And the purpose of this paper is to point out the
infinite number of practical possibilities immediately at hand; to
awaken each young man who reads these words to some one of the million
voices which from all the fields of human endeavor is calling him; and
so, by showing him things to do, make him a doer of things, if he
will.
Let us take the law--that entrancing subject which exercises such an
empire over the minds of most young men. Our own constitutional law
is only a part of that universal body of jurisprudence with which all
real lawyers must deal. Very well; we have only begun the discussion
and settlement of our great constitutional questions. Marshall and
Hamilton, it is true, when they formulated the doctrine of implied
powers, seemed to unlock the door of all constitutional difficulties,
leaving nothing for future lawyers and jurists to do but to find their
way through the channels and passages thus opened.
But it was only one great field to which they laid down the bars.
Others equally large--yes, larger--lie beyond it. It is generally
admitted now by all thorough students of the Constitution that there
is such a thing as constitutional progress--constitutional
development.
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