St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1895-03-27


and over it's roads, boats, bridges
and ferries any property ON their
way from any state to another state,
and to receive compensation therefor
and to connect with roads of other
states so as to form continuous lines
for the transportation of the same
to the place of destination"
Having by this legislation made
steam railroads interstate commerce
carriers for both government and
private purposes, congress by the act
of 1887, know as the interstate COM
merce act, inaugurated measures
more radical and comprehensive
than anything ever before attempt
ed by virtue of the power to regu-
late comerce.
By that act the principles in ac-
cordance with which interstate
transportation shall be conducted
are laid down and defined; their
violation is inhibited under severe
penalties, and, to crown the whole,
all the interstate commerce rail-
roads Of the country are practically
which is to see to it that their du-
ties as interstate carriers, as pre-
Scribed by congress, are faithfully
discharged. Finally, recognizing the
existence of an evil of great magni-
tude, congress, by an act of Oct. IS,
1888, made provision for boards of
arbitration to settle controversies
between railroad companies and
their employees, when such contro-
versies are having the effect of him
dering and
INTERVIEWING TRAFFIC.
GAS a matter of fact" he said,
''in July, 1894, interstate railroad
transportation was being interfered
with in the state of Illinois and the
city of Chicago. 1t was an inter-
ference for which, with all its con-
sequences and incidents, the pres
ent petitioners are to the fullest eX-
tent responsible, unless it be true
that men can wantonly touch the
match to powder and yet be blame
less because not rightly realizing
L
be true that those who seek to exc
cute a plot, only means possibly in
the open, and, taking the legal con-
sequences upon their heads, are to
be branded as criminals, while those
who sit in an office and hatch the
plot and urge on its contamination
are to go unwhipped of justice, be-
cause of loud-mouthed professions
of virtue in general and respect for
law and order in particular"
The attorney general admitted
that it was the duty of the state au-
thorities to deal with certain phases
of the offenses committed, and said:
IF they had done SO promptly and
vigorously, the interruption of inter-
state railway transportation might
possibly have ceased; but, instead
OF their doing this, they allowed day
after day to pass, marked either by
total inactivity, or by effort so ILL
directed and inadequate as to ag-
gravate all the evils of the situa-
ton" Hence it became necessary for
the government to step in, not only
in defense of individuals, but in
obedience to its obligations to pro-
tect interstate commerce, and be-
cause it is the duty of every gov
eminent to exercise it's functions
whenever occasion requires. Mr..
Olney then passed on TO the con-
sideration of the means at the COM
mand of the government for the
SUPPRESSION, OF THE STRIKE.
the principal of which was the courts
which must be depended upon, so far
as practicable, to deal with it.
Mr.. Olney then proceeded to consider
the assertion that the Chicago affair
was exceptional and to controvert the
allegation of errors in the court below,
and, in closing, said:
What was done by the government
and it's court at Chicago. in the sum-
mer Of 1894, was done on conspicuous
theater, and dealt with events striking
in themselves, and in the scale on
which they were conducted, and which
strongly appealed to the Imagination
as well as to the passions of men. It's
action was denounced from the outset
as novel, and unprecedented, so that
1t even became expedient to publicly
proclaim the trite and familiar princi-
pie, that for the execution of national
functions every foot of every state
is national soil and national property.
Since then the same policy has been
persistently pursued, and the govern
ment bill in equity, the injunction and
the proceedings for contempt have all
been loudly condemned as anomalous
extraordinary and revolutionary. To
SUCH charges there could be no more
decisive answer than is furnished by
this debate, and by the contentious of
the respective parties.''
DAPPnU MATHS