The representative. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1893-1901, 1893-06-28
Coming Around.

AOmluS AROUND.
When proposed that the protec-
tion of the law should be withdrawn
from the property of the trusts, there
was a great howl about anarchism and
socialism. But l read in the St. Paul
Globe the following:
mo court of record should lend it's
legal operations to further the inter
ests and carry out the purposes of
trust," are the words of Judge Nc
Connell, of Chicago, while rendering
a decision in trust case. There is
a ring to this which should resound
from one end of the land to the
other"
Yes; anything court says is right;
but anything populist advocates is
demagogism. But I am proud to say
l am educating even the courts, into
new views of the rights of the people.
Part of my object in the Chicago
Antitrust Conference was to force
upon the attention of the country
certain radical ideas, which will
eventually triumph. And I did so
most effectually. The daily press
howled, but got in my work and set
the masses thinking. There we're
two ideas thus put forth:-frst, that
combine to rob the people had no
right to the protection of the laws of
the land; and the second was, that
there is no warrant in any constitu-
tiOn, state or national, which au-
thorizes the courts to set themselves
up above the congress, or the legisla-
tive branches, and undo their work;
that ultimate power must rest some
where; and that it is the theory of
our government that it should rest
with the great mass of the people,
and not with few lawyers. In other
words,-the principal object of gov
ernment is the protection of human
beings, not property. The rights of
the man are more sacred than the
the rights of the stuff the man may
accumulate. God made the farmer
and man made the latter.
One worthy lady, in our Bolting
Conference, at Chicago, Mrs. Stevens,
took exception to my proposition to
deprive the property of the trusts of
the protection of the law. She made
a beautiful and pathetic speech, and
said,-
''Why ] would not withdraw the
protection of the law from the veri-
est tramp that ever lived" etc.
l Ireplied:
!. "We are not dealing with tramps,
but with the most powerful enemies
human prosperity knows in this land.
If they can have their way ave will be
the tramps. But we do withdraw the
protection of the law from the tramp
if he is a criminal. The declaration
of independence assures all citizens
of "life, liberty and the pursuit of
happiness" and laws are formed to
protect men in the enjoyment of
these blessings. But let man kill
his fellow man and forthwith we de-
prive him of liberty and the pursuit
of happiness, and finally turn him
over to man who hangs him. By
law every man in the state prison at
Saltwater is entitled to be free
man; but, for his crimes, we with
draw the protection of those laws
which assure his freedom, and by
virtue of other laws we shut him up
in stone walls. And if we can do
this with the body of one man who
robs one man OF a few dollars, why
should we not, by law, Withdraw the
protection of law from the property
of those who are rObbing millions of
men, not once in year, but every
day in the year, not OF a few dollars
but Of millions of dollars?
lam glad to read the above utter
ance Of Judge Mcconnell. He should
be on the bench of the United States
Supreme Court. And if the populists
obtain power that is the kind of
judges that will sit there. I'D.
Part of Populist History in
Minnesota.
While have no desire to keep UP
a controversy with E. w. Fish, yet
there are certain things which are
part of the history of the peoples
party in Minnesota, and which the
members of it are entitled to know,
as guide to the future. Assertions
count for little, but original letters,
open to inspection, and letter-press
copies M letters, taken at the time
of tie occurrences referred to. would