superflus</i>.</p>
-
-<p>The late W.E.H. Lecky, one of the most eminent historians of our day,
-wrote as follows of progressive taxation in his work on "Democracy and
-Liberty": "When the principle of taxing all fortunes on the same rate
-of computation is abandoned, no definite rule or principle remains. At
-what point the higher scale is to begin, or to what degree it is to be
-raised, depends wholly on the policy of governments and the balance
-of parties. The ascending scale may at first be very moderate, but it
-may at any time, when fresh taxes are required, be made more severe,
-till it reaches or approaches the point of confiscation.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_165" id="Page_165"></a>[Pg 165]</span> No fixed line
-or amount of graduation can be maintained upon principle, or with any
-chance of finality. The whole matter will depend upon the interests
-and wishes of the electors; upon party politicians seeking for a cry
-and competing for the votes of very poor and very ignorant men. Under
-such a system all large properties may easily be made unsafe, and
-an insecurity may arise which will be fatal to all great financial
-undertakings. The most serious restraint on parliamentary extravagance
-will, at the same time, be taken away, and majorities will be invested
-with the easiest and most powerful instrument of oppression. Highly
-graduated taxation realizes most completely the supreme danger of
-democracy, creating a state of things in which one class imposes on
-another burdens which it is not asked to share, and impels the state
-into vast schemes of extravagance, under the belief that the whole cost
-will be thrown upon others."</p>
-
-<p>In McCulloch on "Taxation," for fifty years the standard treatise in
-England on the subject, the following language is used: "It is argued
-that, in order fairly to proportion the tax to the ability of the
-contributors, such a graduated scale of duty should be adopted as
-should press lightly on the smaller class of properties and incomes,
-and increase according as they become larger and more able to bear
-taxation. We take leave, however, to protest against this proposal,
-which is not more seductive than it is unjust and dangerous.... If it
-either pass entirely over some classes, or press on some<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_166" id="Page_166"></a>[Pg 166]</span> less heavily
-than on others, it is unjustly imposed. Government, in such a case, has
-plainly stepped out of its proper province, and has assessed the tax,
-not for the legitimate purpose of appropriating a certain proportion
-of the revenues of its subjects to the public exigencies, but that it
-might at the same time regulate the incomes of the contributors; that
-is, that it might depress one class and elevate another. The toleration
-of such a principle would necessarily lead to every species of abuse."</p>
-
-<p>The well-known French political economist and scientist Leroy-Beaulieu
-in his works, <i>Traité d'Economie Politique</i> and <i>Science des Finances</i>,
-discusses at length the whole subject of graduated or progressive
-taxation, and condemns it as vicious in theory and unwise and unjust in
-practice. Among other things he says: "Progressive taxation constitutes
-actual spoliation. It violates, besides, the rule, established by all
-civilization, that taxation ought to be imposed with the full consent
-of the taxpayer; for, it is quite clear, that in this case, it is
-the mass of the voters who relieve themselves of the heavy weight of
-the tax and cast it upon the few, and these few do not consent, even
-tacitly, to the excess with which the government wishes to burden
-them. When the rate of the tax is equal for all, we can consider that
-the vote for the tax by the legislature carries with it the implied
-acquiescence of all the assessable; otherwise not.... Every system of
-progressive taxation, however attenuated, is iniquitous and dangerous."</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_167" id="Page_167"></a>[Pg 167]</span></p>
-
-<p>And the same conclusions have been reached by a number of other
-distinguished French scholars and statesmen, among whom may be cited
-Thiers, Beauregard and Stourm.</p>
-
-<p>The right of the states to levy progressive and unequal taxes on
-inheritances and testamentary dispositions is frequently sought
-to be upheld upon the theory that the power of our legislatures
-over successions to the property of decedents is unlimited, that
-the right to succeed is a mere statutory privilege, and that our
-lawmakers may arbitrarily grant or withhold that privilege at their
-will and discretion. It is, however, far from established that
-any such arbitrary and unrestrained power is vested in our state
-legislatures as that of denying wholly the right of inheritance or
-of testamentary disposition, or of discriminating in the regulation
-or grant of the privilege. The power to regulate the exercise of any
-right does not necessarily imply the power to deny it altogether.
-All rights of property as well as of personal liberty are subject to
-reasonable regulation, but this does not involve the power absolutely
-or arbitrarily to destroy such rights. The right of inheritance by
-children was not originally the creation of statute law at all,
-although the contrary is often assumed. It was a customary right long
-before the Conquest and prior to any statute of which we have record.
-It is treated by legal historians as "our common law of inheritance."
-In the latest authoritative history of the English law, that by Pollock
-and Maitland, the authors say<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_168" id="Page_168"></a>[Pg 168]</span> that "in calling to our aid a law of
-intestate succession, we are not invoking a modern force," and that
-"the time when no such law existed is in strictest sense a prehistoric
-time." We find that it was a right already established in every one of
-the thirteen original states at the time the national government was
-founded; that it has always existed in civilized countries, so far as
-we have any knowledge; that it was recognized in the Twelve Tables as
-a right among the Romans; that it was a right long before among the
-Egyptians, and that it pervades the Mosaic law. A distinguished writer
-declares it to be the general direction of Providence itself. And
-Chancellor Kent said that "nature and policy have equally concurred to
-introduce and maintain this primary rule of inheritance in the laws and
-usage of all civilized nations."</p>
-
-<p>The power of testamentary disposition undoubtedly developed
-as a limitation upon the right of inheritance and in order to
-prevent escheat for want of heirs. But however originating or
-evidenced&mdash;whether in old customs or in the practice of <i>post-obit</i>
-gifts&mdash;the right has been recognized from time immemorial. As
-Blackstone said in his "Commentaries," "in England this power of
-bequeathing is coeval with the first rudiments of the law, for we have
-no traces or memorials of any time when it did not exist."</p>
-
-<p>Whatever may be the general language to be found in some judicial
-decisions, and whatever may be the extreme power of our state
-legislatures in the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_169" id="Page_169"></a>[Pg 169]</span> abstract, it is hardly conceivable that any state
-would attempt to escheat or confiscate all the property of decedents to
-the exclusion of children and near relatives, or that it would wholly
-deny the right of testamentary disposition. At any rate, if escheat or
-confiscation were ever decreed, it would have to be by laws applying
-equally to all decedents, and not merely to a selected class. The
-guaranties of the fourteenth amendment would prevent any discrimination.</p>
-
-<p>But, however unlimited the power of the states may be in this regard,
-there can certainly be no doubt that it was not the intention of
-the framers of the Constitution of the United States to delegate to
-Congress the power to regulate successions to the estates of decedents
-or the privilege of testamentary disposition or inheritance. No one has
-yet seriously claimed that any such authority is within the legitimate
-sphere of the national government as contemplated by its founders.
-The power of regulating successions to the property of decedents was
-reserved to the states, and the courts would undoubtedly hold that any
-direct attempt on the part of Congress to regulate successions as such,
-or the ownership or transfer of property, was in excess of its powers.
-In dealing with successions, therefore, Congress can only exercise the
-power of taxation.</p>
-
-<p>Yet it is urged that, as Congress has the power to tax successions, it
-may under the guise of exercising that power regulate inheritances and
-thereby break up large fortunes and force a redistribution of wealth.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_170" id="Page_170"></a>[Pg 170]</span>
-In other words, the argument is that Congress may, under the cover or
-pretense of a tax law, accomplish indirectly an object which, for want
-of power, it could not accomplish directly, although the accomplishment
-of this object would constitute a deliberate encroachment upon the
-reserved rights of the states.</p>
-
-<p>There is great danger in this view, and it opens the door to abuse by
-Congress of the power of taxation. If a federal statute purports on
-its face to be a tax measure, and in fact to some extent operates to
-that end, the courts cannot ordinarily set it aside, even though the
-motive for its enactment be to accomplish an object not entrusted to
-the national government. The jurisdiction of the courts is limited.
-Legislation which seeks to effect illegitimate ends cannot always
-be nullified. The power of Congress to levy a graduated inheritance
-tax as a revenue measure would be practically unlimited unless,
-in the particular instance, the law were so extravagant, and its
-unconstitutional object so plain, as to establish beyond doubt an
-unauthorized purpose. It is not within the province of the judicial
-power to determine whether a given tax which raises revenue is
-reasonable or unreasonable, or to inquire into the motives of Congress
-in enacting the law. The courts might not, therefore, be able to set
-aside an inheritance tax law passed by Congress even if it absorbed
-fifty per cent. or more of successions, although it might be quite
-apparent that the real object of the law was to invade the province
-of the states and to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_171" id="Page_171"></a>[Pg 171]</span> regulate inheritances in clear violation of the
-spirit of the Constitution.</p>
-
-<p>Nothing could be better calculated ultimately to undermine our whole
-system of constitutional government than the idea that the courts alone
-are the guardians of the Constitution and that Congress may rightfully
-enact any statute which the courts cannot properly nullify. The truth
-is that the duty of preserving and defending the Constitution in all
-its integrity is vested in Congress and the President far more than in
-the courts, and that if Congress and the President do not observe the
-restraints and limitations imposed by the Constitution, Congress may
-pass many statutes which are unconstitutional in substance but which
-the courts cannot set aside. It is often urged that all questions of
-constitutionality should be left to the courts and not be passed upon
-by Congress or the President. The true doctrine, however, is that
-Congress should not enact and the President should not approve any
-statute which they, as the agents and representatives of the people,
-are not satisfied seeks to accomplish a legitimate end within the scope
-of some power delegated to Congress and not reserved to the states or
-to the people. They should first determine, as their oath of office
-requires, whether, according to their best judgment, the act is or is
-not constitutional. It was the distinct intention of the framers of
-the Constitution, and they so provided in express words, that every
-member of Congress, every senator and every representative, should be
-bound by oath or affirmation to support the Con<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_172" id="Page_172"></a>[Pg 172]</span>stitution, and that the
-President, especially, should be charged with the duty of preserving,
-protecting and defending it to the best of his ability. This duty
-extends not only to the letter but to the spirit of the Constitution.
-It will be a lamentable exhibition of a lack of what may well be
-termed constitutional morality if, in the debates on the pending
-measures, we shall again hear the suggestion that objects concededly
-outside the scope of any power delegated to the national government
-may nevertheless be accomplished indirectly by means of a federal
-inheritance tax, in violation of the reserved rights of the state
-governments.</p>
-
-<p>If, in framing an inheritance tax law, Congress will bear in mind
-that the regulation of successions to the property of decedents is a
-matter solely within the jurisdiction of the states and ought not to
-be usurped by the federal government, the object of raising revenue
-alone may lead to fair and reasonable taxes levied impartially upon
-all who should be called upon to pay for the support and maintenance
-of the common government whose protection they enjoy. It would then,
-perhaps, be better appreciated that the states have important and
-extensive governmental functions to perform; that they need inheritance
-taxes for the support of their governments, schools, charities, police
-and public improvements, and that any heavy federal succession taxes
-would embarrass and cripple them. It is, of course, one thing to
-resort to a federal inheritance tax as a temporary<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_173" id="Page_173"></a>[Pg 173]</span> war measure, when
-patriotism inspires ready acquiescence and willing sacrifice, and
-quite a different thing to establish such a tax as a permanent method
-of raising national revenue in times of peace and prosperity when the
-effect may be to withdraw that source of revenue from the states.</p>
-
-<p>The subject of federal income taxes remains to be considered. There is
-no doubt that any state may levy income taxes. Nor is there any doubt
-that, under the federal Constitution as it now stands, Congress may
-levy an income tax provided it be apportioned according to population
-as required in regard to all direct federal taxes. There is also no
-doubt that Congress, by means of an excise tax, may reach income
-derived from any business or profession, and that any such tax, being
-essentially an excise tax on business, need not be apportioned but
-need merely be uniform throughout the United States. For example, a
-tax on the earnings of railroads and manufacturing businesses could be
-levied without apportionment, and it would produce a large revenue. It
-would also have the advantage of tapping income at the source. A tax by
-Congress on lands and personal property as such would, no one disputes,
-be a direct tax and subject to the rule of apportionment, and a tax on
-the income of property is in substance and practical and legal effect
-the equivalent of a tax on the property itself.</p>
-
-<p>As Chief Justice Fuller said in the Income Tax cases: "The acceptance
-of the rule of apportionment was one of the compromises which made<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_174" id="Page_174"></a>[Pg 174]</span> the
-adoption of the Constitution possible, and secured the creation of that
-dual form of government, so elastic and so strong, which has thus far
-survived in unabated vigor. If, by calling a tax indirect when it is
-essentially direct, the rule of protection could be frittered away, one
-of the great landmarks defining the boundary between the nation and the
-states of which it is composed, would have disappeared, and with it one
-of the bulwarks of private rights and private property."<a id="FNanchor_61" href="#Footnote_61" class="fnanchor">[61]</a></p>
-
-<p>Nor is the rule of apportionment in itself unfair, even under the
-conditions existing to-day. If a direct income tax were now levied and
-duly apportioned among the states according to population as required
-by the Constitution, the smaller states would pay comparatively
-little and the more populous and richer states would have to bear
-what would seem to be their full share of national taxation. New
-York would then have to pay approximately ten per cent. of such a
-tax, Pennsylvania eight per cent., Illinois six per cent., Ohio five
-per cent., whilst Nevada would pay only one-twentieth of one per
-cent. and Delaware one-quarter of one per cent., although these two
-states have a representation in the Senate equal to that of New York
-and Pennsylvania. Indeed, ten states would have to pay more than
-one-half of any direct tax, leaving the balance to be divided among
-the remaining thirty-six states according to their population. On the
-other<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_175" id="Page_175"></a>[Pg 175]</span> hand, if a graduated income tax such as is now proposed were
-levied without regard to apportionment, and all incomes of $4,000 and
-under were exempted, the effect would be to cast more than ninety per
-cent. of the entire tax upon the inhabitants of less than one-third of
-the states.</p>
-
-<p>Nearly twelve years have passed since the decision of the Income Tax
-cases, and there has been ample time to amend the Constitution if
-the people had so desired. But, instead of submitting an amendment
-such as was introduced in the House of Representatives last week, it
-is suggested by some that an attempt should be made to disregard or
-circumvent the Constitution as interpreted by the Supreme Court and to
-speculate on the change of its personnel and the chance of different
-views on the part of new incumbents. Surely, the simpler and wiser
-course would be to ascertain the wishes of the people in the manner
-provided by the Constitution. Assuming, as is so frequently asserted,
-that the people generally want a federal income tax, ratification of an
-amendment can be readily secured. The Congress, by a vote of two-thirds
-of both houses, can at once propose the necessary amendment, which will
-become effective when ratified by three-fourths of the states. The
-ratification can probably be secured in less than six months if there
-really exists any general sentiment in favor of such an amendment, for
-more than three-fourths of the state legislatures meet this winter. If
-deemed necessary, conventions could be called to meet within a few<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_176" id="Page_176"></a>[Pg 176]</span>
-months. In any event, the delay ought not to exceed fourteen months.</p>
-
-<p>No student of our institutions can doubt that amendments to the
-Constitution will soon be thought necessary, and that such amendments
-will be submitted to the people. Our political system has not ceased
-to grow. Conditions are constantly changing, and powers which were
-adequate for the government of a federation of agricultural states may
-become insufficient for the necessities of the national government of a
-highly commercial and manufacturing people, with world-wide interests.
-Mr. Root's eloquent speech last night before the Pennsylvania Society
-has shown us how inevitably and irresistibly we are tending toward
-centralization. But it is mischievous and dangerous for the people to
-be taught that there is great or insurmountable difficulty in securing
-amendments to the Constitution in order to supply its defects or to
-meet changed conditions and that they must therefore accomplish their
-wishes by indirect means or by perverting delegated powers. The future
-contentment of the American people requires that they shall feel that
-they may readily, and are at liberty to, amend their organic law
-according to their mature judgment whenever they deem it necessary to
-do so. All that can be asked is that they shall act deliberately in the
-manner provided by the Constitution and under circumstances calculated
-to afford time and opportunity for error to be exposed, for theorizing
-and clamor and prejudice to exhaust themselves and "for the sober
-second thought of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_177" id="Page_177"></a>[Pg 177]</span> every part of the country to be asserted." If, then,
-it be determined to give to the national government the power to levy
-income taxes without apportionment, or to control successions to the
-estates of decedents, or any other power, the will of the sovereign
-people will have to be obeyed. But let us hope that when amendments are
-adopted they will be conservative and wise, that the reserved powers
-of the states will not be heedlessly curtailed to the embarrassment of
-the states, and that it will be appreciated that local self-government
-is still essential to the perpetuation of our republican and federal
-institutions.</p>
-
-
-
-<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_59" href="#FNanchor_59" class="label">[59]</a> Address delivered before the National Civic Federation at
-its annual meeting held in New York, December 13, 1906.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_60" href="#FNanchor_60" class="label">[60]</a> Constitutional Limitations, 7th ed., p. 705.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_61" href="#FNanchor_61" class="label">[61]</a> 157 United States Reports, p. 583.</p></div></div>
-
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_178" id="Page_178"></a>[Pg 178]</span></p>
-<div class="chapter">
-<h2 class="nobreak" id="THE_DUTY_OF_CITIZENSHIP62">THE DUTY OF CITIZENSHIP<a id="FNanchor_62" href="#Footnote_62" class="fnanchor">[62]</a></h2>
-</div>
-
-
-<p class="drop">A<span class="uppercase">t</span> the outset of our deliberations, Republican delegates, it may be
-interesting to recall the circumstances of two prior national campaigns
-in which political symptoms and dissensions were quite analogous to
-those existing to-day. When the Republican state convention met in
-1880, and again in 1896, the outlook for the success of the Republican
-party had for a time been discouraging. In each of these campaigns
-there were many who feared that the party had been disrupted and that
-its usefulness might be coming to an end. In each campaign a wave
-of false doctrine, sentimentality and prejudice threatened to drown
-reason amid the prevailing excitement, clamor and declamation. But in
-each courage and soberness came before November, and the common sense,
-honesty, sanity and patriotism of the American people supported the
-sound principles and policies of national and constitutional government
-for which the Republican party stands.</p>
-
-<p>During the first three months of the political campaign of 1880,
-it seemed as though the Democratic candidate would be elected.
-The nomination of General Hancock had been received with great<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_179" id="Page_179"></a>[Pg 179]</span>
-demonstrations of enthusiasm. He was personally attractive and
-popular, and at the outset little attention was paid to the fact that
-the platform of his party was radical and had declared in favor of
-"a tariff for revenue only" with the consequent abandonment of the
-protective system. The Republicans were not united; in some states they
-were hopelessly divided. The defection was certain to be large. In many
-Republican states the Greenback party, with its financial and social
-heresies, had increased enormously in strength, and it had nominated a
-national ticket. Maine had been carried in September by a combination
-of Greenbackers and Democrats. In November the Republican party was
-to lose New Jersey, California and Nevada, and, for the first time
-since the Civil War, it would fail to receive any electoral votes from
-the states south of Mason and Dixon's line. Yet Garfield was elected
-by 214 electoral votes against 155 for Hancock. New York, which had
-gone Democratic in 1876 with a plurality of 32,700, went Republican in
-1880 with a plurality of 21,000. Thus we see that, although there was
-then schism and dissension in the Republican ranks, and although the
-party lost Maine in September and New Jersey, California and Nevada in
-November, as well as every southern state, its candidates nevertheless
-were elected.</p>
-
-<p>A consideration of the circumstances of the campaign of 1896 will
-prove even more instructive and encouraging. The Republican party was
-then divided and threatened with ruin by defections.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_180" id="Page_180"></a>[Pg 180]</span> The leaders in
-the national convention at St. Louis had courageously refused to bend
-to the demands and threats of a numerous minority, who were urging a
-radical platform and a radical candidate. A large number of Republicans
-had bolted, and they were loudly proclaiming that they alone
-represented the true and overwhelming sentiment of the party. According
-to them all else was fraudulent, and all who did not agree with them
-were accused of having been corrupted by the moneyed interests. It was
-evident that this faction had set out to rule or ruin their party,
-and, having failed to coerce it, were determined to overthrow it. They
-organized a new party, which they called the National Silver party;
-they assembled in convention at St. Louis amid excitement and posing
-and virtuous homilies about reformation and social uplift quite similar
-to those which we have heard during the past summer; they prophesied
-the death of the Republican party for its alleged betrayal of the
-people, and they proceeded to endorse the candidacy and views of Mr.
-Bryan. The Populist party, likewise largely composed of dissatisfied
-and discontented Republicans, held its national convention at St.
-Louis, went through similar political performances and emotional
-displays, and endorsed the Democratic candidate.</p>
-
-<p>It would be difficult to exaggerate the enthusiasm in 1896 for Mr.
-Bryan. I comment upon it now in order that comparisons may be made and
-the lesson appreciated. Wherever he moved, immense and excited throngs
-pressed about him and wildly<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_181" id="Page_181"></a>[Pg 181]</span> cheered his utterances. Much of the
-character of the present campaign was then in evidence. Bryan preached
-a social reformation and a crusade against established institutions,
-constitutional government and the supremacy of the law. He played
-upon envy, discontent and cupidity. He attracted to his standard the
-remnants of Coxey's "army," which two years before had marched to
-Washington, calling itself the "Army of the Commonweal of Christ." In
-our country such movements frequently mask in the robes of religion.
-Bryan denounced the President then in office. He assailed our judicial
-system, including the Supreme Court of the United States. He posed as
-a knight-errant and crusader who sought to uplift the poor and redress
-the wrongs of the nation. He repeated all the exploded claptrap of
-demagogues. And his eloquence, together with his apparent sincerity,
-made him a most dangerous candidate, far more dangerous than are our
-opponents of to-day.</p>
-
-<p>The combination of Democrats and former Republicans in 1896 was more
-formidable than if their vote had been divided and the discontented
-Republicans, Populists and Silverites had nominated a separate ticket.
-It would have been easier to defeat a divided enemy. Plurality and not
-majority in each state determines the choice of presidential electors,
-although a majority of the electors is necessary to elect a President.
-The situation was very critical because the times were hard, many good
-reasons for discontent existed, thousands<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_182" id="Page_182"></a>[Pg 182]</span> of workmen in every state
-were unemployed, and agitators and demagogues found ready response to
-their appeals in the hearts of men who were suffering from hunger.</p>
-
-<p>Yet, even under such conditions, the defense of constitutional
-government and established institutions was safe in the hands of the
-thoughtful, sober and patriotic people of the country. A complete
-revulsion of public feeling took place before November. The Democratic
-party, which four years before had carried the nation with a plurality
-of 381,000 and the state of New York with a plurality of 45,500, was
-defeated by the Republican candidate with a plurality of nearly 604,000
-in the nation and over 268,000 in the state. McKinley received 271
-electoral votes against 176 for Bryan. That great success was secured
-in the face of the fact that ten western states which are normally
-Republican went Democratic; in other words, the Republican candidates
-were triumphantly elected in 1896 although Colorado, Kansas, Idaho,
-Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, South Dakota, Utah, Washington and Wyoming
-all cast their electoral votes for Mr. Bryan.</p>
-
-<p>The task of the Republican party in these prior campaigns was to bring
-home to the people the vital importance to them of the issues of
-those campaigns. Similarly our task in this campaign is to convince
-the voters of the country that they are again called upon to preserve
-the industrial system upon which the wages, income and property of
-millions<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_183" id="Page_183"></a>[Pg 183]</span> of American citizens are based, as well as to defend the
-constitutional representative government under which for more than a
-century we have maintained political, religious and individual liberty
-and have prospered beyond all nations.</p>
-
-<p>At the beginning of this campaign and until recently many Republicans
-were disheartened. The menace to our institutions and future in the
-possible success of the Progressive party and the re-election of
-ex-President Roosevelt seemed as portentous as was the menace of
-Bryanism in 1896, in 1900 and in 1908. To some, therefore, it seemed
-at first as if it might be their patriotic duty to vote the Democratic
-ticket. Patriotism is ever more than party. But these Republicans now
-realize the folly of that course and the certainty that the Republican
-party will maintain its solidarity. We see clearly that the candidacy
-of Mr. Roosevelt is doomed to defeat, and that only a desire to work
-injury to the Republican party continues the campaign of the so-called
-Progressives.</p>
-
-<p>I have examined the published record as to contested seats in the
-national convention of the Republican party at Chicago, and I have
-endeavored to ascertain all of the facts. I believe that I have done
-so. In my judgment no fair-minded person who will take the trouble to
-read the evidence, who will look impartially at the facts and candidly
-seek to discover the truth, can doubt the fairness of the procedure
-or the correctness of the decisions. Most of the contests were wholly
-unjustifiable, if<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_184" id="Page_184"></a>[Pg 184]</span> not fraudulent, and had to be abandoned. Indeed,
-it was shamelessly boasted by a well-known newspaper that the great
-majority of the contests had been gotten up in order to create a
-psychological effect, which, I take it, among plain people would mean
-the deliberate creation of a false impression. I will read you the
-language of one of the exemplars of the class of reformers who are too
-virtuous to remain in the Republican party and who profess to teach
-the people of this country political morality. The "Washington Times"
-contains the following in its issue of June 9, 1912: "For psychological
-effect as a move in practical politics it was necessary for the
-Roosevelt people to start contests on these early Taft selections in
-order that a tabulation of delegate strength could be put out that
-would show Roosevelt holding a good hand. In the game a table showing
-Taft 150, Roosevelt 19, contested 1, would not be very much calculated
-to inspire confidence, whereas, one showing Taft 23, Roosevelt 19,
-contested 127, looked very different. That is the whole story of the
-large number of southern contests that were started early in the game.
-It was never expected that they would be taken very seriously. They
-served a useful purpose, and now the national committee is deciding
-them in favor of Taft in most cases without real division."</p>
-
-<p>Of the 238 contests finally filed on behalf of ex-President Roosevelt,
-164 were abandoned. The contests which were not abandoned were decided
-on their merits. After studying the facts, I am con<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_185" id="Page_185"></a>[Pg 185]</span>vinced that the
-Taft delegates were legally and morally entitled to their seats.
