Morning journal and courier., 1888-01-27
COMMUNIOATIONs.

To the Editor of the JOURNAL AND COURIER:
 The above question is not new one, but
 an oft repeated one, and in view of the pres
 ent status of strikes and other violations of
 law without redress, it comes home to every
 American citizen.
 How comes it thes this republic is claim
 ed to be the best government on earth, when
 one nan, seated in the chair, not of State or
 of the United States, but of self-constitut-
 ed organization, orders his serfs (so to
 spesk) to quit work, and willing hands are
 prevented by force from earning their living
 by taking of the places of strikers.
 How is it that factories, railroads, machine
 and other shops are abandoned by opera
 tives and then their doors and gates are
 guarded by unlawful agents to prevent own
 CTS fros employing willing men to earn
 bread for their families, and railroad pas
 sensers are stopped and coal mining and
 transportation, and laborers and operatives
 deterred from labor whereby to support
 thsir familiesa How is it that travellers from Maine to the Gulf of Mexico, holding
 railroad tickets paid for in advance, are
 stopped on railroad journeys half performed, and freights are standing eh turnouts in va- risus plaees from one end of the country to the other, and contractors to build etruct- ures to supply machinery and deliver goods at remote parts of the country are made ia- ble to prosecutions for the non-psrformance of contracts because the business of the coun- try is stopped by conspirators who defeat the performance of contractsa More that this. Newspaper and other print ing offices are spell bound in the same man ner and their owners told that unless they meet certain impromptu demands and dis charge certain typesetters "who do not be- long to our society your paper shall not be published for morning or evening subscribers or advertigersN
 Here we are in mid-winter, when families will freeze and steam cannot be raised or machinery be propelled without fuel, and coal miners quit their work, and by secret obligation among themselves prevent the mines from being worked by other hands, and coal goes up far beyond it's proper pro- ducing values or cannot be had at all or even transported if already mined out and ready to be shipped.
 It is useless to call our government a suc- cess when we have thirty-eight States with governors, legislatures, courts and militia and hordes of sherifs, coastsbles and police at taxnayers' expense, besides President of the nation, with standing army, and hun dreds of millions of dollars in vaulted treas- ury buildings and the machinery of trade, commerce and business at a standstill, and owners cannot use their owR nor be permitted to fulfill their contracts.
 Everybody is paying tribute indirectly to self-constituted organizations who to-day at tempt to hold sway over all business and over law and order, vouchsafed under stat utes and a fundamental constitution which says that ''no person shall be deprived of life, liberty or property without due process of law"
 There is no public abuse practiced in this country but has it's legal antidote, but if there is no president, governor or officer Of the law available for the emergency, or no doctor to prescribe, the malady must con- ! tinue. Human life and human governments are reflected by mirrors and looking glasses. In one great mirror we see silver coin stamped one dollar, and in locking glass | directly opposite we see brokers window on which hangs sign, ''Trsde dollars bought ! at 70 cents."
 t-~4Nhen- United States ~fssaed sl3s of paper and stamped them 5, 10, 25 and 69 ! cents, as the case might be, did any broker | insult the go, ,arnment or the people by the | display of offers to give 70 cents on the dol \ lar for them Were not such pieces of paper redeemed at their face values without repu- ! diation!
 ! General Butler once said to the writer that | it was the 'fstamp" which established the l value, whether on a five cent fractional eur- | rency or on one thousand dollar note, and | that it made no difference in homer whether ! the stamp was on paper, copper, silver or ! gold. How looks the government and the ! people in such mirrors as these, and what is I to be the ending: The least we can say is ! that war, after which treason was not pun ! ished, has done this great mischief; and that
 this defiance of law and order ! and the rights of man and of ! property and the right to use I one's own property, to employ whenever ! will work for the pay offered, etc., and the l plotting out of the obligation to perform l contracts, comes from war, no matter in what cause or country. And we in the United l States to day are sweltering under the licenses l which war recognizes and the strong hand of | constitutions, laws and punishment drops ! down as 6 withered emblem of justice, and 1 the scales in which mems rights were weighed ! have lost their balance.
 Pray tell US what is the meaning now of l these emphatic words: ssThis constitution l and the laws of the United States which shall I be nads in pursuance thereof. shall be the l supreme law of the land and the judges in l every State shall be bound thereby, anything l in the constitution or laws of any State to | the contrary notwithstanding.
 l It is quite late enough tor Congress to realize that it is time that the constitution of | the United States was clothed with suit of laws relating to life, liberty, property and good name and the right to use ons's own
 ! property SO that law and order shall prevail | everywhere alike in the land over which it's constitution is the paramount authority.
 ! When this is done it will be realized, and not
 till then, that this government is not fail
 ure. GoUvERNHUR.