LAISSEZ FAIRE AND THE SUPREME COURT

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princes and wealthy trade guilds of London overthrow of the throne and the feudal aris might become the wealthier. They were tocracy, the bourgeoisie accomplished its familiar with the English criminal code which objects. Its members bothered themselves in its ruthless desire to protect the vested but little with the welfare of those less interests and the owners of property made fortunate than themselves, with popular one hundred and sixty offenses punishable education, the extension of the suffrage, by death. They lived in a time when in Eng or the betterment of the social condition land a man could be hung for shooting a hare of the poorer classes. With the removal of or stealing a sheep or for begging on the the restrictions of the past, prosperity streets, but when human life was so cheap came, and the business classes grew in ened that it was considered perfectly legiti wealth and power, and it is not surprising mate to drive little children of seven or eight that they should have become individualists, years of age from their beds to work for and more and more firmly imbued with the sixteen hours a day in the factories and in the laissez faire idea, with the desire to run their mines, and to harness almost naked women own businesses as they saw fit, with the to the ore-trucks in the coal pits. Their im gospel of an absolute freedom of contract, mediate desire could only have been that the and with the theory that the central govern restrictions of the past should be removed. ment should be a policeman merely and Nor must we assume that the antagonism to should only interfere for the protection of government control was to be found only property and life. Soon after the French among the laboring classes. In this respect, Revolution, however, a protest against these in spite of the different attitude of the Anglo- ideas was registered on behalf of the lower Saxon and the Frenchman on the question classes of France, and resulted at first in the of the province and sphere of local govern socialism of St. Simon and Karl Marx, and ment, the history of France and of America when free thought was sought to be restrained has from the beginning been very similar. and the Russian government itself became Prior to the French Revolution, burdensome anarchistic, in the anarchism and terrorism and often purposely prohibitive restrictions of Bakunin. In England they found their and impositions were placed by the central expression in the factory acts of the last government upon commerce of all kinds. In century, and the social legislation which has America, the navigation acts, the trade regu followed them. It was found indeed both in lations and the arbitrary searches and seizures England and in France, that the laboring which were enforced by the British Govern classes had been benefited but little by the ment were directly aimed at the trade, which overthrow of feudalism; that in its place was the life of the Colonies. The French there had been ushered in the reign of capi Revolution was in its beginning and ultimate talism; that labor had become a mere com effects essentially an economic revolution. modity, and that in this new era land The third estate was composed largely of monopoly and the factory system were grind business men, who, although they could call ing heavily upon the workers. • " This neglect to their support large numbers of the labor to provide a proper position in the state for ing and the agricultural classes who only saw the manufacturing population," wrote Dr. in the central government an agency for the Arnold in 1838, "is encouraged by one of enforcement of a cruel criminal code, as far the falsest maxims which ever pandered to as they themselves were concerned, were human selfishness under the name of political mainly interested in liberating trade and wisdom — I mean the maxim that civil commerce from the arbitrary restrictions society ought to leave its members alone, and impositions of the past. With the suc each to look after their several interests, cess of the revolutionary movement and the provided they do not employ direct fraud