-Unfortunately, the record is voluminous, and few will take the time or
-trouble to read the evidence. The cry of fraud is misleading many. But
-surely when such men as Senator Root and the presidents of Columbia
-and Cornell universities declare their conviction of the integrity of
-the procedure and of the decisions, we may well rest satisfied. In
-his speech notifying President Taft of his renomination, Senator Root
-said that neither in the facts nor in the arguments produced before
-the national committee, the committee on credentials, the convention
-itself, or otherwise, did there appear to be any just ground for
-impeaching the honesty and good faith of the decisions of the national
-committee. He further declared to President Taft that his title to
-the nomination was "as clear and unimpeachable as the title of any
-candidate of any party since political conventions began." Senator
-Root's high character, his great services to the nation and to the
-party, and his lofty sense of personal honor and responsibility,
-entitle him to have his word and his opinion under such circumstances
-unqualifiedly accepted by the people of the state of New York.</p>
-
-<p>The preference of the majority of the national convention being
-clearly for President Taft, should this majority nevertheless have
-cast him aside and nominated Mr. Roosevelt because of threats of
-disruption of the party similar to those of 1896, or because in a few
-states ex-President Roosevelt had<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_186" id="Page_186"></a>[Pg 186]</span> secured a larger primary vote than
-President Taft in hasty contests in which misrepresentation undoubtedly
-had led many astray? What course did patriotism dictate to the majority
-of the delegates? Ought they to have surrendered, and, because of
-clamor and threats of disruption of the party, put aside their own
-preferences and instructions for President Taft and nominated Mr.
-Roosevelt? There were reasons why this course would have been an act of
-folly as well as of injustice.</p>
-
-<p>In the first place, the nomination of an ex-President of the United
-States for a third term would have been in violation of an unwritten
-rule established by Washington, Jefferson, Madison and Monroe, and
-followed ever since. The Republican party which, as a matter of sound
-principle and political ethics, had refused in 1880 to nominate
-ex-President Grant for a third term, notwithstanding his transcendent
-claims to the gratitude of the nation, could not stultify itself in
-1912 by nominating ex-President Roosevelt for a third term.</p>
-
-<p>The wisdom of maintaining this unwritten rule should be evident. The
-common sense of thoughtful, candid and patriotic men must convince them
-that nothing could be more dangerous than to permit any individual,
-however popular or eloquent, to wield the power of the presidential
-office for more than two terms. The New York convention of 1788, which
-ratified the Constitution of the United States, proposed an amendment
-to the effect "that no person shall be eligible to the office of
-President<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_187" id="Page_187"></a>[Pg 187]</span> of the United States a third time," and this undoubtedly has
-ever since been the sentiment of the people of this state, although it
-was defied in 1880 when an attempt was made to force the nomination of
-ex-President Grant for a third term, notwithstanding the fact that only
-five years before the Republican state convention had declared in its
-platform "our unalterable opposition to the election of any president
-for a third term."</p>
-
-<p>There is not time to discuss the genesis or wisdom of this unwritten
-rule of political policy, which had never been violated by any
-political party until the nomination of ex-President Roosevelt by the
-Progressives. It is now pretended that there never was any such rule or
-principle of political policy and that Washington and Jefferson were
-governed solely by considerations of their own personal convenience.
-Three quotations from Jefferson's writings ought to be sufficient to
-explode this pretense. I take Jefferson because he is now one of the
-patron saints of the Progressive as well as of the Democratic party.</p>
-
-<p>In January, 1805, shortly after his re-election, Jefferson declared as
-follows: "General Washington set the example of voluntary retirement
-after eight years. I shall follow it. And a few more precedents will
-oppose the obstacle of habit to any one after awhile who shall endeavor
-to extend his term. Perhaps it may beget a disposition to establish
-it by an amendment of the Constitution. I believe I am doing right,
-therefore, in pursuing my prin<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_188" id="Page_188"></a>[Pg 188]</span>ciple." Again in 1807 he wrote to the
-legislature of Vermont: "I should unwillingly be the person who,
-disregarding the sound precedent set by an illustrious predecessor,
-should furnish the first example of prolongation beyond the second
-term of office." And fourteen years afterwards, in 1821, he published
-his "Autobiography," in which he said: "The example of four Presidents
-voluntarily retiring at the end of their eighth year, and the progress
-of public opinion that the principle is salutary, have given it in
-practice the force of precedent and usage; insomuch, that, should a
-President consent to be a candidate for a third election, I trust he
-would be rejected on this demonstration of ambitious views."</p>
-
-<p>But aside from all principle and precedent, the promises deliberately
-made by ex-President Roosevelt to the people of the United States
-rendered his candidacy impossible without what seems to many a breach
-of faith. The facts speak for themselves.</p>
-
-<p>On the 8th of November, 1904, President Roosevelt expressed to the
-people of the United States gratitude for his election, and appealed
-to them for their support and confidence during his second term,
-undoubtedly having in mind President McKinley's example in 1901, when
-he had declared that he would not accept a nomination for a third term
-if it were tendered him, and had pointed out that there were "questions
-of the greatest importance before the administration and the country,
-and their just consideration should not be prejudiced<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_189" id="Page_189"></a>[Pg 189]</span> in the public
-mind by even the suspicion of the thought of a third term." President
-Roosevelt's language in 1904 was as follows: "On the 4th of March
-next I shall have served three and one-half years, and this three and
-one-half years constitutes my first term. The wise custom which limits
-the President to two terms regards the substance and not the form.
-Under no circumstances will I be a candidate for or accept another
-nomination." In December, 1907, he reiterated this declaration, and
-added the following words: "I have not changed and shall not change
-the decision thus announced." Yet on February 24, 1912, he gave to the
-press a letter in which he said: " I will accept the nomination for
-President if it is tendered to me, and I will adhere to this decision
-until the convention has expressed its preference."</p>
-
-<p>The statesman who had thus pledged his word could not break his promise
-to the people without sacrificing the good opinion of many citizens.
-And if the Republican national convention had joined ex-President
-Roosevelt in a repudiation of these solemn promises, it would have
-alienated a large body of voters who still hold in reverence the names
-and examples of Washington, Jefferson, Madison and Monroe, and who
-still believe in political consistency and morality, and it would have
-put the party on the defensive throughout the campaign upon an issue
-of plain and simple morals. The Republican party, moreover, could not
-afford&mdash;in fact it would have been hopeless&mdash;to ask for<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_190" id="Page_190"></a>[Pg 190]</span> the continued
-support of the country on any such terms.</p>
-
-<p>Another reason why the majority in the Chicago convention should not
-have cast aside President Taft and nominated ex-President Roosevelt
-was because to have done so would have been an act of political
-treachery, ingratitude and dishonor. President Taft had earned and
-deserved renomination for great and faithful service to the nation and
-to the party. The custom generally followed had been to renominate
-a President who had served well and capably. The Republicans of New
-York had unanimously proclaimed in their platform of 1910, when
-ex-President Roosevelt himself controlled the state convention and
-dictated its policy: "We enthusiastically indorse the progressive
-and statesmanlike leadership of William Howard Taft, and declare our
-pride in the achievements of his first eighteen months as President of
-the United States. Each succeeding month since his inauguration has
-confirmed the nation in its high esteem of his greatness of character,
-intellectual ability, sturdy common sense, extraordinary patience and
-perseverance, broad and statesmanlike comprehension of public questions
-and unfaltering and unswerving adherence to duty." And nothing had
-occurred during the months intervening between this state convention
-and the national convention to shake that high and just estimate of
-the character and ability of President Taft. He had consented to
-run when he believed he could rely on the loyalty of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_191" id="Page_191"></a>[Pg 191]</span> Mr. Roosevelt
-as his friend, and subsequent withdrawal would have been a personal
-humiliation.</p>
-
-<p>In practical achievements, President Taft's administration had been
-notably successful and efficient, although not spectacular. It may
-be asserted with confidence that the laws enacted by Congress never
-had been administered more effectively, honestly and impartially
-than under President Taft. Without turmoil or agitation, and without
-threatening Congress, he had accomplished more in three and one-third
-years than his immediate predecessor in seven and one-half years. He
-had shown a consistent policy of real progressiveness and constructive
-statesmanship. In every branch of government he had confirmed President
-Roosevelt's panegyric of 1908, when he urged the American people to
-elect Mr. Taft because of his pre-eminent qualifications for the office
-of President of the United States.</p>
-
-<p>It may be true that after eighteen years of unselfish devotion and
-conspicuously efficient and faithful service to the American public,
-as solicitor general, United States circuit judge, governor of the
-Philippines, secretary of war and President of the United States,
-Mr. Taft had failed to secure popularity with the thoughtless, the
-discontented and the revolutionary, and with that part of the press
-that lives on sensationalism and muck-raking. But such popularity
-should hardly be the test of qualification for the great office of
-President of the United States. We know that Lincoln was so unpopular
-with the unthinking and impatient in 1864 that<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_192" id="Page_192"></a>[Pg 192]</span> he despaired of
-re-election and that he expected defeat at the polls unless the army
-could save the day and change public opinion by some striking successes.</p>
-
-<p>Popularity with the unreasoning and discontented was easily within the
-reach of President Taft had he sought it. In view of the prestige of
-his high office and the reverence it commands, he had only to practice
-the well-known arts of the demagogue by which crowds are stirred and
-led astray&mdash;as well known to him as to all who read history. He had
-only to issue from time to time high-sounding declarations about his
-staunch patriotism, his own virtue, his uncompromising veracity, his
-self-sacrificing loyalty to duty, the infallibility of his judgment,
-the purity of his motives, and the corruption and mendacity of his
-adversaries. He had only to rail at corporations, at the builders of
-the industries of the country and at bankers and capitalists, in order
-to secure the applause of envy and discontent. He had only to inveigh
-against predatory wealth to become at once the idol of predatory
-poverty. But his self-respect would not allow him to stoop so low and
-to pander to what is weakest, if not basest, in human nature, and his
-sense of duty would not permit him thus to degrade the great office of
-President of the United States.</p>
-
-<p>The ingratitude of republics is proverbial; yet surely it would have
-been an unparalleled act of ingratitude for President Taft's own party
-to refuse him the renomination he had earned and deserved.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_193" id="Page_193"></a>[Pg 193]</span> The lesson
-that the repudiation of President Taft by his own party would have
-taught the country and future generations would have been demoralizing.
-It would have constituted a warning to all our present and future
-public officers that with us Americans conspicuously efficient and
-faithful public service goes for naught, and that Republican public
-officers, from the President of the United States down to the lowest,
-must not expect to be judged by their acts, ability and character, but
-as they have succeeded in cultivating the applause of the unthinking.</p>
-
-<p>The great issues before the people in the present critical campaign,
-however, are far more important than the personal qualifications,
-claims, or merits of the candidates. These issues are: (1) the
-constitutional right and power of Congress to protect American
-industries and to preserve our present industrial system; (2) the
-threatened overthrow of the representative system of government in
-state and nation by the introduction of the initiative, the referendum
-and the recall, and (3) the assault upon the administration of justice
-in American courts.</p>
-
-<p>Upon the tariff question, there is an irreconcilable difference between
-the principles of the Republican party and those of the Democratic
-party. The one insists that it is the legitimate duty and function of
-Congress in levying taxes to protect American industries and wages,
-whilst the other insists that Congress has neither the right nor the
-power under the federal Constitution to do so. I shall assume<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_194" id="Page_194"></a>[Pg 194]</span> that
-political platforms, although they may not be binding programmes,
-certainly are intended to embody a declaration of the political faith
-and principles in which the respective candidates believe and which
-they intend to represent. If this be not so, then why are platforms
-adopted?</p>
-
-<p>The platform of the Republican party unqualifiedly pledges the party
-and its candidates to a protective tariff with duties so adjusted
-as adequately to protect American industries and wages. It concedes
-that readjustments must be made and that excessive rates should be
-reduced, but it insists that, in order to do so intelligently and
-fairly, correct information is indispensable. It favors securing
-this information by an expert commission and a non-partisan tariff
-board. It seeks the withdrawal of the tariff from politics in order
-that each industry may be dealt with on its merits by non-partisan
-commissions. It indicts the Democratic party for its refusal to
-provide funds for the continuance of such a tariff board and for the
-reckless and sectional tariff bills passed by the Democratic House
-of Representatives which wholly disregard the protection of American
-interests.</p>
-
-<p>Senator Root declared at the national convention that the Democratic
-party did not want to ascertain the facts upon which a just protective
-measure could be framed, but intended that there should be no
-protection for American industries, and he further declared that the
-Democratic House of Representatives had framed and passed a series
-of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_195" id="Page_195"></a>[Pg 195]</span> tariff bills for revenue only with complete indifference to the
-absolute destruction that their enactment would bring upon great
-American industries. He asserted that "the American people have now
-to pass, not upon the abuses of the tariff, but on the fundamental
-question between the two systems of tariff-making."</p>
-
-<p>This challenge the Democratic party met and answered in the first
-and cardinal plank adopted by its national convention at Baltimore,
-which pledged the party and its candidates to the ultimate attainment
-of the principles of free trade, because of the absence of power
-in the Congress of the United States to protect American labor and
-American industries. The plank reads as follows: "We declare it to
-be a fundamental principle of the Democratic party that the federal
-government, under the Constitution, has no right or power to impose or
-collect tariff duties except for the purpose of revenue." And there can
-be no doubt that this declaration was assumed not only to represent the
-present free-trade policy of the Democratic party but to be in full
-accord with Governor Wilson's personal views as an out-and-out free
-trader.</p>
-
-<p>The people of the United States are, therefore, now asked by the
-Democratic party to vote in favor of the proposition that, no matter
-what foreign competition there may be, even from Asiatics, the American
-national government has neither the <i>right</i> nor the <i>power</i> to protect
-a single industry or a single workman. Such a proposition may well
-amaze<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_196" id="Page_196"></a>[Pg 196]</span> and delight foreign countries, and no wonder they all desire the
-success of the Democratic party. Every other national government not
-only has the power to protect its industries, but has again and again
-exercised that power whenever the interests of its people demanded
-protection. The power in one form or another is being exercised to-day
-against American products by almost every government in the world,
-including the colonies of England, as witness Canada. The power would
-be exercised by England again to-morrow if it should appear to be for
-her interest to do so. Yet, no matter that our factories may be closed
-and our wage-earners thrown out of work as in 1894, 1895 and 1896,
-no matter how easily Europe and Asia could make our country their
-dumping-ground and could make a prey of our necessities after closing
-our workshops and destroying our industries, no matter how beneficial
-to all classes it may be to have a diversity of industries&mdash;the
-Democratic party, nevertheless, proclaims that our national government
-is powerless, and that there is neither the <i>right</i> nor the <i>power</i> to
-enact a tariff except for revenue.</p>
-
-<p>We Republicans firmly believe that if there be one feature or element
-of right and power within the spirit and scope of the Constitution of
-the United States, and clearly vested in Congress, it is the right
-and power to impose duties for the purpose of protecting American
-industries and American labor. The very first tariff act, approved
-July 4, 1789, one hundred and twenty-three years ago,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_197" id="Page_197"></a>[Pg 197]</span> declared that
-one of its purposes, one of its objects, one of its inducing motives,
-was "the encouragement and protection of manufactures." Washington
-approved and signed that bill. Presidents Washington, Jefferson,
-Madison and Monroe&mdash;all of them of the generation that framed the
-federal Constitution&mdash;recognized the existence of the power to protect
-and recommended the protection of American industries. But the American
-people are now asked in 1912 to vote for a party and a platform which
-repudiate both the <i>right</i> and the <i>power</i> of Congress to protect
-American workmen, farmers and manufacturers.</p>
-
-<p>It is impossible in this outline of issues adequately to discuss
-the principles and policy of a protective tariff. The details of
-that important and vital subject must be taken up and analyzed at
-other times. Generalizations would be of little value. The facts are
-readily at hand, and they demonstrate that the material welfare of the
-country and of nearly every class and section has been promoted by the
-protective policy, and it will continue to be so promoted. Although we
-may now be willing to face free competition with Europeans, we cannot
-be blind to the menace and danger of free competition with Asiatics.
-Just across the Pacific ocean, with constantly cheapening freight and
-passenger rates, are populations of 50,000,000 in Japan, 450,000,000 in
-China, 300,000,000 in India&mdash;800,000,000&mdash;who will furnish efficient
-labor at wages ranging from 10 to 30 cents a day for twelve hours' work
-on<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_198" id="Page_198"></a>[Pg 198]</span> the same kind of machines at which American men and women are now
-working. Shall we open the flood-gates? Shall we elect as President
-the historian who, but a few years ago in the quiet and impartial
-atmosphere of his study, declared to the world his sympathy for needy
-Asiatics and his opinion that "the Chinese were more to be desired,
-as workmen if not as citizens, than most of the coarse crew that came
-crowding in every year at the eastern ports"?</p>
-
-<p>This generation has had one bitter experience of Democratic tariff
-legislation. In 1892, the Democratic party was, for the first time in
-thirty-two years, placed in control of both houses of Congress and the
-presidency. It came into office committed to free trade, as it would
-now again come into office pledged to free trade. It passed the Wilson
-bill in August, 1894, and thereby took its first step towards the
-abandonment of the policy of protection for American industries. There
-followed, principally as the direct result of this Democratic tariff
-legislation and the antecedent menace, an acute period of industrial
-and financial depression. I had supposed that the fateful years 1894,
-1895 and 1896 would never be forgotten by those who suffered through
-them. As Governor Wilson himself well said in his "History of the
-American People," in describing this period of misery: "Men of the
-poorer sort were idle everywhere, and filled with a sort of despair.
-All the large cities and manufacturing towns teemed with unemployed
-workingmen who were with the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_199" id="Page_199"></a>[Pg 199]</span> utmost difficulty kept from starvation
-by the systematic efforts of organized charity." This was also a time
-of unprecedented social unrest and discontent and of Coxey's ragged
-"Army of the Commonweal of Christ" crying for food and work. It was a
-period of misery and depression, of popular discontent and disturbance,
-of strikes, riots, destruction of property, murder and maiming in
-industrial disputes. No one could deny, as the historian pointed out,
-that the country had fallen upon evil times and that American workmen
-found it harder than ever to live.</p>
-
-<p>We have only to recall to the people's minds the conditions of
-unemployment, poverty and misery which followed the last tariff
-legislation of the Democratic party, and compare conditions as
-they exist to-day. The people of this country will make a terrible
-mistake and a frightful blunder if they now vote to run the risk of a
-repetition of those days under the delusion that the currency system of
-the government was the cause of the business depression and misery that
-followed immediately upon the election of Cleveland in 1892 and the
-passage of the Wilson tariff law in 1894.</p>
-
-<p>Many are now telling the people that the tariff is solely responsible
-for the high cost of living and for the prevalence of social unrest
-and discontent. Such phenomena are world-wide and exist abroad as
-much as, if not more than, they exist here. In England, which has
-no protective tariff, the complaint against the high cost of living
-has been even louder than here. The real causes of the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_200" id="Page_200"></a>[Pg 200]</span> increase in
-the cost of living with us undoubtedly are: (1) enormous increase in
-the world's supply of gold, necessarily diminishing the purchasing
-value of the dollar, for the world's gold production, which from
-1850 to 1890 averaged $120,000,000 per annum and was $130,650,000 in
-1891, increased to fully $461,000,000 in 1911, (2) rapid increase of
-population without a corresponding increase of the production of food
-and other necessaries of life, (3) flocking to the city and abandoning
-the farm, (4) appreciation in land values, (5) increase in the price
-of raw materials, (6) higher rates of wages and decrease in the number
-of hours of work, (7) better standards of living, (8) exhaustion of
-some sources of supply, (9) extravagance in public expenditures, and
-(10) withdrawal of armies of civil servants from productive industry.
-These are the principal and controlling causes that tend to the higher
-cost of living; they are world-wide, and, if explained, they will be
-easily understood and recognized by intelligent and candid business
-men and workmen, who will at once perceive that these causes will not
-be removed in any degree by free-trade legislation. Last year serious
-disturbances occurred in Europe as a result of the prevailing high cost
-of food supplies there, and the British board of trade is now making an
-investigation into the cost of living, not only in England but also in
-Germany, France and Belgium. In fact, an international commission is at
-this moment inquiring into these causes. How preposterous it would be
-to say that the American protective<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_201" id="Page_201"></a>[Pg 201]</span> tariff was the cause of the high
-cost of living in free-trade England or elsewhere in Europe!</p>
-
-<p>Nor is the protective tariff in any sense responsible for the spirit of
-social unrest and discontent except, perhaps, in so far as prosperity
-begets discontent and multiplies appetites. Throughout the civilized
-world in recent years there has developed a spirit of social unrest and
-discontent, of disregard of law, and of disrespect for moral principles
-and religious beliefs. To those who look below the surface, it is more
-and more evident that this world-wide symptom is due, in greatest
-measure, to the spread of Socialism. According to the teachings of
-the Socialists, avowed or unavowed (for many who are preaching its
-doctrines would resent being called Socialists), our entire social
-system and the system of laws under which we live are unjust and should
-be upset, property rights should be destroyed, and religious beliefs,
-which are the principal source of our respect for law and order and the
-rights of property, should be broken down. As an American student and
-writer has said, a single passage from Liebknecht stands fairly for
-opinions that may be quoted from twenty authoritative socialist sources
-in Europe. That passage is as follows: "It is our duty as Socialists
-to root out the faith in God with all our zeal, nor is any one worthy
-the name who does not consecrate himself to the spread of atheism." I
-believe that few American Socialists have gone to any such extreme,
-but such has certainly been the tendency and teaching of Socialism in
-Europe.</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_202" id="Page_202"></a>[Pg 202]</span></p>
-
-<p>Unfortunately the atmosphere of the present campaign is calculated
-to obscure and hide the true issues in controversy and the real
-danger that lurks under so much noise, declamation and enthusiasm.
-An avowed assault and an open declaration of war on society, on our
-form of government, or on our courts of justice would bring the points
-so clearly before the American people that none of us could for a
-moment doubt the outcome. We Republicans would hail and welcome an
-open attack, because we know that the people would then quickly and
-overwhelmingly rally to the support of our party. The more openly
-constitutional government and our social system are attacked, the more
-strongly will they become cemented in the affection and reverence of
-the people.</p>
-
-<p>Most of our political and social institutions which are now being
-assailed as antiquated are founded on truths which ought ever to be
-self-evident. These truths sound trite, but "trite truths are often the
-most valuable truths, though sometimes divested of force by their very
-triteness." We are constantly hearing talk about the principles of the
-Constitution being antiquated in the eyes of these modern iconoclasts,
-and the other day a leader of the Progressives in this state, who is
-himself a lawyer, referring to the Progressive judicial nominations
-boasted that they had selected men who did not believe in a "dead
-constitution." Yet these candidates are ready to accept a judicial
-office which they could not rightly fill for a minute without tak<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_203" id="Page_203"></a>[Pg 203]</span>ing
-an oath to support the Constitution in which they do not believe.</p>
-
-<p>When a truth, be it political, moral, or religious, is once discovered
-and established, it is eternal; it loses none of its vitality because
-it has grown old; it never dies. If some religious Progressive&mdash;and our
-political Progressives affect much of the religiously emotional&mdash;should
-now preach a new religion and proclaim that existing religions and
-their restraints should be cast aside simply because they are old,
-the dullest man would readily see the utter fallacy and wickedness
-of such an argument. Imagine any one seriously arguing that the Ten
-Commandments are worthless and dead as rules of human conduct and
-self-restraint because they are four thousand years old and were first
-enunciated in an age not so rapid as our own&mdash;in an age when there
-were no printing presses, no steam engines, no electricity and no
-talking machines! Yet, so long as our civilization endures, so long
-as human intelligence lasts, so long as religion shall continue to
-comfort and sustain and uplift men and women, so long will the Ten
-Commandments be sound and true rules of conduct and the fundamental
-basis of all religions. Likewise as to the great political documents
-evidencing the progress of the human race upward towards liberty, like
-Magna Carta, the Bill of Rights, the Declaration of Independence, the
-Constitution of the United States: they embody and declare principles
-of political justice and fundamental truths which are eternal; and
-whilst<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_204" id="Page_204"></a>[Pg 204]</span> majorities at times may ignorantly and recklessly disregard
-them or cast them aside for temporary objects, they are as eternal and
-imperishable as are the Ten Commandments.</p>
-
-<p>Of the many revolutionary schemes in the Progressive platform, both
-national and state, one of the most dangerous and far-reaching is the
-proposal to destroy the representative character of our government
-by substituting direct action by the people in place of action by
-legislatures and officers elected by the people. This is to be
-accomplished through the initiative and the referendum. The movement
-is doubly important at the present time because, as is well known,
-the Democratic candidate for the presidency, after teaching directly
-the contrary for many years, has become a recent convert to these
-ideas. Although such a scheme might be beneficial or harmless in the
-little town meetings of New England, in small municipalities, or in
-agricultural states having a homogeneous population less in number
-than some of the counties of the state of New York, the initiative
-and the referendum would be wholly unsuited to an empire such as ours
-with a population of nearly 100,000,000, or to a state such as New
-York with a population of nearly 10,000,000. Would it not be absurd
-and preposterous to have the thousands of bills annually introduced
-in Congress passed upon by the people at large, and would it not be
-equally absurd and preposterous for a state like New York, passing
-hundreds of bills every year, to give a small minority<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_205" id="Page_205"></a>[Pg 205]</span> the right to
-compel the submission of every statute to the vote of the people? Would
-it not be little short of calamitous to have those least qualified to
-understand and appreciate the changes they were making pass upon and
-control legislation? The result would be chaos.</p>
-
-<p>The great men who founded our system of constitutional government were
-thoroughly familiar with the theory and operation of pure democracy
-or direct action by the people, as distinguished from representative
-government. They saw the past failures of pure democracy and the danger
-of any such system, and they deliberately declined to adopt it. In
-speaking of "the equal rights of man," Jefferson declared that "modern
-times have the signal advantage, too, of having discovered the only
-device by which these rights can be secured, to wit,&mdash;government by
-the people, acting not in person, but by representatives chosen by
-themselves."</p>
-
-<p>The plain truth is that the trouble with our legislatures and with
-Congress is the character of many of the men whom the people elect. The
-remedy is in the hands of the voters. If they will elect capable and
-honest men to legislative, executive and judicial office, we shall have
-a cure at once. We need a remedy, not a poison.</p>
-
-<p>Those who urge the introduction of the initiative, the referendum
-and the recall base their argument on the ground that some of our
-legislators and elective officers are incompetent or dishonest, and
-that, therefore, the people should reserve the right to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_206" id="Page_206"></a>[Pg 206]</span> control
-their actions and remove them. But if our legislators or other
-elective officers are incompetent or dishonest&mdash;if they are not
-truly representative of the people who elect them&mdash;then obviously
-the fault lies with those who choose them, and the remedy is to
-take such measures as will ensure the election of competent, honest
-and representative men. If the people are now too busy to concern
-themselves with the selection of honest and capable representatives,
-is it reasonable to expect that they will concern themselves about the
-merits of hundreds of statutes which they do not half understand, or
-about the qualifications of the officers they have elected and would
-recall? The fault is not with our representative system of government,
-but either with the party organizations that often nominate incompetent
-or dishonest men, or with the voters who tolerate such nominations
-and elect such candidates. Our system of government, as every system
-of free government, is based on the assumption that the people will
-conscientiously exercise the elective franchise, and unless we can
-depend upon an honest, sober-minded and patriotic majority to exercise
-that franchise, our system of government must ultimately prove a
-complete failure. The conscientious exercise of the elective franchise
-is not merely a privilege&mdash;it is the highest duty of citizenship.
