measure ye mete, it shall be measured unto you. And Jesus continually pushes moral questions back from the deed to the motive. Murder and adultery he makes matters of desire and attitude of mind. So is it here with this issue of the administration of justice in the community. If people regard other races, nations, or classes as inferior and subordinate to themselves, there can be no working out of measures of justice. Does the Californian look on the Japanese as a brother? Does the Texan regard the Mexican as a neighbor, to be loved and helped? With this attitude of mind there will be justice; without it there cannot be. A mining engineer in South Africa objected to the missionaries' elevating the natives. "They will be asking for their rights; it will be more difficult to work them," he said. The world's friction-point of the future is on this question of the regard of one race for another. National and international policies will reflect individual attitudes. The missionary is a pioneer in establishing right racial relationships. But does not an equal responsbility rest upon the Christian at home? STUDY FOR THE WEEK I The cement of community life is the assurance of equal justice the confidence that all men will get their rights. When this is gone, the community breaks up. The sense of injustice is the yeast of revolution. In the Western world our criminal laws break down at times and innocent men suffer punishment, but we have established the machinery of justice. The task now before us is to prevent the law's delays, to overcome technicalities, to abolish special privilege and secure equal justice for poor and rich, white and black, Jew and Gentile, American and immigrant, capitalist and laborer. In many other lands there is a more difficult problem. Beyond the influence of Christianity, crime, oppression, and injustice are well nigh universal. The oppressed and the innocent have little hope for redress. Justice is arbitrary. Single officials have the disposal of property rights and the power over life and death. Bribery and torture are accepted as inevitable. In areas containing one-third of the population of the world, the very machinery of effective justice is yet to be created. II Theoretically, all groups stand equal before the law in America, but occasionally there are those who are able to shape law-making to their own ends. The history of legislation shows continuously the influence of special groups. In the early days of railroad development the railroads practically owned some of our states. In certain states, to understand the political situation one must find out what group of financial interests is in control. In one state it may be the brewers; in another the public utilities. Even when the people assert themselves and really make their own legislation, there is still the little joker slipped in to defeat it. The same thing occurs in municipal affairs. The story of street-car, water, and gas franchises shows this influence of privileged groups. Eternal vigilance alone can keep the municipal council free from the influence of special interests and ready to give justice to all the people. The remedies are being applied. Legislative reference bureaus are drafting legislation effectively. Legislative and municipal voters' leagues help to defeat the enemies of the common life by making public the record of legislators. There is an increasing people's lobby-a great third house, watching and influencing legislation. The principle of petition, which has so often been used effectively in the struggle for human rights, is getting a new force and meaning in democracy. Through letters and telegrams and personal interviews legislators and aldermen are kept in touch with public desires and wishes. Certain organized groups in the community— churches, clubs, Christian Associations-can make their influence felt. No Council will sell out the people's rights, if it hears the people's voice of protest in unmistakable tones. III The American people put blind trust in law-making. They seem to think that law will automatically result in justice. But when the forces of evil are defeated in the making of law they next attempt to influence its interpretation and administration. Is the law administered with equal justice in our community? Has the policeman taken a drink from the saloon-keeper and let him keep open after hours? Is he ordered by some one "higher up" to be blind to gambling and prostitution? Does the magistrate listen to the case against the ward-heeler? Is there a regular price for exemption from obedience to the law so that those who "come across" can "do business," while those who do not pay tribute are so harassed they cannot live? Is there blackmailing of corporations in the shape of subscriptions to campaign funds, for which return is to be given in the conduct of the city's business? Have the prosecuting officials no fear or favor for any individual or any group? In a Middle Western town a group of young fellows were arrested for a drunken spree which involved the failure to return some guns which they had hired for a day's fun. One man was a stranger to the town. He received the full penalty of the law -fifteen months in prison. The others went free. They had political influence. The prosecuting attorney established his reputation upon the conviction of the helpless stranger. Is any group exempt from the full payment of taxes in the community? A Christian manufacturer in the West put in an addition to his plant. A political friend came to see him about returning his assessment schedule. "You don't need to put that in," he said. "I can get it fixed for you." The suggestion was indignantly rejected. The machinery of the courts often breaks down of its own weight, without any conscious interference with it. Rich and poor do not always have the same chance before justice, because of the expense of litigation. In one industrial case in this country the first group of defendants were sentenced to prison for a term of years. They had no money to pay a lawyer. Sympathizers in other parts of the country secured a lawyer before the next group were tried, with the result that their sentence was less than half that of the first group. The long delay in securing final decisions and the opportunity for numerous appeals frequently defeat justice. In the days before workmen's compensation laws, a continuous corporation game was to secure delay after delay until the poor prosecutor was worn out in patience and in pocket book. This situation is being remedied by reforms promoted within the legal profession. Our new municipal courts, our juvenile courts, and courts of domestic relations all make it easier for the common people to get justice. IV Securing equal justice goes beyond technicalities to attitudes of judges and lawyers. Do the lawyers pit their wits against each other to win in competition rather than to cooperate in joint search for justice? Special interests and racial groups are constantly trying to secure friendly judges. Why are so many corporation lawyers upon the bench? The subtle effect of personal association and social influence must be reckoned with. If the judge has been associating all his life with men of privilege and property, if they are the people whom he meets at his home and at his club, he will naturally reflect their point of view. A new spirit is coming into the courts and the practice of law. The courts have been changing their views in recent years because judges have become more familiar with economic facts and with modern social forces. This gives hope of the day when all judges shall feel it their high duty to know and represent justice for all the people. A lawyer no longer remains unquestioned who serves his client against the public interest. How far may he advise business men to keep outside the penalties of law? The lawyer has a duty to his client, but his larger duty is to the community. V The issue of equal justice goes deep down into the soil of current opinion and prejudice. In certain sections it is impossible for members of races or classes regarded as inferior to get justice. It is very difficult for a member of certain radical groups to receive fair treatment from the police, the prosecuting attorney, the judge, or the jury, because of the popular prejudice against them. Injunctions have been used much more freely in behalf of capital than in behalf of labor. Labor leaders have been arrested for kidnapping other labor leaders and taking them out of towns or states. This has been done several times by capitalists, but no man has ever yet been tried for it. In one of the greatest industrial wars of this country, the leader of the labor forces was tried for murder, but no leader of the forces of capital was ever indicted. In a Western state a group of labor agitators arrested for speaking on the streets were driven out of the community by men on horseback wielding whips. The sheriff boasted of the procedure and the prominent citizens at the chamber of commerce banquet applauded. But a federal judge told them the day would come when they would be on foot and labor on horseback. "Then," he said, "whose back will be scored, when you have taught labor how to use whips?" The immigrant does not have the same opportunity for justice as the native American. He is frequently not understood in the courts. He does not understand the procedure of the law. Does the Jew stand an equal chance of getting justice? In Chicago a young Russian Jew was accused of attempting to kill the chief of police. The chief of police shot |