Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1885-12-31
TOO MUCH LIBERTY.

A San Francisco Journal enters vigor-
Gus protest against the tolerance with
which a parcel of rascally agitators are
treated in San Francisco. They assemble
a crowd of a motley kind every Sunday on
the sand-lots and disturb the public peace
by peopling the air with words too foul to
be repeated, and keep the city in
twitter of half fear by their incendiary
harangues. There are not more than
three or four hundred of these bowling
cranks and rascally vagabonds all put to-
gether, yet large police force is called
upon to keep them from eating each other,
and to prevent their gatherings degenerat-
ing into free fights. The Argonam sug-
gests that this effort to keep them quiet
be abandoned-that the police surround
| them when next they assemble and en-
courage them to fight it out, and foster the
| disposition they have to blot each other
from existence, with certainty and speed.
The chief city Of our State and indeed
the State itself, has worldwide unenvia-
bic reputation because of this same sand
lot crowd which masquerades indecency
and dlsloyalty in the guise of liberty of
speech, and makes the word California one
of contempt the world over. The truth
is, we have altogether too much liberty
here as it is now construed-license to
become public nuisance, The rag
tag and bob-tail of Europe come over
and promote such gatherings as those
of the sand lot and in the streets of Chi
cage, for the express purpose of creating
disorder in our communities. Their
motto is, Damn all government" and in
this anethema they make no exception of
the American Republic. This same riff
raft, if it dared, would mob the citizens of
San Francisco and burn their homes.
They care for nothing but excitement and
| disorder. Work is the one thing of all
Others, they hate Industry is an unknown
quantity in their policy. They are led by
few gabbling and cunning rascals with
whom notoriety serves all the purposes of
fame. That these men should be tolerated
i'll their practices is one of the best evil
dences of the strength of our polite al
and social institutions. But the people will
not always bear the strain. Some dav
they will rise in their indignation and
teach this European scum what the wrath
of 4 free people means, and measure out
to them an estimate of liberty, of which
they now have no conception. In that
da3r-and, possibly, it is not far distant
long -sufiering patience will become anger,
and what is done in anger is certain to be
reIented OF. For we fear that when these
Socialists and Communists and Nihilists
and demagogues and blatant howlers have
reused the people, they will visit their
anger upon the INNOCENT as well as the
guilty, and that foreign-born residents who
arc decent, law-abiding and intelligent
VIII he made to suffer, to some extent, for
the misdeeds of class that disgraces the
tie 'ioreign-born." There is already
viyorous demand for reformation of and
greater stringeney in, our immigra-
ton laws, and there is but lit
tie doubt that the reforms demand
Ell will soon be worked. Honest,
seh-respecting, naturalized citizens are
uniting in the protest against such per-
formances as weekly disgrace San Fran
cisco. They are as indignant at such out
rges upon free speech, and the right to
assemble and discuss public questions, as
any native-born citizen can be. They
will be found shoulder to shoulder with
the law-abiding, order-loving elements
when the time OF drawing the lines comes
about as it certainly will, unless the in
dications of the present are only skin deep.