The Lincoln County leader. [volume] (White Oaks, Lincoln County, N.M.) 1882-189?, 1883-06-16
A PRACTICAL QUESTION.

In our last issue called "pracu-
cal question:" and as usual just
misses the point. No one has
respect for "the law of tile land
more profound than ours Nor did
"a practical question" imply aught
but the highest regard for "the
law of the land But the people
are the law makers in this land of
ours, and they have been compell-
ed, at times, to take the admistra-
ton of the law out of the hands of
the profession" and administer
it themselves.
A Committee of Protection,
we infer, was thought by the "Ari-
zona camp" to be a "protection,"
not against {" the law Of the land"
but against the sharks and thieves
and their counsel learned in the
law, who prostitute the machinery
Of law to the basest purposes. As
all government and all law origin
ates with the people, they May
well cri,icise the abuses Of both,
and when the abuse has become
intolerable, they may set up new
government as did the 13 Colonies,
or compel a reform in the admin
istration Of law, as in San Francisco
in 1856. Tame submission to legal
abuses implies not respect for law,
but indifference to Justice. We do
not hesitate to say that there is no
controversy affecting property in
this camp which could not have
been settled by the miners of the
district, after Investigation by just
such a committee as we refer to,
not only with strict reference to JUS
tice, but in strict accordance with
law, and in one days time. We
fail to see why our laboring miners
are less to be trusted as committee
Of "arbitration, " forced if you Will
than as members of a jury empan-
nelled to " try" the same ques-
tions, provided the "profession"
will allow the "questions" to go
to them. Capital and emigration
are timid, and nothing intimidates
either so much as the fact that
every good property in the camp
has a law suit attached to it.
Doubters are referred to the repu-
tation Of White Oaks in the East.
We said and We repeat, that Grim
inal justice in the United States
has become a farce. If our cotem-
porary will exert his powerful
mind while and consult diction-
airy, he will find that something is
referred to quite different from
the law of the land" We repeat
also that civil Justice is rapidly be
coming equally farce, The
machinery and techuicalities of
courts and practice are prostituted
to obscure the claw of the land :"
and defeat instead of promoting its
objects. Lynching parties in Iowa
and Vermont mean that people in
those conservative and law abiding
communities have utterly lost con
fidence in the administration of
justice. "Protection Committees"
in Arizona mean the same thing,
no more, no less. We have no
fear that our teachings will be mis-
understood.
Lincoln county Is envied to-day
in other parts of the Territory for
its peaceful and orderly condition.
1t would not have been entitled to
this reputation, had its citizens had
as profound respect for forms
and machinery as they had for the
claw of the land" When our CO.
temporary has become more famil-
lar with life on the frontier he will
learn to make the necessary dis
tinction. What we have said has
reference not alone to White Oaks,
and has been said because we de-
sire to induce "capital and emigra-
! L. - onI Inoa,,.. Irno,,- -