Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1886-04-05
SENATOR STANFORD ON THE LABOR
TROUBLES.

- Puni-Sdu iVlHlH Vi government nave
always manifested dangerous tendency to
abandon all governmental method in great
emergencies, and fall back upon the naked,
elementary principles of primitive society.
\ government proceeding from the people
is necessarily slow to act, because the viii
Of the people can be ascertained only at
The intervals Of popular elections. Where
The sovereignty is vested in the whole peo-
pie, and the whole people must be consult
Ell, that consultation requires time In
short, a government by the people pro-
ceeds by evolutionary processes of thought.
Public opinion must have time to form,
and when formed it must await the pc
riodiclty Of elections to declare itself, and
beyond that must await the legislative re-
sponse which follows its declarations.
1t Is from this source that the tendency
TO irregular acts, to action by vigilance
committees IN response to sudden ebuili-
tons Of popular feeling, arises. Encour-
aged, or even only unchecked, this inherent
tendency in republican government grows
by its exercise, until the danger becomes
imminent that the DEGREES of private asso-
Citations, public assemblies, public conven-
Eions and mere voluntary political associa-
ions viii usurp the regular functions of
governmental methods Thus when pub
lie opinion is infamed by the appeals Of
q IL
.imulated by irregular passion, or
ne desire for Illicit advantage
sets up turbulent currents, popular
government, for the time being, appears
20 be set aside altogether, and descends to
he level Of an impotent organization, for
which, temporarily, there seems to be no
use. It is this dangerous tendency in
popular government which has created all
Of this distrust in the minds of thoughtful
men as to its efficiency and stability, and it
IS the first duty of every friend of repub-
lean and democratic institutions to dis
courage on the one hand all reputation of
governmental methods in the correction of
abuses and evils, and on the other hand to
encourage resort to governmental and legal
methods for the correction of such abuses.
Any resort to unlawful instrumentalities for
The remedy Of the evilssattending Chinese
occupation Of this territory, and the CO.
ereion Of capital by labor organizations in
The East, have a common characteristic,
- nd -
ready noted to repudiate governmental
snd legal methods. They are attempts to
correct real or supposed abuses, or cure
real OF imaginary evils which the ballot
box was instituted to correct and cure, by
the DEGREES of private assemblies and vol
untary conventions on the part of those
whose Interests may be most seriously af- |
fected by the abuses or the evil COM
planned Of
At a time when the public mind is run |
ming in turbulent currents; when chart
and compass appear to be lost
when regular governmental methods
have been repuliated; when an
archy appears imminent, it is very
refreshing to find one voice, at least, pro-
claiming that inallible standard of Justice
which leads to liberty and security. Sena-
tor Stanford declares that " if the people
would live up to the creed of free govern
ment, as laid down in the Declaration of
Independence, there would be none of
these unhappy conflicts" He appeals to
the greatest charter of human liberty ever
promulgated, for the vindication of the
position that each mans rights find their
highest security in his respect for the
rights of Others. No greater fallacy has
ever existed at any time than the suppose
ton that an individual may trample
upon the rights Of another without
thereby menacing his own liberty. Liberty
is endangered by every infraetion of the
rights of any single individual, however
humble. Senator Stanford SAYS this clearly,
and declares it Enthusiastically when he saws
that sixty million OF people in the United
States have no right to deprive any single
individual of his natural and inalieuable
rights. Any doctrine contrary to this es-
tablishes at once the absolutism of the ma
jority, an absolutism more intolerable
than the most despotic monarchy. Any
creed OF liberty which does not begin with
the assertion of the existence of inalienable
rights, places the existence of all human
rights at the caprice Of majorities. The
doctrine that men are endowed with in
aienable rights, rights inherent, and of
which they may not be Invested, and with
which government has no right to inter
fere. IS the very corner stone of free in
sfitutions, and liberty viii accompany it
into extraction.
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