The record-union., 1897-08-24

I AAAC 4CCl S1letl 4d1CtS
| stores the injured party in his right.
A purpose Of law is to prevent as we'll
as to punish. If one is about TO un-
| dermine the castle Of citizen and
the latter would deem himself denied
justice If the courts refused TO stay the
hand of the destroyer, and answered his
appeal with the reply wait until the
| damage is DONE. The very act of
conspiring to do an unlawful act is in
itself an unlawful proceeding, and
therefore may be inhibited by order of
competent tribunal, where it is shown
that at law there would be no adequate
remedy, and that if the party is not
restrained, the planning to do the un-
| lawful act will eliminate in irrepara-
BILE injury to the complaining party.
We must assume that the courts
hold, on due showing made which the
strikers have been unable to contro-
vert at the hearings, that these as
semblages and marchings upon the
| highways are conspiracies to do ire
parable injury. that they constitute
menace to the men who choose to work
in the mines, and their rights are as
much entitled to the protection of the
| law as any others. This cry of gov
ernment by injunction IS misleading
and most dangerous. Abolish the
power of the courts to Intervene in pro-
| lection Of human rights, and we strike
down one Of the chief safeguards OF
| life. property and human rights. The
power is not new 1t is as old as CIV
ilizatfen itself. l. has assumed no
new phases. 1t has been invoked against
Kings and Princes, and the appeal to
it is open to one as to another.
It IS within the power Of the people
to strip the courts of this authority by
legislative enactment, but never yet
has any civilized State gone to that
| extent. In the calm of reason the
people uniformly decline to throw down
this bulwark of their liberties. 1t may
seem hard and harsh to the strikers
| that they may not pursue intimidating
methods to prevent the operation OF
mines III order to secure for themselves
| a just wage for their laor. But mo-
ment's reflection will convince the
thoughtful that if it is once conceded
that organized or unorganized bands
| of men may proceed by their own
methods to compel others to accord
with their views, however humane and
just the cause. the door will be opened
to disorder and anarchy.
1t may be popular at the moment
| to decry the courts and arraign them
as the tools of capital and the servi-
| tors Of those who oppress labor. But
strike down orderly methods and aban-
| don The chosen tribunals of the peo-
pie, and what will be given US instead?
If at the command or request of
body of men seeking by strike meth
| DDS 10 attain their ends, the courts
are TO refuse petitioners their rights
before the tribunals, when and under
what circumstances are they to resume
their functions? BY such action as is
now demanded, the organizations of
! the strikers would be substituted for
| the laws and the courts. In the very
next case this might, as indeed it
would in this instance. develop into
tyranny as intolerable as it would be
| irresponsible.
If the coal strikers, protected in their
right to strike by the very laws they
| condemn. cannot attain their ends
without violating the laws of the land,
made by the people and subject to
change and repeal by them, there is
nothing for it but to submit to their
unfortunate lot, or seek a remedy in
revelation that will give us some sys-
tenn that will better conserve human
rights.
Yet the experience of the ages, the
whole body of history and the annals
| of civilization, establish this truth,
that If to-day the Eastern strikers were
| given free rein, if the courts were over
! thrown and the laws forbddding the
acts restrained by injunction were re-
pealed in favor Of any new system
whatever, but a brief period would
elapse before the necessities of men,
the demands of human right and the
inevitable need for restraint of the law
less. would give us a system of laws
and tribunals precisely like those we
now have. or so closely resembling
them that the distinction would be
! difficult to draw.
If courts are corrupted and their
powers are exceeded. the laws provide
remedies and assign punishment for the
unfaithful and the derelict Whatever
sympathies may be entertained for the
miners of the East, and their effort
to secure a large wage in reward for
their labor, the rejecting citizen can
not fail TO see that the worst possible
thing that could befall them and the
nation would be the destruction of the
power of competent tribunals to re-
strain individuals or organized bodies
| from doing unlawful acts, where there
! is no speedy and adequate remedy at
law, and where punishment would not
repair the wrong threatened to be
done. or in process of accomplishment.
The inflammatory resolutions passed
at meeting of strike sympa thizers in