, 1881-10-16

1dE ThAlAARA 014Vb0 ~ 0@A"A~~~ '
4 series of events during the last three
months have at last begun to make 1t appar-
cnt to even superficial observers that there
is something so radically wrong with our
social polity that If not corrected it will end
in social anarchy. These events may be dl-
yided into TWO classes:
The first class may be called crimes OF
"deliberation,'' the most prominent Of which
have been the trairl-robberles III Mlssoarl,
followed by ut least one similar attempt on
smaller scale in Illinois. These, together
with innumerable other instances OF llEo
character which might be cited, Indicate 4
rapid increase in tho growth Of the idea OF
taking property BY force.
OF the SECOND class, which may be called
crimes of "passion,'' there has been all
equally startling increase, and, from the as
sasination of the President down to the re-
cent lynchlng of the horse-tElef at bloom-
ington, these Indicate the growth Of the dis
position to take personal revenge.
The crimes against property are the hrst
symptoms, and the crimes against person
only the further development, or second
stage, of a disease which pertneates all our
present social pollty-vlz.: the determination
to hure ,noncy. t'No matter By what means,
get money!" is the principle now practically
taught not only By society, but by the law
conrts of the United States. Tile vast 1llass
of litigation now before the courts Of every
grade shows that all suits at law are now
only games uf technicalities in which the
man with the longest purse, anu therefore
the man able to employ the best experts and
keep up the fight the longest, is pretty sure
to come out the winner. It is this principle
in politics which formed 4 partisanship upon
the basis Of the "suoils SYSTEM" 1t was the
"spoils system that taught the assassin lie
| had been wronge1. and was therefore justitl-
able in shooting the President. 1t was
the "spoils sys1eln'f carried out in the
courts that taught the Bloomington horse
thief that lie was, first, justitlaole IN ms
| hieft, and, second, in the assassination OF Ills
| taller to get away. But in the search for the
| primary school where ths vicious principles
| are taught that 9* success is the proof Of
right.v and that the result of lawsuits de-
| pends upon the relative skill Of the contend
| ing parties in welding technlcalltles, and
| which tcchnicalities are mere distractions
having no vital connection with the right or
| wrong of the real question at issne-ln the
| search for the primary school where thls
| soplistry is taught, we must go back OF the
| criminal courts, We must go nearer the busl-
ness community, and into the civil courts, to
! which men apply for aid i'll collecting their
| dues from dishonest debtors and to enforce
the fultillment Of contracts entered Into IN
good faith.
| It is true the horsc-thlef, and the train
robber. and the assassin may never have
| core In contact with the actual operation OF
this sophistry in his own person, but he
| forms his ideas of the administration OF law
from what he sees in the business con11nuni-
ty. He sees men received into good socie-
| IT," occupying high positions in the law, till
ing Government offices, prominent Ill poll
tics, ETC., who are known to have sw1na1ed
their creditors BY the technicalities of the
law. He secs Judges OIL the bench Intriguing
| for political influence as means OF further
advancement, and corporations repudlatins
and denying their contracts simply because
they found that they were no longer
profitable. Who can blame him IT he
colnes to the conclusion expressed by
the Bloomington mob that "LaW is
farce''? The coarscr kind of criminal who
steals Horses, rubs trains, burslarlzes houses,
does not in the aggregate plunder 0nc-tenth
rs much as the more Intelligent 81 robber OF
the law" whose tools are its technlcalitles.
These are the real teachers Of public morals,
and this is the school where outlaws arc
made by the ma!administration of law, moi
in criminal courts, but in the civil courts
Let any man of moderate means get into &
clluncery suit i'll the enlcav0r t* make 4 cor
poration fulfilla contract and how long vii
/ it be before lie will conc to the conclusion
that the decision of the law favors the slde
OIL which there is the most money, and con
c1ude like the mob. that - Law is farce" ~