Omaha daily bee., 1897-08-15
Spain is not without dangers, and the
successor to Canovas will find the task
of averting them no easy one.


successor to CanOVdS VIII ma the task
Of averting them no easy one.
-
DANCERS OF JUDICIAL USURPATIoN.
Eternal vigilance is the price of lib
erty. The despotism of courts is just as
dangerous us the tyranny of kings. The
rights guaranteed to American freemen
by the organic law of the land should be
as sacredly guarded against judicial
usurpation as against the encroachments
of power-grasping executives. The free
dom of conscience and of speech and the
right of the people peaceably to assemble
and petition for redress of grievances
must be protected and maintained
against invasion from whatever source
and under all circumstances. Only in II
state of war, when civil law is suspended
and military power installed for the pres
crvaton of national integrity and do
nestle peace. can the denial of these
rights be submitted to without endanger-
ing the whole fabric of free govern
mcnt
The growing tendency of the federal
judiciary to usurp powers vested in the
ltSiSlullNt anu tN'NullNt VI lhH'i'c VI
government justities serious apprehen-
sion in the minds of thought
full. libcrty-loving citizens. Gov
ernment by injunction threatens
to deprive the American people
of their most cherished privileges, and If
unchecked will practically concentrate
in the courts all of the powers of gov
!, ,N.linl, N Chi
cago Pullman strike was put down by
the intervention of the federal judiciary
was Il stretch of authority that exposed
our whole system of federal and state
government to tension involving far-
reaching consequences. The sweeping
order recently issued by the federal
court for Pennsylvania is absolutely
revolutionary. 1t is an abridsement of
the right of peaceable public assembly
guaranteed by the constitution and an
unjustiiiable usurpation of executive au-
thority.
1t is not for the courts of a republic
to dispense its citizens on mere suspicion
that they would influence other citizens
to break contracts of employment. The
been attempted by such procedure. From
judicial order for the Imprisonment of
men for discussing grievances and ad-
vocating peaceable abstinence from work
it is only Il short step to a judicial order
for the Imprisonment of men who refuse
to work for whatever wages employers
may persuade courts to consider reason
able.
Such a monstrOus doctrine is repug-
nant to the spirit of American liberty
ana the principles of American govern
ment Smaller abuses of power have
sent mOnarchs to the block and over
thrown dynasties that have ruled for
centuries The natural tendencies if not
the inevitable consequences of judicial
usurpaton are popular hatred of courts
and contempt for law that breed turbu-
lence and stimulate lawlessness.
1t is no excuse for judges who issue
injunctions in cOntravention of the con-
stitution to plead ignorance of the i'm
port and scope of the papers they sign
at the instance of corporation lawyers.
| 1t is the duty of Il judge to know what
he is signing and he can not evade re-
SponSibility for the mandates he issues
by whOmSOever they are framed. If ig
nOrance of the law is no defense for
an ordinary citizen, how much less is it
to be accepted in justification of usurpa-
ton by a judge presumed to be learned
in the law and sworn to obey and uphold
the constitution and the laws