The Short Constitution Part 6

Then in school you find certain rules of conduct made by the Board of Education or other officers, or adopted by the teacher.

If a boy works in a store, he finds that his employer has certain rules: the time when the store shall be opened and closed; that the boy shall sweep the floor at certain hours; that he may go to lunch at a certain time; that he shall not permit other boys to pa.s.s behind the counters, etc. All of these are ill.u.s.trations of rules of conduct for children, or those under the control, authority, or direction of some older person.

But older persons, the parents, the school officers, the teachers, the storekeepers, and those of all other occupations are likewise subject to rules, are under control and direction of the Nation, the State, and the city, all having power to enforce rules of conduct, called laws, which apply to the old and the young. Without such rules, such laws, it would be impossible to maintain peace and order. Without such rules, called laws, it would be impossible to protect the weak against the strong and the wicked.

This government being organized for the purpose of protecting the rights and liberties of the people, it is necessary that laws be enacted in order that our rights and liberties shall not be taken away from us by those who may be stronger or wiser than we are. Many laws prohibit wrongful acts and provide a punishment for those who commit such wrongful acts. Thus one who strikes you without justification, one who steals your bicycle, or any other property, one who breaks into your home, or into the store, a burglar, is punished. One who kills another human being, a murderer, is punished. A person who willfully sets fire to a building, or is guilty of cruelty to animals, malicious mischief, or sells liquor is punished.(22) So there are scores of different offenses forbidden by the law, and punishments fixed for those who will not obey.

There are also laws requiring that one shall ride or drive on the right hand side of the street when pa.s.sing another coming from the opposite direction.

There is generally in every city a law which punishes a person who rides his bicycle upon the sidewalk. There are laws regulating the speed of automobiles, the lights and signals, and the turning at the corners of the street, so that other people either walking, or riding on bicycles, or in automobiles or other vehicles, may not receive injury.(23)

You know in this country, where every person is equal before the law, no one person has any more right in the street than his neighbor has, and the conduct of each in the use of streets and sidewalks and other public places must be such that all may enjoy equal opportunities in the use thereof.(24)

Freedom, as already explained, does not mean a right to do everything we wish to do. Freedom is the right to do whatever we may wish to do, provided it does not interfere with the right of our neighbors to have the same privileges which we claim for ourselves.

Therefore, it is absolutely necessary to have laws fixing the conduct of all persons; and it is necessary, in order to enforce these laws, to punish those who will not obey them.

_Who makes these laws?_ In America the laws are made by the people themselves; that is, they elect representatives to serve in Congress, in the legislatures of the States, and in the councils of the city, who make the laws for the people according to the wishes of the people. This you will understand more fully as you study this representative form of government we have in this country.

The people have the right to change any law now in existence, and may also make such new laws as they think will better protect the people in their rights.(25)

_Who enforces these laws_, these rules of conduct? The rules of the home are enforced by the parents. If you violate the rules of your parents, they impose a punishment upon you. This punishment may not be severe, in fact it should not be, unless your disobedience is continued and stubborn.

If you violate the rules of school, the teacher or other school officers have the right to punish; and if you violate the rules of your employer, he has the right to admonish you, and of course if you do not obey, he will discharge you and you will lose your place.

Now the rules of conduct, the laws of the Nation, the State, or the city are enforced in this country by the people, through their government, through the courts, presided over by judges whom the people themselves select for that purpose. Sometimes the punishment is severe, sometimes mild. It all depends upon the character of the person who disobeys the law, and whether the disobedience is stubborn or willful. Penalties are imposed, not only to punish the wrongdoer, but as a warning to others, that if they disobey the law, they too will be punished.

In this country all laws imposing punishment for offenses are printed so that every one may know what the law is; but it is not necessary that one should study each separate law, because as a rule, your conscience will be your guide against wrong doing. There are not many acts punished by the State or Nation which are not morally wrong. The person whose heart is right knows good from evil; and the person who really tries to do right will seldom be guilty of violating any law.

I do not expect you to learn all about the different laws. This is not necessary. But I do expect you to understand enough about the law to realize that we are all subject to authority; that laws are enacted by the authority of the people; that laws are absolutely necessary, and that without laws we should have no liberty. Above all, I want you to learn that in this country the people make the laws, and I want you to feel absolute confidence in the power of the people to make and enforce laws.

I hope that you will acquire a spirit of confidence and faith in the justice of the law, and learn that submission to the law is absolutely essential in a government of the people and by the people.(26)

But there are many laws, many rules of conduct, besides those defining crimes, offenses, and the punishment of wrongdoers.

I want to talk to you briefly about some of the laws which affect our conduct in every day life, in matters not criminal. I want to impress upon you how far reaching the law is as affecting every human being in his daily conduct.(27)

Suppose one of the girls here goes to the store to buy a piece of cloth.

How does she tell the merchant how much cloth she wants? She, without doubt, will say that she wants one yard, or two yards, or three yards, according to her needs. Now how much is a yard? Of course you all know that a yard is three feet. I suppose you all know that a yard is the same length in every city in the United States. We go into the store and ask for a yard of cloth in any city in the country, with absolute confidence that we will get for each yard, three feet in length. But how do we know we will get three feet in length for each yard? How do we know what we will get when we ask for a pound of coffee, or for a ton of coal, or for a quart of milk?

