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Show The Supreme Court. A most intelligent man whom all the city knows said to the writer recently: "You think it wrong to inveigh against the supreme court. I do not. The people of the states send their representatives repre-sentatives to the Legislature to make laws. In the same way and for the same purpose the states send Senators and Representatives to Con-gross, Con-gross, and in that way the whole eighty-five millions mil-lions of people of this country become directly or indirectly parties to the making of all our laws. But here come five men and with a few strokes of tho pen undo all that the people have done, which I think is a manifest injustice, and I think I have a right to say so." Tho answer to that is that both tho states and the United States have constitutions which place limitations upon what state Legislatures and Congress Con-gress can do. Were this not so, New York, Pennsylvania Penn-sylvania and two or three more states might dictate dic-tate the legislation of the United States. California Califor-nia could lay Nevada under tribute at any time. There must be some tribunal to judge whether laws are constitutional or not. Again, there must bo a tribunal to judge whether Congress in any way encroaches upon the right of any state or whether any state Legislature Is usurping powers which tho state In th&heginnlng surrendered to the Federal GovGrmnflMLxr whether a state law is a tyranny upon anyBBi'of people. All these things and many mor$Heft for the supreme court to adjust, and thtf&ofly is entitled to tho utmost respect and trust of the people; and while it may have made mistakes, the record of its H work is the fairest record in all the archives of B the Republic. jf And while it is true that the theory of our IB Government is that the people rule, that does not fflB 'Imply that thereshall be no impaf tlar-tf$3r to . Wffl decide what is crude, unwise, or unjuBt hi that M rule, for without it our Government in a few ' rM years would be no improvement over that of Cen- Mm tral America, for people by thousands may bo led mm away by a vicious or subsidized press, or a sec mm tional or sectarian excitement, and sometimes one t BB subtle and magnetic and gifted man can all alono mm push a measure through a legislature which in j! wB effect sows dragon's teeth over half the soil of ffia a state and spreads to other states worse than the fl Russian thistle. There must be checks and "-mm balances upon the will, of the people, for often a BP law that was fully intended in justice is most un- bB just in its operations, or neutralizes and makes of WH no effect other necessary laws. A man or a com- m$t pany of men may decide upon the kind of a struc- g ture they desire to have built, but they have to trust to an architect to complete the plans, make the specifications, estimate the Btrength of ma- ; terials, and complete all the details, else the H structure would be liable to fall before the roof fllf was on. The structure of a great Government is , B much more complex than anything built of stone j Wm and wood and steel and glass, and there must be '-Wm architects always on guard. Those architects for IIP! our country are tho men who make up the su- Jj?! premo court, and no man not capable of judging S M should criticise their work. |