-With the great increase in population, political parties and party
-organizations undoubtedly have become a practical necessity, and
-leadership is equally necessary; but it has also<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_207" id="Page_207"></a>[Pg 207]</span> become indispensable
-that these party organizations shall be conducted honestly so as to
-represent truly the wishes of their party constituents. The urgent
-duty of citizenship is to see to it that these party organizations are
-conducted honestly and in a representative manner; but this is not to
-be accomplished by disrupting or destroying the great parties. Instead
-of pulling down the temple, we should drive out the money-changers.
-Instead of killing we should cure. What we urgently need is legislation
-providing for fair and honest party primaries and facilitating
-independent candidacies, and then we should go farther and impose a
-penalty or tax upon all qualified citizens who fail to cast a ballot at
-the annual primaries and elections prescribed by law.</p>
-
-<p>The initiative, the referendum and the recall would not cure present
-evils, but would in fact only intensify and perpetuate them. The power
-and control of unrepresentative and irresponsible party machines would
-be largely increased instead of being curtailed. Better men would not
-be nominated and elected, but quite the contrary; the self-seeker,
-advertiser and manipulator alone would be nominated. The exercise of
-the initiative, the referendum and the recall would be determined by
-exactly the same people who now control our nominations and elections.
-It is absurd to suppose that the very men who so often choose incapable
-or dishonest representatives or neglect to vote at all would exercise
-greater efficiency in supervising legislation, in recalling public
-officers and judges, or in setting aside judicial decisions.</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_208" id="Page_208"></a>[Pg 208]</span></p>
-
-<p>Equally absurd is the idea of legislation by popular vote. The
-importance of framing laws and constitutional amendments in clear and
-exact language and the impracticability of doing so without careful
-consideration and discussion and comparison with existing provisions,
-as in legislative committees, must be recognized by all thinking men.
-Our system of laws is becoming more and more complex every year, and
-unavoidably so. The people at large cannot be expected to know and
-understand a great and extremely complex system of laws, and it is
-no reflection on them to say that they cannot grasp the details of
-legislation any more than it would be to say that there are few men
-in the community competent to administer as judges the unavoidably
-intricate system of laws under which we live.</p>
-
-<p>We have only to look at recent experience in the state of New York
-in regard to the adoption of constitutional amendments, the most
-important function that can be exercised by a voter, to appreciate the
-folly of the proposed remedies. The total vote for and against these
-amendments has frequently been less than one-half&mdash;and at times barely
-one-quarter&mdash;of those who actually voted at general elections. Thus,
-to take three recent experiences: the total vote cast in 1909 on an
-important constitutional amendment was only 477,105 as against a total
-vote the year before of 1,638,350; the total vote in 1910 on another
-important constitutional amendment was 664,892 as against 1,445,249
-votes for the gubernatorial candi<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_209" id="Page_209"></a>[Pg 209]</span>dates, and seven amendments submitted
-in 1911 were defeated with an average total vote of 621,678. Similar
-and even more striking experiences will be found in other states. Is
-it likely that there would be a fuller or more representative and
-intelligent expression of public understanding in regard to complex
-legislative enactments, or in regard to the recall of judges or other
-public officers, or of judicial decisions than we find now in the case
-of important constitutional amendments?</p>
-
-<p>To render judges subject to recall would be utterly destructive of
-the character and independence of our judiciary. No self-respecting
-lawyer would serve on the bench under such conditions. An upright
-judge should fearlessly declare and enforce the law without regard
-to popular agitation or political pressure. Frequently he is called
-upon to decide between the individual on the one side and a clamorous
-majority on the other side of a case before him. Take, for example,
-our situation in New York with Tammany Hall controlling a majority of
-the voters of the city. The legislature at the dictation of Mr. Murphy
-passes another infamous Levy Election Law avowedly intended to prevent
-independent nominations even for the bench. The judges declare the act
-unconstitutional and protect the minority in their rights, just as we
-saw them protecting the Progressives a few weeks ago. According to Mr.
-Roosevelt and Mr. Straus, however, Tammany Hall should have the power
-to punish these judges by recalling them and should have the right to
-pass such<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_210" id="Page_210"></a>[Pg 210]</span> disgraceful and tyrannical legislation by resort to the
-initiative and the referendum! Indeed, it is impossible to conceive
-of a scheme more surely calculated to shatter all our constitutional
-rights, as well as all certainty in the law. Chief Justice Marshall
-would have been repeatedly recalled for unpopular decisions which
-are now universally applauded even by the Progressives. Imagine the
-spectacle of recalling a Cullen or a Gray because he had dared to
-decide against the clamor or wishes of a majority controlled by Tammany
-Hall!</p>
-
-<p>I have nowhere seen a stronger statement of the objections to the
-recall of judges than in John Stuart Mill's work on "Representative
-Government," published in 1861, where he said: "If a judge could
-be removed from office by a popular vote, whoever was desirous of
-supplanting him would make capital for that purpose out of all his
-judicial decisions; would carry all of them, as far as he found
-practicable, by irregular appeal before a public opinion wholly
-incompetent, for want of having heard the case, or from having heard
-it without either the precautions or the impartiality belonging to
-a judicial hearing; would play upon popular passion and prejudice
-where they existed, and take pains to arouse them where they did not.
-And in this, if the case were interesting, and he took sufficient
-trouble, he would infallibly be successful, unless the judge or his
-friends descended into the arena, and made equally powerful appeals on
-the other side. Judges would end by feeling that they risked their<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_211" id="Page_211"></a>[Pg 211]</span>
-office upon every decision they gave in a case susceptible of general
-interest, and that it was less essential for them to consider what
-decision was just, than what would be most applauded by the public, or
-would least admit of insidious misrepresentation."</p>
-
-<p>Probably no more crude, impracticable, or absurd scheme was ever
-proposed by any one claiming to have the first and elemental ideas
-of American constitutional government than the proposition to render
-subject to recall or reversal by a majority vote all decisions in
-constitutional cases affecting statutes passed under the police power.
-The term "police power" is the most comprehensive that could have been
-employed. Most of our individual rights are covered by that term; and
-when the Progressives say that a statute passed under the police power
-shall be valid and enforceable, notwithstanding the courts may declare
-it to be arbitrary, unjust and unequal and hence unconstitutional,
-if a temporary majority see fit to overrule the courts, they
-propose that practically all the most vital and cherished of our
-supposed inalienable individual rights&mdash;our personal and religious
-liberty&mdash;shall in final result be at the mercy of any temporary
-majority. In ultimate analysis, the proposition for the recall of
-judicial decisions would mean that the majority should act as umpire in
-any dispute as between themselves and the minority.</p>
-
-<p>The hatred of the courts which the Progressives now share in common
-with the Socialists, Anarchists<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_212" id="Page_212"></a>[Pg 212]</span> and Populists, and that part of
-organized labor and labor unions typified and represented by such men
-as the McNamaras, the Debses and the Parks (who in truth shamefully
-misrepresent the great majority of law-abiding and patriotic members
-of these organizations), has forced into this campaign an unparalleled
-attack upon our judicial system and the administration of justice.</p>
-
-<p>When the New York state Progressive platform was first given to the
-press on September 3rd, the judiciary plank read as follows: "We
-heartily indorse the declarations of our national platform respecting
-the judiciary and favor their embodiment in the organic law of the
-state. We condemn the past attitude of the New York Court of Appeals
-toward various important and humane measures of social legislation."</p>
-
-<p>The unprecedented indecency of this attack upon the Court of Appeals
-immediately produced such a storm of indignation throughout the
-state that the clause appears later to have been amended so as to
-eliminate that sentence. The final form given to the public omits this
-denunciation of the highest court of our state, and confines the plank
-to the proposals of the national platform. I have time now to discuss
-only two of these planks.</p>
-
-<p>The Progressives declare in their extraordinary and revolutionary
-platform: "We believe that the issuance of injunctions in cases arising
-out of labor disputes should be prohibited, when such injunctions would
-not apply when no labor disputes existed."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_213" id="Page_213"></a>[Pg 213]</span> This should be compared
-with substantially the same declaration in the Bryan platform of 1908,
-in which the Democratic party declared: "We deem ... that injunctions
-should not be issued in any cases in which injunctions would not issue
-if no industrial dispute were involved."</p>
-
-<p>It must seem incredible that the cultured and talented man who now
-stands on the Progressive platform soliciting the votes of the people
-was the President of the United States who in a formal message to
-Congress on January 31, 1908, on the subject of injunctions in labor
-disputes, used the following language: "Even though it were possible,
-I should consider it most unwise to abolish the use of the process
-of injunction. It is necessary in order that the courts may maintain
-their own dignity, and in order that they may in an effective manner
-check disorder and violence. The judge who uses it cautiously and
-conservatively, but who, when the need arises, uses it fearlessly,
-confers the greatest service upon our people, and his pre-eminent
-usefulness as a public servant should be heartily recognized."</p>
-
-<p>During the campaign of 1908, President Roosevelt fiercely denounced
-Mr. Bryan and Mr. Gompers for the plank above quoted but which he
-has now adopted. He then wrote a long letter to Senator Knox in
-which he exposed the danger and dishonesty of this plank. It would
-be necessary to read the whole of the letter in order to appreciate
-President Roosevelt's indignation and horror that Bryan and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_214" id="Page_214"></a>[Pg 214]</span> Gompers
-should favor such a proposition. I shall quote only a few sentences as
-samples of the whole. President Roosevelt then wrote as follows: "This
-is the plank that promises the 'remedy' against injunctions which Mr.
-Gompers asked of Mr. Bryan's party. In actual fact, it means absolutely
-nothing; no change of the law could be based on it; no man without
-inside knowledge could foretell what its meaning would turn out to be,
-for no man could foretell how any judge would decide in any given case,
-as the plank apparently leaves each judge free to say when he issues
-an injunction in a labor case whether or not it is a case in which an
-injunction would issue if labor were not involved." Later the President
-continued: "Mr. Gompers, now Mr. Bryan's open and avowed ally, has,
-in the letter here quoted, attacked the federal courts in unmeasured
-terms of reproach because, by a long line of decisions, the equity
-courts have refused to make an outlaw of the business man, because his
-right to carry on a lawful business under the peace of the law has
-been protected by the process of injunction, because in a word one of
-the most vital and most fundamental rights of the business world&mdash;the
-right of a business man to carry on his business&mdash;has been sustained
-and not denied by the processes of the courts of equity. This sweeping
-attack of Mr. Gompers upon the judiciary has been made in a frank and
-open effort to secure votes for Mr. Bryan." Mr. Roosevelt concluded the
-letter as follows: "But there is another account against<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_215" id="Page_215"></a>[Pg 215]</span> Messrs. Bryan
-and Gompers in this matter. Ephraim feedeth on wind. Their proposed
-remedy is an empty sham. They are seeking to delude their followers by
-the promise of a law which would damage their country solely because
-of the vicious moral purpose that would be shown by putting it upon
-the statute books, but which would be utterly worthless to accomplish
-its avowed purpose. I have not the slightest doubt that such a law as
-that proposed by Mr. Bryan would, if enacted by Congress, be declared
-unconstitutional by a unanimous Supreme Court, unless, indeed, Mr.
-Bryan were able to pack this court with men appointed for the special
-purpose of declaring such a law constitutional."</p>
-
-<p>The Progressive plank against the power of the courts to punish for
-contempt is equally revolutionary. It declares in favor of depriving
-the courts of the power to punish for contempt except after a trial by
-jury.</p>
-
-<p>The crusade to deprive the courts of the power to punish for contempt
-began at the time of the Chicago strike of 1894 when Eugene Debs and
-his fellow-conspirators were found to be guilty of open, continued and
-defiant disobedience of an injunction order of the United States court
-which had been duly served upon them. It will be recalled by most of
-you that if the courts had not then had power to punish for contempt
-without a prior conviction by a jury&mdash;and imagine the chance of an
-impartial jury-trial during the continuance of a great riot&mdash;<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_216" id="Page_216"></a>[Pg 216]</span>the Debs
-party would have had the city of Chicago and the great railway commerce
-passing through it completely at its mercy. All who want to know the
-facts and to realize the danger from the condition of affairs then
-existing should read Mr. Cleveland's account of the strike in his book
-on "Presidential Problems," published in 1904, and the opinion of the
-Supreme Court of the United States unanimously upholding the punishment
-of Debs and his associates for contempt.</p>
-
-<p>The power of the courts to punish for contempt has, from the earliest
-history of jurisprudence and as far back as the annals of our law
-extend, "been regarded as a necessary incident and attribute of a
-court, without which it could no more exist than without a judge," and
-"a court without the power effectually to protect itself against the
-assaults of the lawless or to enforce its orders, judgments, or decrees
-against the recusant parties before it, would be a disgrace to the
-legislature, and a stigma upon the age which invented it." The Supreme
-Court of the United States declared in the Debs case that "this is
-no technical rule. In order that a court may compel obedience to its
-orders it must have the right to inquire whether there has been any
-disobedience thereof. To submit the question of disobedience to another
-tribunal, be it a jury or another court, would operate to deprive the
-proceeding of half its efficiency."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_217" id="Page_217"></a>[Pg 217]</span><a id="FNanchor_63" href="#Footnote_63" class="fnanchor">[63]</a></p>
-
-<p>The bait now offered to the lawless and misguided among the laborers
-of America by Mr. Roosevelt is the abolition of the only effective
-means of preventing violence and the destruction of property in labor
-disputes, first, by taking away from the courts the power to issue
-injunctions and, secondly, by emasculating the power to enforce
-obedience to their orders and judgments. Of course, if any such
-revolutionary and anarchistic measures were now embodied in the organic
-law of this state, as proposed by the Progressive state platform,
-the community would be placed completely at the mercy of the violent
-and the lawless. Is it not lamentable and humiliating to see an
-ex-President of the United States and an ex-member of his cabinet and
-ex-ambassador thus pandering to the mob spirit for votes?</p>
-
-<p>In conclusion, I want to add that the American people know where
-President Taft and Vice-President Sherman stand on every great question
-before the people. They have been tried and not found wanting. These
-candidates can be trusted and relied upon to keep every pledge of their
-party's platform. If anybody can now tell where Governor Wilson stands,
-except as a free trader, a radical and an opportunist, he is much
-more discerning than most of us are. The glory of our party is that
-for fifty-six years, in victory and in defeat, it and its candidates
-have stood consistently and uncompromisingly for the principles of
-human liberty and human progress. It is still the party of principle
-and of progress, as<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_218" id="Page_218"></a>[Pg 218]</span> it is the party of protection for American labor
-and industry. President Taft would be entitled to the gratitude of
-the whole nation, irrespective of party, if the only service of
-his administration had been his attempt in good faith to withdraw
-the tariff from party politics, to introduce some system in fixing
-the amount of necessary protection to be determined by experts and
-non-partisan boards, and to establish business-like methods of economy
-and efficiency in every department. Great honor, too, will the future
-historian record to his credit when recounting that in a period of
-political upheaval, of social unrest and discontent, of impatience with
-law, of pandering to revolutionary instincts, he stood as President of
-the United States firmly, uncompromisingly and sturdily for the right,
-and put all his trust and confidence in the sober second thought and
-profound patriotism of the American people, in their attachment to law
-and orderly progress, and in their determination that the American
-system of constitutional representative government "shall not perish
-from the earth."</p>
-
-
-
-<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_62" href="#FNanchor_62" class="label">[62]</a> Address as temporary chairman of the New York Republican
-State Convention, at Saratoga Springs, September 25, 1912.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_63" href="#FNanchor_63" class="label">[63]</a> 158 United States Reports, p. 594-595.</p></div></div>
-
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_219" id="Page_219"></a>[Pg 219]</span></p>
-<div class="chapter">
-<h2 class="nobreak" id="NOMINATING_CONVENTIONS64">NOMINATING CONVENTIONS<a id="FNanchor_64" href="#Footnote_64" class="fnanchor">[64]</a></h2>
-</div>
-
-
-<p class="drop">T<span class="uppercase">he</span> Direct Primary Law of 1911<a id="FNanchor_65" href="#Footnote_65" class="fnanchor">[65]</a> abolished all political conventions
-except the state convention, but the Direct Primary Law of 1913<a id="FNanchor_66" href="#Footnote_66" class="fnanchor">[66]</a>
-went further and abolished the state convention, striking the article
-on conventions and even the definition of a convention from the text
-of the law. Although the new law contains in section 45 a provision
-that nothing therein contained shall prevent a party from holding
-a party convention, to be constituted in such manner and with such
-powers in relation to formulating party platforms and policies and
-the transaction of business relating to party affairs, as the rules
-and regulations of the party may provide, not inconsistent with the
-Election Law, it was clearly the intention of its framers that such
-party conventions should not deal with the most important subject
-which parties had theretofore dealt with, namely, the nomination
-of candidates for public office. Indeed, section 46, as amended in
-1913, expressly provides that designations of candidates for party
-nominations shall be "by petition only" in the manner provided in the
-Election Law.</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_220" id="Page_220"></a>[Pg 220]</span></p>
-
-<p>The privilege of nominating elective state officers by means of
-delegate conventions thus denied by the Election Law of the state
-of New York ought, in my judgment, to be recognized as essentially
-a constitutional right, which the legislature should not be at
-liberty to abridge. The right to assemble peaceably for the purpose
-of nominating candidates is certainly a political right of permanent
-importance and vital concern to all citizens, and it should be
-guaranteed by constitutional provision and not left to abridgment or
-denial by the legislature. The present state constitution regulates
-the qualifications of voters, the registration of citizens entitled to
-vote, and the creation of registration and election boards. But it does
-not contain a single provision in regard to nominations for office,
-even for the office of governor, although nominations for state offices
-are of far greater importance to the body politic than many of the
-matters now regulated by constitutional provision or recited in the
-bill of rights. I desire to urge upon your careful consideration the
-value of nominating conventions as a constitutional right.</p>
-
-<p>The constantly increasing functions of the modern state have made
-the executive and administrative departments the most important and
-powerful branches of government, and the increasing complexity of
-governmental machinery has rendered it absolutely essential that
-competent and trained public officials should be chosen. Government
-has become an extremely difficult and scientific business, and special
-capacity, training and expert knowledge are<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_221" id="Page_221"></a>[Pg 221]</span> more and more required
-in executive and administrative office. The test of a good government
-is more than ever its ability to produce good administration. If we
-are to have efficient and avoid wasteful administration, the greatest
-care must be exercised in selecting candidates. As Governor Throop
-said nearly a century ago, "there is perhaps no part of the duties
-of citizenship which requires more sound judgment and honesty and
-singleness of purpose than those relating to the nomination and
-election of executive and administrative officers." Indeed, good
-government depends in final results much more on the ability and
-character of the men who administer it than upon laws or institutions.
-The maxim, constantly on the lips of so many, that a government of
-laws and not of men is the controlling desideratum, may be grossly
-misleading, for the best system of laws in the hands of incompetent,
-inefficient and dishonest administrators will produce far worse results
-than an inferior system in the hands of competent, efficient and honest
-public officials. The most difficult task and the highest duty that our
-electorate are ever called upon to perform is, therefore, the selection
-of candidates for elective state office. In order to perform that duty,
-it is imperative that there should be adequate and reliable means
-of information, full opportunity for conference, exchange of views,
-debate and criticism as to the capacity and character of candidates,
-and effective methods of cooperation and organization in support of
-qualified candidates.</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_222" id="Page_222"></a>[Pg 222]</span></p>
-
-<p>The selection of a governor for the great state of New York,
-containing more than 10,250,000 inhabitants and comprising a political
-constituency larger than any other in this country, is certainly a
-matter of vital and profound concern to the whole body politic, to
-every citizen, to every community, to every party, to every class, to
-every interest. If the short ballot be now adopted, the successful
-administration of the whole state government will practically be staked
-upon the selection of qualified candidates for governor. All hope of
-governmental reform, efficiency and economy will then necessarily
-depend upon the statesmanship and character of one man, who will be
-vested with full executive and administrative powers over a population
-and a territory larger than some of the nations of the world. A wise
-and safe choice will be infinitely more essential and more difficult
-than in the past. In fact, if the views of certain advocates of the
-short ballot prevail, we are to vest all this power in the governor for
-a term of four years, without restraint of any kind except his sense
-of responsibility to the people, and without any effective check upon
-his will or caprice. We should have to trust him absolutely. We should,
-in truth, have precisely the definition of an elective despotism and
-tyranny&mdash;beneficent if we are so fortunate and blessed as to secure an
-exceptionally able and high-minded statesman for governor, baneful if
-an incompetent, untrained, or scheming politician or demagogue should
-be elected. The governor would then have it<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_223" id="Page_223"></a>[Pg 223]</span> immediately within his
-power to become an absolute state boss through the use of an enormous
-and constantly increasing patronage, directly or indirectly reaching
-and touching every election district in the state. He would be able to
-break party lines asunder, to promote the interests of any group or
-faction, to punish adversaries, to cater to any class, to sacrifice
-the rights of minorities, to substitute his will or caprice for the
-policy of his party, to permit waste and extravagance, to dictate who
-should be his successor. A competent candidate for governor who would
-be so well known and tested as to be safely relied upon to resist this
-temptation would indeed be a phenomenon. If history teaches us that
-there is anything certain in human nature, if experience, which is of
-far more value than any mere reasoning or theorizing, has again and
-again demonstrated any practical and eternal truth in politics, it is
-that unrestrained power inevitably leads sooner or later to abuse and
-tyranny, and that no one official, be he emperor, king, president, or
-governor, can safely be entrusted with any such power.</p>
-
-<p>We should bear in mind that the extreme advocates of the short ballot,
-by eliminating all requirements for the approval and consent of the
-senate in regard to the appointment of heads of the great state
-departments, would make the governor supreme and independent of the
-legislature, even more independent and powerful than is the President
-under the Constitution of the United States. I sincerely<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_224" id="Page_224"></a>[Pg 224]</span> hope that
-the Convention will not make this grave mistake. The number of state
-elective officers should not be reduced to less than four, namely,
-governor, lieutenant-governor, comptroller and attorney-general. The
-comptroller should be made an auditing officer charged with supervision
-as such over the various departments of the state and independent of
-the appointing power. The attorney-general should be made the head of a
-department of justice and the responsible legal adviser of the governor
-and of every state official. And the heads of all the great departments
-should be appointed by the governor with the approval and consent of
-the senate. No governor should be given the unrestrained power to
-appoint or to remove the heads of all departments. The requirement of
-the consent of the senate is a necessary and salutary restraint upon
-all governors, good or bad. It is better and safer that governors
-should be compelled to submit to some restraints than that absolute
-power should be vested in even the best and ablest and purest of men.
-The principle of a short ballot is the decrease of elective offices,
-but not necessarily the placing of absolute and unrestrained power in
-the hands of one man.</p>
-
-<p>It is quite true that a state constitution should deal only with
-permanent and fundamental provisions and should not attempt to regulate
-matters of detail which can be adequately dealt with by ordinary
-legislation and which are in their nature and operation readily
-changeable. I am in full accord in this, as<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_225" id="Page_225"></a>[Pg 225]</span> in other respects, with
-the state platform adopted by the Republican party last year and on
-which the Republican delegates to the Constitutional Convention were
-elected. Subordinate and non-essential matters of mere regulation
-and detail ought not to be embodied in constitutions. But I venture
-to assert that in reason and sound policy there can be no more
-important, permanent, or fundamental constitutional provision than
-one relating to the manner of selecting the highest state officers
-in whom all the executive and administrative powers of our state
-government are to be vested. This is a subject eminently fit and
-proper for a constitution to regulate. If this convention cannot
-solve the problem of establishing a sound system of nomination for
-elective state offices, at least in outline and cardinal features,
-no legislature can be expected to do so. In any event, the new
-Constitution should emphatically declare that the right peaceably to
-assemble in a political convention composed of duly elected delegates
-or representatives for the purpose of nominating candidates for public
-office, state or local, should not be abridged, as it is abridged by
-the present Election Law.</p>
-
-<p>I further venture to assert that the question of nominating candidates
-by delegate conventions involves in its essence the perpetuation of
-the fundamental principles of representative government and of the
-republican form of government which the founders intended to establish
-and to guarantee to each state of the Union.</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_226" id="Page_226"></a>[Pg 226]</span></p>
-
-<p>The one great contribution which the English-speaking race has made
-to the science of politics has been the representative principle. It
-has been truly declared that every lasting liberty secured for the
-individual, every lasting reform towards stability in government and
-permanent effectiveness in administration, every lasting advancement
-made in politics during the past two centuries, has been by and through
-the representative system. The subordination of public officials to the
-law, and their liability under the law for every illegal act, sprang
-from the representative principle. The independence of the judiciary,
-that great bulwark of liberty and of the rights of the individual, has
-followed upon the growth and success of the representative principle.
