Smyrna times., 1896-08-12
THE SINGLE TAX TURMOIL AT DOVER

the turmoil at Dover between the town
authorities and the Single Tax leaders
is an unfortunate affair. 1t has given
the State of Delaware an unsavory re-
putatiOn and brought it's good name
into contempt.
mess is the life and impetus it has i'm
parted to the cause that the persecution
for persecution it is-was intended
to crush out. The garrulOus Single
Tax missionaries had been laboring
long in Delaware, without a solitary
practical result to show for the money
expended in their labors-money con-
tributed by the deluded advocates of
the new system of taxation from vari-
Gus parts of the country, who fondly
imagined that because Delaware was
small State it could be easily ''cap-
tured. With the excitement cOnse-
quent upon the national political cam
paign, it is probable that the Single
Tax movement" would have been
entirely lost sight of by this time, had
not the Untimely unreasonable and
and violent opposition of the Dover Of
ficials galvanized it into life and being
and raised its promoters upon pin
nacle of martyrdom, to be for awhile
the cynOsure of the eyes of the entire
country.
1t can be said III extenuatiOn of the
course pursued by the Dover authOri-
ties, that they are acting within the
confines of law, and that the Single
Takers have taken especial pains to set
the law at defnance. There is no
question raised against holding Single
Tax meetings on Dover Green-the ac-
cepted place for outdoor gatherings i'll
that tOwn-but the Single Tax pro
mOters have insisted upon holding
their meetings upon the public streets,
wherever it pleased them. AS to the
jurisdiction of the Dover Council over
the streets of the town, there can be
no dispute, and the Single Takers, by
their persistent defiance of the law,
have put themselves in the attitude of
deliberate law w-breakers, utterly with
out respect for the ordinances of the
community in which they sought to
preach their doctrines.
But the measures employed to punish
them were drastic in the extreme, and
the crowning act-the advertisement of
the Kent county Levy Court to put the
prisoners up at auction and sell their
enforced labor to the highest bidder
is disgrace to the State The legal
proceedings before Squire Cooper have
also been marked by ruthless disre-
gard of the ordinary rights of the ac-
cused that was positively indecent. 1t
is not pleasant to read the recital of
one of the recent hearings, as given by
| Mr.. Jackson H. Ralston, a reputable
attorney of Washington, D. c., who
went to Dover to look after the legal
interests of his Single Tax friends.
81 could have got myself in Jail in
short order last night" said Mr.. Rails
ton. "Two of our men were arrested
about O'Clock for trying to speak on
the Single Tax theory. L offered my
self as attorney for one of them, Mr..
Albright, when he was called for trial
before Alderman Cooper. My offer
was refused on the ground that 1 had
/ n hna1n 1rNTk 70 al
ware and the offer to furnish an intro
ducticn by an eminent member of the
Delaware bar was also rejected. All 1
could do, therefore, was to sit by while
Albright was sentenced to Jail for thirty
days. was told to shut up and get
out of the room. 1t was clear that a
word from me would have resulted in
my going to Jail for contempt. The
peculiar thing in the situation is that
there is no appeal from this queer tri-
bunal, and no jury trial or change of
venue.''
The entire affair, as we remarked be-
fore, is most unfortunate. The Single
Tax issue, if left to itself, would have
died of inanition. The persecution of
the Dover authorities, however, has
given it standing and prominence, and
made martyrs of its promoters, besides
gaining unenviable notOriety for the
State. 1t would be a good thing to
turn the whole gabbling brood pell
nell out of Dover Jail and let them fol-
low their own sweet will unmolested
They would talk themselves and their
cause out of public notice within a
week. .-EUery Evening.