Mexico weekly ledger., 1895-06-13
The Debs Case.
From the TOItdO BIAde.

80 NoSa ~ ~ -
geld, of Illinois, again. He declares
Esthe bulwark of liberty has been I'M
trial by jury has been
stricken DOWN" He asserts that this
decision ''marks a turning point in
our history, for it establishes a new
form of Government never before
heard of among men-that is, Gov
eminent by injunction"
What did the Supreme Court really
declare? That the Government of the
United States has power to invoke
the aid of civil courts to remove OBJ
structions to interstate commerce,
and that the civil courts have the right
to enioin those who obstruct such
commerce. 1t was for the contempt
of court involved in the disregard of
such an injunction that Debs and
other officers of the American Rail
way Union received sentences of inn
prtsonment.- was-taksn from
these sentences on the ground that,
being inflicted without due process of
indictment and trial by jury, they
were in violation of the Constitution.
The appeal having been denied, Debs
must now complete his sentence of
six months in Jail, and his associates
their sentences of three months each.
By the strike of the American Rail
way Union, and the efforts of its mem
bers and its sym%pathizers to prevent
the movement of trains, and to in
timidate all who were willing to take
employment of the railways, the
transportation of the United States
mails and interstate commerce were
INSTRUCTED throughout the West. The
decision, in commenting upon this
state of affairs, shows clearly that
Debs and his associates were violating
National law. 1t cited the arguments
of their own attorneys to show that
the processes of the civil law are OF
little avail in times of revolution.
Hence the United States Government
was compelled to use its power to en-
force the mandate of it's own courts,
and remove by armed force the OBJ
structions the strikers put in the way
of interstate commerce and mail
transportation.
The decision settles fully-if it ever
needed any settlement since the civil
war-the fact that the United States
Government is supreme. 1t says:
The entire strength of the NatioT
may be used to enforce in any part o
the land the free and full exercise o.
| all National powers and the securit.
of all rights entrusted by the Consti
tuition to its care.
If the emergency arises, the arm,
of the Nation and all it's militia are a
the service of the Nation to compe
obedience to it's laws.
We hold that the Government o
the United States is one having Jur1s
diction over every foot of soil with
in its territory, and acting directl,
upon each citizen; that, while it is
Goyarnment of ennmeratiye powers
it hasswithin the limits of those power
all the attributes of sovereignty.
No wrong, real or fancied, carrie
with it legal warrant to invite, as
means of redress, the cooperation of
mob, with its accompanying acts @
violence.
The last paragraph of the abov
deals a death-blow to the theory tina
a labor organization may by violenc
attempt to secure its ends. The de
cision further points out that an
laborer or any number of laborer
have the unquestioned right to qui
work, but that they have no right t
use violence in any form to achiev
whatever they may have in view
The words of the decision are moder
ate in tone, but they declare un
equivocally the principle that mo
violence can never have the sanction
! of law. Read this:
A most earnest and eloquent appef
was made to us i'm eulogy of the he
roic spirit of those who threw up thel
employment and gave up all thei
means of earning a livelihood, not !
defense of their own rights, but /
sympathy for and to assist other
whom they believed to be wrongee
l w Z Nlclu " loA1V III cuA
of any act of heroism OF elf-sacritic'
/ but we may be permitted to add ths
it is a lesson which cannot be learne
too soon or too thoroughly, that un
der this Government of and by tn
people the means of redress of a
wrong and through the courts and tn
BALLOT box, and that no wrong, re
or fancied, carries with it legal wa
rant to invite, as a means of redres
the cooperation of a mob, with /
: accompanying acts of violence.
Not less emphatic is the decision
its remarks upon the control of inteI
state commerce. 1t points out tn
because an emergency has never b
fore arisen requiring the general Co
= eminent to assert it's jurisdiction ov'
interstate commerce on railways,
t does not follow that it did not alwa
9 possess that power. The court go
on to say:
il, Up to a recent date, commerce
a both interstate and international
q was mainly by water, and it is Il
strange that both the legislation
IL Congress and the cases in the coul
Of have been concerned principa
herewith. The TACT that in rece
wears interstate commerce has COZ
d mainly to be carried on by railro
I and over artificial highways has
no way narrowed the scope Of t
n constitutional provision or abridg
~ the power of Congress over such col
o merce. On the contrary, the sal
fulness OF control exists in n ca
as in the other and the same power
remove distractions from the one
from the other.
j. FL. G. Shepherd has returned fri
IN Centralia, where he obtained the &C
r. tract to erect the new hotel there,
by Wilson and Hall, the owners, "
lie are residents of Columbia. 1t is to
a 81, 900 brick building with a dou
le front. Mr.. Shepherd went on
ed Moberly, where he arranged to pI