-The vivifying spirit or essence of the representative principle is the
-determination of all questions of practical government by delegates or
-representatives chosen by the people, who it is assumed can act more
-intelligently and better discern the true interests of their country
-than a multitude of voters dispersed over an extensive territory.
-Government under the representative principle includes not merely
-legislation by the chosen representatives of the people, but the
-practical conduct of the executive department and its administrative
-branches by officials selected or nominated by representatives of the
-people. Despite all attacks upon our political institutions and all
-instances of mistakes and maladministration, the sound common sense of
-thoughtful citizens still confirms the judgment of the founders<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_227" id="Page_227"></a>[Pg 227]</span> of our
-government that the only safe course is to follow the representative
-principle. This is as true to-day as it was when the "Federalist" was
-written. The direct nomination of executive or judicial officers is in
-utter disregard of that principle.</p>
-
-<p>If the function of legislation is in the long run most satisfactorily
-performed by a representative body composed of men from every locality
-and every part of a state, and if it would be unsafe to vest the
-lawmaking power in the executive branch, does it not likewise follow
-that the equally important function of selecting candidates for
-executive and judicial office and formulating party policies and
-platforms will be better performed by a representative body, such as
-delegate conventions, than by being left to the mass of voters? If
-more intelligent legislation and wiser action are likely to result
-from a representative body than from the confusion of a multitude of
-voters, is it not also evident that more intelligent and discriminating
-selection of executive officers will be made by chosen representatives,
-as in nominating conventions, than by the people at large?</p>
-
-<p>It should be borne in mind that our system of republican government
-differs from other representative governments in the practical
-and effective separation of powers. In England and in France the
-legislators, that is the delegates or representatives elected by the
-people, appoint and control all executive and administrative officers
-and carry on the executive and administrative branches of govern<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_228" id="Page_228"></a>[Pg 228]</span>ment.
-There the legislative and executive powers are practically united
-in the same body. Under our system the legislators do not elect or
-appoint executive officers. It is, therefore, essential, as I am
-profoundly convinced, that executive officers should be nominated by
-duly qualified representatives if the representative principle is to be
-maintained.</p>
-
-<p>Nomination of executive officers by direct primaries will inevitably
-be subversive of the true spirit of the representative system, and the
-secrecy of the vote in the nominating primaries will ultimately be
-destructive of all sense of responsibility. The enrolled voter marking
-his ballot in secret will frequently feel no sense of responsibility
-or accountability to his neighbors and fellow-citizens, and will
-frequently fail to appreciate that his vote is a sacred trust to be
-exercised for the good of the community. The secrecy of the primary
-vote thus does a great moral mischief in destroying the sense of
-political responsibility and accountability. A public declaration
-in connection with nominations for office, involving as it does a
-recommendation to other voters of fitness and qualification for the
-particular office, is a much more effective restraint on corruption
-and perversion of the popular vote than any scheme of secrecy which
-leaves no one publicly responsible for unfit and improper nominations.
-In my judgment, the primary system tends to promote the nomination
-of self-advertisers, demagogues and wire-pullers by irresponsible
-minorities, groups, factions, cabals, or secret societies, generally<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_229" id="Page_229"></a>[Pg 229]</span>
-composed of persons acting in the dark and dominated or controlled by
-leaders who cannot be held to any accountability, however much they may
-abuse or prostitute the political power they exercise.</p>
-
-<p>The nomination of candidates for public office, whether national,
-state, or local, by means of party conventions, caucuses, or
-conferences, was introduced and long existed without any statutory
-regulation. The practice sprang up normally and from necessity as soon
-as the increase of population rendered it impracticable for the voters
-to come together in mass or town meeting. The body of voters, who could
-not spend the time necessary to investigate as to the qualifications
-of candidates, or attend political debates, and who could know little
-or nothing of the competency and character of candidates, naturally
-recognized that the best and safest course would be to elect delegates
-or representatives from each neighborhood, who, meeting delegates or
-representatives from other districts, could exchange views, criticize,
-discuss and agree upon policies and nominations, and thus act more
-intelligently, advisedly and wisely than would otherwise be possible.</p>
-
-<p>The growth of constituencies, the multiplication of elective offices,
-and the neglect of their political duties by the majority of electors
-led to many abuses in the management of nominating conventions, and
-legislation became necessary in order to prevent frauds in connection
-with the conduct of primaries and conventions. In promoting this
-legislation, it was<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_230" id="Page_230"></a>[Pg 230]</span> argued that, if citizens were assured the right
-to be enrolled in the party to which they desired to belong and to
-vote at primaries and freely to exercise their choice for delegates to
-conventions, they would be stimulated to take part in the primaries,
-and that this would result in preventing party nominations for office
-from being controlled by those who made politics their business or
-used improper or corrupt methods. Hence the primary reform measures
-introduced by legislation in our state in the nineties.</p>
-
-<p>These measures, however, proved to be sadly disappointing to many of
-their promoters. This was not because the statutes were in themselves
-defective or inadequate, but because it was found to be impossible
-by mere legislative enactment to induce a majority of the electors
-to enroll in their parties or to take any active part or interest in
-politics. Although under these primary laws the nominating conventions
-could at any time have been readily controlled by the electorate at
-large, had the voters only taken the trouble to enroll and vote at the
-primaries, great dissatisfaction arose or was fomented or manufactured,
-and a demand created for the total abolition of the convention and
-the introduction of the experiment of a direct primary system, upon
-the notion that this would stimulate greater political interest,
-enable the enrolled voters to control and elect their own candidates,
-bring nominations closer to the people, and curtail and ultimately
-destroy the power of the politicians and bosses. The new experiment
-was based upon the assumption that<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_231" id="Page_231"></a>[Pg 231]</span> if enrolled electors could vote
-directly for candidates instead of for representatives to nominating
-conventions, they would thereby be induced to take a more active
-interest in politics, to overthrow the control or domination of bosses
-and professional politicians, and to make better selections than had
-ever been made before. In a word, it was assumed in the face of all
-experience to the contrary that, if the voters had the direct power,
-they would perform their political duties, that better qualified and
-more competent and independent candidates would offer themselves or
-somehow would be brought to the attention of the electorate, and that
-nominations would then represent the will or choice of the majority in
-each party, and not the will of minorities, or the choice of bosses.
-How the majority were to ascertain the qualifications of particular
-candidates or cooperate to secure the nomination of the best qualified
-was left in the air. It seemed to be thought, following the absurd
-and exploded doctrines of Rousseau, that the people would always want
-and, by a process of political inspiration, would intuitively and
-instinctively select, the best men for public office.</p>
-
-<p>The result so far has refuted all these assumptions, hopes and
-promises. The people at large do not take part in the primaries, and
-the political machines are more powerful than ever. Thus, in New York
-county, the Republican vote for governor at the direct primaries of
-1914 was only 23,305, out of a total enrollment of 56,108 and a vote in
-November<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_232" id="Page_232"></a>[Pg 232]</span> of 85,478; the Democratic primary vote was only 48,673 out
-of a total enrollment of 132,693 and a vote in November of 90,666, and
-the Progressive primary vote was only 6,972 out of a total enrollment
-of 19,705 and a vote in November of 5,604. It will be readily perceived
-from these figures that a small minority of the voters in each party
-took the trouble to participate in the direct primary elections,
-even in the case of the nomination for governor of our state, as to
-which there was an exciting contest in each party. An examination of
-the figures throughout the entire state will show that the voters in
-nearly all districts took less interest in direct primary elections for
-nominations than they were accustomed to take under the old convention
-system and that the controlling power is still being exercised by the
-organization, but now acting in secret and utterly irresponsible. For
-example, the Republican primary vote for governor in Bronx county was
-5,276 against a Republican vote of 29,865 in November, and in Richmond
-county the Republican primary vote for governor was 984 against a
-Republican vote of 5,477 in November. It is probably correct to assume
-that not one-half of the Republican or Democratic voters now enroll,
-and that, on an average, less than one-half of the enrolled voters
-take the trouble to go to the primaries, even when there is a serious
-contest, as was the case last year for governor. There were then
-three proposed Republican candidates, Whitman, Hedges and Hinman, and
-the result was that less than one-sixth<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_233" id="Page_233"></a>[Pg 233]</span> of the Republican vote in
-November might have been sufficient to carry the primaries, the total
-Republican vote for governor having been 686,701 as against a total
-primary vote of 226,037 for the three candidates. Under the present
-direct primaries, the voters of a small portion of the state can put a
-candidate in nomination by petition; any number of names may be put on
-the official primary ballot, and a candidate may be put in nomination
-by a very small minority vote confined to a single locality. In fact,
-twenty or more names can be placed by petition on the official primary
-ballot of any party as candidates for any elective office, and the
-name of the person receiving the largest number of votes will be
-that of the candidate of a great party, to whose support the party
-will be committed and for whose conduct in office the party will be
-responsible, although the successful candidate may be entirely unknown
-to nineteen-twentieths of the voters at that particular primary. Under
-the present primary system, in view of the small number of those
-participating in primaries, an insignificant percentage of the voters
-at a primary could nominate a candidate of whose qualifications and
-personal character the majority of the party were wholly ignorant, or a
-candidate whom an overwhelming majority would utterly repudiate. Sulzer
-came very near carrying the direct primary of the Progressive party.
-This shows how readily the direct primary system engenders factions
-and irresponsibility, and how unfit it is for securing the expression
-of the intelligent and instructed will of the majority<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_234" id="Page_234"></a>[Pg 234]</span> of any party.
-Moreover, there is no way of ascertaining for whom petitions are being
-circulated; no publicity is required even after the time for filing
-petitions, and the great majority of enrolled voters generally have no
-idea of the candidates for office on the official primary ballot until
-they open the official ballots at their polling-places. The press is
-either uninterested or partisan, and it fails adequately to discuss the
-qualifications and character of candidates.</p>
-
-<p>I submit that it is absurd to claim that such a method of nominating
-state officers to administer government for a population of over
-10,000,000 is more likely to secure competent and trustworthy
-candidates, or to express the real preference and the sober and
-intelligent judgment of the majority of the voters of each party, than
-the old method of nominating state officers by public conventions
-composed of delegates and representatives of the voters from each
-assembly or election district of the state, proceeding in the open with
-full opportunity for investigation, discussion and criticism.</p>
-
-<p>The conventions of the two great political parties held at Saratoga
-last year, at which the party platforms in respect of the approaching
-Constitutional Convention were adopted and fifteen delegates-at-large
-"recommended," were wholly unofficial and unregulated by law. What
-was practically the nomination by the conventions of candidates for
-delegates-at-large was unauthorized and operated only as a mere
-recommendation. They had to be<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_235" id="Page_235"></a>[Pg 235]</span> nominated by petition as fully as
-if the conventions had never met. These conventions thus nominated
-delegates because they realized, and every thinking man in the state
-appreciated, that it would be preposterous to leave the selection and
-nomination of fifteen delegates-at-large to the mass of enrolled voters
-who would have no opportunity for conference and exchange of views in
-respect of the qualifications and character of the candidates. Some
-informed, responsible and representative body of men had to act, and
-therefore the conventions acted&mdash;in the very teeth of the law. They,
-however, refrained from considering candidates for the great office
-of governor, on the theory that it would be violating the spirit and
-intent of the Election Law to take any action in regard to candidates
-for that office! What inconsistency! The most important and vital
-subject of the governorship was left to the hazard of petitions
-circulated among the enrolled voters throughout the state. There were
-no organizations of any kind among the voters, except what are known as
-the political organizations, and no other means of communication and
-exchange of views or debate. Of course, it was confidently anticipated
-that the organization in each party would determine, or at least would
-have it within its power to determine, who should be the candidates of
-that party. Such proved to be the case. No candidate was nominated at
-the direct primaries for a state office unless he was supported by the
-regular organization or machine of his party. And that, I believe, will
-be the practical result<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_236" id="Page_236"></a>[Pg 236]</span> of direct primaries in nine cases out of ten,
-and more readily and frequently and unsatisfactorily than under the old
-convention system.</p>
-
-<p>Careful observers of the operation of the primary law last year in this
-state, and for several years in other states, have become convinced
-that the result of this so-called reform has been not only to increase
-the power of the regular organization or machine but to render it
-utterly irresponsible. The organization now acts in secret behind
-closed doors and without accountability to any one except its own
-inner circle. The leaders have only to whisper their orders over the
-telephone to the workers in each district, preserving no record, and
-the desired result is accomplished. If an unfit and improper nomination
-is made, the leaders can disclaim all responsibility and say that
-such is the will of the sovereign people. As the vote at the primary
-is secret, no one can be blamed; there is no individual or group of
-individuals upon whom responsibility can ever be fastened. If it be
-argued that there is actual responsibility and that everyone knows
-it, then I answer that this is only by admitting that, after all, the
-secret machine or boss is in fact responsible and still rules, and now
-more effectively than ever.</p>
-
-<p>As has been pointed out by many able writers, the convention system in
-the past has been of inestimable service to this country. With all its
-vagaries, it afforded the highest test of a political representative
-institution in a democratic community and the sound<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_237" id="Page_237"></a>[Pg 237]</span>est and purest
-application of the principle of representation or delegated authority;
-it operated to bind party elements firmly together; it afforded
-full opportunity for exchange of views, criticism and debate, for
-the propagation of principles, for the conciliation of factions;
-it inspired enthusiastic party life. The convention, if honestly
-conducted, was a thoroughly representative and deliberative body, and
-it was the true cause of party success and of the maintenance and
-perpetuation of party principles and policies, as well as political
-faith and devotion. In a word, the convention was and still is the best
-instrument ever devised for securing concert of choice and responsible
-and intelligent action by large bodies of voters belonging to the same
-political party and believing in the same political faith, principles
-and policies.</p>
-
-<p>I am not at all blind to the fact that there have been great abuses
-in the convention system, and that conventions have been at times
-corruptly organized or conducted. But I know of no form of abuse or
-corruption which could not have been remedied by appropriate and
-intelligent legislation, or which could not have been prevented in New
-York by action of the voters if the legislation of the past twenty-five
-years had been generally availed of by the majority in each party.
-The control of all nominations was in the hands of the majority, if
-they had only taken the trouble to enroll and vote for competent
-representatives at primary elections. There is no practical remedy for
-abuse of power, fraud, or<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_238" id="Page_238"></a>[Pg 238]</span> corruption in nominations for office but
-the participation in politics of all voters as a duty of citizenship.
-The notion that the direct primary would eliminate the professional
-politician and the boss has been shown to be false in every state
-where the scheme has been tried. Indeed, quite the contrary has been
-the result, and the last condition is worse than the first; for, to
-repeat myself, manipulators, wire-pullers and political bosses now
-work in secret and by underground channels without any responsibility
-or accountability whatever, and are, nevertheless, able cynically to
-point to the direct primary as the expression of the people's sovereign
-will&mdash;a primary which may be carried by a very small minority of the
-party.</p>
-
-<p>I assume that all the members of this Constitutional Convention believe
-that the existence of political parties is essential to the success
-of free government and to permanence and stability of political
-policy, and that the perpetuation of party government is desirable
-for the welfare and best interests of this state. Men cannot secure
-results and compass their ends in politics, any more than in most
-other human concerns and matters requiring concerted action, except by
-organization, cooperation, discipline and responsibility. The value
-of the service rendered to the American people by the great political
-parties is incalculable, and if these parties are to be disrupted
-and their organization and cohesiveness undermined, the result must
-inevitably be a most serious injury to the body<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_239" id="Page_239"></a>[Pg 239]</span> politic. Whether we
-regard political parties, on the one hand, as organizations of men
-believing in the same political faith, principles and policies and
-uniting to introduce or uphold those principles and policies, or, on
-the other hand, merely as organizations to secure office and administer
-government&mdash;both of which aspects present patriotic motives&mdash;it is
-desirable for the permanent welfare of the people of every free country
-that parties should be maintained, and particularly that there should
-be two great responsible parties, each striving for control and ready
-to assume the responsibility of government and of the adoption of
-particular measures. A public official who belongs to a great political
-party and owes his preferment to that party is under a double sense
-of responsibility for efficiency, honesty and consistency in public
-office. He has a sense of responsibility and duty to the state as a
-whole, and he has a sense of responsibility and duty to his party, and
-both are moral factors of inestimable worth in securing integrity,
-efficiency and industry in public office.</p>
-
-<p>In its real origin, the movement to abolish the convention system
-and introduce direct nominating primaries sprang not from any hope
-of reforming the existing political parties but from a desire to
-subvert and destroy the American system of government by political
-parties. The scheme was later taken up by men who sincerely desired to
-reform party management and correct party abuses, who conscientiously
-despaired of reform within the parties<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_240" id="Page_240"></a>[Pg 240]</span> themselves, and who conceived
-and finally came to believe that betterment could be brought about only
-by uprooting and casting aside all the party machinery, organization
-and discipline which had been built up by the practical experience of
-over a century. The plea of bringing the government back to the people
-was catching and plausible, and it found eager response in the deeply
-rooted dislike of party machinery, party discipline and party constancy
-on the part of those who habitually neglect all attention to politics
-and the political duties of citizenship except during periods of
-popular excitement and upheaval.</p>
-
-<p>Although I am one of those who believe in independence in politics
-and in the right and duty of every citizen to vote against his party
-if in his judgment the public interests so require, I profoundly
-believe that party government and party organization and machinery are
-absolutely essential under our form of government. Political parties
-in America have given stability to governmental policies and have
-created the only effective restraint upon disintegration and individual
-caprice or demagogism. There must be coherence in political forces;
-there must be concentration and direction of the political energy of
-communities; there must be some systematic and practical method of
-investigating the qualifications of candidates and selecting competent
-public officials; there must be stability, harmony and cooperation in
-governmental policies. These can be secured in the long run only<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_241" id="Page_241"></a>[Pg 241]</span> by
-and through permanently organized and disciplined political parties. No
-other method has yet been discovered by which effectively to express
-political opinion, to secure stability in governmental administration
-and policies, and to effectuate the real and permanent judgment of the
-people and promote their best interests.</p>
-
-<p>President Wilson some years ago, in referring to attacks upon party
-government in the United States, used the following striking language,
-which I think should be now recalled:</p>
-
-<p>"I know that it has been proposed by enthusiastic, but not too
-practical, reformers to do away with parties by some legerdemain of
-governmental reconstruction, accompanied and supplemented by some
-rehabilitation, devoutly to be wished, of the virtues least commonly
-controlling in fallen human nature; but it seems to me that it would be
-more difficult and less desirable than these amiable persons suppose
-to conduct a government of the many by means of any other device
-than party organization, and that the great need is, not to get rid
-of parties, but to find and use some expedient by which they can be
-managed and made amenable from day to day to public opinion." "Whatever
-their faults and abuses, party machines are absolutely necessary under
-our existing electoral arrangements, and are necessary chiefly for
-keeping the several segments of parties together.... It is important to
-keep this in mind. Otherwise, when we analyze party action, we shall
-fall into the too common error of thinking<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_242" id="Page_242"></a>[Pg 242]</span> that we are analyzing
-disease. As a matter of fact the whole thing is just as normal and
-natural as any other political development. The part that party has
-played in this country has been both necessary and beneficial, and if
-bosses and secret managers are often undesirable persons, playing their
-parts for their own benefit or glorification rather than for the public
-good, they are at least the natural fruits of the tree. It has borne
-fruit good and bad, sweet and bitter, wholesome and corrupt, but it is
-native to our air and practice and can be uprooted only by an entire
-change of system."<a id="FNanchor_67" href="#Footnote_67" class="fnanchor">[67]</a></p>
-
-<p>For these reasons I earnestly urge upon the Constitutional Convention
-of the state of New York the restoration of nominating state
-conventions for elective state offices. I do so because I believe
-that they are the best means of maintaining political parties,
-of formulating their principles and policies, of purifying and
-disciplining their management, of stimulating political enthusiasm
-and disinterestedness, and of selecting and nominating fit and
-representative individuals as candidates for high public office. I
-further urge that the nominees of any such convention should not
-need any further designation than the filing of a certificate by the
-proper convention officers. If it be concluded, however, that the
-direct primary system should be continued for the purpose of party
-nominations, then it should be provided that the name of the nominee
-of the convention should be placed on<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_243" id="Page_243"></a>[Pg 243]</span> the official primary ballot
-with the designation "nominated by convention." This would enable the
-enrolled voters to ratify or overrule the action of their convention.
-I am, however, convinced that this nominating primary would impose
-an unnecessary burden upon the electorate, and that it would be a
-mistake to increase the number of elections. We should then have
-three elections: first, the election of delegates to the nominating
-convention; second, the official primaries, and third, the general
-election. It seems to me that it would answer every purpose if adequate
-provision were retained for independent nominations by petition and
-if nominating primaries were dispensed with. This would enable voters
-belonging to any party to place candidates in the field in opposition
-to the nominees of the convention if they were dissatisfied with those
-nominees.</p>
-
-<p>Assuming that we are to continue the system of electing judges to our
-highest judicial offices, that is, judges of the Court of Appeals and
-justices of the Supreme Court, then I submit that candidates for these
-very important offices should be nominated by conventions and not by
-direct primaries. I regard this as even more essential in the case
-of nomination for judicial office than in the case of nomination for
-executive office.</p>
-
-<p>The qualities required in a candidate for high judicial office are
-knowledge of the law, love of justice, high personal character,
-calmness, impartiality and independence. Mere popularity, or what so
-often is necessary to popularity, good-fellowship,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_244" id="Page_244"></a>[Pg 244]</span> is the last quality
-we look for in a judge. The self-seeker and self-advertiser is seldom
-qualified by temperament or character for judicial office. It requires
-the most thorough investigation as to the professional learning, career
-and conduct of a candidate and the most sifting exchange of views
-before a judicial candidate can be intelligently and wisely selected.
-For want of adequate means of acquiring information, the public in
-such large constituencies as the whole state of New York (in the case
-of judges of the Court of Appeals) and the various judicial districts
-(in the case of justices of the Supreme Court) cannot intelligently
-estimate the qualifications of judicial candidates. It seems to me
-nonsense to argue that in parties composed of hundreds of thousands
-of enrolled electors dispersed throughout the state, the voters can
-investigate, or exchange views, or intelligently act in regard to the
-qualifications of lawyers who are proposed as candidates for judicial
-office&mdash;almost as preposterous as if we were to select judicial
-candidates by lot from the names placed on the official primary list.</p>
-
-<p>The test of fitness for judicial office should indisputably be
-higher and more technical than for other offices. That test should
-require special capacity and character, to be ascertained by careful
-investigation, exchange of views, open discussion and comparison of
-merits by responsible delegates or representatives charged with that
-particular duty and acting in public and personally accountable for<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_245" id="Page_245"></a>[Pg 245]</span>
-mistake, perversion, or corruption. This test can be best secured by
-the convention system; practically it cannot be secured at all by any
-system of secret direct primaries.</p>
-
-<p>Reform in the selection of judges, if their selection is to be by
-election, lies not in schemes to reform human nature by legislative
-nostrums and to destroy publicity and responsibility, but in making the
-voters appreciate that the government is theirs, that political power
-is theirs, that theirs is the duty to send competent representatives
-to conventions, that theirs is the responsibility of electing
-competent men, and that they are vitally interested in having a
-competent, impartial and independent judiciary. Political conventions
-will be reliable and responsive if the people will only see to it
-that competent, honest and patriotic men are elected to represent
-them. There is no other course unless we uproot our whole system of
-republican government.</p>
-
-<p>Ten years of experimenting with our Election Law have produced the
-present hodge-podge under which no election is conducted without error
-and without inviting a lawsuit and from which all but experts and
-professional politicians turn away in irritation and disgust. The net
-result has been to complicate our elections and make them less and less
-responsive to the best public opinion, and more and more subject to the
-control of professional politicians, wire-pullers and bosses.</p>
-
-<p>In conclusion, though repeating myself, I earnestly submit that
-there can be no greater menace to our<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_246" id="Page_246"></a>[Pg 246]</span> political institutions and
-to government by the people than the prevailing tendency to weaken
-and impair the representative principle in our state governments by
-nominating executive and judicial officers through direct secret
-primaries instead of through public conventions composed of delegates
-or representatives duly chosen by the enrolled voters of the parties
-and charged with the duty of selecting competent and honest candidates
-and directly accountable to the locality they represent for the failure
-to perform that duty. These delegates represent the people of the
-various districts of the state; they come together in public; they
-exchange and discuss views, or at any rate have full opportunity for
-debate and criticism; they vote in public for this or that candidate,
-and then they return to their neighbors, to those who sent them and for
-whom they spoke and voted, and face accountability and responsibility.
-Is not such a proceeding much more likely to secure competent and
-honest candidates than the present system of leaving the voter at
-large to slip into a dimly lighted booth and secretly place a cross on
-an unidentifiable ballot? The convention system is sound and should
-be preserved; it alone will perpetuate our parties and our form of
-government, and in casting the representative principle aside, as is
-necessarily done in the direct primary system of nominations for state
-and judicial office, we are beginning a process which, if not checked,
-will end in what Lincoln called political suicide.</p>
-
-
-
-<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_64" href="#FNanchor_64" class="label">[64]</a> Remarks before the Committee on Suffrage of the
-Constitutional Convention of the state of New York at Albany, June 16,
-1915.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_65" href="#FNanchor_65" class="label">[65]</a> Laws of 1911, ch. 891.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_66" href="#FNanchor_66" class="label">[66]</a> Laws of 1913, ch. 820.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_67" href="#FNanchor_67" class="label">[67]</a> Congressional Government, p. 97, and Constitutional
-Government in the United States, pp. 209, 210.</p></div></div>
-
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_247" id="Page_247"></a>[Pg 247]</span></p>
-<div class="chapter">
-<h2 class="nobreak" id="CATHOLIC_PAROCHIAL_SCHOOLS68">CATHOLIC PAROCHIAL SCHOOLS<a id="FNanchor_68" href="#Footnote_68" class="fnanchor">[68]</a></h2>
-</div>
-
-
-<p class="drop">T<span class="uppercase">he</span> completion of this building, its dedication to education, and the
-opening of its doors as a Catholic parochial school are matters of
-no ordinary significance in this community. By means of the present
-function we are publicly emphasizing the religious character of the
-educational work to be undertaken here. Due respect for the opinion
-of our neighbors and fellow-citizens seems to call for some statement
-from the standpoint of the Catholic laity in explanation of the reasons
-which have impelled a comparatively poor congregation to incur this
-great expense and to assume an obligation of future maintenance which
-year after year will constitute a very serious and increasing burden.
