The Lafayette advertiser. [volume] (Vermilionville [i.e. Lafayette], La.) 1865-19??, 1889-07-13
SAFETY ONLY IN THE law.
RAILWAY Service Gazette /

hard for some men to realize that TN,
| der certain contingencies they may moi
take the law in their own hands and
sit as Judge and jury ia the eases of
their felbw-men. 1t is this fallacious
idea that has so often led strikers,
men who were otherwise good citizens,
INTO lawless acts,s thereby arraying
public sympathy against cause thai
was just, and in the cad defeatinR
tkat cause. ~
And in other eases this same fdea
has led men to commit the 1ae4E ex.
trayagant crimes, that they might ac-
complish some purpose. whicK they
thought was right, but which burnose
was itself q crime. When y6nce we
! lose hold of the sheet-anckof ofthe
law, there is no safety, whether, we
are arayed as, Chicago anarchists
Missouri bald knobbers, Ohio and In
dina white caps. or as k.riEerss de-
feating by lawless acts th$faghieh may
be good cause in itself, and most
worthy to succeed.
In Missouri a lot of pa4sably respec-
table farmers took it int b their heads
that they were superior to the law.
When this egotistical idea had once
fastened itself upon them they were
liable to go to all extreiaes and were
led, step by step, to perpetrlte the most
cowardlys crimes. They organized
themselves into a band kia5wn as bald
knobbers, and in their egotism assurns
ed to judge who were worthy, and
who were not worthy to be citizens Of
their neighborhoods and eo6nfies. The
truth that the most worthless tramp
who had respect for the law, was still
more worthy than the man of high
position, who deliberately spurned the
law, could never I,enetrate the thick
armor of their egotisfn. Citizens who
We're not acceptable It'd the bald knob
Der clan were ordered to 1eaye 49,
country. Failing to do so, they yweie
first whipped. Having let go the law, !
these once respectable Farmers were
left without a guide or compass, and
as the fool victims Of their egotism.
they were led from CRIME to crime, [
until at last to their Consciousness, the
most foul and cowardlN murders be-
came virtues, if these murders were
but perpetrated by their own infailable
band. Oh, but human Mature IS de-
when men are laft free Of all
restraint, and permitted tp become the
victims of their own egodsm.l These
Missouri farmers were Hot different
rom the average other classes and So |.
;ieties. They were as intelligent, and4.
as honest and upright. The
anne rule applies to the Ohio and In
Llama white caps. The men who COM
pose these White Cap organizations.
liffer in no respect from the general
Iverage Of humanity. And yet, un- !
estrained by the law, and the fools Of ,
heir egotism, they perpetras crimes
thousand times more Infamous and
owardly than the ones they profess to !
'unish. And SO too with the Chicago s
anarchists, only, as they were less in Z
elligent, they may originally have
een less honest and less respectable.
Now, to what conclusion are we ir-
esistabiy led by Contemplation of
hese facts? Is it not this That ]
here is not labor union, a railway
ociety, church society, an organiza- +
on of capitalists, railway company, /
r in fact any class or clique Of men, '
'ho, if permitted to override the law,
ill not become as the white caps, the :
aid knobbers, and the anarchists are, ' '
aeh particular class or clique modified y y
omewhat by the degree of the intelli- I,
ence of the organization represented? h
'ut is it logical? What is it that made =
nd makes these once honest and re- q
oecable bald knobber5 or white cap f,
lrmers, the cowardly murderers and
they are? All firmly ce- !,
rented cliques, parties, unions, and "
'eieties of men, are dominated by a Il
entral idea of egotism. 1t it this idea !,
lat leads the strong partisan Demo n
at or Republican to honestly believe
lat his honest, neighbor of the oppo-
te party must of necessity be. a thief.
is this idea that rapidly grows HI
ronger as an organization is bitterly 9
Undated by its opponents or the tee
lblic, until it overwhelms its victims u
ith its force, leading them to believe f.
at they alone are just, virtuous, hon
t and right, and that all who oppose
em are the blacklist scoundrels, for
hom no punishment is too severe.
hen, if the law does not restrain, it N
alters not if the organization be i. Il
Dor union, church society, busi- a,
,ss corporation, band of farmers bt
lied white caps or bald knobbers, q
ere win be, crimes, distorted by the ie
,otism Of the criminals into virtues.
There is safety only within the law,
ID the soonerthis fact is ground into
9 eSeonseiopsness Of every organiza- -
- and society, and every individual " "
ember q the same, the better it will j,
4 for such organizations and the =, ~