Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1889-07-13
THE SOMETHING MORE TERRIBLE

THE SOMETHING MORE TERRIBLE
We published on Friday the statement
of musician Coggin made before the court
martial, explaining why he mutinied and
disobeyed the laws of the State and the
| commands of the officers whose authority
| he had sworn to maintain. In brief his
plea was that he feared the boycott of the
Federated Trades that he was old and in
an established business that he could de-
sert only at the risk of starvation; that he
had an invalid wife and dependent fam
lily; and that while the trades
might not openly make war upon
him if he disobeyed them, there
was something more terrible than
that-the secret unrelenting boycott that
would drive him to starvation. He there
fore chose to risk the displeasure of the Of
Tended law rather than invoke the VEN
geance of the Federated Trades. Remarking
upon this pitiful statement, the San Fran
cisco Alta comments as follows. We COM
mend the expression of that courageous
journal to all thoughtful and unbiased in
telllgences:
The case of Coggin, the Band Leader of the
National Guard on trial for rnutiny in refIsinc,
to obey his oath of enlistment, brings ON in
high relief the system by which the boycott is
able to usurp the place of the law and the func-
eminent by duress.
Our political system is founded upon Mr.. JEFF.
terso2's maxim. in the Declaration OF Independ-
ence, that Governments de.iye their inst no,Iy
ers from the consent of the governed > 9Fbis
obsoletes ouress and force, distress and oppres-
sion, starvation, present or threatened as
means can OF controlling the sections Of freemen. It
Is the principle that has made this country the
asylum of all men who are filed with the snirif
OF liberty and the desire to enjoy it unquesti0ned
and unoppreSSed. The time has nov COW a.
which Mr., Jeiferon's declaration must be
erected as bar to all who come with the inten
ton OF establishing tyranny less endurabIe
tH u that OF the Aahdi, and an autocrscy as
gloomy and abhorrent as that of the Car
Under the name OF labor combinations, or as
sociatons OF capital, or anything else This conn
try cannot afford to have the AUTHORITY Of lie
laws. which govern by consent set aside and q
government by Guress established which ac
knGwledges no principle but force aud uses liz
aolity 10 illicL starvation as the means Of com
peHlng ooedlence 10 It's DEGREES. This is the
question involved. 1t does not relate m he
rights of labor for they are amply sheltered nv
the Government of consent which has baa9
founded upon the Declaration of Independence
There IS more than ordinary Significance in tbe
tact that these two principles of goSernmepf
pave joined issue III this city on the anniversary
OF lndependenee-ou an occasion when freernen
nave delighted always to hear read, in the Dec
laration-
I'VE hold these truths to be selfevidept. Tho,
all men are created equal; that they are en-
dowed by their Creator with certain iIiaIiensbia
rights; that among these are life liberty and
me pursuit OF happiness; that to secure these
rights governments are instituted among men
deriving their just powers from the Consent OF
the governed" "a
Here IS an old man and poor with falling
sight an invalid wife and home under mort
gage, cOnfessiBg violation Of his Obligations as
citizen, snubblng his oath as a guardsnnn CDt /
having himself from the shelter of q Govern |
ment " hiGh derives its just powers from the |
governed, because it is in the power of a cornbi
nation to starve him 20 death in his old noe nv |
denying to him the right to earn his bread In |
his chosen calling. But there is something |
more terrible than that" What a pregnant |
sentence II il had been uttered by a R,JSSien
exile, fearful Of further expulsion 10 the awful
solitude OF the tundra In the delta of the Lena
il would arouse American Sensibilities 10 The !
highest pltcn. But Il IS merely the pitiful out.
cry OF an old man in fear of sentence to death J
Dy starvation, delivered IN secret and cOvertIv
executed as the penalty Of obeyiug the mill laws
of country which derives its powers from, rio |
consent OF the governed. The laws of his coun-
try guarantee this old man the right to life /
liberty aud the pursuit of happiness But sn I
irresponsible junto, by his own admission has
the power 70 deny him the right to life itself
Therefore this government by duresS, which Is
substituted for the government by consent
claims and exercises powers which cannot be
exercised by the State nor by the United States
Within them II Is greater than they; and If it !
can make the obligations to 1t superior TO those
due the State in one respect il can in al respects
and the State exists only by its suferance and
Can be destroyed by its viii. The power II held
over Coggi i, by his own confession was the
awful power OF life and death, the highest au-
thoIity conferred upon human government.
~ L I'D ~
hFmneSs which becomes q believer in the Dec
larolion of INDEPENDENCE, In law and order and
the ms itutions OF free government, when we
say that the existence OF such authority as that
under which Coegin covered in fear of his life
is incompatible with our institutions.
Nor Is 1t IN any sense proper trade unionism,
which ID its essence and original spirit is the
ASSOCIATION OF guild, TO promote skill and en-
courage individual excellence, for beneficiary
purposes, TO suecor the sick and 10 bury the
dead; not TO oppose, but to protect from OBJ
are mede by the consent of those whom they
govern. The principle to which Coggin sur.
rendered was power. Powerl 1--WE must show
our power is the constant cry OF the executive |
authority OF these combinations To show their
power they must be the arbiters of life and !
death, and SO they seize that ultimate authority
whlch is shared only by God and the State and
Clothed with II they defy government by law
ana establish government by duress
no man shall be deprived OF life, liberty or
o}ego,, wnont que process OF law is the
Inc supreme law of the land "But" pifif1llv |
I lies, poor Coggin there is something more
;ei5lule man mat ana his something as he
aennes u Enthusiastically, is power that depriyes
d ilie t5ithola due process Of law
II is time Tor all men 10 rally against this as
oI sueh authority. and to smise 1t out of
eAlsience. Within the bounds of nation iedi- :
,sted 70 liberty and reconstructed in the blood
u armies there is proven to exist an autocracy
- s'Iingent As Orlentai despotism, and as covert
ana remoFseless as the Thugs, more terrible1 ]