The Wilmington daily Republican. (Wilmington, Del.) 1890-1902, 1892-10-11
R0MESTEAD'S ACCUSED.
Chief Justice Paxson on the
Charges of Treason.
THE COMPANY ACTED LEGALLY.


Force to Protect Its Property,
While the Workingmen Acted
Against Law and Order.
PrrTsBURG, Oct. 1.-THE unusual spec
tacle of the chief justice of the supreme
court of the state sitting as judge in
the court Of oyer and terminer of a
county in the state was witnessed by q
large crowd in the criminal court room
yesterday, when Chief Justice Paxsor
charged the grand jury as to what con
stituted treason against the state in the
cases against the members of the Home
stead strikers advisory committee. II
charging the jury Justice Paxson said
we can have some sympathy with a
mob driven to desperation by hunger, a.
In the days of the French revolution
but we can have none for men receiving
exceptionally high wages in resisting the
law and resorting to violence and blood
shed in the assertion of imaginary rights
and entailing such vast expense upon
the taxpayers of the commonwealth.
" 1t was not cry for bread to feed
their famishing lips, resulting in a
sudden outrage with great provocation;
1t was deliberate attempt Of men with
out authority to control others in the
enjoyment Of their rights.
The existence of such state of
things in government of law indicates
weak spot. 1t is not in the law itself:
that is sufficient for the preservation of
order; all that is needed is the proper en-
forcement. To accomplish this it is onl,
necessary that every one connected wit!
its administration should do his duty.
The Company Acted Legally.
"When the company shut down its
works and discharged its men it was act
ing strictly in the lines of the INV. II
could not compel the men to work, nor
could the ,::iieen conilpti the company to
employ them. No arrangement could be
made in such regard except in the nature
OF contract agreed upon by the parties
upon this subject their rights were
mutual: The company had the un-
doubted right to protect its property; for
this purpose it could lawfully employ a.
many men as 1t saw proper, and arm.
them if necessary. Many of our bank
and places of business are guarded by
armed watchmen. The law did not re-
quire it to employ as watchmen the men
from whom it anticipated the destruction
of its works.
The right of the men was to refuse to
work unless their terms were acceded to
them and persuade others to Join them
in such refusal, but the law will sustain
them no further. The moment thoy at
tempt to control the works, and to pre-
vent by violence, or threats of violence,
other laborers from going to work, then
they place themselves outside the pale of
the law.
''It cannot be tolerated for moment
that one laboror shall say to another
laborer, You shall not work for this man
for that wage without my consent, and
then enforce such command by brutal
violence upon his person.
The Duty of the State.
SIT is the duty of the state to protect
every citizen within her borders; in this
there is no distinction between the la
borer and the capitalist; it protects each
with equal impartiality. When the state
fails to do this it fails in its duty as
sovoreign, and it will protect with a firm
hand the individual laborer from the
tyranny and unlawful demands of or
ganized labor.
1.-THE laws should be so enforced, from
the Delaware to the Ohio, that the
humblest laborer can work for whom he
pleases, and at what wages he sees fit.
undeterred by the bludgeon of the rioter
or the pistol of the assassin.
"You will also observe that the offensa
charged is treason against the state, and
not against the United States; it is {.
matter with which the latter has moth
ing to do, and over which it can have ne
jurisdiction.
ga mere mob, collected upon the inn
pulse of the moment, without any def
mite object beyond the qualification of its
sudden passion,sdoes not commit treason,
although it destroys property and at
tacks human life. But when a large
number of men arm and organize them.
selves, and engage in common purpose
to defy the law, to resist its officers and
deprive their fellow citizens of the rights
TO which they are entitled under the
constitution and laws, it is levying of
wal against the state, and the otfense is
treason