The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1897-03-28
GOVERNMENT
BY INJUNCTION.
(From The Outlook, edited by DR. Ly.
man Abbott.)

by injunction" Both correspondents eX-
press distrust of juries as q means Of
| securing justice, and preference for
highly trained men like our judges"
| This incidental allusion in two letters
from quite independent correspondents
| is significant of the real issue involved.
| The question is not one concerning meth
| obs Of procedure, such as may be left to
| the lawyers to be settled by presidents;
| it is one concerning the very foundations
| of government, to be considered by the
people, and to be settled by fundamental
political principles.
| Two dangers threaten the Republic
| mobrocracy and plutocracy; the ungOv
erned passions of the many, and the cool,
calculating, organized greed of the few.
The first is hirsute, loudvoiced, barbaric,
appalling; the second is genteel, well clad,
silent, specous. Those who fear the first
will wish to add to the safeguards and
strength of vested rights and to lessen
the power of the people; those who fear
the second will wish to increase the safe
| guards and enhance the strength Of the
| people, and to lessen the power of
wealth. Our correspondents fear the first
peril. we fear the second.
| For mobs, though appalling, are gcner-
ally local and always temporary-me
episodes in our National life. They are
| generally unorganized and always i'll
directed: are as abhorrent to public senti-
ment rs they are hostile to public inter
est; are invariably disavowed by the
very men who have evoked them; and are
easily and promptly quelled. 1t has
| never been necessary even to summon
the militia where the police were suf-
ficient. But the greed of concentrated
| wealth is chronic, and its work is continu-
Gus. 1t is never satisfied and never van
pushed 1t buys votes at the polls, fran
| chises of city councilmen, special priyi-
| leges of legislators The boss" is its
hired servant, and through the boss it
controls lawmakers and Governors. 1t
| escapes just taxation and levies unjust
| taxation on the people. 1t has been Of
| ficially proved to have purchased judges
in few instances; it is believed by com
mon fame to have secured the appoint
ment of others who were by tradition and
habit identified with its interests. 1t
already controls the output of coal and
| oil--our fuel and lights; our railroads
an increasingly necessary means of COM
| munication; and it is even now clamor-
ously demanding at Washington special
| privileges, under guise-and let us say
in an entirely serene faith-that under
| natural laws the Nation will get the
benefit of these privileges, and is prepar-
| ing to urge that it may determine the
character and control the quantity of the
| currency of the country. In its highest
and best form this plutocracy believes in
the aristocracy of wealth and disbelieves
in the reign of the common people; in its
| worst forms it uses without scruple the
| most corrupt methods to secure the most
\ selfish ends.
| One of our correspondents fears sec
ond French Revolution. There would
have been no French Revolution if there
| had not first been an Ancien Regime. If
| concentrated wealth under the Bourbons
| had not proved itself inhuman and des-
| potic there would have been no mob in
! Par;S. The only danger of revolution in
| the United States is that threatened by
a wealth too powerful to be controlled by
law and too despotic to be endured by a
free people. 1t is the despotism of wealth
| which has caused most labor riots both
| in England and America. To the despot-
| ism Of wealth, not merely to the insane
| and criminal ambition of Debs, the Chi
cago riot may be traced The Pullman
Car Company had felt the effects Of hard
| times. Justice demands that such effects
should be shared in equitable proportions
by capitalist and laborer-but there
was no justice in the Pullman Car Com
pany. 1t continued to pay its dividends
and it's high salaries, and to exact its
high rents. while it cut down wages
| The Chicago Railway strike was a pre-
posterous protest Of sympa athletic work
men against this gross injustice. We
neither justify, excuse, nor palliate the
railway strike in thus tracing it to its
| cause. We re-affirm what we affirmed
| then, that the first duty of the govern
| ment was to quell the mob and restore
! order, at whatever cost. But, that duty
| done, another duty remains: consider
| what provoked the unreasonable passions
of the mob, and how similar provocation
| may be prevented in the future 1t will
| not be prevented by denying to men ac-
cused of crime the right of trial before a
jury of their peers. There is no better
| way to stimulate lawlessness than to de-
ny to compliments the long-enjoyed pro-
| lection of the law.
We do not inveigh against the rich
| Wealth is not a vice, nor is poverty a
| virtue. Wealth is legitimate reward OF
industry and thrift, and the desire to ac-
/ uulfe WedIU0 Dv UOHeSL UeluouS Is HUT
NAL and praiseworthy desire. But that
greed of accumulation which is the char
acteristic vice of America is neither nor
NAL nor praiseworthy-it is diseased and
abhorrent, and the methods Of aecumula-
ton are too often not honest but fragrant
ly corrupt. The dangers to American
| institutions from plutOcracy have been
pointed out to us by such clear-eyed and
disinterested observers as Alexis de
Tocqueville and James Bryce, and it is
folly to ignore them. We cast no obloquy
upon our judiciary. Our judges, both
State and Federal, have been, with rare
exceptions, honest, capable, and faith
full men. Neither do we deny that the
Federal judges had power to grant Il
blanket injunction in the Debs case, and
to enforce it by contempt proceedings.
The decision Of the Supreme Court Of the
United States is conclusive upon that
question. BUT we affirm that the judges
| ought not to have such power, and that