Page:Earle, Does Price Fixing Destroy Liberty, 1920, 135.jpg

Rh and down to Branson vs. Bush, decided by the Supreme Court in November, 1919. Mr., in direct contradiction to such a conclusion, there says: "The value of property results from the use to which it is put and varies with the profitableness of that use, present and prospective, actual and anticipated. There is no pecuniary value outside of that which results from such use."

The Fifth Amendment is really of no consequence, if all that is necessary to deprive citizens of their property is for a Court to determine that the public needs the property, and, therefore, has a right to impair or destroy that which alone constitutes its value. If this really be the law, the inspiring opinion of the Supreme Court in the Monongahela Case has been overruled. The great necessity for a commodity naturally increases its value. But it is contended that that which creates value deprives it of the protection which the Constitution gives it. However, the Supreme Court, in the case just mentioned, said: "Obviously, this question, as all others which run along the line of the extent of the protection the individual has under the Constitution against the demands of the Government, is of importance, for in any society the fullness and sufficiency of the securities which surround the individual in the use and enjoyment of his property constitute one of the most certain tests of the character and value of the Government. * * *  Illegitimate and unconstitutional practices get their first footing  * * *  by silent approaches and slight deviations from legal modes of procedure.  This can only be obviated by