The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1896-10-23
"0overnment by Injunction"

| A considerable portion of Governor
Altgelds New York speech was devoted
to Il statement of his objections to
government by injunction" Among
other things he said:
| have not time to point out the alarming
| encroachments and usurpations of the
| federal courts since the days of jefferson.
| viii only call attention to their most
recent and astounding pretension and
| uSurpation of power. During the last
| decade they have established a form of
| government that is government by in
junction. under which the federal judge
becomes at once legislator, judge AMI
oXecutioner. Sitting in his chambers and
without notice to anybody he issues u
ukase, which he calls an injunction,
| against all the people of state, forbid
ding anything that he sees tit to forbid
and which the law does not forbid, for
when the law forbids a thing there is no
| need of an injunction. When the law is
! violated provision has been made for
punishment, and il it is found at any time
| to be Inadequate it can always be remedied
| by legislation. But by this injunction the
| judge can forbid anything which whim,
prejudice or caprice may suggest, and his
order Is law and must stand until 1t is re-
versed by a superior authority, and this
when any individual disresards this in
| junction he is arrested by the United
States marshal and dragged to the point
where the court is held, sometimes a dis
taEce of a hundred or a hundred and fifty
miles, away from his friends, on a charge,
not of committing a crime, not of vio!at-
ing the law, but on a charge of being
guilty of contempt of court-that is, of
having disregarded the judges injunction
| l., t,.;n, lx,,, i,,,
| teed by the constitution and laws of the
| land, not according to the forms of law
even, but he Is tried by the same Judge
whose dignity he Is charged with having
| offended, and then he is sent to prison in
| definitely Had he committed a murder
| or a henous crime. had he violated the
| law in tlagrant manner, he would have
been entitled to be tried by a jury, ac-
| cording to the forms of law, and in the
| county where the offense was committed.
| and where he could produce his witnesses.
but not so when he is guilty of showing a
| want of respect for the order of a judge
which was made outside of the law and
in violation of the constitution.
The governor charged that Judge Jen-
kns issued an injunction forbidding the
employees of the Northern Pacific rail-
road from quitting work when their
wages were reduced; that Judge Ross
in California issued an injunction COM
pelling railroad employees to go to work;
that Judges Wood and Grosscup issued
number of injunctiOns under which
4,4O2 United States deputy marshals ar
rested about 45O men for contempt, and
that nearly all these men had to be dis
charged because nothing could be prov
en- against them. Governor Altgeld in
sisted these judges ''legislated, judged
and executed" and he added:
Formerly, when man charged with
contempt filed an affidavit purging hims elf
of the contempt, that is, denying it, the
matter ended. All that could be done
was to prosecute him for perjury if he
mad sworn to what was not true. But
after thus pursing himself he could not
be tried for contempt by the very Judge
| whose dignity he was charged with hav-
Ing offended. In other words, when a man
denied his guilt he could not be sentenced
| to prison without trial by jury. But
this protection of the citizen is now
brushed away with a mere wave of the
hand. The citizen is robbed of a trial by
| jury, and he Is tried by tie Judge for
| whom he is alleged to have shown a. want
of respect, and Is sent to prison indefinite
| ly. A mere glance at this invasion shows
| that government by injunction is incom-
patible with republican institutions, and
i, II 1t is to be sustained then there is an
end to trial by jury In our country, and
| instead of being governed by law we Will
| be subject to government by Judges; and
| If government by injuno ton is to be sls-
| tanned as to federal judges. then we will
soon have II on the part OF state Judges
| and the very foundations of free institu-
tons will have disappeared. These in
| functions are outside of the regular ma
chinery of government: SO far as they are
outside of the law they are usurpations,
| and where they are not usurpations they
are wrong. because the constitution has
| created other machinery to enforce the
criminal law.
| In these remarks there Is much truth
The Republican party has not defended
the arbitrary use by federal judges of
the contempt prerogative. Although in
the cases cited above it was put forth
in the interest Of the public welfare
and had for it's purpose the prevention
Of an abrupt and arbitrary stoppage of
interstate commerce. 1t was so far
questionable in method that Repub-
| lican senator (Mr. Thurston. of Ne
| braska), introduced at the last session