The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1897-09-13
HAS LEARNED soMETH1NG

HAS LEARNED SOMETHING.
Less than a month ago the Pioneer
Press, following the lead of its want
| of sympathy with the people, was en-
gagged in lauding the federal courts for
issuing injunctions against the strikers,
and in berating those who saw farther
than it into the necessary ultimate con-
sequences of this stretch and abuse OF
/ judicial power. We quote from an edl-
torial in it's issue of Aug. Is:
! There is a very conspicuous, element OIL
! indiscretion, to say the least, IN the not
headed haste with which number OF news
/ papers have been falling foul Of the re-
/ straining order issued by Judge jackson
| of the United States district court. =
Accepting this version of the restraining or
] der and echoing the invectives with Wnlcn
| it is assailed by Debs, Gompers and the IKE
| some newspapers that ought to know bet
ter have gone off at half-cock in their head
| long and incorporate denunciatlon OF the
| action of the court. The injunction
! issued by Judge Jackson is strictly WITHIN
! the legitimate jurisdiction of the court ana
| does not in the most remote degree violate
! the rights of free speech or of public as
semblage within the lawful limits OF pace
4 and character universally recognized as an
essential part of those rights.
Pleased with the congratulations OF
those who assert the sacredness OF cor
porate right above all other earthly
possessions and above human life it
SELF it returned to the attack four days
later. We quote from an editorial in
the Pioneer Press of Aug. IS:
We had occasion the other Gay to call the
| attention of the newspapers which had tax
en- their cue from Debs and Gompers ana
/ gone off at half-cock in violent ana 1htehl.
1 perate denunciation OF the restraining ofuer
/ of Judge Jackson addressed to some OF me
/ striking miners in West Virginia, 10 the
/ fact that they had entirely mlsconeelVeo tne
nature of this writ of injunction.
! 1t is noticeable that the newspapers whlcn
made so much ado about the injunction are
not equally honest. Instead OF acRno"teue
! ing that they were in error they take refuge
in silence which is at least confession
! that they are ashamed OF themselves,
The days rolled around, and govern
ment by injunction did its perfect
work. BY virtue of an injunction,
! twenty-one men were shot down in cold
blood and two score more were serl-
] ously injured. A consciousness of the
/ wrath that would blaze up in every
honest breast came at last to touch
| with momentary power of vision the
blinded eyes, and we find the follow
!. ing editorial comment in the Pioneer
/ Press of Sept. -:
The only thing which difTerentates the
| killing of these miners from Downright muir
| der is the fact that Martin and his deputies
thought they were carrying out the ordefS
of the Judge who issued the injunction against
the miners marching on the pubic ROADS
4 Such a use of the power of the courts to
| restrain diserderly persons from the COM
| mission of criminal acts is an unfortunate
i abuse of that power. which VIII be @mos'
! strongly condemned by those who appreciate
! the vital Importance OF uphelding the leglti-
I mate exercise of that power by the courts
i Such stretch of the restraining
i power of the courts as 1t has been Sough'
l to apply in the Pennsylvania case, IN advance
of actual wrong-doing, and where aoequatt
| punishment for any contemplated wrong
! doing is already provided by statute, is some
/ thing American freemen cannot stomach
i And when, for the enforcement of such an
! order more cruel and Vind1ct1Ve measures
! are called into play than Tor the enforce
i ment of any enacted by the peoples repre-.
sentatiyes-=when murderers, robbers and
rapists are given the benefit of the slow
along a public highway in disobed.ence to
an Injunction are shot down by scores-1t
is time to call for a radical change.
We are glad to see that the Pioneer
Press is capable of-learning something,
| - 49,
! of men toseducate it. 1t is necessary
only to say that this end of the process
of government by injunction was ineV-
liable and visible from the beginning.
There was not only in the Pennsylvania
Injunction, but in that Of Judge Jack
sor. as well, the promise and potency
of the wholesale murder that was COM
mitted by Martin and his deputies. 1t
is time for every American to under
stand that our liberties are like the
ark of the covenant; no man may lay
hold of them with profane hands and
not invite the lightning's bolt The
pity of it is that blindness and preJu-
dice should make a lesson as plain
as this was, from the first line of it,
effective only when it has been written
in blood.