Hutchinson gazette. [volume] (Hutchinson, Kan.) 1895-1902, 1897-08-26
MONOPOLY JUDGES
THEY SERVE THE CORPORATIONS
BY ISSUING lNJuNcToNs.
aho Federal Courts Have Superseded all
other Branches of tho Government
and Rave Become the Fortress Of
TruSts, Combines and Corporations.

people of indianapolis in the matter OF
cent calf @4twill be remembered
that the legislature OF 4adiaRR-TsdGeed'
the car fares from cents to 3. The
corporations resisted thelaH by force OF
arms and when the courts Of Indiana
decided against them they went to the
federal Judiciary and got an injunction
restraining the state and city officials
from enforcing the law. The state
officials appealed to the supreme court
Of Indiana, which decided that thsstate
had perfect right to enforce q cent
car fare. It wastheh ihtorder for the
federal judge to dissolve the injunction
he had issued. This federal judge s'the
well known corporation expert, Sho-
walter, of Chicago He has just decided
that it makes no difference what the
supreme court of Indiana has decided
, and he has refused to dissolve his in
Function in favor of g. cent fares He
rendered decision about-ar month or
more ago to the effect that scent fare
is constitutional and any cal" fare less
than that violates the constitutional the
United States. He has now rendered
another decision reiteratiag the same
solemn fact The remarkable thing
about these DECISIONS is that the learned,
Judge has to fill so many pages Of type.
writing TO prove this simple fact. His
decisions would each fill a whole news
paper page. AS for the doctrine laid
down by Judge Showalter, it is, to use
the mildest expression possible, curious.
The people of Indiana and their state
officials and their state courts are i'm
potent in~the. face of his injunction
And Judge Showalter is himself,an in
ferior federal judge, one Of the rank
and file. Local self government has al
ways been supposed to be one Of the
dearest rights of Americans, BSSSt here
is a judge in another state, appointed
for life and responsible to nobody, ac-
tually governing the whole state Of
Indiana. 80
OF course this sort of thing cannot be
permitted to endure. Itwouldi be inf
nitely better that all the states, and all
the rulers and all. the, property in the
country persisted from the face of the
earth than that the theory of govern
ment laid down by this little federal
judge should be countenanced. 1t is
fortunate that the measures Of these
little fellows invariably react against
the very ideas they expound. The ar
rogance of the corporations isl founded
upon the decisions of men like Sho-
walter. and theionger the corporations
are tolerated the more, arrogant they
become. But this arrogance IN turn is
the destruction of corporationism The
officials of the state government intend
to appeal the case to the supreme court
of the United States, but it is scarcely
likely, in view of the Debs decision,
that the highest court in the land will
reverse Judge Showalter in this matter.
On the contrary, 1t seems tous most
likely that he will be Sustained by a
unanimous bench, The intense joy of
the railway magnate at the decision is
natural Itmeans'that any attempt to
reduce car fares from S 'cehts' to 8 cents
will be resisted by the corporations,
and that tfrc-fedgral Judiciary viii step
in and paralyze the entire state govern
ment. The state governments have,in
fact, at last met the fate predicted by
Jefferson, when he ifrst1attaeked the
federal Judiciary. Jefferson's fear was
that the state northumberland be
utterly destroyed Or atrophied by the
growing usurpations of the national
government Those who understand
the despotic tendency of Capitalization
in government will appreciate the
alarm of Jefferson on this point The
usurpations of the federal Judiciary are /
making the federal government omnip-
otent, and asitle federal government is
despotic, the consequences are easily
seen.
Vt is not difficult to account for the
origin of Judge SHowaItet's theory Of
the constitution. He was for many |
years before going on the bench one of
the leading counsel for the very ring of
corporation -magnates now headed by
the great Yerlzes. He made thousands
of dollars by means of the reorganiza-
ton of railroads and street car, lines,
and just prior to his appointment. to
the federal bench he received fat fee
for the part he took in the street rail-
way combines consolidation. These
facts are very we'll known in Chicago,
where Judge Showalter's decisions in
favor of corporations have from time to
time created establishment even in the
minds of those whom they favored. The
Judge is himself a stakeholder in COR
porations Of the street railway charhc--'
ter, or he was last year. and it is far
to presume is so. still. OF course one
cannot expect very much from the
Judges who find their way to the fed