Wichita eagle., 1888-07-07
Is 1T LAW. CONSCIENCE OR PURE
DEMAGOGUERY?

morning to say that the Democrats Of
Kansas. in convention assembled, struck
a relic of tyranical government good
square blow, and also the Republican
party Of Kansas, when they denounced
the present grand jury law OF this
state. Under the provisions of the old
law the EAGLE was enabled, by threaten
ing certain politicians, to save Sedgwlck
county taxpayers from its outrageous ex-
penses. The present law has cost Kan
sas, the past year. hundreds OF thou
sands of dollars. Sedgwick county tax
payers have had to put up to the tune OF
thousands of dollars the past year be-
cause of its existence and for results which
it would be hard to name. 1t
is law which was passed by Republi-
can legislature at the behest of men who
have largely gone over to the Third-St.
John Prohibition camp, and was passed
almost solely with reference to the pun
ishment Of the violators of single stat
ute.
Like the police commission law, it
was enacted under the idea that law
making power can't go too far in pro-
viding penalties for the enforcement
of morality. Such a sentiment, If
not heathenish, belongs only to the
middle centuries and the witch burning
ages. England used to hang-take the
life Of mere children by law for the little
offense of petty theft. But England quit
that barbarity hundreds Of years ago.
Even Russia has passed that point IN
educated public conscience. The same
spirit which demanded the police COM
mission law and our present grand jury
law is now demanding ''search and seiz-
ure" law, law which proposes to en-
power a police commissioner to send one
of his cheap minions unbidden and by
force into the sacred precincts of Ameri-
can homes TO haul over and search at
will. All such legislation lacks
catholicity and is outside of the
ideas, teachings and aspirations of the
Fathers. They are narrow, one sided,
intolerant, extreme and therefore fanati-
cal, as were the laws which took the life
of child for stealing shilling, OF burn
| eU Vi nduESu pun III
offensive woman because some one
ideaed fanatic declared that she had be-
| witched his cow. All this is extreme
and wrong and even the unprogressive
mossback Democratic party of Kansas
are smart enough to see that free born
American flesh and blood will not much
longer brook spirit which would put
to the rack every other spirit who failed
to conform to their narrow ideas and
rules for enforcing the same.
Temperance and morality are endorsed
by the National Republican party; are
good and can be inculcated and sustained
and all wholesome laws for the protec
ton of society from the viciously in
clined, can be and will be enforced by
public sentiment, that is by the average
Judgment of the conservative, home-lov-
ing, freedom loving, God-fearing masses,
and when any party ties on to and obeys
the behests of extreme factions rather
than the average conviction described,
such party will find itself without
members sooner or later. Under
search and seizure" law
the officer who invades a peaceful law
abiding American home and is shot
down will find no twelve jurymen who
will unanimously avenge his death,
name or deed But the fellows who run
Kansas politics at the behest Of a section
who hate the Republican party at heart,
are ready today to pass search and
seizure law. or any other law which can
be conceived of, all unmindful and blind
to the fact that the people, not kings, |
enforce laws in this country and that the !
average public sentiment once right |
there are laws enough, and strong |
enough, already to keep every violator
Of the prohibition law-which is
about the only law in Kansas |
today-everlastingly in Jail. not only
constructively, but in fact, and SO
strongly that once free he will never
again violate public conscience, public |
will nor the law, in the absence of which |
conscience and will no law is worth the
paper it is written on.
The Republican party OF Kansas should
call a halt on any further monkeying
with the buzz saw by its politicians, or
what would be better, elect such men to !
Office who would thoroughly and consci-
entiously enforce, through the ordinary
channels, the whisky law just as they
enforce other laws, rendering the penalty
for all violations swift and sure, and then
wipe from the statute books all obnox-
ious, n-American measures. John Martin,
the very ,man nominated by the Demo-
Gratis for governor, although an anti-pro-
hibitionist. appointed by pronounced
whisky governor-who was elected upon
that distinctive issue-as judge upon the
bench under nothing but the old laws, so
effectually enforced the statutes as 70
practically crush out all law defiers at
the capital of the state, showing plainly
that it's the officers and the public con-
science back of them as much or more
than the mere letter of the law. What
does n police commission or search
and seizure act amount to as compared
to the acts of an officer determined to do
his duty and do the will of the people:
This is not written in a faultfinding
spirit, SO far as the great body Of the
are concerned-that solid
rank of intelligent people who are not
because of any expectation
of Office or personal gain, but who be-
lieve that it is the party which promises
the greatest good to the greatest number,