These weights and measures are nearly all fixed by law. When you come to read the Const.i.tution of the United States, you will find that there is conferred upon the United States government the power to "_fix the standard of Weights and Measures_".(28)

The Const.i.tution is the fundamental law of the land. This confers upon the United States government the right to fix all standards of measurements and all weights and measures of every kind. The United States government has this power. It is not required to exercise the power, but it has the power.

The United States government has a National Bureau of Standards,(29) which supervises weights and measurements, which cooperates with the States, and maintains uniformity, so that in every State, with reference to most things bought and sold, the law fixes definitely the quant.i.ty or dimensions. Without such laws you can see what a ma.s.s of confusion the people would be in at all times.

Severe penalties are imposed by law upon those who give short measure, or short weight,(30) in order to protect buyers against those who might defraud them.

So you see how necessary law is to the simple transactions of life, and how we are constantly relying upon the law in our daily transactions, to protect us against wrongdoers.

Then again, how do you know how much the silver dollar which you are saving for Christmas is really worth? How do you know that one dollar is as valuable as another dollar? How do you know that the paper dollar which is in circulation is as valuable as the silver dollar? Well, here again when you read the Const.i.tution of the United States, you will find that the people, when they adopted the Const.i.tution, gave to the Congress of the United States the power:

"_To coin Money, regulate the Value thereof, and of foreign Coin_".(31)

Congress, with this power, has enacted numerous laws with reference to the coinage of silver and gold money, the printing of paper money, and fixing the value of such money. How helpless the people would be without such laws.

Then how do you know that the dollar you received in change at the grocery store is a real dollar? There are many counterfeit dollars made by wrongdoers, by criminals who seek to profit by manufacturing money themselves, sometimes so much like the genuine, that it is almost impossible to detect the difference. There are counterfeit bills, and counterfeit coin, which I dare say could not be distinguished from the genuine by any person in this room. But there are laws enacted by Congress providing very severe punishment for any person who makes, pa.s.ses, or attempts to pa.s.s, any counterfeit coin. For instance, if one shall make, or pa.s.s, or attempt to pa.s.s counterfeit gold or silver coin, he may be punished by five years imprisonment in the penitentiary.(32) Even for making, or pa.s.sing, or attempting to pa.s.s a one cent, two cent, three cent, or five cent piece, a person may be imprisoned for five years. Any one who makes a die or mold designed for the coining, or making of counterfeit coins may be punished by imprisonment in the penitentiary for ten years.

These are severe penalties. Liberty is dear, and yet you can see how absolutely necessary it is to have these severe penalties in order to protect you, your father and mother, and all other persons from being defrauded and wronged by the use of counterfeit money which is worthless, but which most people cannot distinguish from the genuine.

I suppose you watched for the letter carrier this morning. Perhaps you were expecting a letter from a friend or relative. The letter carrier came to your door. You did not have to walk to the post office. Perhaps your friend lives one thousand miles away. How is it possible for you to receive a letter in perhaps a couple of days from that far distant point?

Did you ever stop to think about it? Of course you say, "Well it came through the post office". Yes, but the postoffice is only a part of the great postal system of this country, which carries your letters from one end of the land to another for the small amount of two cents; and we have wonderful confidence in this postal service. We carelessly drop into the mail box most important letters, often most sacred, but we have no doubt that the letter will reach its destination safely.(33)

How is it all possible? Well, again, in reading the Const.i.tution you will find that the people gave to Congress the power:

"_To establish Post Offices and Post roads._"(34)

This power has been exercised by the enactment of many laws by Congress providing for post offices, letter carriers, postal clerks, railway mail service, rural routes, and many laws severely punis.h.i.+ng any one in the postal service who willfully fails to perform his duties.

Persons engaged in the postal service may be sent to the penitentiary for stealing money from the mails, stealing a letter from the mails, for any act of dishonesty, or failure of prescribed duty. How could the great postal service of this country be maintained without such laws? How would the people have the blessing of a great service of this kind without the most carefully prepared laws made to protect the people?

So I might go on giving numerous other ill.u.s.trations of the laws enacted by the people through their representatives, for the benefit of the people themselves, for their comfort, their convenience, and their protection against wrongdoers, who might deprive them of their property, or of things still more sacred than property.

I have only used these ill.u.s.trations to impress upon you the great truth that there is hardly any relation in life in which the law does not have an important part. We should realize early in life that law is absolutely necessary to guide human conduct, to restrain wrongful conduct, to punish wrong doing, and thus to aid in protecting us in our right to life, liberty, and property.

These laws are not the judges' laws, nor the lawyers' laws; they are the laws of the people, made for their benefit, worthy of our most earnest support, calling upon us for loyal obedience, demanding our respect, and inspiring our confidence.

ELEMENTARY QUESTIONS.

1. What is a law?

2. By whom is a law enforced?

3. Name an activity in life that the law has nothing to do with.

4. Make a list of some of the laws that your father and mother make in your home.

5. Make a list of some of the rules of conduct found in school.

6. Go to a store in your town. Are there rules of conduct for the clerks?

What are they?

7. Who makes the rules in a home? In a school? In business inst.i.tutions?

8. Upon which side of the street must a person drive? Why?

9. Who fixes the rules of measurement and weight?

10. Suppose that you buy a ton of coal and find later on that you only received 1500 pounds. Could you do anything about it? Why should the coal dealer be punished?