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About Will Maupin's weekly. (Lincoln, Neb.) 1911-1912 | View Entire Issue (June 2, 1911)
JUDGE-MADE LAW THE GURNEY REFRIGERATOR Courts Hold Property More Sa cred Than Life. MR. ROOSEVELT'S WARNING. Former President Says That Judicial Decisions Always Favor the Master Against the Man Do Not Interpret Law, but Make Law. Writing in the Outlook on the recent decision of the New York court of ap peals declaring unconstitutional the law passed last year providing a gen eral scheme for the compensation of Injured workmen, ex-President Roose velt says: "I have received from one of the most eminent Jurists and one of the most genuinely conservative and there fore genuinely progressive men in the United States a comment on this New York decision which puts the case so admirably that I quote it almost in full: "It Is a remarkable example of spe cial pleading, another illustration that In many American courts property is more sacred than life. The point in the decision that 'due process' means the procedure which was enforced when the federal constitution was adopted has been repudiated again and again by the supreme court of the United States. The decision is indi vidualistic. It sees in the enforced payment simply the taking of the mon ey of the defendant and giving it to the plaintiff. The law could have been sustained as a proper exercise of the police power upon either of two grounds first, society has the right to require any business which directly produces orphans, widows and cripples to provide for their support; second, the most effective method of compel ling dangerous employments to safe guard their employees Is to make them financially responsible, for injuries. In Germany within five years after an ab solute liability was imposed the num ber of accidents was reduced 42 per cent "If one wants an argument to prove that in American courts property has been more sacred than life he needs only to point to the existing deplor able law of master and servant. They made that law. They have modified it from time to time, and always in the interest of the master. "The New York court, admitting that the existing law -is cruelly unjust, still says that the remedy which all the rest of the civilized world has found to be best is unavailable to the Amer ican people without an amendment of the constitution. That is a fair exam ple of the uses which have been made of American constitutions. I have made a careful study of constitutional decisions since 1890 in the courts of New York, Illinois and California. As a rule, laws which they have declared unconstitutional were adopted to cor rect admitted industrial or social evils, such evils as every other civilized country in the world has been correct ing by legislation. This study raises the question, Are the American people less free than other civilized people? Our constitutions were intended to protect us against tyranny, and they are now most frequently used to pro tect those who oppress women and children and laborers. When society attempts to redress its wrongs it is told that its measures are unconstitu tional. The battle of society is not with wrong, but with the constitution. In our legislatures the debate is not about the wisdom of measures, but ttKlf UtutiallJfiLaws aie of- Has points of superiority that should appeal to you. 1 - Strongest ice box. 2 - Absolutely perfect ventilation. 3 - Securely sealing compartments. 4 - Solidity of structure. 5 - Excellence of material. MINIMUM CONSUMPTION OF ICE. The Gurney consumes less ice per unit of refrigeration than any other re frigerator. In sizes from $12.50 TO $60.00 The Gurney is sold under absolute guarantee to do just what we clain it will do, and to be just what we say it is. GARDEN HOSE & REELS A full line of Garden Hose, at from 7c to 20c per foot. Full values for the price. Hose Reels of all sizes and kinds. Bring in this ad and get discounts. i5i7 o st HALL BROS. CO. Auto 3339 Bell 339 ten oBScure ' an3"Tiinrei-t-'ln' order to 'get round' the constitution. Every enemy of the common good takes his stand on the constitution and is safe. "Either American courts will make a different use of constitutions or con stitutions will become so odious that they will be thrown out of the back window. That will be a serious mis fortune to the United States. We need the steadying power of written con stitutions. But we will not submit to being perpetually frustrated in the accomplishment of those industrial and social reforms which every other free people of the world is free to accom plish." Continuing, Mr. Roosevelt "earnestly calls the attention of the representa tives of the great capitalists to the final words of this statement," and adds: "I fail to see how any thoughtful man can read what I have above quot ed aud not see ' that this decision of the court of appeals of the state of New York Is a case not really of in terpretation of the law, but of the en actment of judge-made law in defiance of legislative enactment and In de fiance of the Interpretation of other legislative enactments by the highest courts of this country. Whatever the form, the substance of the action of the court of appeals is not the inter pretation of law, but the making of law, and the making of it in a way op pressive, well nigh ruinous to the in terests of the wageworkers and, In deed, to society as a whole. Such decisions are profoundly anti-social, are against the interests of humanity and tell for the degradation of a very large portion of our community, and, above aU, they seek to establish as an immutable principle the doctrine that the rights of property are supreme over the rights of humanity and that this tree people, this American people, is not only forbidden to better the con ditions of mankind, but cannot even strive to do the elementary justice that "among even the monarchies of the old world has already been done by other great industrial nations." THE STRONG LABOR UNION. The Organization That Stands and Works For Some Vital Truth. When all men speak well of your organization watch out. It means that you have developed into a flabby, in vertebrate, forceless institution, says the Rev. Dr. Charles Stelzle. One of the glories of organized labor is that it has strofig enemiea as Wf 11 .as strong First Trust and Savings Bank Ownediby Stockholders of First National Bank The Bank for The Wage Earners Interest aid at Four er Cent 139 South Eleventh Lincoln, Nebraska At The BIG GIFT STORE 1123 O Street In making our bid for your business, we ask you to take nothing on faith. All we want is an opportunity to show you. We have the goods, lots of them. We are in shape to offer you Top Notch Service and quality products, new things every day yesterday today tomorrow. Spare a few moments of your time and let us show you. " Diamonds, Watches, Fine Clocks, Sterling Silver, Rock Crystal Cut and Engraved Glass. Gold Headed Canes and Umbrellas. All the new things in Jewelry, Wedding Rings, 14 and 18K Solid Gold, all weights, widths and sizes. C. A. TUCKER, Jeweler ' S. S. SHEAN, Optician Fine Watch, Clock, Jewelry and Optical Repairing and Manufacturing. friends! 'Tnereis danger In tooTmucTi commendation. There is a letting go of the vital things when prosperity and flattery enter. The man or the movement that lives and moves is bound to make mistakes. He who nev er makes mistakes never makes any thing else. The best men and the greatest movements make stepping stones of past failures. But criticisms and mistakes avail for very little un less the organization has bark of it a great purpose. The perfunctory meeting and the platitudinous address never win out. This is true of the la bor union as it is true of the church or any other movement. The social aspects of an organiza tion'3 J-is Jmportantr But .vaude ville slows anil sir.o".:ofs and all such affairs have never yet held together a company of earnest men who were supposedly banded together for the purpose of really doinjj things. When an organization is compelled to resort to such feature's in ,rder to hoid.its men it is an iudit-aiiou that somewhere there is a failing down either in lead ership or in purpose, and it is destined to fail. Project a big idea. Make men see that your organization stands for some vital truth and that all who become identified with it must respond to the call, "Come and suffer." This will ap peal to all true men. Such men have given power to the greatest movements in the world's history,