St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1890-07-02
PERSONAL RIGHTS.

FEhSONAL hlG HIS.
Notwithstanding the vehemence of
its tone and the florid hue of its style,
there were some big chunks of wisdom
imbedded in Judge TULEY's letter to
the Chicago turner societies. The tend
ency to deprive the individual citizen
of his personal rights is marked char
acteriStic of modern legislation, and we
are sorry to say in many instances OF
. modern judicial decisions also. The
courts and the legislatures are follow
ing up the line of the spirit manifested in
national affairs of centraliZing power in
the federal head. 1t is all a part OF that
general tendency toward consultations
danger that has heretofore been dis
cussed in these columns.
The method by which the individual
citizens are being deprived Of their per-
sonal rights makes an interesting study.
1t owes its origin, possibly, to that
cranky idea of modern growth that the
legislature is capable of remedying all
ills of a moral. social or political nature.
This idea has expanded until now every
crank with hobby goes to the legisla-
ture to have his particular notions form
ulatcd into a statutory enactment.
The result is that the legislature is come
to DE looked upon as a sort of Messiah,
with the power to set the world to
rights, and to establish a millennium
upon earth.
1t is human nature for every man to
take his own views and conduct as the
proper standard for the moral govern
ment of earth, and he would like to
force the rest of his fellow men to adopt
his doctrines. The more cranky an in
dividual, the stronger is the strain of
autocracy in his constitution and tenn
permanent. These cranky people are
always aggressive by nature. and untir-
ing in their zeal. They work while
others sleep. nor do they hesitate to
SOW tareS in their neighbours field, in
full belief that they are doing Gods
service. They get together and they
stay together, and although they are
laughed at as eranks and fanatics, they
manage by industry and zeal and strict
attention to the promotion of their
cause to get the whip hand of those
who laugh at them. Hence, fanaticism
has come to be the ruling spirit in shap-
ing the legislation in many of the states,
and as a result the statute books are
filled up with Sumptuarg laws.
Another contributing agency to this
state of affairs is the influence of the
corporation interests. The corporations
desire to establish centralized form of
government. Imperialism is always
the handmade of aggregated wealth. and
| they cannot we'll be separated. 1t is to
the interest of corporate lower to en-
courage sumptuary legislation in the
states, because it is in direct line with
the policy they wish to establish in ma
| tional affairs. Anything that will restrict
the rights of the citizen and will help tC
keep him in subjugation will facilitate
the work of Capitalization. Here we
have the corporate interests, the pro-
teeted monopolies, aggregated capital
and the cranks of the country all work
ing together, each actuated by differ
ent motive, but ali going the same road.
In view of these facts, the earnest APP
peal made by Judge TULEY to the peo-
pie of America to get together and or
ganize in defense of their personal
rights is not without force. 1t is II OF
anarchism he teaches, as some of his
critics accuse of him of doing, but it is
good, solid wisdom. founded on the
highest and purest patriotism. The
MCKINLEY tariff bill, the supreme
court decisions in the Minnesota milk
cases, the temperance legislation in
Kansas and Iowa, the compulsory edu-
cation law in Illinois, are all samples of
this modern tendency to deprive the
citizen of his personal rights. 1t is
surely time for the citizens, whose
rights are being infringed upon, to be
doing something in their own protec-
ton, and in preservation of the forms
of constitutional government that our
fathers established.