The times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1890-1903, 1892-09-18
SHALL WE ABANDON LOCAL GOVERN
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MENBT
The Iron Age is journal OF very
wide and very deserved influence ~
renresents the extreme conservative sac
Of all questions and In this respect we
have no fault to find with II. 1t canno'
no more conservative than The Times Is
for IN conservation of what is fixed ana
established The Times believes our ciVi-
lization rests.
II its last issue the Iron Age comments
mo, tho fact that in the recent LABOR
troubles Mt Homestead the local govern
,nont If the town abdicated its functions
and turned the government Of the place
ovor "a a mob. 1t remarks that the 0vil
authorities of Allegheny county proven
themselves powerless. 1t says 1t KNOWS
of case where the plans for an armed
ottack on a manufacturing establishment
:, Allegheny county were discussed ana
matured in the house Of and In the pres
epce of the chief Of police of a nelghoor-
ing borough The justice Of the peace
was a striker. who swore his fellows IN
rs deputies. and clapped non-union men
into Jail fol carrying concealed weapons
when they are being assaulted every day
on their way from work by the deputies.
The Age concludes that ''the history OF
labor troubles in Western Pennsylvania
and elsewhere justi6es contempt for local
government" and 1T is because local
government and civil authority have de-
servedly been in contempt that manu-
facturers have been forced to turn TO
more effective means for their own pro-
lection" Finally, the Age concludes:
Until the root of the evil is reached by
a radical reform, employers OF labor VIII
be forced TO rely upon the PInkerton ser
vice, which they pay out OF their own
pockets, or be provided with protection
by militia at the first sign OF trouble, at
great cost TO the community, and In the
long run. unbearable Inconvenience and
suffering to the citizen soldiery."
The Age despairs too easily. Because
the local authorities have proved made
duate to deal with ldwlessness and disor-
der in a particular case, we do not pro-
pose to abandon the rock-ribbed prln-
ciple of local government. We will ad-
dress ourselves rather TO the problem OF
dealing with disorders as progress in So
ciety proves that they are liable to occur
through the agencies of local government
rather than by discarding them and
drifting towards the theory of central
lied government in which individual lib
erty and freedom of the citizen ends
The moral forces in all communities are
adequate to suppressing riot and diSor-
der in the end, and though the lawless
elements may get the upper hand for
time they are finally conquered and
forced to submit to the reign Of law.
There may be excuses and destruction
Of property which cannot be compen-
stated for, but each one of these occa-
sons brings the moral forces Of the com
munity into play and gives birth to meas
ures which make a repetition of the dis
orders difficult if not impossible The
people of Wise county suffered the VIC
lence and lawlessness Of Talt Hall and
Doc Taylor for a long time, but Hall has
paid his penalty and Taylor is under the
death sentence. How much better that
the good people of Wise county should
have put down lawlessness in their midst
by appealing to the moral instincts Of
their own citizens rather than TO have
surrendered the inestimabe blessing of
regulating their own affairs, trusting to
strangers in a centralized iron govern
ment to give them that protection which
they should have the manliness TO secure
to themselves. The one principle secures
a population of robust, self-reliant men.
The other develops a tyrant, ruling slaves
from the centre, with a rod of iron.
There should be a central authority to
which localities may appeal when dis
orders grow beyond their ability to cope
with them. But the first idea in all
cases should be that the neighborhood
can and will protect itself.