New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1885-12-14
JTDTCJdL TYRANNY IN OHIO.

JUDICIAL TYRANNY IN OHIO.
The justices of the Supreme Court of the
| State of Ohio, which was once distinguished
for the care and ability of its rulings, have in
| late years been face to face with an omlnous
peril, that Of political and social disntegraton
in the community which they pretended to
serve. They have bchcld a succession of disor-
ders beginning with the Cincinnati riot in the
spring of 1884, all of which were in a measure
due to the weakness of the courts and to the
conspiracies of political rings. The city OF
| Cincinnati for the last two years has been
prev to n collection of gamblers, thieves and
politicians which even in the neither world
would be looked upon as a museum of cunning
! and wickedness. The condition of things has
grown so wretched in this period of disorder as
to cause vast numbers of reputable people to
talk seriously of emigration Business has
| fallen of. zeal estate has decreased in value,
and manufacturers seriously contemplate a
removal of their workshops and warehouses
10 other cities.
With shameless disregard OF every
great principle which should govern in Il
| court of last resort, to whose justice ana
| honesty are intrusted the most important
interests of millions of people, the Supreme
| Court of Ohio has in one decision after another
| labnrcd to protect bad men in their v1Ilany
! and to render the State unlnhabftable Tor
! honest men, These sO-callcd justices have
/ taken the cities one by one, and, so Tar as their
decisions were asked, have handed these
| cities over to the keeping of the worst ana most
! disorderly elements that existed inside the
CORPORATION lines. These acts they nave
crowned at last with a series of decisions which
make elections a farce and an honest ballot
impossible.
The Constitution of the State is Detective
! but if is open To such construction as will make
| if an instrument of freedom and not OF
tyranny. Acting according to its legal rights
under the Constitution, the Legislature enacted
a Registration law prol,ssedly to secure an
honest election. Though the origin OF that law
made 1t questionable, yet the people OF the
| State accepted it and acted under it IN good
/ faith 1t became by universal consent law oi
/ The Stnle in a far higher sense than by mere
act of tue Legislature. But the theory CT the
| Supreme Court was that the people conld be
fooled by mere Juggling with words that II the
plan of the Democratic majority IN the LcgiSat-
NE TO bind the popular will was unsuccessful,
then the majority in the Supreme Court,
simply. by declaring that the Legislature had
made mistake could defeat the will, not OF a
few. but Of the entire voting population OF the
State.
The attempt to subvclt the good sense and
honest aspirations Of the people eliminated on
Saturday in the characteristic opinion given ont
bv the majority of the Supreme Court. fol
months the people had been familiar with the
corruption which attended the election laNl
fall in Cincinnati. The charges of fraud were
supported by evidence SO strong that no scrlon'
attempt was made to dispute its truth. The
record of that conspiracy was laid before the
courts. Thus the matter became a question not
of mere words and of technical errors but OF
that Justice which is the spirit and above the
Letter of the law. Bat what was the opinion o
these pettiioggcrs in the Supreme Court i
WAS in effect that the wishes Of the people 81
Cincinnati and of the State should be evaded Il
crafty the glmblcrs thieves and rowdies of q
ncighborhood which is VIGOROUSLY one of the
worst in the United States. From probably NJ
district of equal size and population in the
country are there graduated more candidates
for the prison and the gallows than from the
Fourth Ward OF Cincinnati. For twenty year
this ward has beer the home of bribery an'
/ false counting, ana brutal IulHdHl9Hl dU IH'
polls. The votes which the Supreme Court Ia:
ordered to be counted were proven TO be fraud
ulent There was no attempt made to prove
that they were otherwise. Apparently the
court pissed all this unquestiOncd and unqucs-
tionable proof, in order to pick out few so
called errors of n purely technical KIND t
enfranchse a few hundred illegal voters, ant
to perpetuate a ruinOus political policy at the
State Capital.
The Democratic party has had control o
Ohio for two years. 1t has increased the debt
of the municipalities; il has lcsscncd thci
means of paying those debts; it has filled the
t State and Federal Offices with mon acknowl
edged to have been convicted and punished fo
{ crimes that should have rendered then
ineligible for any public place; it has polluted
the United States Senatorshp with bribery il
T. mas fastened the rule of political rings ant
mere ward thieves upon the people. Now wha
does it propose to do in return Its onl,
acknowledged aim is to put trlckster in tn
place OF Johr Sherman i'll the United State
of honest and decent men has been tn
infamous question of Tweed: "Well, what ar
YOU gong to do about p We shall see
whether the people of Ohio will endure thi
sort of thing with accomplishing patience.
---------------
FRANCE And BIRM1H
The discovery, al Mandaay, of document