slature
of a justifying emergency was entitled to great respect, it was not
conclusive; that a law "depending upon the existence of an emergency or
other certain state of facts to uphold it may cease to operate if the
emergency ceases or the facts change," and that whether they have
changed was always open to judicial inquiry.[1723]

Individual Rights Versus Public Welfare.--Summing up the result
of the cases above referred to, Chief Justice Hughes, speaking for the
Court in Home Building and Loan Association _v._ Blaisdell,[1724]
remarked in 1934: "It is manifest from this review of our decisions that
there has been a growing appreciation of public needs and of the
necessity of finding ground for a rational compromise between individual
rights and public welfare. The settlement and consequent contraction of
the public domain, the pressure of a constantly increasing density of
population, the interrelation of the activities of our people and the
complexity of our economic interests, have inevitably led to an
increased use of the organization of society in order to protect the
very bases of individual opportunity. Where, in earlier days, it was
thought that only the concerns of individuals or of classes were
involved, and that those of the State itself were touched only remotely,
it has later been found that the fundamental interests of the State are
directly affected; and that the question is no longer merely that of one
party to a contract as against another, but of the use of reasonable
means to safeguard the economic structure upon which the good of all
depends. * * * The principle of this development is, * * * [he added]
that the reservation of the reasonable exercise of the protective power
of the States is read into all contracts * * *."[1725]

Evaluation of the Clause Today

Yet it should not be inferred that the obligation of contracts clause is
today totally moribund even in times of stress. As we have just seen it
still furnishes the basis for some degree of judicial review as to the
substantiality of the factual justification of a professed exercise by a
State legislature of its police power; and in the case of legislation
affecting the remedial rights of creditors, it still affords a solid and
palpable barrier against legislative erosion. Nor is this surprising in
view of the fact that, as we have seen, such rights were foremost in
the minds of the framers of the clause. The court's attitude toward
inso