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THE WISCONSIN IDEA

throughout the country and need not be dwelt upon here. Our judges are elected for long terms on a non-partisan basis and if the recall were in force in this state it would be impossible to recall any of them. In striking contrast to the New York workmen's compensation decision are herewith presented excerpts from Judge Winslow's opinion in the Wisconsin case. For its boldness as well as literary merit, it stands as a monument of its kind and a living rebuke to the pettiness and chicanery exhibited in courts like those of Illinois and California.


"In approaching the consideration of the present law we must bear in mind the well established principle that it must be sustained unless it be clear beyond reasonable question that it violates some constitutional limitation or prohibition.

"That governments founded on written constitutions which are made difficult of amendment or change lose much in flexibility and adaptability to changed conditions there can be no doubt. Indeed, that may be said to be one purpose of the written constitution. Doubtless they gain enough in stability and freedom from mere whimsical and sudden changes to more than make up for the loss in flexibility, but the loss still remains, whether for good or ill. A constitution is a very human document, and must embody with greater or less fidelity the spirit of the time of its adoption. It will be framed to meet the problems and difficulties which face the men who make it and it will generally crystallize with more or less fidelity the political, social and economic propositions which are considered irrefutable, if not actually inspired, by the philosophers and legislators of the time; but the difficulty is that, while the constitution is fixed or very hard to change, the conditions and problems