-It is indeed a striking event that a congregation, very few of whom
-have large means, should have erected and equipped such a building,
-costing over $150,000, and should have pledged itself to support the
-school and ultimately to discharge the remaining mortgage indebtedness
-of $50,000.</p>
-
-<p>There is unfortunately much misunderstanding and criticism among our
-fellow-citizens of other denominations in regard to the attitude of the
-Roman<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_248" id="Page_248"></a>[Pg 248]</span> Catholic Church towards the important and far-reaching subject
-of the education of children in the public schools, and the Catholic
-point of view is frequently misrepresented.</p>
-
-<p>In the first place, it is constantly asserted that Catholics are
-opposed to the public school system of America. On the contrary,
-Catholics approve and support the public schools, and willingly vote
-and pay their share of the taxes necessary for the maintenance of
-these schools. They believe that the state should provide free common
-schools for the education of children, so that every American child
-not only shall have an opportunity of securing a free education but
-may be compelled to take advantage of the opportunity thus provided.
-They recognize that in this country it is generally impracticable in
-the common schools to teach the tenets of religious faiths, because
-to compel children indiscriminately to study the doctrines of any
-particular religion in which their parents do not believe would destroy
-all religious freedom and would be contrary to fundamental rights.
-They recognize further that to attempt to teach in the public schools
-the tenets of the Catholic, the Jewish and the numerous Protestant
-denominations, would be quite impossible and inevitably would lead
-to religious chaos. They realize that absolute equality or religious
-freedom can be secured only by making the public schools non-sectarian.
-Catholics, therefore, favor the maintenance of the system of free
-common schools; they have heretofore supported and will<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_249" id="Page_249"></a>[Pg 249]</span> continue to
-support the system, although they object to some of the details of
-management, and they will send and do send their children to these
-public schools wherever there are no Catholic schools. In fact, fully
-one-half of the Catholic children of our country are now attending
-public schools because of the lack of Catholic schools.</p>
-
-<p>Thousands of well-to-do Protestants and Jews&mdash;many in our own immediate
-neighborhood&mdash;send their children to private schools, whether day or
-boarding schools, in many of which the Protestant faith is taught.
-Yet no one suggests that, because these parents send their children
-to private schools, they are in any sense acting in hostility to the
-public schools, or to American institutions, or to the best interests
-of their own children. As parents, they have and ought to have the
-right to send their children to such schools as they think will afford
-them an education more complete and more conducive to the formation of
-moral character than they can secure at the public schools. Catholics
-are but exercising the same common right, and what, moreover, they
-believe to be their duty as parents, when they send their children to
-the parochial schools which are erected, equipped and maintained at
-their own expense.</p>
-
-<p>Another misrepresentation, and one which Catholics resent, is the
-statement that the parochial and other Catholic schools do not
-inculcate patriotism, and that they teach anti-American doctrines.
-Any candid investigator will readily find that this charge<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_250" id="Page_250"></a>[Pg 250]</span> is wholly
-unfounded. In Catholic schools, patriotism, obedience to the law and
-loyalty to the Constitution are taught as a religious even more than
-a civic duty; the best and highest ideals of American patriotism and
-citizenship are exalted. No true American Catholic can be other than
-a good and patriotic American citizen. Children are taught in these
-schools that loyal obedience to the laws and religious tolerance are
-the two essential elements of good Catholic citizenship, and in every
-form and aspect they are impressed with the obligation as a religious
-duty to render unto CÊsar the things which are CÊsar's and unto God the
-things which are God's and to be ever thankful that in this country
-these two separate obligations are wholly reconcilable.</p>
-
-<p>The fundamental and controlling reason or motive for the establishment
-and maintenance of parochial schools is the profound conviction on the
-part of all Roman Catholics, in which conviction clergy and laity are
-a unit, that the welfare of the state, the stability of the Union, the
-continuance of civil and religious freedom, and the lasting happiness
-of the individual depend upon the code and standards of morality,
-discipline, self-restraint and temperance taught by religion. The
-student of history well knows that social order and civilized society
-have always rested upon religion; that there has never been a civilized
-nation without religion; that free government has never long endured
-except in countries where some religious faith has prevailed, and that
-our own country for three centuries has been<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_251" id="Page_251"></a>[Pg 251]</span> an essentially religious
-country, by which I mean that the great majority of citizens have been
-believers in God and in some Christian religion. When the Constitution
-of the United States was established, the Americans were a truly
-religious people, and as a whole held firmly to one form or another
-of Christian faith. It has been recently pointed out by Archbishop
-Ireland in the Cathedral of St. Paul that in those days, "to stay
-away from religious service on Sunday was to invoke upon one's self
-serious public criticism." It is quite true that the great majority of
-Americans were then Protestants, but they were a religious majority.
-The Catholics can never forget that they owe the blessing of the
-religious liberty and tolerance which they now enjoy to a generation
-that was overwhelmingly Protestant and that it was first granted at an
-epoch when religious liberty and tolerance were practically unknown in
-Europe, whether in Catholic or Protestant countries.</p>
-
-<p>Lord Bryce in his great work on "The American Commonwealth" has
-reviewed the influence of religion in this country, and has declared
-that "one is startled by the thought of what might befall this huge
-yet delicate fabric of laws and commerce and social institutions
-were the foundation it has rested upon to crumble away." That
-foundation he recognized to be religion, and he admonished us that
-"the more democratic republics become, the more the masses grow
-conscious of their own power, the more do they need to live, not
-only by patriotism, but by<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_252" id="Page_252"></a>[Pg 252]</span> reverence and self-control, and the more
-essential to their well-being are those sources whence reverence
-and self-control flow."<a id="FNanchor_69" href="#Footnote_69" class="fnanchor">[69]</a> Catholics believe that those sources of
-reverence and self-control are to be found in religion, and that if
-we sow in irreligion we shall reap in irreligion. Hence the firm and
-uncompromising determination of Catholic clergy and laity that thorough
-and efficient religious instruction, so far as lies in their power,
-shall be a vital and essential element in the education of every
-American Catholic child.</p>
-
-<p>I very much doubt whether any respectable number of sensible and
-reflecting American citizens in our day would challenge the truth that
-morality is essential to the maintenance of civilized society and
-government, that the greatest influence for morality is to be found
-in the churches of the various denominations throughout the country,
-and that in teaching morality the churches are rendering a patriotic
-service and promoting the best interests and the highest policy of
-the state. I venture to assert that the only reasonable difference of
-opinion possible among candid and just men is as to the best way of
-inculcating religion in the young and the extent to which religious
-instruction is essential as a part of the complete education of
-children. On the one hand, there are those who conscientiously assert
-and sincerely believe that their children can receive all the religious
-training they need at home or at Sunday school and that they do not
-require any religious<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_253" id="Page_253"></a>[Pg 253]</span> instruction in the daily schoolroom; on the
-other hand, there are those who conscientiously assert and sincerely
-believe that religion is the most essential part of the education of
-the child and of the forming of its moral character, that few parents
-have the time or the ability to teach religion to their children, and
-that religion can properly be taught only by making it part and parcel
-of the early schoolroom and of every day's instruction and study, while
-the mind and character of the child are plastic. The latter view is
-that of Catholics and of constantly increasing numbers of Protestants
-who send their children to private schools in which the doctrines of
-their faith are taught.</p>
-
-<p>In the Catholic view, the influence of the school upon the future
-manhood and womanhood and citizenship of the country cannot be
-over-estimated. The school is the nursery where the mind and heart
-of the impressionable child are moulded into enduring form; the
-subtle influence of daily religious surroundings, including example
-and suggestion in the classroom, is as strong and pervading as it is
-difficult to analyze; the lessons of the primary and elementary school
-are those that endure and in time dominate the child's mind; and the
-visible examples of daily discipline, uniformity of ideals, obedience,
-self-control and disinterested devotedness to Church and country,
-indeed the very atmosphere of the Catholic religious school, are of
-themselves formative and educative elements. It is the classroom that
-is the training field of character and good citizenship&mdash;of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_254" id="Page_254"></a>[Pg 254]</span> true
-manhood and womanhood. Yet many would wholly exclude and banish its
-most important and essential feature!</p>
-
-<p>Catholics believe that religion and the philosophy of Christianity are
-not to be taught haphazard, at odd moments, or by untrained persons,
-and that a firm grasp of the truths of the Catholic religion&mdash;or in
-fact of any religion&mdash;by the immature minds and hearts of children
-cannot be secured by merely reciting abstract maxims of morality, or
-without constant example and precept, daily lessons, long training and
-thorough drilling. They further believe that, except in rare instances,
-this cannot be done by home instruction or by attendance at Sunday
-school once a week. The immense sacrifices that Catholics have made
-and are making all over the country ought to demonstrate how sincere
-is their conviction upon this point. We may form some idea of the
-extent of this sacrifice from this building and from the fact that the
-assessed valuation of the Catholic parochial schools in the city of New
-York is now over $30,000,000.</p>
-
-<p>The story of the heroic struggles and sacrifices of Catholics in
-order to maintain their system of schools for the education of their
-children ought to be known to every American Catholic, for it is the
-most thrilling and inspiring page in the history of their church. The
-time remaining to me will permit only a brief review of the results
-accomplished. It is an accomplishment of which Catholics may justly
-feel proud.</p>
-
-<p>The greatest single religious fact in the United<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_255" id="Page_255"></a>[Pg 255]</span> States to-day
-is undoubtedly the Catholic school system maintained by private
-individuals. The Catholic parish schools now number over 5,000, and
-the academies and colleges over 900, with over 1,500,000 pupils in
-attendance at these schools and colleges. More than 20,000 Catholic
-men and women unselfishly devote their lives to the work of teaching
-in these schools, academies and colleges. The system is crowned by a
-great Catholic university at Washington with an attendance of nearly
-1,500. This vast educational organization is maintained at a yearly
-cost of millions of dollars without any public aid whatever, except the
-exemption of school property from ordinary taxation. The efficiency
-of the Catholic schools and colleges has long been demonstrated by
-examinations and practical results, and it is at last generally
-conceded. The Catholic schools teach everything that is taught in the
-public schools and, in addition, they teach religion and religious
-morality. The standards of education in all secular branches are equal
-and in many instances superior to those of the neighborhood public
-or private schools. In other words, Catholic children are as well
-educated in the Catholic schools as in the public schools; they come
-from them as well trained and as patriotic as the children coming
-from any other schools, and in addition they are thoroughly grounded
-in the doctrines of their great religion. I say "great" because it is
-the great religion of all Christendom as well as of this country. When
-the Constitution of the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_256" id="Page_256"></a>[Pg 256]</span> United States was framed at the Philadelphia
-convention of 1787, there were only about 25,000 avowed Catholics in
-the whole Union. To-day they number 17,000,000. More than one-third of
-all who now attend Christian churches in the United States are Roman
-Catholics. The Catholic Church has several times as many members as any
-other religious denomination. The figures in the state of New York show
-that about 65 per cent., nearly two-thirds, of all regular attendants
-at Christian churches, are Roman Catholics, and that the remaining
-attendants are divided among many separate Protestant denominations.
-Hence the correctness of the assertion that the Catholic religion is
-the great religion of this country.</p>
-
-<p>It is true and should be added that Catholics hope that the day
-will come when the people of all denominations will more adequately
-appreciate the fact that religious instruction tends to promote the
-best and the most loyal citizenship, that the Catholic parochial
-schools are, therefore, rendering a public service, and that as such
-they should be allotted a reasonable part of the public educational
-fund raised from general taxation, measured by and limited to the
-actual saving to that fund, provided also that a required standard
-of education be maintained. In England, for example, the Catholic
-parochial schools receive grants of public moneys if they fulfil
-certain conditions of efficiency in secular instruction, staff
-qualification and equipment, and the extent of these grants is
-approximately the actual saving<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_257" id="Page_257"></a>[Pg 257]</span> to the public fund. In the Catholic
-diocese of Long Island, in which we live, there are now over 68,000
-children being educated in the Catholic schools and colleges, and
-in Greater New York there are more than 130,000 children attending
-the parochial schools. All these children would have to be educated
-in the public schools and at the expense of the taxpayers if the
-Catholic schools did not educate them, and this Catholic education
-involves an immense direct saving to the public school fund. Statistics
-recently submitted to the Constitutional Convention sitting at Albany
-showed that the immediate saving to the city of New York alone from
-the parochial schools was fully $7,500,000 per annum, and that not
-one penny of this saving was being contributed by the city or the
-state to the cost of educating and training these Catholic children.
-Consequently, it is not unreasonable to believe that justice and
-tolerance will finally prevail, and that the day will come when it
-will be recognized as equitable and as a wise and enlightened public
-policy to provide that whenever any denomination, whether Catholic,
-Protestant, or Jewish, is, in addition to giving religious instruction,
-educating and training large numbers of children according to
-satisfactory secular standards and tests, and is thereby relieving the
-public educational fund, every such denominational school should be
-granted out of the public funds some part of the actual saving so made,
-because it is rendering a public service. A basis of adjustment will,
-I am confident, be ultimately worked out, which will be<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_258" id="Page_258"></a>[Pg 258]</span> fair and just
-to all denominations. But in the meantime the private schools where
-both secular and religious training are given to children, including
-the Catholic parochial schools, must continue to be erected, equipped
-and supported wholly by the members of the various denominations. There
-are now numerous Protestant private schools where the Protestant faith
-is being taught; and what is true of the Catholic parochial schools is
-also true of the Protestant schools.</p>
-
-<p>We are all so accustomed to the blessings of absolute religious
-liberty that we really find it difficult to imagine that any other
-condition could ever have been tolerated in the free air of America,
-and we are very apt to overlook or minimize the value of the most
-precious privilege we enjoy. Yet, it is only a few generations since
-religious intolerance prevailed in the United States and Catholics were
-mercilessly and barbarously persecuted. The first constitution of the
-state of New York in 1777 discriminated against Catholics by permitting
-only Protestants to become citizens of the state, and this was done
-notwithstanding the fact that the Continental Congress had three years
-before entreated the states to bury religious intolerance forever
-in oblivion. At one time in the colony of New York Catholic priests
-were hunted as criminals, were condemned to perpetual imprisonment if
-apprehended, and were to suffer the death penalty if they broke prison
-and were retaken. Catholics could not hold civil or military positions,
-and could not even worship God ac<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_259" id="Page_259"></a>[Pg 259]</span>cording to their faith without
-becoming criminals and liable to imprisonment. The only period of full
-religious tolerance and liberty in our colonial history was for a short
-time during the term of Governor Dongan, who was a Roman Catholic.</p>
-
-<p>All this intolerance has happily passed away never to return, and
-religious liberty is now firmly established. I recall the past only in
-order to impress upon your minds that we should treasure this blessing
-and be ever grateful to the generation of Americans, overwhelmingly
-Protestant, which gave us religious freedom and in doing so went far
-toward atoning for the past persecution of Catholics.</p>
-
-<p>In conclusion, I must add that we Catholics of the Parish of St.
-Patrick of Glen Cove should acclaim our appreciation of the great
-service and unselfish devotion of the one person whose whole-hearted
-energy has made this school possible and without whose example we
-should despair of maintaining it. Long may this beautiful building
-endure as a splendid monument to the faith and patriotism of a Catholic
-priest, our beloved pastor, Bernard O'Reilly. We must also voice our
-cordial welcome and pledge of support to the Sisters of Notre Dame,
-worthy members of a great American Catholic sisterhood devoted to the
-education of children, who are now about to take up among us the task
-of teaching our children. They will labor week after week and year
-after year, devotedly and unselfishly, for a pittance barely sufficient
-to supply their absolute physical needs, with little or no expectation
-of public recog<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_260" id="Page_260"></a>[Pg 260]</span>nition. They will seek and find their reward solely in
-the inward satisfaction of the day's work and duty well done and in the
-inspiring and quickening maxim of their order and of their whole daily
-life that their holy task is ever<br />
-
-<span style="margin-left: 35%;"><span class="smcap">Pro Deo et Ecclesia et Patria</span></span>.</p>
-
-
-
-<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_68" href="#FNanchor_68" class="label">[68]</a> Remarks at the dedication of the Roman Catholic parochial
-school at Glen Cove, Long Island, New York, on September 6, 1915.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_69" href="#FNanchor_69" class="label">[69]</a> The American Commonwealth, new edition (1912), vol. II,
-pp. 793, 794.</p></div></div>
-
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_261" id="Page_261"></a>[Pg 261]</span></p>
-<div class="chapter">
-<h2 class="nobreak" id="THE_FRANCE-AMERICA_COMMITTEE_OF_NEW_YORK70">THE FRANCE-AMERICA COMMITTEE OF NEW YORK<a id="FNanchor_70" href="#Footnote_70" class="fnanchor">[70]</a></h2>
-</div>
-
-
-<p class="drop">I <span class="uppercase">ask</span> you, Gentlemen, to rise and lift your glasses high to the joint
-toast of his Excellency the President of the United States, his
-Excellency the President of the Republic of France and his Majesty the
-King of England.</p>
-
-<p>I ask you again to rise and lift your glasses high to the joint
-toast of the other Allies: to his Majesty the King of the Belgians,
-whose valiant and heroic people have suffered frightfully and have
-again shown, as CÊsar taught us, that "<i>horum omnium fortissimi sunt
-Belgae</i>;" his Imperial Majesty the Czar of all the Russias, whose brave
-soldiers have stood so much of the brunt of the battle and paid such an
-awful toll, and to his Majesty the King of Italy, and his courageous
-army and navy, whose help may yet prove decisive.</p>
-
-<p>As the permanent object of the France-America Committee, which was
-organized long before the present war, is to perpetuate the traditions
-and bonds of friendship which bind the governments and peoples of
-France and America together, our guests will<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_262" id="Page_262"></a>[Pg 262]</span> readily appreciate why
-France should seem, at the moment, to be foremost in our thoughts.</p>
-
-<p>Monsieur Homberg, Monsieur Mallet: Le Comité France-Amérique de New
-York éprouve un trÚs vif plaisir à saluer en vous les délégués de la
-République Française. Le Comité tient à vous témoigner l'amitié des
-Américains pour la France, notre admiration de l'héroïsme que le peuple
-français de toutes classes a montré pendant l'année affreuse qui vient
-de s'écouler, nos ardentes sympathies pour vos souffrances, et nos
-souhaits pour votre avenir.</p>
-
-<p>Notre hospitalité est malheureusement imprégnée d'une tristesse
-poignante, car un souci de tous les instants ne nous permet pas
-d'oublier la guerre brutale et féroce qui a dévasté une grande partie
-de la France et presque toute la Belgique, et qui menace non seulement
-les libertés des peuples français et belge, mais la civilisation de
-toute l'Europe. Il est vrai que notre gouvernement national, pour des
-raisons d'état, se trouve forcé de maintenir une neutralité légale,
-tâche si difficile et si complexe, mais le peuple américain ne saurait
-être indifférent aux malheurs et aux détresses des Français. Un grand
-Américain a bien dit que c'est en apprenant l'histoire de son pays
-que l'enfant américain apprend à aimer la France. Nous ne pourrions
-jamais oublier l'aide généreuse, la sympathie, le dévouement, et le
-désintéressement que le peuple français nous a témoignés au début
-de notre histoire. Le souvenir, Messieurs, en est ineffaçable.
-Innombrables sont mes compatriotes qui prient de tout cœur qu'une
-nou<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_263" id="Page_263"></a>[Pg 263]</span>velle Bataille de Poitiers contre les Sarrasins délivre bientÎt la
-belle et sainte terre de France de ses envahisseurs.</p>
-
-<p>Le service que la France a rendu aux Etats-Unis est souvent méconnu et
-quelquefois oublié. L'heure est venue de réfuter et les dénigrements et
-les préjugés. Le Comité France-Amérique voudrait saisir cette occasion
-pour rappeler hautement ce que nous devons à la France et exprimer
-la reconnaissance profonde que le peuple américain ressent envers le
-peuple français.</p>
-
-<p>La plupart des historiens, cherchant leurs matériaux dans les archives
-des gouvernements et dans les notes des rois et de leurs ministres,
-ne voient trop souvent qu'un calcul ou un motif intéressé dans
-l'aide que la France nous a apportée et dans l'amitié qu'elle nous a
-témoignée pendant notre Guerre d'Indépendance. Mais ceux qui cherchent
-consciencieusement à pénétrer jusqu'à l'âme du peuple français
-pendant les années de 1776 à 1781, comme l'avait fait l'historien
-Américain, James Breck Perkins, feu le président du Comité des Affaires
-EtrangÚres de notre CongrÚs National, attestent que cette aide, qui
-fut si efficace et qui seule a rendu notre succÚs possible, était
-désinteressée et n'était inspirée que par sympathie pour un peuple
-faible et par amour pour la liberté et la justice politique. La
-Fayette, l'ami intime et dévoué de Washington et de Franklin, était
-véritablement l'incarnation du sentiment d'enthousiasme exalté et de
-sympathie ardente que les Français ressentaient alors dans toutes
-les classes pour un peuple qui voulait être libre. Sans doute<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_264" id="Page_264"></a>[Pg 264]</span> Louis
-XVI. et Vergennes y voyaient des avantages incidentels et des raisons
-d'état, mais c'était bien le peuple impatient et l'enthousiasme et
-le sentiment public de la nation entiÚre qui ont finalement forcé
-le gouvernement du Roi à nous envoyer une armée disciplinée sous
-Rochambeau et une flotte de guerre sous d'Estaing et de Grasse.
-L'importance incalculable du service rendu par les Français peut être
-estimée en nous rappelant que les deux tiers et les mieux équipées des
-troupes alliées à Yorktown étaient français, et que ce fut à Rochambeau
-que le commandant anglais avait cru devoir rendre son épée.</p>
-
-<p>En prenant part à notre Guerre d'Indépendance, le peuple français
-savait parfaitement que son aide lui coûterait un prix énorme et
-que les impÎts déjà trop lourds devraient être encore augmentés.
-L'historien Perkins déclare que le montant des dépenses de la France
-pour libérer l'Amérique s'est élevé à sept cent soixante douze millions
-de dollars, c'est à dire, à plus de trois milliards huit cent millions
-de francs.<a id="FNanchor_71" href="#Footnote_71" class="fnanchor">[71]</a> De cette énorme dépense, qui a ruiné le trésor royal,
-comme l'avait bien prêdit Turgot, pas un sou<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_265" id="Page_265"></a>[Pg 265]</span> n'a été remboursé à la
-France. Elle ne l'a jamais réclamé, et elle en refuserait fiÚrement
-aujourd'hui le remboursement en nous rappelant qu'elle avait stipulé
-dans le traité d'alliance avec les Etats-Unis d'Amérique du 6 Février,
-1778, qu'elle ne recevrait aucune indemnité pour sa coopération et
-ses sacrifices, et que même si le Canada était conquis, cette contrée
-serait annexée aux Etats-Unis et non pas retournée à la France. Ce
-traité, sans précédent en générosité dans l'histoire du monde, était
-le premier de tous les traités que les Etats-Unis ont faits et le seul
-traité d'alliance dans notre histoire.</p>
-
-<p>Ne serait-il pas souverainement juste, si le peuple américain, cent
-trente quatre ans aprÚs la bataille de Yorktown, reconnaissait ce
-service&mdash;je me refuse à l'appeler dette&mdash;en offrant au peuple français
-un crédit commercial du principal, c'est à dire, sept cent soixante
-douze millions, remboursable quand la France le pourrait? Même en
-francs, ce ne serait que l'équivalent d'une contribution insignifiante
-par chaque citoyen des Etats-Unis, et bien moins en valeur que l'impÃŽt
-qui a été payé volontairement et de bon cœur par le peuple français
-du dix-huitiÚme siÚcle pour nous aider. Quelle noblesse, quelle
-gloire, quelle splendeur de cœur, d'âme et d'esprit si les grands
-banquiers américains avaient pu proclamer au monde qu'ils avaient
-eux-mêmes offert le crédit en reconnaissance du passé! Nous serions
-vraiment fiers de notre génération si elle pouvait écrire une page
-aussi sublime, aussi impérissable dans l'histoire du monde. Alors,
-Messieurs,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_266" id="Page_266"></a>[Pg 266]</span> nul doute ne subsisterait quant au succÚs éclatant de votre
-mission, surtout si une parole éloquente pouvait toucher le cœur des
-Américains et leur rappeler combien ils doivent à la France, à cette
-république sœur et souffrante, et combien la question aujourd'hui n'est
-pas seulement une affaire commerciale pour notre propre profit avec nos
-meilleurs clients, mais aussi une question de gratitude pour un ami
-loyal et dévoué et de sympathie effective pour un grand et noble peuple
-qui souffre.</p>
-
-<p>Au nom de cette reconnaissance et de cette sympathie américaines que
-j'ai essayé d'exprimer en interprétant, j'en suis convaincu, la pensée
-de tous les Américains réunis ici, je lÚve mon verre en l'honneur de
-la République Française, de la France blessée mais si vivante, si
-courageuse, si valiante, et de ses représentants distingués qui nous
-honorent de leur présence, M. Octave Homberg et M. Ernest Mallet.
