The Black Hills union. [volume] (Rapid City, Pennington County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1889-1904, 1896-01-03
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EUGENE Y. DEnS RIGHTEOUSNESS
THE wAYstoF JUSTICE
Judges Are often Corrupt Creatures--
Jay Gould Said When ! Want :
Judge / Bay Neutrality-suspicious. Pure
and Simple.

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We hold these truths to be iself-evi-
~dent--that all men are created equal,
that they are endowed by their Creator
with certain inalienable rights; that
among these are life, liberty, and the
pursuit of happiness.-Declaration Of
independence. Naef
1t has been held that in the political
institutions of the United States there
are two fundamental facts recognized
the sovereignty of the people and the
equality of conditions. 1t is held by
eminent jurists that these facts are or
iginal, perfect, and uncomfortable.
In the formation of the government
under which we live certain rights of
the individual are surrendered, but
never an inalienable right, meyer the
right of life, liberty, and the pursuit of
happiness,
10 invade such rights, to strike them
down, is despotism pure and simple.
IL does not matter by what method
such rights are abridged or destroyed;
It does not matter under what circum-
stances the rights are murdered or who
the assassin may be; it does not mat
ter whether a vandal court, a savage, or
a sultan. perpetrates the crime, nor by
what juggling lies are clothed in robes
OF truth, nor does it matter what high
officials surround the bier upon which
a dead right is borne to its grave, OF
what Marc Antony orations embellish
the funeral, the occasion simply cele-
brates the death Of rights essential to
freedom, and when. they cease to exist,
though drums may beat and banners
wave and eloquent tongues glorify law,
the three cardinal rights--life,, liberty,
and the pursuit Of happiness-ie dead
in the presence Of; the p~eopls,sand the
sovereignty of the apeople". and the
equality of conditions '%1nidtlilff 3 down / to-
gether. -.
It is not to be pssscttt!e lddesspot-
ism is to be proclaimed fEonastthhe house
tops and that the, rights.of people
are to disappear as Observation-Disclosures
swallow down cities, The approach Of
the calamity will. be insidious The
subtle and treacher0us, enemies sef: lib
erty will inject intossofae law:aa. MoYi-
sion to be vitalized at the ;proneEstime
and made the weapon of those who
espouse the causese of wealth against
labor. IN ss. vi :.
Such reflections are ;largelysawithin
the boundaries OF facts now in course
of development, and provisions which
are claimed to answer the demands of
the friends of despotic power are said
to exist in what are known as the inter
state commerce law andNthe antitrust
law, which, as they are. interpreted by
the courts, uproot and scatter to the
winds the right Of railroad employees
to decide for themselves whether they
will continue or abandon work, as they
may elect, because, forsooth, this work
is of a public" or "s~ehi-public" char
acter, and hence the public, more prop
erly the government, under the laws
which the government enacts, at once
reduces the employe to a servitude that
must inevitably, unless all sense Of lib
erty and independence is crushed and
dead, result in revolution.
One of the astounding phases of the
controversy now going forward, involv-
ing the inalienable. rights Of citizens, is
the autocratic power exercised by the
courts. 1t is difficult to. find words for
the proper Characterization of this
power. In such discussions it becomes
necessary to refer to the debasing meth
DDS by which certain mental and
moral infrmities find their way to the
bench and are permitted to don the
robes of office. They are often the crea-
lures of a corrupt appointing power and
are selected because of their willingness
to do the bidding of those who are able
to pay the price of their treason to JUS
tice. Having gained notoriety as cor
poration lawyers, their study and am
bition having been to find law for the
protection of the ubiquitous practices of
corporations, they go upon the bench
to continue their corporation practice,
until men who have the means are dis
posed to follow the example Of Jay
Gould, who said: when I want a judge
/ buy him. and this debauchery of
courts has reached a pass that a ma
jority of the people regard courts, their
orders, and decisions, with profound
suspicion and contempt; and this de-
bauchery, this stupidity which distin-
guishes certain judges, creates in the
public mind a continually intensified
scorn, because the people behold in such