THE PRESIDENT'S ADDRESS of the constitution and fraught with direst evils for the future of the country, it is not surprising if such reiteration will in time undermine the public confidence in at least the wisdom of the courts. Have American lawyers exerted themselves as they should to oppose these evil tendencies? They above all others know the imminence and scope of the peril, and the necessity for averting it if our form of government is to endure. It is not for them a question of political action. It rises higher than the duty to any political party. The evil exists in public opinion and the remedy must come through public opinion. While the trouble may have arisen to some extent from the conduct of some of the courts we can confidently assert that there is nothing in the history of the bench to justify the attitude assumed so frequently by so many people toward the judiciary. American judges as a body have a record of which we are justly proud. The threatening attitude to which I refer, while it may largely have had its inception
491
in discontent arising from special incidents, has assumed a wider field of criticism. Lawyers did more than all others to create our system of government, founded upon a separation and an independence of the Executive. Legislative and Judicial Departments. The Constitution thus formed has maintained the liberties of all classes for more than a century. We will drift into a- disregard of the rights of the minority and of the weak if this equili brium shall ever be destroyed. American lawyers can do more than all others to regenerate in the minds of the people that faith in our institutions which is essen tial to the existence of our present form of government. The duties of the Ameri can lawyer are broad, and touch every phase of human affairs, but in no field of service is there a more imperative demand for his patriotic efforts than in preserving the independence and integrity of the courts and respect for them as an essential part of our government. CHICAGO, ILL., August, 1908.
