Workmen's advocate., 1886-12-26
WHAT ARE YOU GOING TO
 DO ABOUT IT?

legal rights" runs ! maxim of law which modern nations have inherit ed, with many others from the Ro- man jurisprudence. This maxim has attained judicial affirmation Us d bulwark against oppression and as protection of the rights of citizens to the enjoyment of personal liberty and the security of their persons. Common wisdom and experience of society, aye, of thirty generations of society, has firmly established that rule. Our national institutions and policy foster the spirit of ndcpcnd- ence and the supremacy of the poo-
 pie. Yet it seems that some ser wants of the people, charged to guard those rights and customs against any cncroachments, feel themselves very much superior to their duties as dcllncated by those rights and customs of the people.
 One instance of such rctrogrcssiyn tendency in the administration of justice merits the attention of all those who with anxiety may ask, "Whithcr we are drIftIng;' In Mill waukce, Wis, the elght-hour move mcnt would have found general adoption but for the unwarrantcd interference of militia and police with peaceablc demonstrations or of the workmen. In Bay View. near Milwaukee. five workmon were shot, contrary to law and common prudence, and ill total disregard of social duty, by the militia, There had been no disturbance or riot to justify such extreme measures. l have been no eye witness of those occurrences, but rely on the state ments of Socialists, who are person. ally known for their truth and yc- racity the world over. The action of the Governor, Rusk, was Russian, and as It takes ten lives to make the first pass for true, so Governor Rusk needed more victims to justify the murder of the five. Against Paul Grottkau, Secretary of the Central Labor Union of Milwaukee, and a number of Knights of Labor, divers prosecutions were instituted for of lenses, such as melting to riot, con spiracy. etc. Under the pressure of these official endeayors to burst ul labor organizations, the Wisconsin Labor Party entered the field last fall and swept, in Milwaukee county, the old incumbcnts of offices (mostlN "republicans') ont of their otlicia existence. The Socialists of Mil waukee were the backbone of tha movement, and the German Irbci fer Xeitung, and it's editor, Pau Grottkau, were secured to move il bringing about that result. In tn meantime, that is, after the election the trials have come on and Pau Grottkau and the IrbeIcr /citHH are the special objects of the sam Ex-County Attorney Williams off cial actions. The jury sittingjn tn case of State ys. Grottkan has disa greed, to 1. The whole proceed lngs. from reports which have care fully read. can best be characterize, by saying. "an attempt to down upon public trust the ascondrnr of the Labor Party" Mir. William may feel it his duty, without rcgar, to his private opinions, to push tn prosecution of labor agltators, but | Is neither wise, eXcusable, or justIIi able. By the first of January tn new county attorney, elected by tn Labor Party, will enter office with , lot of criminal prosecutions agalns Knights of Labor and others on hi hands. Mr. Williams has we'll served his party. the uppcr-tendom, ant has been foe to workmen's organl 2ations wherever he ruled. No, these organizations are as legal q any combination of capitalists, q chambers of commerce., etc., and ar as much entitled to protection an, regard in contemplation of law The new county attorney Is i'll try ing position. While have full con fidence in his integrity and his sens of public duty, l would offer som remarks as a matter of general inter est to members of the new party al over the country,
 The main reason why workmc n, l.n.-..- t..-ala.nt thlil lAM-t1 tnt.n l.