-Messieurs, j'ai l'honneur de vous présenter M. Homberg.<a id="FNanchor_72" href="#Footnote_72" class="fnanchor">[72]</a></p>
-
-<p>My Lord Chief Justice of England and Gentlemen of the British
-Commission: After the eloquent tributes of last night at the Pilgrims,
-I find it extremely difficult to express and convey to you the full
-import and sincerity of our welcome.</p>
-
-<p>Every tie that can bind one people to another binds the American
-people to the English. Most of us are of the Anglo-Saxon race and have
-the same blood coursing through our veins. To the great majority of
-Americans, England has ever been the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_267" id="Page_267"></a>[Pg 267]</span> mother country. We speak the
-same language, read the same literature, strive for the same ideals,
-are governed by the same principles of politics and jurisprudence,
-and entertain the same fundamental conceptions of right and wrong and
-justice as among men and among nations. The greater part of England's
-history is our history; her Magna Carta is our Magna Carta, and the
-immortal deeds of valor of the English, Scotch, Irish and Welsh are
-our heritage and the source of our inspiration. Our hearts, therefore,
-cannot but beat faster day after day as we read of the splendid heroism
-and noble self-sacrifice of your great race.</p>
-
-<p>To our minds the noblest and the most truly glorious page in the
-history of England was written by Sir Edward Grey when, on behalf
-of your government, my Lord, he refused to break the plighted faith
-of England to avoid involving his country in the greatest and most
-disastrous war in the history of the world, a war for which England
-was not prepared, for which Sir Edward and his colleagues knew she
-was not prepared, and which threatened and might involve the ruin of
-the British Empire. There is a nobility and sublimity, inexpressible
-by mere words, in the act of sending that small but now immortal
-British army to Belgium in August of last year, to face tenfold its
-number, to die for strangers&mdash;for a mere "scrap of paper," as a treaty
-was cynically and immorally called&mdash;solely that the honor of England
-might be kept inviolate. England has never been grander or nobler than
-on that day. The glory she then gained cannot<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_268" id="Page_268"></a>[Pg 268]</span> fade. Gentlemen, the
-Anglo-Saxon race never rose to higher renown than when the British
-statesmen of to-day showed on such a grand scale that the spirit of the
-Light Brigade at Balaclava still lives:</p>
-
-<p>
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">"Their's not to reason why,</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Their's but to do and die."</span><br />
-</p>
-
-<p>And we Americans were then prouder than ever before to belong to the
-Anglo-Saxon race.</p>
-
-<p>England may prevail in this war, or she may fail. But whatever may
-happen, whatever may be decreed by Providence, your magnificent and
-unselfish heroism in springing to the defense of Belgium has added
-to England's renown and to our race a glory which is priceless and
-infinitely beyond the whole cost of the war, a glory worth dying for,
-a glory that will thrill and uplift generations of men for all time,
-a glory that will ever inspire acts of patriotic service and valorous
-self-sacrifice, of chivalry and honor.</p>
-
-<p>Although, Gentlemen of the British Commission, the deep sympathy of
-the great majority of Americans is naturally with the Allies in the
-present war, we want you to return to England appreciating why we must
-loyally support the neutrality which the President of the United States
-has proclaimed. The policy of this country in regard to European wars
-was fixed in 1793. One of the most important and enduring of the many
-services that President Washington rendered to the United States was
-when he stood firm as a rock against the abuse and clamor of that day
-in upholding and enforcing neutrality in favor of England as against
-the demands of her then enemies. We have<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_269" id="Page_269"></a>[Pg 269]</span> consistently adhered to that
-principle for more than one hundred and twenty years. It has been our
-fixed and constant policy, not a football of politics, or of newspaper
-propaganda, or of temporary emotion or expediency, but the sober
-judgment and conscience of the nation. The essence of this policy is
-that it is the duty of our government, not only to the present but to
-future generations, to avoid being drawn into European wars unless
-our honor or our vital interests become involved. During more than
-a century we have invited the inhabitants of every nation of Europe
-to come here and become a part of our country, and we have impliedly
-assured them of our adherence to this traditional policy of neutrality.
-If, now, we also should draw the sword, out of heartfelt sympathy and
-friendship for the Allies, or in indignation at the outrage of the
-violation of Belgium, we might become hereafter constantly involved in
-European conflicts in which we should have no other than a humanitarian
-interest, and as a result find the devoted friends and relatives of
-to-day the inflamed and bitter enemies of to-morrow.</p>
-
-<p>My Lord and Gentlemen of the British Commission, we want you to return
-to England realizing how difficult and complex is the task of our
-President. Under our system of government, he alone can speak for
-the nation and commit us in our foreign relations, upon him alone is
-imposed the awful burden of responsibility and duty, and patriotism
-commands us as Americans loyally to support him, whatever may be our
-individual<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_270" id="Page_270"></a>[Pg 270]</span> opinions or sentiments as to particular measures or grave
-omissions. We want you to return profoundly convinced that in standing
-by our policy of neutrality, we are not indifferent, or callous, or
-pusillanimous, or mercenary; and that our President is striving on our
-behalf to do what is right as God gives him to see the right, not only
-by the Americans now living but by those future generations for whom we
-are the trustees. Above all, we want you to return to England firmly
-believing that we unqualifiedly approve and extol the noble and heroic
-action of England in drawing her sword in defense of Belgium, and that
-our heartfelt sympathy and good wishes are with you and your heroic
-sailors and soldiers at the front.</p>
-
-<p>Gentlemen, I ask you to rise and lift your glasses high and drain them
-in honor of the distinguished representatives of England. I have the
-pleasure of presenting to you the Right Honourable Lord Reading, the
-Lord Chief Justice of England.</p>
-
-<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_70" href="#FNanchor_70" class="label">[70]</a> Remarks as presiding officer at a luncheon given in honor
-of the members of the Anglo-French Credit and Finance Commission, at
-the Hotel Knickerbocker, New York, October 1, 1915.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_71" href="#FNanchor_71" class="label">[71]</a> France in the American Revolution, p. 498; see also the
-introduction by Ambassador Jusserand, p. xv. The accuracy of these
-figures has not been independently verified. An examination of the late
-Mr. Perkins' papers does not disclose the source of his statement. The
-French archives show a direct expenditure of 1,507,500,000 livres, but
-these figures do not include payments made in and after the year 1783.
-Professor Marion of the CollÚge de France is of opinion that the total
-expenditure probably reached 2,000,000,000 livres. Marion, <i>Histoire
-FinanciÚre de la France, 1715-1789</i>, vol. I, p. 303, Paris, 1914; see
-also Gomel, <i>Les Causes FinanciÚres de la Révolution Française</i>, vol.
-II, p. 36, Paris, 1893. Fiske, in his Critical Period, p. 35, states
-the expenditure to have been 1,400,000,000 francs.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_72" href="#FNanchor_72" class="label">[72]</a> M. Homberg replied in French, and Mr. Guthrie then
-continued as above.</p></div></div>
-
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-
-<div class="chapter">
-<h2 class="nobreak" id="INDEX">INDEX</h2>
-</div>
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_271" id="Page_271"></a>[Pg 271]</span></p>
-
-<p>
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">American ideals, <a href="#Page_37">37</a>, <a href="#Page_161">161</a>, <a href="#Page_267">267</a>.</span><br />
-<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Ancestor-worship, <a href="#Page_27">27</a>-29.</span><br />
-<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Anglo-French Commission, <a href="#Page_261">261</a>.</span><br />
-<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Anson, Sir William R., <a href="#Page_104">104</a>, <a href="#Page_106">106</a>.</span><br />
-<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Aristotle, <a href="#Page_14">14</a>.</span><br />
-<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Athens, <a href="#Page_42">42</a>.</span><br />
-<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Australia, <a href="#Page_81">81</a>.</span><br />
-<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Ayers, In re, <a href="#Page_118">118</a>.</span><br />
-<br />
-<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Bakers case, <a href="#Page_57">57</a>, <a href="#Page_153">153</a>.</span><br />
-<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Bancroft, George, <a href="#Page_30">30</a>.</span><br />
-<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Bankers, Case of the, <a href="#Page_106">106</a>.</span><br />
-<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Bar, should defend the courts against criticism, <a href="#Page_70">70</a>, <a href="#Page_127">127</a>, <a href="#Page_147">147</a>, <a href="#Page_158">158</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">duty to defend constitutional guaranties, <a href="#Page_85">85</a>, <a href="#Page_86">86</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">efforts to secure proper judicial nominations, <a href="#Page_139">139</a>-141;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">professional responsibility, <a href="#Page_142">142</a>-143.</span><br />
-<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Barons, Articles of the, <a href="#Page_5">5</a>.</span><br />
-<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Bate's case, <a href="#Page_17">17</a>.</span><br />
-<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Belgium, <a href="#Page_261">261</a>, <a href="#Page_262">262</a>, <a href="#Page_267">267</a>, <a href="#Page_270">270</a>.</span><br />
-<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Bill of Rights, New York statute of 1787, <a href="#Page_19">19</a>, <a href="#Page_23">23</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">permanent nature, <a href="#Page_20">20</a>, <a href="#Page_21">21</a>, <a href="#Page_203">203</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">the federal bill of rights, <a href="#Page_74">74</a>, <a href="#Page_83">83</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">must be enforced by the courts, <a href="#Page_77">77</a>-78;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">ineffective where legislative power is supreme, <a href="#Page_77">77</a>-78.</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;"><i>See</i> Constitutions and Constitutional limitations.</span><br />
-<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Blackstone, Sir William, <a href="#Page_99">99</a>, <a href="#Page_168">168</a>.</span><br />
-<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Bonham's case, <a href="#Page_10">10</a>.</span><br />
-<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Bosses, Political, their power increased by direct primaries, <a href="#Page_142">142</a>, <a href="#Page_236">236</a>, <a href="#Page_238">238</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">efforts to overthrow them, <a href="#Page_230">230</a>-231, <a href="#Page_245">245</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Woodrow Wilson on, <a href="#Page_242">242</a>.</span><br />
-<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Bracton, Henry de, <a href="#Page_102">102</a>.</span><br />
-<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Bradford, William, <a href="#Page_30">30</a>n, <a href="#Page_38">38</a>-39.</span><br />
-<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Bryan, William J., <a href="#Page_180">180</a>-182, <a href="#Page_213">213</a>-215.</span><br />
-<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Bryce, Viscount, <a href="#Page_69">69</a>, <a href="#Page_251">251</a>.</span><br />
-<br />
-<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Carlisle <i>vs.</i> United States, <a href="#Page_101">101</a>.</span><br />
-<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Charter, <i>see</i> Constitutions and Magna Carta.</span><br />
-<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Chisholm <i>vs.</i> Georgia, <a href="#Page_89">89</a>, <a href="#Page_95">95</a>.</span><br />
-<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Church and State, Separation of, germ of idea in Magna Carta, <a href="#Page_11">11</a>, <a href="#Page_12">12</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">an American political principle, <a href="#Page_12">12</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">opposed by Puritans, <a href="#Page_32">32</a>, <a href="#Page_33">33</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">accomplished by the Pilgrims, <a href="#Page_32">32</a>, <a href="#Page_34">34</a>.</span><br />
-<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Clark <i>vs.</i> Barnard, <a href="#Page_96">96</a>.</span><br />
-<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Class legislation, may lead England to restrain temporary majorities, <a href="#Page_11">11</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">masking as social reform, <a href="#Page_43">43</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">dangers of, <a href="#Page_74">74</a>, <a href="#Page_79">79</a>, <a href="#Page_85">85</a>, <a href="#Page_124">124</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">New York tenement law of 1884, <a href="#Page_85">85</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">involved in graduated taxation, <a href="#Page_165">165</a>, <a href="#Page_166">166</a>.</span><br />
-<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Cleveland, Grover, <a href="#Page_149">149</a>, <a href="#Page_151">151</a>, <a href="#Page_216">216</a>.</span><br />
-<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Cohens <i>vs.</i> Virginia, <a href="#Page_93">93</a>.</span><br />
-<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Coke, Sir Edward, <a href="#Page_23">23</a>, <a href="#Page_105">105</a>.</span><br />
-<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Common law, silent as to the equal protection of the laws, <a href="#Page_36">36</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">may be changed by the legislature, <a href="#Page_68">68</a>-69, <a href="#Page_134">134</a>-138, <a href="#Page_155">155</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">the birthright of Americans, <a href="#Page_98">98</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">soundness of common-law rules, <a href="#Page_132">132</a>-134.</span><br />
-<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Commune consilium, antecedent of parliament, <a href="#Page_16">16</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">power to impose taxes, <a href="#Page_16">16</a>.</span><br />
-<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Communism, a conceit of Plato's, <a href="#Page_38">38</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">failure of the experiment in Plymouth colony, <a href="#Page_37">37</a>-39;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">in the colony of Virginia, <a href="#Page_38">38</a>.</span><br />
-<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Congress, decay through increase of executive power, <a href="#Page_44">44</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">power to regulate interstate commerce, <a href="#Page_61">61</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">cannot regulate internal affairs of the several states, <a href="#Page_61">61</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">acts of, <a href="#Page_61">61</a>, <a href="#Page_62">62</a>, <a href="#Page_68">68</a>, <a href="#Page_100">100</a>, <a href="#Page_121">121</a>, <a href="#Page_126">126</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">limitations upon, <a href="#Page_74">74</a>, <a href="#Page_78">78</a>, <a href="#Page_81">81</a>, <a href="#Page_169">169</a>-171;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">proposes amendments to the Constitution, <a href="#Page_74">74</a>, <a href="#Page_89">89</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">attempts to curtail the federal courts, <a href="#Page_88">88</a>, <a href="#Page_125">125</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">duty to enforce constitutional amendments, <a href="#Page_110">110</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">duty to uphold the Constitution, <a href="#Page_171">171</a>-172;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">protection of American industries and wages, <a href="#Page_193">193</a>-197;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">dissatisfaction with, <a href="#Page_205">205</a>-206.</span><br />
-<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Consolidated Gas Co. case, <a href="#Page_122">122</a>.</span><br />
-<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Cooley, Thomas M., <a href="#Page_90">90</a>, <a href="#Page_161">161</a>-162.</span><br />
-<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Constitutions, principles rooted in Magna Carta, <a href="#Page_1">1</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">intended to endure forever, <a href="#Page_20">20</a>, <a href="#Page_21">21</a>, <a href="#Page_203">203</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">unwise to create political body to enforce, <a href="#Page_25">25</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">may be deprived of practical force by failure to observe constitutional restraints, <a href="#Page_46">46</a>, <a href="#Page_75">75</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">explanation would dispel prejudice against the courts, <a href="#Page_48">48</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">nature and purpose to declare general principles, <a href="#Page_52">52</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">a rule of interpretation, <a href="#Page_154">154</a>-155;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">antiquated in the view of modern iconoclasts, <a href="#Page_202">202</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">small vote on amendments, <a href="#Page_208">208</a>-209;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">should deal only with fundamentals, <a href="#Page_224">224</a>, <a href="#Page_225">225</a>.</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;"><i>See</i> Magna Carta and Mayflower Compact.</span><br />
-<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Constitution, Federal, sources of, <a href="#Page_1">1</a>, <a href="#Page_31">31</a>, <a href="#Page_98">98</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">enforced by the courts, <a href="#Page_25">25</a>, <a href="#Page_42">42</a> sqq., <a href="#Page_70">70</a> sqq., <a href="#Page_87">87</a> sqq., <a href="#Page_109">109</a> sqq.;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">supremacy of, <a href="#Page_71">71</a> sqq., <a href="#Page_87">87</a>, <a href="#Page_111">111</a>, <a href="#Page_113">113</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">considered and ratified, <a href="#Page_74">74</a>, <a href="#Page_88">88</a>, <a href="#Page_89">89</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">easily amended, <a href="#Page_82">82</a>-85, <a href="#Page_89">89</a>, <a href="#Page_91">91</a>-92, <a href="#Page_175">175</a>, <a href="#Page_176">176</a>, <a href="#Page_208">208</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">necessity for deliberation in amending, <a href="#Page_84">84</a>-85, <a href="#Page_176">176</a>-177;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">rule for construing, <a href="#Page_97">97</a>-98;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">oath to support, <a href="#Page_171">171</a>-172;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">attempts to circumvent, <a href="#Page_175">175</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">embodies eternal truths, <a href="#Page_203">203</a>.</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;"><i>See</i> Constitutional limitations.</span><br />
-<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Constitutional government, depends upon constitutional morality, <a href="#Page_26">26</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">its debt to the Pilgrims, <a href="#Page_29">29</a>, <a href="#Page_32">32</a>, <a href="#Page_35">35</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">characterized by equality before the law, <a href="#Page_35">35</a>.</span><br />
-<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Constitutional limitations, idea in Magna Carta, <a href="#Page_6">6</a>-7;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">recognized in statute of 42 Edward III., <a href="#Page_7">7</a>, <a href="#Page_8">8</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">common to every American constitution, <a href="#Page_8">8</a>, <a href="#Page_73">73</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">not imposed upon parliament, <a href="#Page_9">9</a>-11, <a href="#Page_76">76</a>-77, <a href="#Page_107">107</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">their enforcement left to the courts, <a href="#Page_25">25</a>, <a href="#Page_45">45</a>, <a href="#Page_47">47</a>, <a href="#Page_70">70</a> sqq., <a href="#Page_87">87</a>, <a href="#Page_109">109</a>, <a href="#Page_113">113</a>, <a href="#Page_127">127</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">growing impatience with, <a href="#Page_42">42</a>, <a href="#Page_43">43</a>, <a href="#Page_48">48</a>, <a href="#Page_124">124</a>, <a href="#Page_202">202</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">could be nullified if judges followed the prevailing morality, <a href="#Page_45">45</a>, <a href="#Page_46">46</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">enforcement by the courts necessary, <a href="#Page_70">70</a> sqq.;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">binding upon Congress, <a href="#Page_74">74</a>-75, <a href="#Page_171">171</a>-172;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Elihu Root on, <a href="#Page_75">75</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">make possible constitutional morality, <a href="#Page_86">86</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">to be observed by the President, <a href="#Page_171">171</a>-172.</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;"><i>See</i> Constitutions, Due process of law, Constitutional morality, Judiciary, and Fundamental laws.</span><br />
-<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Constitutional morality, a condition of permanent free government, <a href="#Page_26">26</a>, <a href="#Page_42">42</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">discussed generally, <a href="#Page_42">42</a>-86;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">growing tendency to disregard, <a href="#Page_42">42</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">its disregard caused the overthrow of Grecian democracy, <a href="#Page_42">42</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">its essence is self-imposed restraint, <a href="#Page_42">42</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">its necessity should be taught, <a href="#Page_48">48</a>, <a href="#Page_85">85</a>-86.</span><br />
-<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Conventions, Constitutional, their duty to secure the privileges of Magna Carta,<a href="#Page_2"> 2</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">the first American, <a href="#Page_29">29</a>-30, <a href="#Page_37">37</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Ohio convention of 1912, <a href="#Page_61">61</a>, <a href="#Page_64">64</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">the federal convention of 1787, <a href="#Page_89">89</a>, <a href="#Page_256">256</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">in New York, <a href="#Page_154">154</a>, <a href="#Page_186">186</a>, <a href="#Page_235">235</a>, <a href="#Page_257">257</a>.</span><br />
-<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Conventions, Nominating, discussed generally, <a href="#Page_219">219</a>-246;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">right to, should be guaranteed by the Constitution, <a href="#Page_220">220</a>, <a href="#Page_225">225</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">their origin, <a href="#Page_229">229</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">abuses of, <a href="#Page_229">229</a>, <a href="#Page_237">237</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">movement to abolish, <a href="#Page_230">230</a>, <a href="#Page_239">239</a>-240;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">their merits and advantages, <a href="#Page_236">236</a>-237, <a href="#Page_242">242</a>-246.</span><br />
-<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Cotting <i>vs.</i> Kansas City Stock Yards Co., <a href="#Page_123">123</a>.</span><br />
-<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Courts, <i>see</i> Judiciary.</span><br />
-<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Coxey's Army, <a href="#Page_181">181</a>, <a href="#Page_199">199</a>.</span><br />
-<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Criminal Procedure, delays in, <a href="#Page_126">126</a>, <a href="#Page_143">143</a>-146.</span><br />
-<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Cromwell, Oliver, <a href="#Page_34">34</a>-35.</span><br />
-<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Crown, power limited by Magna Carta, <a href="#Page_11">11</a>, <a href="#Page_12">12</a>, <a href="#Page_24">24</a>-25;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">former exercise of legislative power, <a href="#Page_17">17</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">maxim that "the king can do no wrong," <a href="#Page_98">98</a>, <a href="#Page_102">102</a>, <a href="#Page_105">105</a>, <a href="#Page_108">108</a>, <a href="#Page_114">114</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">sued under the Petition of Right, <a href="#Page_99">99</a>-102;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">not suable in tort, <a href="#Page_102">102</a>.</span><br />
-<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Cullen, Chief Judge, <a href="#Page_80">80</a>, <a href="#Page_139">139</a>, <a href="#Page_210">210</a>.</span><br />
-<br />
-<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Davis <i>vs.</i> Gray, <a href="#Page_115">115</a>.</span><br />
-<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Day in court, <a href="#Page_13">13</a>, <a href="#Page_121">121</a>, <a href="#Page_150">150</a>.</span><br />
-<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Debs case, <a href="#Page_148">148</a>-151, <a href="#Page_212">212</a>, <a href="#Page_215">215</a>-216.</span><br />
-<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Declaration of Independence, proclaimed the inalienable rights of the individual, <a href="#Page_4">4</a>, <a href="#Page_81">81</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">relation to the Mayflower Compact, <a href="#Page_30">30</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">its spirit perpetuated, <a href="#Page_76">76</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">marked human progress towards liberty, <a href="#Page_203">203</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">its truths eternal, <a href="#Page_203">203</a>.</span><br />
-<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Demagogue, his plea that the people are infallible, <a href="#Page_43">43</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">his well-known arts, <a href="#Page_192">192</a>.</span><br />
-<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Democracy, the fallacies of absolute, <a href="#Page_39">39</a>-40, <a href="#Page_43">43</a>, <a href="#Page_165">165</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">in Plymouth colony, <a href="#Page_39">39</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">historical failures, <a href="#Page_42">42</a>, <a href="#Page_75">75</a>, <a href="#Page_205">205</a>.</span><br />
-<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Democratic party, principles and recent campaigns, <a href="#Page_178">178</a> sqq.;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">tariff legislation, <a href="#Page_195">195</a>-198;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">on use of injunctions, <a href="#Page_213">213</a>-214.</span><br />
-<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Despotism, equal laws a feature of, <a href="#Page_36">36</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">will result from increasing power of the executive, <a href="#Page_44">44</a>.</span><br />
-<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Dicey, A.V., <a href="#Page_15">15</a>, <a href="#Page_103">103</a>.</span><br />
-<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Dies parentales, <a href="#Page_27">27</a>.</span><br />
-<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Due course of law, in New York bill of rights of 1787, <a href="#Page_23">23</a>.</span><br />
-<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Due process of law, universal application in the United States, <a href="#Page_18">18</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">equivalent of "law of the land" (q.v.), <a href="#Page_18">18</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">substance of expression in Magna Carta, <a href="#Page_18">18</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">history of expression in America, <a href="#Page_18">18</a>-19, <a href="#Page_23">23</a>-24;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">meaning, <a href="#Page_19">19</a>, <a href="#Page_22">22</a>-24;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">earliest use, <a href="#Page_22">22</a>-23;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">term meaningless to man in the street, <a href="#Page_48">48</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">principle applied in the Tenement House case, <a href="#Page_54">54</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">in the Ives case and Employers' Liability cases, <a href="#Page_65">65</a>, <a href="#Page_68">68</a>.</span><br />
-<br />
-<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Education, Catholic parochial schools, <a href="#Page_247">247</a>-260;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">primary and elementary, <a href="#Page_253">253</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">the Catholic university, <a href="#Page_255">255</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">public grants to private schools, <a href="#Page_256">256</a>, <a href="#Page_257">257</a>.</span><br />
-<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Edward I., <a href="#Page_100">100</a>.</span><br />
-<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Edward III., <a href="#Page_7">7</a>, <a href="#Page_8">8</a>, <a href="#Page_11">11</a>, <a href="#Page_22">22</a>, <a href="#Page_23">23</a>.</span><br />
-<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Edward the Confessor, 7.</span><br />
-<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Egyptians, <a href="#Page_27">27</a>, <a href="#Page_168">168</a>.</span><br />
-<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Election Law (New York), <a href="#Page_209">209</a>, <a href="#Page_219">219</a>.</span><br />
-<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Elections, primary elections a menace, <a href="#Page_39">39</a>, <a href="#Page_142">142</a>, <a href="#Page_227">227</a>-228, <a href="#Page_231">231</a>-236, <a href="#Page_238">238</a>, <a href="#Page_245">245</a>-246;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">presidential, <a href="#Page_178">178</a> sqq.;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">nomination of candidates, <a href="#Page_207">207</a>, <a href="#Page_219">219</a>-246;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">vote on constitutional amendments, <a href="#Page_208">208</a>-209;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">effect of the short ballot, <a href="#Page_222">222</a>-224;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">secret ballot objectionable, <a href="#Page_228">228</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">some New York statistics, <a href="#Page_231">231</a>-233;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">origin of primaries, <a href="#Page_239">239</a>-240;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">to judicial office, <a href="#Page_243">243</a>-245.</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;"><i>See</i> Conventions.</span><br />
-<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Electorate, responsible for political evils, <a href="#Page_205">205</a>-206, <a href="#Page_245">245</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">voting a duty, <a href="#Page_206">206</a>, <a href="#Page_238">238</a>, <a href="#Page_245">245</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">indifference and negligence of, <a href="#Page_207">207</a>, <a href="#Page_208">208</a>, <a href="#Page_209">209</a>, <a href="#Page_230">230</a>-232, <a href="#Page_237">237</a>, <a href="#Page_240">240</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">remedy for corruption, <a href="#Page_237">237</a>-238.</span><br />
-<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Eleventh amendment, main treatment, <a href="#Page_87">87</a>-129;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">text, <a href="#Page_91">91</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">possibly qualified, <a href="#Page_97">97</a>, <a href="#Page_110">110</a>.</span><br />
-<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Employers' Liability cases, <a href="#Page_61">61</a>-64, <a href="#Page_67">67</a>-68, <a href="#Page_121">121</a>.</span><br />
-<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">English church, its part in Magna Carta, <a href="#Page_3">3</a>, <a href="#Page_4">4</a>, <a href="#Page_11">11</a>, <a href="#Page_12">12</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">freed from the crown by Magna Carta, <a href="#Page_11">11</a>, <a href="#Page_12">12</a>.</span><br />
