St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1895-04-14
limits, there shall be prohibition of

the HldhlES anu Sale VI lulOAiCdHIS,
which has resulted in the creation
and cultivation of that new breed Of
swine the sightless pig, or, where
that is not the case, has only in
creased the liquor traffic of neigh
boring localities where it is not in
hibited. Connected with this is the
Scheffer anti-drunk law making it a
misdemeanor to be Intoxicated,
which, while not preventing drunken
ness, has only served as the imple-
ment of malice.
Then there is that bit of paternal-
ism which sought to prevent = the,
young American from initiating
with the cigarette the manners of
his elders with their cigars and pipes,
and prohibiting the sale of them to
the precocious youngsters, a law
that has not stopped the sale of
single cigarette to any kid who
: thought that smoking was a badge
of manhood. One meat inspection
law, designed, ostenSibIy, to save the
dear people from consuming dis
eased meats, is hardly cold in it's
court-made grave before another
one comes on, wearing the same fair
mask to hide the same selfish inter-
ests, and to go the way of it's pred
ecessor. Oleomargarine comes to
utilize the supplies of food and pro-
vide substitute for butter, inacces-
sible to the poor, and it is forthwith
tabooed by law parading the pub
tic health to cover the dairyman 8
fear of competition, and clever cleo
calls itself butter and deceives the
very elect with it's semblance in
taste and color to the product Of the
dairy.
The thrifty scalper and the econ
omical traveller continue to make
their mutual exchanges and profits
IN defiance of the arbitrary law that
sought to bar them out, and right
under the noses Of the grave and
potent seigniors who are regulating
humanity into perfection the trusts
continue their existence and deal
ings Indifferent to the law that de-
creeS their destruction Right here
under the shadow of the capitol the
sugar trust, the rubber trust, the
lead trust and the cracker trust pur-
sue their daily vocations just as
peacefully as if the state of Mime
sofa had not Illuminated it's bull
against them. The universal regu-
lators, abhorring the Shylocks, limit
the rate of interest, and neceSsitous
81
such tribute as they demand. The
fruit-tree peddler continues to sell
his apple trees that never fruit and
his fig trees that bear thistles, reck-
less of the obsolete law designed to
shelter the gullible rustic from his
persuasive tongue, while the press
deVotes columns to the legaHzed
taking off of some murderous brute
In calm disregard of the statute
making publication of details a mis-
demeanor.
And then there are the laws ban
ishing the noxious weeds from our
farms. 1t is twenty-three years now
since notice was formally served
on the Canada thistle that it must
depart the state and its Enumeration
was put under penalties, and still the
Uhastle is with us, silently but force
1uly insisting on its right to exist
mere and increase as it will and can.
1t rs twelve years since burdock was
put under the ban, and still the roam
ing COWS come home at night with
their tails matted with the seed balls
of the weed, and the farmers pa
thence is tried in getting the clinging
and tenacious burs from the names
and tails of his horses. The burdock
fhT'ives in spite of the frown of the
mighty and puissant state. Eight
years ago the eagle eye of the state
caught sight of the yellow flower of
the wild mustard among the wheat
and other grain fields of the state.
and forthwith issued it's ukase COM
ml'tting it to determination, and vet
each summers sun terminates equal
~ the worthless mustard and the nu-
trlt1ous grains, and the yellow of the
one sets off the waving green of the
other precisely as if no law forbid
ding it were slumbering among the
statutes of the state.
But why continue? Cui bono? Each
recurring session of the legislature
brings its man with a mission, who
sweaits and tolls and logrolls until
he has had embalmed in law some
measure that he deems essential for
the salvation of his kind, and the
legislature adjourns and the law
goes to the sleep that knows no
awakening, remaining there to il
lustrate again the utter futility of
trying to mould and direct human
nature by Legislative fat Mean
while the race plods comfortably
along, unmindful of and Indifferent
to these efforts ITO prod it into greater
speed, noticing them, if noticed at all,
as mere freaks, whose eccentricities
are to be endured as, on the whole,
being easier than to summarily re-
press them.