The Austin weekly statesman. (Austin, Tex.) 1883-1898, 1895-05-30
STRIKER DEBS HARD HIT
THE SUPREME COURT DENIES HIS
APPLICATION FOR A WRIT OF
HABEAS CORPUS.
THE CARA REVOLUTlONlST
CASE COMES UP IN THE
SUPREME COURT.
The Supreme Court in the Indian Terri
tory Holds That nonCitizens Have
Rights to Land in the Territory.
The Exclusion Act.

Washington, May 27.-The United
States supreme court today denied the
application of Eugene V. Debs, the strike
leader, for writ of habeas corpus. This
is a victory for the government. The
! opinion of the court in substance was as
follows:
The case presented is this-The United
| States finding that the interstate trans
portations of persons and property as well
as the carriage of the mails are forcibly
obstructed and that combination and
conspiracy exists to subject the control
of such transportation to the will of the
conspirators, applied to one of their courts,
sitting as a court of equity for an lnJunc-
| ton to restrain such obstruction and pre-
vent the carrying into effect of such q
conspiracy. Two questions of Importance
are presented:
The one that the relations of the gem
eral government to interstate commerce
and the transportation of the mails such
as authorize direct interference to pre-
vent forcible obstruction thereof.
Second-If authority exists as authority
Ill governmental uuullS llllpllCS JUN pON
er and duty, has a court of equity Juris-
diction to issue an injunction in and OF
the performance of such duty!
FirSt-What are the relations of the
general government to interstate COM
merce and transportation of the mails
They are those of direct supervision,
control and management. While under
the dual system which prevails in the
United States the powers of the govern
liStrihu+nl hntwppO tln StOtp
and nation and while the latter is proper.
ly styled government of enumerated
powers, yet within the limits of such emu
meratiOn it has all the attributes of SOW
eregnty and in the exercise of those emu
merated powers acts directly upon the
citizen and not through the intermediate
agency of the State.
Second-Under the power vested in
congress to establish pOstOitices and post
roads, congress has, by mass of legis-
lation, established the great postotfice
system of the country, with all its ma
chinery of the transaction of business, de-
filming what shall be carried and what
shall not and the price of carriage, and
also prescribing penalties for all otfenses
against it. Obviously these powers given
to the national government over interstate
commerce and in respect to the transpOr-
tation of the mails were not dOrmantes
unless used. Congress had taken hold of
these two matters and by various and
specific acts had assumed and exercised
the powers given to it and was in full
discharge of its duty to regulate inter-
state commerce and carry the mails. If
| the inhabitants of a single State or q
great body of them should combine to OBJ
Struct interstate commerce or the trans.
portation of the mails, prosecutions for
such offenses had in such a community
would be doomed in advance to failure.
! And if the certainty of such failure was
known and the national government had
no other way to enforce the freedom
of interstate commerce and the tranSpor-
tatiOn of the mails than by prosecution
and punishment for interference there
with, the whole interests of the nation in
these respects would be at the absolute
mercy of a portion of the inhabitants
of a single State. But there is no such
| impotency in the national government.
| The entire strength of the nation may be
used in any part of the land the full and
| free exercise of all national powers and
the security of all rights entrusted by the
constitution to its care. The strong arm
| of the national government may be put
| forth to brush away all Instructions to
| the freedom of interstate commerce or
| the transportation of the mails. If the
emergency arises. the army of the nation
and all its militia are at the service of
the nation to compel obedience to its
| laws.
In the case before us, the right to use
| force does not exclude the right to appeal
TO the courts for a judicial determination
and the exercise of all their powers of
prevention.
Indeed, it is more to the praise than tt
| the blame of the government that instead
of determining for itself questions Of
right and wrong on the part of these peti
| TONERS and their associates and entorc
| ing that determination by the club of thu
policeman and the bayonet of the solder
| it submitted all those questions to thu
peaceful determination of judicial trib
unals and invoked their consideration ant
i judgment as to the measure of its right!
and powers and the co-relative obliga
| tons of those against whom it made com
plant
And it is equally to the credit of the
latter that the judgment of those tribunal;
was by the great majority of them re
spected and the troubles which threatened
so much disaster terminated.
| Neither can it be doubted that the
government has such an interest in the
subject matter as enables it to appear al
party plaintiff in this suit 1t is tina
equity only interferes for the protection
of property and that the government ha
no property interest. A sufficient repl!
is that the United States have a propert!
in the mails, the protection of which wa
one of the purposes of this bill. furthee
that the bill filed in this case disclosed
special facts calling for the exercise o
the powers of the court is not open to
question. The picture drawn in it of tn
vast interests involved, not merely of tn
city of Chicago and the State of Illinois
but all the States, and the general con,
fusion into which the interstate commerc
of the country was thrown, the forcibl
interference with that commerce; the at
tempted exercise by individuals of pow
ers belonging only to the government and
Threatened continuance of such invasion
of public right presents condition o
things which called for the fullest exer
else of all the powers of the courts. l
ever there was a special eXigency pre-
sented, one which demand that the cOur
should do all the courts can do, it is ap
parent on the face of this bill, and W,
need not turn to the public history of thu
day which only reaffirms with emphasis
all its allegations.
Shakespearian editors never presume tc
drop Denmarck's prince from "Hamlet. =
| tbar 4 II II