-<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">England, political thought in the 13th and 14th centuries, <a href="#Page_6">6</a>-9, <a href="#Page_18">18</a>-19;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">taxation, <a href="#Page_9">9</a>, <a href="#Page_16">16</a>-18;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">courts, <a href="#Page_10">10</a>, <a href="#Page_17">17</a>, <a href="#Page_76">76</a>, <a href="#Page_77">77</a>, <a href="#Page_103">103</a>-107;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">class legislation, <a href="#Page_11">11</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">acts of Supremacy and Uniformity, <a href="#Page_32">32</a>, <a href="#Page_36">36</a>-37;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">debt to Puritanism, <a href="#Page_34">34</a>-35;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">in the World War, <a href="#Page_35">35</a>, <a href="#Page_261">261</a>, <a href="#Page_267">267</a>-270;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">labor legislation, <a href="#Page_79">79</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">protective tariff, <a href="#Page_196">196</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">cost of living, <a href="#Page_199">199</a>, <a href="#Page_200">200</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">board of trade, <a href="#Page_200">200</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">union of legislative and executive powers, <a href="#Page_227">227</a>-228;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">state aid to parochial schools, <a href="#Page_256">256</a>.</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;"><i>See</i> English church and Parliament.</span><br />
-<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Entick <i>vs.</i> Carrington, <a href="#Page_104">104</a>.</span><br />
-<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Equality before the law, <a href="#Page_31">31</a>, <a href="#Page_35">35</a>, <a href="#Page_152">152</a>, <a href="#Page_161">161</a>.</span><br />
-<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Europe, political ideas in the 13th century, <a href="#Page_6">6</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">in 1620, <a href="#Page_35">35</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">the great war, <a href="#Page_35">35</a>, <a href="#Page_41">41</a>, <a href="#Page_267">267</a> sqq.;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">source of legislative schemes, <a href="#Page_76">76</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">industrial competition with the United States, <a href="#Page_196">196</a>-197;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">high cost of living, <a href="#Page_200">200</a>.</span><br />
-<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Executive, and legislative power in England, <a href="#Page_17">17</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">power limited by Magna Carta, <a href="#Page_24">24</a>-25;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">increase in power threatens despotism, <a href="#Page_44">44</a>, <a href="#Page_223">223</a>-224;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">shifting responsibility to the courts, <a href="#Page_47">47</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">duty to uphold the Constitution, <a href="#Page_171">171</a>-172;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">sentiment against a third term, <a href="#Page_186">186</a>-188;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">now most powerful branch of the government, <a href="#Page_220">220</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">should not exercise the lawmaking power, <a href="#Page_227">227</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">control of foreign relations, <a href="#Page_269">269</a>.</span><br />
-<br />
-<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Feather <i>vs.</i> The Queen, <a href="#Page_104">104</a>.</span><br />
-<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Federalist, quoted on judicial power, <a href="#Page_71">71</a>-72, <a href="#Page_109">109</a>.</span><br />
-<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Fifteenth amendment, <a href="#Page_83">83</a>, <a href="#Page_110">110</a>.</span><br />
-<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Fifth amendment, <a href="#Page_19">19</a>, <a href="#Page_68">68</a>.</span><br />
-<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Fitts <i>vs.</i> McGhee, <a href="#Page_118">118</a>.</span><br />
-<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Fitzwater <i>vs.</i> Warren, <a href="#Page_138">138</a>.</span><br />
-<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Five Knights case, <a href="#Page_15">15</a>.</span><br />
-<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Fourteenth amendment, <a href="#Page_24">24</a>, <a href="#Page_36">36</a>, <a href="#Page_68">68</a>, <a href="#Page_110">110</a>, <a href="#Page_111">111</a>, <a href="#Page_169">169</a>.</span><br />
-<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">France, early charters of liberties, <a href="#Page_5">5</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;"><i>les lois fondamentales</i>,<a href="#Page_7"> 7</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">legislative and executive powers, <a href="#Page_76">76</a>, <a href="#Page_77">77</a>, <a href="#Page_227">227</a>-228;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">forced loans, <a href="#Page_164">164</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">French Revolution, <a href="#Page_164">164</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">cost of living, <a href="#Page_200">200</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">friendly relations with America, <a href="#Page_261">261</a>-266;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">in the World War, <a href="#Page_261">261</a>, <a href="#Page_262">262</a>-266;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">aid to American revolutionists, <a href="#Page_262">262</a>-264;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">treaty of alliance with America of 1778, <a href="#Page_265">265</a>.</span><br />
-<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">France-America Committee, <a href="#Page_261">261</a>.</span><br />
-<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Fuller, Chief Justice, <a href="#Page_46">46</a>, <a href="#Page_173">173</a>.</span><br />
-<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Fundamental laws, idea revived by Magna Carta, <a href="#Page_6">6</a>-7;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">in Greece and Rome, <a href="#Page_6">6</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">in France, <a href="#Page_7">7</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">a controlling principle of American constitutions, <a href="#Page_8">8</a>, <a href="#Page_73">73</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">idea abandoned in England, <a href="#Page_9">9</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">theory may yet be applied by English courts, <a href="#Page_11">11</a>.</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;"><i>See</i> Constitutions.</span><br />
-<br />
-<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Gaynor, William J., <a href="#Page_54">54</a>, <a href="#Page_55">55</a>, <a href="#Page_57">57</a>.</span><br />
-<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Georgia, <a href="#Page_89">89</a>, <a href="#Page_90">90</a>, <a href="#Page_95">95</a>.</span><br />
-<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Glen Cove parochial school, <a href="#Page_247">247</a>, <a href="#Page_259">259</a>.</span><br />
-<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Government, origin and importance of separation of powers, <a href="#Page_4">4</a>, <a href="#Page_13">13</a>, <a href="#Page_16">16</a>, <a href="#Page_17">17</a>, <a href="#Page_18">18</a>, <a href="#Page_227">227</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">depends more upon men than upon laws, <a href="#Page_28">28</a>, <a href="#Page_206">206</a>, <a href="#Page_221">221</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">governmental powers derived from the consent of the governed, <a href="#Page_30">30</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">government by the legislature preferable to government by the judiciary, <a href="#Page_45">45</a>, <a href="#Page_46">46</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">the form may survive the substance, <a href="#Page_46">46</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">constant extension of governmental functions, <a href="#Page_74">74</a>, <a href="#Page_80">80</a>, <a href="#Page_120">120</a>, <a href="#Page_220">220</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">the American government different from others, <a href="#Page_76">76</a>, <a href="#Page_161">161</a>, <a href="#Page_227">227</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">trend toward centralization in America, <a href="#Page_176">176</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">local self-government essential, <a href="#Page_177">177</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">need of trained experts, <a href="#Page_220">220</a>-221.</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;"><i>See</i> Congress, Constitutional government, Democracy, Executive, Judiciary, Legislature, Minorities, Majorities, Representative government, and State governments.</span><br />
-<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Graduated taxation, general discussion, <a href="#Page_159">159</a>-177;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">exempts the majority and burdens the minority, <a href="#Page_160">160</a>, <a href="#Page_163">163</a>, <a href="#Page_166">166</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">a means to break up large fortunes, <a href="#Page_160">160</a>, <a href="#Page_169">169</a>-170;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">may amount to confiscation, <a href="#Page_163">163</a>-166;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">necessarily arbitrary, <a href="#Page_163">163</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">as forced loans in France, <a href="#Page_164">164</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Lecky's views, <a href="#Page_164">164</a>-165;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">McCulloch's views, <a href="#Page_165">165</a>-166;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">views of Leroy-Beaulieu, <a href="#Page_166">166</a>.</span><br />
-<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Great Britain, <a href="#Page_10">10</a>, <a href="#Page_101">101</a>.</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;"><i>See</i> England.</span><br />
-<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Great Charter, <i>see</i> Magna Carta.</span><br />
-<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Greece, fundamental laws in,<a href="#Page_6">6</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">ancestor-worship, <a href="#Page_27">27</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Athenian democracy, <a href="#Page_42">42</a>, <a href="#Page_75">75</a>.</span><br />
-<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Gunter <i>vs.</i> Atlantic Coast Line, <a href="#Page_96">96</a>.</span><br />
-<br />
-<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Habeas corpus, Writ of, the bulwark of personal liberty, <a href="#Page_15">15</a>, <a href="#Page_16">16</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">its antecedent in Magna Carta, <a href="#Page_15">15</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">in England, <a href="#Page_15">15</a>, <a href="#Page_107">107</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">rendered effective by the courts, <a href="#Page_77">77</a>.</span><br />
-<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Hamilton, Alexander, <a href="#Page_71">71</a>, <a href="#Page_74">74</a>, <a href="#Page_88">88</a>, <a href="#Page_161">161</a>.</span><br />
-<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Hampden, John, <a href="#Page_17">17</a>, <a href="#Page_34">34</a>.</span><br />
-<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Hans <i>vs.</i> Louisiana, <a href="#Page_95">95</a>.</span><br />
-<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Hearn, Lafcadio, <a href="#Page_28">28</a>, <a href="#Page_29">29</a>n.</span><br />
-<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Henry VIII., <a href="#Page_32">32</a>, <a href="#Page_36">36</a>.</span><br />
-<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Holden <i>vs.</i> Hardy, <a href="#Page_60">60</a>.</span><br />
-<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Hunter <i>vs.</i> Wood, <a href="#Page_119">119</a>n.</span><br />
-<br />
-<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Impositions, Case of, <a href="#Page_17">17</a>.</span><br />
-<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Income Tax cases, <a href="#Page_173">173</a>, <a href="#Page_175">175</a>.</span><br />
-<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Income Tax, <a href="#Page_159">159</a>, <a href="#Page_173">173</a>-175.</span><br />
-<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Inheritance Tax, <a href="#Page_159">159</a>-160, <a href="#Page_167">167</a>-173.</span><br />
-<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Initiative and Referendum, a menace to our republican form of government, <a href="#Page_39">39</a>, <a href="#Page_193">193</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">origin in distrust of legislatures, <a href="#Page_44">44</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">agitation for, <a href="#Page_47">47</a>, <a href="#Page_204">204</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">in Australia, <a href="#Page_81">81</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">a scheme of the Progressives, <a href="#Page_204">204</a>-209.</span><br />
-<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Injunctions, as used to restrain state officers, <a href="#Page_87">87</a>-88, <a href="#Page_97">97</a>, <a href="#Page_109">109</a>-114;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">to restrain officers of the crown in England, <a href="#Page_106">106</a>-107;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">to restrain criminal proceedings, <a href="#Page_117">117</a>-119;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">to prevent the enforcement of unconstitutional state statutes, <a href="#Page_120">120</a>, <a href="#Page_125">125</a>, <a href="#Page_127">127</a>, <a href="#Page_128">128</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">use in connection with strikes and labor disputes, <a href="#Page_146">146</a>-152, <a href="#Page_212">212</a>-217;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">New York practice, <a href="#Page_148">148</a>, <a href="#Page_151">151</a>-152.</span><br />
-<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Inquisition, Writ of, <a href="#Page_14">14</a>, <a href="#Page_15">15</a>.</span><br />
-<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Institutions, the slower their growth the more enduring they are, <a href="#Page_1">1</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">English source of American institutions, <a href="#Page_98">98</a>, <a href="#Page_266">266</a>-267;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">the Roman Catholic church and American institutions, <a href="#Page_249">249</a>-250.</span><br />
-<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Intestate succession <a href="#Page_167">167</a>-169.</span><br />
-<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Ives case, <a href="#Page_65">65</a>-69, <a href="#Page_153">153</a>.</span><br />
-<br />
-<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Jacobs case, <a href="#Page_49">49</a>-57, <a href="#Page_153">153</a>, <a href="#Page_154">154</a>.</span><br />
-<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">James I., <a href="#Page_17">17</a>, <a href="#Page_30">30</a>n, <a href="#Page_31">31</a>n.</span><br />
-<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Japan, <a href="#Page_27">27</a>-29, <a href="#Page_197">197</a>.</span><br />
-<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Jefferson, Thomas, <a href="#Page_186">186</a>, <a href="#Page_187">187</a>, <a href="#Page_189">189</a>, <a href="#Page_197">197</a>, <a href="#Page_205">205</a>.</span><br />
-<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">John, King, <a href="#Page_4">4</a>, <a href="#Page_7">7</a>, <a href="#Page_12">12</a>, <a href="#Page_25">25</a>.</span><br />
-<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Judges, qualifications, <a href="#Page_13">13</a>, <a href="#Page_14">14</a>, <a href="#Page_70">70</a>, <a href="#Page_142">142</a>, <a href="#Page_243">243</a>-245;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">bound by principles, rules and precedents, <a href="#Page_46">46</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">not infallible, <a href="#Page_47">47</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">duty to enforce the law, <a href="#Page_128">128</a>, <a href="#Page_129">129</a>, <a href="#Page_209">209</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">selection and tenure, <a href="#Page_139">139</a>-142, <a href="#Page_243">243</a>-245;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">should be defended against unjust criticism, <a href="#Page_69">69</a>-70, <a href="#Page_126">126</a>-128, <a href="#Page_157">157</a>-158.</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;"><i>See</i> Judiciary and Recall.</span><br />
-<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Judiciary, power to annul unconstitutional laws, <a href="#Page_7">7</a>-9, <a href="#Page_25">25</a>, <a href="#Page_42">42</a> sqq., <a href="#Page_70">70</a> sqq., <a href="#Page_87">87</a> sqq., <a href="#Page_109">109</a> sqq.;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">former dependence upon the crown, <a href="#Page_10">10</a>, <a href="#Page_17">17</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">has no power over legislation in England and France, <a href="#Page_11">11</a>, <a href="#Page_76">76</a>, <a href="#Page_77">77</a>, <a href="#Page_107">107</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">importance recognized in Magna Carta, <a href="#Page_13">13</a>, <a href="#Page_14">14</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">defended against unjust criticism, <a href="#Page_43">43</a> sqq., <a href="#Page_130">130</a>-158, <a href="#Page_181">181</a>, <a href="#Page_193">193</a>, <a href="#Page_211">211</a>-212;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">government by, <a href="#Page_45">45</a>-46;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">rules for determining the constitutionality of a statute, <a href="#Page_45">45</a>, <a href="#Page_46">46</a>, <a href="#Page_52">52</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">charged with having usurped power over legislation, <a href="#Page_45">45</a>, <a href="#Page_70">70</a>, <a href="#Page_81">81</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">examples of alleged abuse of power, <a href="#Page_48">48</a>-68;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">cannot control legislative discretion, <a href="#Page_52">52</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">should avoid judicial legislation, <a href="#Page_62">62</a>, <a href="#Page_135">135</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">necessity of defending against unfair criticism, <a href="#Page_69">69</a>, <a href="#Page_70">70</a>, <a href="#Page_126">126</a>-128, <a href="#Page_158">158</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">must enforce the Bill of Rights, <a href="#Page_77">77</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">control over executive and administrative officers, <a href="#Page_103">103</a>-107, <a href="#Page_111">111</a>, <a href="#Page_114">114</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">necessity for confidence in, <a href="#Page_126">126</a>-128;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">the bulwark of liberty, <a href="#Page_128">128</a>, <a href="#Page_226">226</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">independence of, <a href="#Page_141">141</a>, <a href="#Page_142">142</a>, <a href="#Page_226">226</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">not responsible for delays, <a href="#Page_142">142</a>-146.</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;"><i>See</i> Judges, Constitutional limitations, Injunctions, and Recall.</span><br />
-<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Judiciary, Federal, jurisdiction to enjoin state officers, <a href="#Page_87">87</a>, <a href="#Page_108">108</a>-110, <a href="#Page_113">113</a>, <a href="#Page_117">117</a>, <a href="#Page_119">119</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">efforts to curtail power of, <a href="#Page_88">88</a>, <a href="#Page_125">125</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">jurisdiction limited, <a href="#Page_97">97</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">power to annul state laws a necessity, <a href="#Page_108">108</a>, <a href="#Page_109">109</a>, <a href="#Page_112">112</a>, <a href="#Page_116">116</a>, <a href="#Page_124">124</a>-129;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">compels the states to obey the Constitution, <a href="#Page_113">113</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">power to enjoin criminal prosecutions by the states, <a href="#Page_117">117</a>-119;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">causes of dissatisfaction with, <a href="#Page_126">126</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">oath of office of judges, <a href="#Page_127">127</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">constituted as a bulwark of liberty, <a href="#Page_128">128</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">assaults upon, <a href="#Page_128">128</a>, <a href="#Page_146">146</a>-152;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">issuance of injunctions in labor disputes, <a href="#Page_213">213</a>-217;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">power to punish for contempt, <a href="#Page_215">215</a>-217.</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;"><i>See also</i> Supreme Court.</span><br />
-<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Jurisprudence, as a science, <a href="#Page_13">13</a>, <a href="#Page_52">52</a>.</span><br />
-<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Jury-trial, origin in Magna Carta, <a href="#Page_15">15</a>, <a href="#Page_19">19</a>-20;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">early history, <a href="#Page_19">19</a>-20;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">a right assured by the judicial power, <a href="#Page_78">78</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">not in cases of contempt, <a href="#Page_215">215</a>.</span><br />
-<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Justice, political justice secured by Magna Carta, <a href="#Page_1">1</a>, <a href="#Page_4">4</a>, <a href="#Page_13">13</a>-15;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">the highest political liberty, <a href="#Page_13">13</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">uniformity and certainty essential in its administration, <a href="#Page_13">13</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">social justice, <a href="#Page_43">43</a>, <a href="#Page_81">81</a>-82;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">delays in its administration, <a href="#Page_125">125</a>, <a href="#Page_126">126</a>, <a href="#Page_142">142</a>-146.</span><br />
-<br />
-<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Knisley <i>vs.</i> Pratt, <a href="#Page_137">137</a>, <a href="#Page_155">155</a>.</span><br />
-<br />
-<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Labor, competition of foreign workmen, <a href="#Page_196">196</a>, <a href="#Page_197">197</a>, <a href="#Page_198">198</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">conditions in 1896, <a href="#Page_198">198</a>-199.</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;"><i>See</i> Master and servant.</span><br />
-<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Labor laws, in New York, <a href="#Page_50">50</a>, <a href="#Page_56">56</a>, <a href="#Page_58">58</a>, <a href="#Page_59">59</a>, <a href="#Page_137">137</a>, <a href="#Page_156">156</a>.</span><br />
-<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Labor unions, attitude toward the courts, <a href="#Page_131">131</a>, <a href="#Page_140">140</a>-141;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">some labor leaders, <a href="#Page_131">131</a>, <a href="#Page_147">147</a>, <a href="#Page_212">212</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">opposition to injunctions, <a href="#Page_146">146</a>-152.</span><br />
-<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Labourers, Statute of, <a href="#Page_79">79</a>.</span><br />
-<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Langford <i>vs.</i> United States, <a href="#Page_103">103</a>.</span><br />
-<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Langton, Stephen, <a href="#Page_5">5</a>, <a href="#Page_12">12</a>.</span><br />
-<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Law, how to be administered, <a href="#Page_13">13</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">wiser than those who administer it, <a href="#Page_14">14</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">principle of the supremacy of the law, <a href="#Page_14">14</a>, <a href="#Page_103">103</a>-107, <a href="#Page_111">111</a>, <a href="#Page_114">114</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">just and equal laws, <a href="#Page_31">31</a>, <a href="#Page_35">35</a>, <a href="#Page_36">36</a>, <a href="#Page_37">37</a>, <a href="#Page_152">152</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">equality before the law, <a href="#Page_35">35</a>, <a href="#Page_36">36</a>, <a href="#Page_161">161</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">growing disregard of, <a href="#Page_43">43</a>, <a href="#Page_201">201</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">touches every individual, <a href="#Page_85">85</a>.</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;"><i>See</i> Common law, Due process of law, Fundamental laws, Law of the land, Justice, Judges, and Judiciary.</span><br />
-<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Lawlessness, manifested in alleged reforms, <a href="#Page_43">43</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">and in labor organizations, <a href="#Page_150">150</a>, <a href="#Page_217">217</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">its growth in connection with the spread of socialism, <a href="#Page_201">201</a>.</span><br />
-<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Law of the land, a phrase wiser than those who wrote it, <a href="#Page_5">5</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">the epitome of ancient and forgotten wisdom, <a href="#Page_5">5</a>-6;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">guaranteed by Magna Carta, <a href="#Page_9">9</a>, <a href="#Page_18">18</a>, <a href="#Page_21">21</a>, <a href="#Page_22">22</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">the equivalent of "due process of law" (q.v.), <a href="#Page_18">18</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">meaning, <a href="#Page_18">18</a>, <a href="#Page_19">19</a>, <a href="#Page_21">21</a>, <a href="#Page_22">22</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">in American constitutions, <a href="#Page_18">18</a>-19, <a href="#Page_23">23</a>-24;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">in the Petition of Right, <a href="#Page_23">23</a>.</span><br />
-<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Lawyers, <i>see</i> Bar.</span><br />
-<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Lecky, W.E.H., <a href="#Page_164">164</a>.</span><br />
-<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Legislation, formerly not a panacea for all ills, <a href="#Page_9">9</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">practical reforms needed, <a href="#Page_44">44</a>, <a href="#Page_205">205</a>-206;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">alleged social legislation, <a href="#Page_49">49</a>-54, <a href="#Page_153">153</a>, <a href="#Page_154">154</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">particular legislation criticized as being arbitrary, crude, experimental, meddlesome, and oppressive, <a href="#Page_52">52</a>, <a href="#Page_80">80</a>, <a href="#Page_82">82</a>, <a href="#Page_120">120</a>-125, <a href="#Page_163">163</a>, <a href="#Page_245">245</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">a rule of construction, <a href="#Page_154">154</a>-155;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">necessity for exact language, <a href="#Page_208">208</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">great volume of statutes, <a href="#Page_204">204</a>, <a href="#Page_208">208</a>.</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;"><i>See</i> Class legislation and Social legislation.</span><br />
-<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Legislature, taxation originally its chief function,<a href="#Page_9">9</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">limitations upon, <a href="#Page_43">43</a>-46, <a href="#Page_51">51</a>, <a href="#Page_70">70</a>, <a href="#Page_71">71</a>, <a href="#Page_78">78</a>, <a href="#Page_81">81</a>, <a href="#Page_124">124</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">corruption charged by social reformers, <a href="#Page_44">44</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">abandoning constitutional questions to the courts, <a href="#Page_47">47</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">duty to apply constitutional principles, <a href="#Page_52">52</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">supreme in its sphere, <a href="#Page_52">52</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">power to protect the public health, <a href="#Page_59">59</a>, <a href="#Page_60">60</a>.</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;"><i>See</i> Constitutional limitations, Legislation, and Congress.</span><br />
-<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Leroy-Beaulieu, Pierre Paul, <a href="#Page_166">166</a>.</span><br />
-<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Liberty, Civil, guaranteed by Magna Carta, <a href="#Page_1">1</a>, <a href="#Page_4">4</a>, <a href="#Page_5">5</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Declaration of Independence, <a href="#Page_4">4</a>, <a href="#Page_81">81</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">early charters of the French kings, <a href="#Page_5">5</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">writ of habeas corpus its bulwark, <a href="#Page_15">15</a>, <a href="#Page_16">16</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">conditions necessary for its perpetuation, <a href="#Page_26">26</a>, <a href="#Page_36">36</a>, <a href="#Page_37">37</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">guaranteed by the Constitution, <a href="#Page_51">51</a>, <a href="#Page_76">76</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">legislative interference with, <a href="#Page_74">74</a>, <a href="#Page_80">80</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">of vital concern to everyone, <a href="#Page_84">84</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">guarded by the common law, <a href="#Page_98">98</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">its essence, <a href="#Page_124">124</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">some political documents, <a href="#Page_203">203</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">threatened by temporary majorities (q.v.), <a href="#Page_211">211</a>.</span><br />
-<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Liberty, Constitutional, Justice Story on, <a href="#Page_25">25</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">in the custody of the American people, <a href="#Page_26">26</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">the Pilgrim Fathers assist at its birth in America, <a href="#Page_30">30</a>.</span><br />
-<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Liberty, Religious, secured by the New York constitution, <a href="#Page_12">12</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">idea of, in Magna Carta, <a href="#Page_12">12</a>, <a href="#Page_13">13</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">established in America by the Pilgrims of Plymouth, <a href="#Page_32">32</a>, <a href="#Page_34">34</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">our greatest blessing, <a href="#Page_34">34</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">secured by the courts, <a href="#Page_77">77</a>-78;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">favored by non-sectarian public schools, <a href="#Page_248">248</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">fostered in America by Protestants, <a href="#Page_251">251</a>, <a href="#Page_259">259</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">formerly denied to Catholics in New York, <a href="#Page_258">258</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">secured temporarily in New York by Governor Dongan, <a href="#Page_259">259</a>.</span><br />
-<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Lincoln, Abraham, <a href="#Page_26">26</a>, <a href="#Page_191">191</a>, <a href="#Page_246">246</a>.</span><br />
-<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Lottery case, <a href="#Page_46">46</a>.</span><br />
-<br />
-<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Madison, James, <a href="#Page_88">88</a>, <a href="#Page_186">186</a>, <a href="#Page_189">189</a>, <a href="#Page_197">197</a>.</span><br />
