The Ocala banner. (Ocala, Marion County, Fla.) 1883-194?, 1897-11-12
WHERE ARE WE DalrrlNui
10 The lsaI.er Of The banner.

What one generation learned from
litter experience the next generation /
orgeis, and the third has to learn il
anew. Our fathers learned certain po-
itical truths and embalmed them in |
,ur organic law, but our sons do not |
grasp their meaning
To most of the present generation
the precious principles of the consti-
tuition are meaningless phrases. Who |
or understands the mean
ing Of that clause that guarantees to |
US the right Of free speech and the |
right to assemble peaceably? What is
meant by every man haviDga right to
a trial bya jury of his peers? Few
know; few care. To our fathers these
words had a profound meaning, butte
our minds they have no special sig
nitlcanee, and many are ready to APP
prove when the right of peaceable as
sembliug is forbidden, commend when
an irresponsible judge forhids the
right Of free speech, applaud when an
autoerat president orders his soldiers
TO invade the domain of a sovereign
state against the earnest protest of its
chief magistrate, endorse the shooting
down of unarmed human beings like
rabid dogs under the injunction of a
judge who, responsible to no one, was
doing the biddlngO a soulless corpor-
alton; and find no word Of condemna-
ton when free born American citi-
zen is confined ia Jail for a term of
months without trial by jury on The
order Of judge who ATTAINED his po-
sition, not from the people, but from
president nominated and elected by
the corporations who now control our
government.
IL is not too much to say that the
corporations are now the controlling
power in our land. They make and
unmake laws. All the financial lcgis-
latiOn is to their interests. They write
the tariff schedules where il touches
their business, and use the usurped
powers of the courts to set aside any
legislation that is displeasing to them.
They nominate and elect presidents,
using vast sums TO corrupt the people
and place a man in the white house
who will serve their interests by shap-
ing the policies of the government ac-
cording TO their dictations, and espec-
tally by appointing their attorneys to
be judges of the federal courts. They
nominate governors, buy legislatures
and fill the halls of congress with
their satellites. They have purchased
the press, have subsidized the pulpit,
and as the final act in the drama,
have placed the judicial ermine on
the shoulders of their own well-paid
attorneys. Can anyone read the ac-
count of the decision of the supreme
court on the income tax-where one OF
the judges suddenly changed his mind
under peculiar circumstances, and
the learned judges engaged i'm a quar-
rel, one part denouncing the other as
being controlled by corrupt motives
ard doubt the truth Of the above
statement? Can anyone read the de-
cislon OF the courts in the Debs case,
and the more recent ones in which by
injunction the right Of free speech
was denied, as well as the right to
peaceably assemble, and doubt that
the last vestige of that liberty for
which our fathers fought and suffered,
has been wrested from us, and the
people now have no rights which the
courts and corporations are bound to
respect.
Fellow cilizens, for less usurpations
King Charles lest his head; for far less
encrOachments on the rights of our
fathers, England lost her fairest prov
inces. The meA Of '76 to maintain a
principle dared to take up arms
against the mighty power of King
George; yet here in the last watches of
the nineteenth century the degenerate
sous Of these revolutionary sires raise
no protest when the courts, at the
bidding of the money power, take
from them all the rights and privi-
leges their father held so dear. And,
"Oh what fall is here my, country
men," when you not only submit to
these usurPations and applaud the
men who commit them, but are filed
with aston:shment when one is found
brave enough to exercise his constitu-
tIOnal right of free speech and dares
TO criticise this government by injunc-
ton.
Jefferson warned the people against
the moneyed classes and declared that
If American liberty was ever SUBJ
verted it would be through the instru-
mentality of the courts. The last
great democratic national convention
deemed the usurpations of the courts
to be so dangerous to the liberties of
the people that they embodied plank
In their platform denouncing govern
ment by injunction. But the courts
and corporations care little for these
denunciations. Their former en-
eroachments have stirred so little feel
ing OF opposition in the people that
they have grown bold, and the courts
have recently greatly extended the
scope Of government by injunction.
They have enjoined a labor leader
from addressing his fellow workmen
on the issues between themselves and
the coal combine. Why may they not
enjoin your speakers from discussing
the living issues of the day? But you
say, ave will not submit to it," But
you will submit, for you tamely SUBJ
NIT without one word of protest when
j /. ]. 4 ]: ! ! !.
a Too many moth
r. ers are helpless
N\NyNESb inyalids A moth
A~A AGA er's proudest and
LN\A 3 happiest privilege
! TkTsszY is TO help an am
"a bilious son in his
<ITf "a q early struggles to
zs<4 ~ ~ attain eminence
- slr2 " in his chosen
&@TK M kk&1UA ...ali, of l.E. r.