-<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Magna Carta, general treatment, <a href="#Page_1">1</a>-26;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">marked our greatest political epoch, <a href="#Page_1">1</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">saved England from despotism, <a href="#Page_1">1</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">the source of representative government, <a href="#Page_1">1</a>-2, <a href="#Page_16">16</a>, <a href="#Page_18">18</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">the foundation of liberty and justice, <a href="#Page_1">1</a>, <a href="#Page_4">4</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">reissues and confirmations, <a href="#Page_2">2</a>, <a href="#Page_3">3</a>, <a href="#Page_7">7</a>, <a href="#Page_8">8</a>, <a href="#Page_20">20</a>, <a href="#Page_22">22</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">extolled by the royal governor of New York, <a href="#Page_2">2</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">crystallized and perpetuated English liberties, <a href="#Page_2">2</a>, <a href="#Page_3">3</a>, <a href="#Page_5">5</a>, <a href="#Page_21">21</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">all Americans enjoy its privileges, <a href="#Page_2">2</a>, <a href="#Page_3">3</a>, <a href="#Page_5">5</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">granted at Runnymede, June 15, 1215, <a href="#Page_3">3</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">still on the English statute books, <a href="#Page_3">3</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">a battle-cry against tyranny, <a href="#Page_3">3</a>, <a href="#Page_11">11</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">modern criticism of, <a href="#Page_3">3</a>-4, <a href="#Page_7">7</a>, <a href="#Page_8">8</a>, <a href="#Page_15">15</a>, <a href="#Page_19">19</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">the value of its traditions, <a href="#Page_4">4</a>-5, <a href="#Page_26">26</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">based upon eternal truths and to endure forever, <a href="#Page_5">5</a>, <a href="#Page_21">21</a>, <a href="#Page_203">203</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">established the rights of the individual as against the government, <a href="#Page_6">6</a>, <a href="#Page_7">7</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">long regarded as an unalterable fundamental law, <a href="#Page_6">6</a>-10;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">limited the power of the king, <a href="#Page_11">11</a>, <a href="#Page_12">12</a>, <a href="#Page_24">24</a>-25;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">denounced by the Pope, <a href="#Page_12">12</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">established the supremacy of the law, <a href="#Page_14">14</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">translated and explained in the churches, <a href="#Page_14">14</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">guaranteed the writ of habeas corpus, <a href="#Page_15">15</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">separated legislative and executive power, <a href="#Page_16">16</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">prevented taxation without the consent of parliament, <a href="#Page_16">16</a>-17;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">the law of the land, <a href="#Page_18">18</a>-22;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">jury-trial, <a href="#Page_19">19</a>, <a href="#Page_20">20</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">supplemented by the statute of 1354, <a href="#Page_22">22</a>-23;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">justified revolution for cause, <a href="#Page_25">25</a>.</span><br />
-<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Majorities, Temporary, may yet be restrained in England, <a href="#Page_11">11</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">arbitrary action, <a href="#Page_40">40</a>, <a href="#Page_124">124</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">their alleged infallibility a dangerous doctrine, <a href="#Page_43">43</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">the proposal to free them from all restraints, <a href="#Page_43">43</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">their ever-changing opinions and desires as a rule of constitutional construction, <a href="#Page_45">45</a>-46;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">oppressive class legislation, <a href="#Page_74">74</a>, <a href="#Page_78">78</a>-79;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">need to be restrained, <a href="#Page_75">75</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">exercise of the taxing power, <a href="#Page_165">165</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">would overrule the courts, <a href="#Page_211">211</a>.</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;"><i>See</i> Minorities.</span><br />
-<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Mallet, Monsieur, <a href="#Page_262">262</a>, <a href="#Page_266">266</a>.</span><br />
-<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Marbury <i>vs.</i> Madison, <a href="#Page_8">8</a>, <a href="#Page_72">72</a>, <a href="#Page_100">100</a>, <a href="#Page_124">124</a>.</span><br />
-<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Marshall, Chief Justice, his decision in Marbury <i>vs.</i> Madison, <a href="#Page_8">8</a>-9, <a href="#Page_72">72</a>-73, <a href="#Page_100">100</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">on the Constitution, <a href="#Page_21">21</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">on the suability of a state, <a href="#Page_88">88</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">on the eleventh amendment, <a href="#Page_93">93</a>-94, <a href="#Page_95">95</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">on restraining state officers, <a href="#Page_113">113</a>-114;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">on civil liberty, <a href="#Page_124">124</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">on the duty of judges, <a href="#Page_129">129</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">unpopular decisions, <a href="#Page_210">210</a>.</span><br />
-<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Martial law, as the alternative of injunctions, <a href="#Page_151">151</a>.</span><br />
-<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Master and servant, three common-law rules changed by Congress, <a href="#Page_62">62</a>-63, <a href="#Page_68">68</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">the common law to be changed by the legislature, not by the courts, <a href="#Page_68">68</a>-69, <a href="#Page_134">134</a>-135, <a href="#Page_137">137</a>-138, <a href="#Page_155">155</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">soundness of the common-law rules, <a href="#Page_132">132</a>-134.</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;"><i>See</i> Workmen's Compensation.</span><br />
-<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Mayflower, <a href="#Page_27">27</a>, <a href="#Page_29">29</a>, <a href="#Page_30">30</a>, <a href="#Page_32">32</a>, <a href="#Page_37">37</a>.</span><br />
-<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Mayflower Compact, main treatment, <a href="#Page_27">27</a>-41;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">its interest to Americans, <a href="#Page_29">29</a>, <a href="#Page_30">30</a>, <a href="#Page_31">31</a>, <a href="#Page_40">40</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">called the first written constitution, <a href="#Page_30">30</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">text as preserved by Governor Bradford, <a href="#Page_30">30</a>n-31n;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">its covenant for just and equal laws, <a href="#Page_31">31</a>, <a href="#Page_35">35</a>-37;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">initiated republican government, <a href="#Page_31">31</a>, <a href="#Page_40">40</a>.</span><br />
-<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Minorities, English courts may yet have to protect, <a href="#Page_11">11</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">their protection entrusted by the founders to the courts, <a href="#Page_25">25</a>, <a href="#Page_43">43</a>, <a href="#Page_75">75</a>, <a href="#Page_76">76</a>, <a href="#Page_78">78</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">secure under representative government, <a href="#Page_40">40</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">threatened by the short ballot, <a href="#Page_223">223</a>.</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;"><i>See</i> Judiciary.</span><br />
-<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Monroe, James, <a href="#Page_186">186</a>, <a href="#Page_189">189</a>, <a href="#Page_197">197</a>.</span><br />
-<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Morality, a condition of social welfare and individual happiness, <a href="#Page_250">250</a>, <a href="#Page_252">252</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">taught in Catholic schools, <a href="#Page_250">250</a>, <a href="#Page_255">255</a>.</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;"><i>See</i> Constitutional Morality.</span><br />
-<br />
-<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Natural rights, a cardinal principle of Magna Carta, <a href="#Page_6">6</a>.</span><br />
-<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">New York city, tobacco workers in tenements, <a href="#Page_49">49</a>-57;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">board of health, <a href="#Page_50">50</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">death-rate, <a href="#Page_51">51</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">tenement-house conditions, <a href="#Page_55">55</a>-57;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">courts, <a href="#Page_141">141</a>, <a href="#Page_142">142</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">parochial schools, <a href="#Page_254">254</a>, <a href="#Page_257">257</a>.</span><br />
-<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">New York state, constitution, <a href="#Page_12">12</a>, <a href="#Page_19">19</a>, <a href="#Page_23">23</a>, <a href="#Page_24">24</a>, <a href="#Page_49">49</a>, <a href="#Page_258">258</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Court of Appeals, <a href="#Page_50">50</a>, <a href="#Page_57">57</a>, <a href="#Page_65">65</a>, <a href="#Page_80">80</a>, <a href="#Page_138">138</a>, <a href="#Page_139">139</a>, <a href="#Page_141">141</a>, <a href="#Page_145">145</a>, <a href="#Page_146">146</a>, <a href="#Page_154">154</a>-156, <a href="#Page_212">212</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Bar Association, <a href="#Page_75">75</a>, <a href="#Page_131">131</a>, <a href="#Page_140">140</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">conflicts with the federal courts, <a href="#Page_87">87</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">practice as to injunctions, <a href="#Page_148">148</a>, <a href="#Page_151">151</a>-152;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">population, <a href="#Page_204">204</a>, <a href="#Page_234">234</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">religious denominations, <a href="#Page_256">256</a>.</span><br />
-<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">North Carolina <i>vs.</i> Temple, <a href="#Page_95">95</a>.</span><br />
-<br />
-<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Officers, Public, responsibility of, <a href="#Page_14">14</a>, <a href="#Page_103">103</a>-106, <a href="#Page_111">111</a>, <a href="#Page_114">114</a>, <a href="#Page_226">226</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">fair criticism desirable, <a href="#Page_47">47</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">greater permanency of tenure advocated, <a href="#Page_143">143</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">their selection important, <a href="#Page_221">221</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">in New York, <a href="#Page_222">222</a>-224.</span><br />
-<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Osborn <i>vs.</i> U.S. Bank, <a href="#Page_112">112</a>-114.</span><br />
-<br />
-<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Parliament, and Magna Carta, <a href="#Page_3">3</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">its power formerly limited, <a href="#Page_7">7</a>, <a href="#Page_8">8</a>, <a href="#Page_10">10</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">its supremacy, <a href="#Page_9">9</a>-11, <a href="#Page_17">17</a>-18, <a href="#Page_76">76</a>-77, <a href="#Page_107">107</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">formerly believed to exist to uphold Magna Carta, <a href="#Page_10">10</a>, <a href="#Page_25">25</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">its consent to taxation necessary, <a href="#Page_16">16</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">parliament of 1265 developed from the <i>commune consilium</i>, <a href="#Page_16">16</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">prototype in parliament of Simon de Montfort, <a href="#Page_18">18</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">labor laws, <a href="#Page_79">79</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">statute on the Petition of Right, <a href="#Page_101">101</a>.</span><br />
-<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Parties, Political, essential to free government, <a href="#Page_206">206</a>, <a href="#Page_238">238</a>-242;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">should follow the representative principle, <a href="#Page_207">207</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">effect of initiative and referendum upon, <a href="#Page_207">207</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">corruption not cured by primaries, <a href="#Page_236">236</a>, <a href="#Page_238">238</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">party government, <a href="#Page_238">238</a>-242.</span><br />
-<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">People <i>vs.</i> Koerner, <a href="#Page_145">145</a>.</span><br />
-<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">People <i>vs.</i> Lochner, <a href="#Page_57">57</a>-58, <a href="#Page_153">153</a>.</span><br />
-<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">People <i>vs.</i> Lustig, <a href="#Page_145">145</a>.</span><br />
-<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">People <i>vs.</i> Turley, <a href="#Page_143">143</a>.</span><br />
-<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Perkins, James Breck, <a href="#Page_263">263</a>, <a href="#Page_264">264</a>.</span><br />
-<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Persecution, Religious, in 16th and 17th centuries, <a href="#Page_33">33</a>-34;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">by Puritans in Massachusetts, <a href="#Page_33">33</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">often really political, <a href="#Page_33">33</a>n, <a href="#Page_34">34</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">in England, <a href="#Page_36">36</a>-37;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">of Catholics in America, <a href="#Page_258">258</a>-259.</span><br />
-<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Petition of Right, relation to Magna Carta, <a href="#Page_15">15</a>, <a href="#Page_23">23</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">procedure under, <a href="#Page_99">99</a>-102.</span><br />
-<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Phelps, Edward J., <a href="#Page_26">26</a>n.</span><br />
-<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Pilgrim Fathers, debt of America to, <a href="#Page_29">29</a>, <a href="#Page_32">32</a>, <a href="#Page_34">34</a>, <a href="#Page_35">35</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">framed first written constitution, <a href="#Page_30">30</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">their tolerance, <a href="#Page_32">32</a>, <a href="#Page_33">33</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">their relation to the Puritans, <a href="#Page_32">32</a>, <a href="#Page_34">34</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">hated by both Puritans and Cavaliers, <a href="#Page_32">32</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">separated Church and State and established religious liberty, <a href="#Page_32">32</a>, <a href="#Page_34">34</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">their experiment in communism, <a href="#Page_37">37</a>-39;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">established representative government in America, <a href="#Page_39">39</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">military preparedness, <a href="#Page_41">41</a>.</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;"><i>See</i> Mayflower Compact.</span><br />
-<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Plymouth colony, government of, <a href="#Page_23">23</a>, <a href="#Page_37">37</a>, <a href="#Page_39">39</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Governor Bradford's annals of, <a href="#Page_30">30</a>n;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">freedom from religious persecution, <a href="#Page_33">33</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">absorbed by Massachusetts in 1691, <a href="#Page_37">37</a>.</span><br />
-<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Poindexter <i>vs.</i> Greenhow, <a href="#Page_112">112</a>.</span><br />
-<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Police power, exercised by the legislature, <a href="#Page_60">60</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">its just exercise not hindered by the courts, <a href="#Page_81">81</a>-82;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">very comprehensive, <a href="#Page_211">211</a>.</span><br />
-<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Precedents, their value in the law, <a href="#Page_22">22</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">judges bound by, <a href="#Page_46">46</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">danger of establishing, <a href="#Page_52">52</a>.</span><br />
-<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Primary elections, <i>see</i> Elections.</span><br />
-<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Progressive party, <a href="#Page_183">183</a>, <a href="#Page_204">204</a>, <a href="#Page_211">211</a>, <a href="#Page_217">217</a>.</span><br />
-<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Prohibition, Writ of, <a href="#Page_107">107</a>.</span><br />
-<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Prosecuting attorney, his work, <a href="#Page_143">143</a>, <a href="#Page_144">144</a>, <a href="#Page_146">146</a>.</span><br />
-<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Prout <i>vs.</i> Starr, <a href="#Page_110">110</a>.</span><br />
-<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Public service corporations, legislative oppression of, <a href="#Page_120">120</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">right of appeal to the courts, <a href="#Page_121">121</a>-126;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">regulation necessary, <a href="#Page_126">126</a>.</span><br />
-<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Puritans, their relation to the Pilgrims, <a href="#Page_32">32</a>, <a href="#Page_34">34</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">their views, <a href="#Page_32">32</a>-33;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">our debt to them, <a href="#Page_34">34</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">their influence in England, <a href="#Page_34">34</a>-35.</span><br />
-<br />
-<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Quakers, <a href="#Page_33">33</a>n.</span><br />
-<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Quo warranto, Writ of, <a href="#Page_107">107</a>.</span><br />
-<br />
-<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Railroads, oppressed by legislation, <a href="#Page_120">120</a>, <a href="#Page_121">121</a>, <a href="#Page_123">123</a>.</span><br />
-<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Recall, a menace to our republican governments, <a href="#Page_39">39</a>, <a href="#Page_193">193</a>, <a href="#Page_205">205</a>-207, <a href="#Page_209">209</a>-211;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">agitation for, <a href="#Page_47">47</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">applied to judicial decisions, <a href="#Page_211">211</a>.</span><br />
-<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Referendum, <i>see</i> Initiative.</span><br />
-<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Religion, growing disrespect for, <a href="#Page_201">201</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">impracticable to teach it in the public schools, <a href="#Page_248">248</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">the foundation of our social order, <a href="#Page_250">250</a>-252;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">should be taught systematically to school children, <a href="#Page_252">252</a>-254, 256;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">religious denominations in the United States, <a href="#Page_255">255</a>-256.</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;"><i>See</i> Liberty and Persecution.</span><br />
-<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Representative government, foundation laid by Magna Carta, <a href="#Page_4">4</a>, <a href="#Page_16">16</a>, <a href="#Page_18">18</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">synonymous with the republican form of government guaranteed by the Constitution, <a href="#Page_31">31</a>, <a href="#Page_39">39</a>, <a href="#Page_75">75</a>, <a href="#Page_76">76</a>, <a href="#Page_227">227</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">first established in America by the Pilgrims, <a href="#Page_31">31</a>, <a href="#Page_39">39</a>, <a href="#Page_40">40</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">a development from democracy, <a href="#Page_39">39</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">menaced by modern political nostrums, <a href="#Page_39">39</a>, <a href="#Page_43">43</a>, <a href="#Page_204">204</a>-211, <a href="#Page_228">228</a>, <a href="#Page_245">245</a>-246;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">the form may survive the substance, <a href="#Page_46">46</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">depends upon the electorate, <a href="#Page_206">206</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">involved in nominating conventions, <a href="#Page_225">225</a> sqq.;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">contribution of English-speaking race, <a href="#Page_226">226</a>.</span><br />
-<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Republican form of government, <i>see</i> Representative government.</span><br />
-<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Republican party, campaigns, <a href="#Page_178">178</a> sqq.;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">principles, <a href="#Page_217">217</a>-218;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">New York convention of 1914, <a href="#Page_234">234</a>.</span><br />
-<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Revolution, American, <a href="#Page_25">25</a>, <a href="#Page_162">162</a>, <a href="#Page_262">262</a>-266.</span><br />
-<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Roman Catholic church, parochial schools, <a href="#Page_247">247</a>-260;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">sacrifices for education, <a href="#Page_247">247</a>, <a href="#Page_254">254</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">attitude toward public schools, <a href="#Page_248">248</a>-249;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">teaches character, good citizenship and morality, <a href="#Page_250">250</a>, <a href="#Page_252">252</a>, <a href="#Page_253">253</a>, <a href="#Page_255">255</a>, <a href="#Page_256">256</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">increasing strength in the United States, <a href="#Page_256">256</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">formerly persecuted in America, <a href="#Page_258">258</a>-259.</span><br />
-<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Rome, <a href="#Page_6">6</a>, <a href="#Page_27">27</a>, <a href="#Page_44">44</a>, <a href="#Page_168">168</a>.</span><br />
-<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Roosevelt, Theodore, <a href="#Page_56">56</a>-67, <a href="#Page_121">121</a>, <a href="#Page_153">153</a>-156, <a href="#Page_159">159</a>-160, <a href="#Page_183">183</a>-189, <a href="#Page_209">209</a>, <a href="#Page_213">213</a>-215.</span><br />
-<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Root, Elihu, <a href="#Page_75">75</a>, <a href="#Page_153">153</a>, <a href="#Page_176">176</a>, <a href="#Page_185">185</a>, <a href="#Page_194">194</a>.</span><br />
-<br />
-<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Separation of powers, <i>see</i> Government.</span><br />
-<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Shintō, worship of, <a href="#Page_27">27</a>-29.</span><br />
-<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Ship-Money, Case of, <a href="#Page_17">17</a>.</span><br />
-<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Short ballot, <i>see</i> Elections.</span><br />
-<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Sixteenth amendment, <a href="#Page_83">83</a>, <a href="#Page_83">83</a>n.</span><br />
-<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Socialism, tends to destroy religion, morality and law, <a href="#Page_201">201</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">opposition of Socialists to the courts, <a href="#Page_211">211</a>.</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;"><i>See</i> Communism.</span><br />
-<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Social reform, as class legislation, <a href="#Page_43">43</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">practical reform can be effected by electing legislators of character and ability, <a href="#Page_44">44</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">not to be accomplished by exalting the legislature at the expense of the courts, <a href="#Page_44">44</a>, <a href="#Page_45">45</a>, <a href="#Page_84">84</a>, <a href="#Page_140">140</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">not impeded by the courts or our constitutions, <a href="#Page_56">56</a>, <a href="#Page_68">68</a>-69, <a href="#Page_81">81</a>-82, <a href="#Page_135">135</a>, <a href="#Page_137">137</a>, <a href="#Page_155">155</a>.</span><br />
-<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Standish, Myles, <a href="#Page_33">33</a>, <a href="#Page_41">41</a>.</span><br />
-<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">State governments, American, reserved powers of the states, <a href="#Page_61">61</a>, <a href="#Page_62">62</a>, <a href="#Page_177">177</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">suability of a state, <a href="#Page_87">87</a> sqq.;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">theory of immunity from suit, <a href="#Page_98">98</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">prohibitions against, <a href="#Page_110">110</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">compelled to obey the federal Constitution, <a href="#Page_113">113</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">state officers are suable, <a href="#Page_114">114</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">conflicts with the federal courts, <a href="#Page_117">117</a>-128;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">right to regulate inheritances, <a href="#Page_160">160</a>, <a href="#Page_167">167</a>-172;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">governmental functions, <a href="#Page_172">172</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">threatened by primaries, <a href="#Page_246">246</a>.</span><br />
-<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Strikes, use of injunctions to suppress, <a href="#Page_146">146</a>-152, <a href="#Page_212">212</a>-215;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Pullman strike of 1894, <a href="#Page_148">148</a>, <a href="#Page_151">151</a>, <a href="#Page_215">215</a>-216.</span><br />
-<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Supremacy and Uniformity, Acts of, <a href="#Page_32">32</a>, <a href="#Page_36">36</a>-37.</span><br />
-<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Supreme Court, Federal, some important decisions, <a href="#Page_8">8</a>, <a href="#Page_57">57</a>, <a href="#Page_60">60</a>, <a href="#Page_61">61</a>, <a href="#Page_62">62</a>, <a href="#Page_72">72</a>, <a href="#Page_89">89</a>, <a href="#Page_93">93</a>, <a href="#Page_95">95</a>, <a href="#Page_96">96</a>, <a href="#Page_100">100</a>, <a href="#Page_101">101</a>, <a href="#Page_113">113</a>, <a href="#Page_173">173</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">view of due process of law, <a href="#Page_21">21</a>-22;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">attacks upon, <a href="#Page_63">63</a>, <a href="#Page_64">64</a>, <a href="#Page_68">68</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">jurisdiction of suits against states, <a href="#Page_93">93</a> sqq.</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;"><i>See</i> Judiciary.</span><br />
-<br />
-<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Taft, William H., <a href="#Page_184">184</a>, <a href="#Page_190">190</a>-193, <a href="#Page_217">217</a>-218.</span><br />
-<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Tariff, doctrine of protective, <a href="#Page_193">193</a>-201;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">non-partisan commissions, <a href="#Page_194">194</a>, <a href="#Page_218">218</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">free trade favored by the Democrats, <a href="#Page_195">195</a>, <a href="#Page_198">198</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">act of July 4, 1789, <a href="#Page_196">196</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">evils of Democratic legislation, <a href="#Page_198">198</a>, <a href="#Page_199">199</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">not responsible for the high cost of living, <a href="#Page_199">199</a>.</span><br />
-<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Taxation, the chief legislative function in the 13th and 14th centuries, <a href="#Page_9">9</a>, <a href="#Page_16">16</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">provisions in Magna Carta, <a href="#Page_16">16</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">control of parliament over, <a href="#Page_16">16</a>, <a href="#Page_17">17</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">early controversies in England, <a href="#Page_16">16</a>-18;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">and representation, <a href="#Page_16">16</a>-17, <a href="#Page_162">162</a>-163;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">essentially a legislative function, <a href="#Page_17">17</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">inheritance tax, <a href="#Page_159">159</a>-160, <a href="#Page_167">167</a>-173;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">income tax, <a href="#Page_159">159</a>, <a href="#Page_173">173</a>-175;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">power to tax is the power to destroy, <a href="#Page_160">160</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">conflict of state and federal, <a href="#Page_160">160</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">should be equal and apportioned, <a href="#Page_161">161</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">taxing power liable to abuse, <a href="#Page_161">161</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">proportional taxation, <a href="#Page_161">161</a>-163;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">federal rule of apportionment, <a href="#Page_173">173</a>-174;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">excise tax, <a href="#Page_173">173</a>.</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;"><i>See</i> Graduated taxation.</span><br />
-<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Tenement case, <i>see</i> Jacobs case.</span><br />
-<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Throop, Governor, <a href="#Page_221">221</a>.</span><br />
-<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Truth, indispensable even in political discussions, <a href="#Page_69">69</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">trite truths often the most valuable, <a href="#Page_202">202</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">eternal, <a href="#Page_203">203</a>.</span><br />
-<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Turgot, Baron de L'Aulne, <a href="#Page_264">264</a>.</span><br />
-<br />
-<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Unconstitutional laws, American doctrine based upon the statute of 1369, <a href="#Page_7">7</a>, <a href="#Page_8">8</a>, <a href="#Page_11">11</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">doctrine formerly recognized in England, <a href="#Page_7">7</a>-10;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">English courts may yet annul, <a href="#Page_11">11</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">examples, <a href="#Page_49">49</a>, <a href="#Page_57">57</a>, <a href="#Page_61">61</a>, <a href="#Page_65">65</a>, <a href="#Page_122">122</a>, <a href="#Page_123">123</a>, <a href="#Page_137">137</a>, <a href="#Page_209">209</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Hamilton's views, <a href="#Page_71">71</a>-72;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">cannot always be annulled by the courts, <a href="#Page_170">170</a>-171.</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;"><i>See</i> Constitutional limitations.</span><br />
-<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">United States of America, termed a government of laws and not of men, <a href="#Page_124">124</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">population, <a href="#Page_204">204</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">debt to France, <a href="#Page_262">262</a>-266;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">treaty of alliance with France, <a href="#Page_265">265</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">policy of neutrality in European wars, <a href="#Page_268">268</a>-270;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">foreign relations in the hands of the President, <a href="#Page_269">269</a>.</span><br />
-<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">United States <i>vs.</i> Lee, <a href="#Page_101">101</a>.</span><br />
-<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">United States <i>vs.</i> O'Keefe, <a href="#Page_100">100</a>.</span><br />
-<br />
-<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Vassal <i>vs.</i> Massachusetts, <a href="#Page_90">90</a>.</span><br />
-<br />
-<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Washington, George, <a href="#Page_35">35</a>, <a href="#Page_186">186</a>, <a href="#Page_187">187</a>, <a href="#Page_189">189</a>, <a href="#Page_197">197</a>, <a href="#Page_263">263</a>, <a href="#Page_268">268</a>.</span><br />
-<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Willcox <i>vs.</i> Consolidated Gas Co., <a href="#Page_122">122</a>.</span><br />
-<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Wilson, Woodrow, <a href="#Page_195">195</a>, <a href="#Page_198">198</a>, <a href="#Page_217">217</a>, <a href="#Page_241">241</a>.</span><br />
-<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Workmen's Compensation laws, federal enactments, <a href="#Page_61">61</a>-64, <a href="#Page_67">67</a>-68;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">New York statute, <a href="#Page_65">65</a>-69;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">legislation not prevented by the courts or the Constitution, <a href="#Page_68">68</a>-69, <a href="#Page_82">82</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">general discussion, <a href="#Page_132">132</a>-138;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">should be confined to hazardous employments, <a href="#Page_134">134</a>-136;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">the British act, <a href="#Page_135">135</a>.</span><br />
-<br />
-<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Young, Ex parte, <a href="#Page_119">119</a>n.</span><br />
-</p>
-
-
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