Mexico weekly ledger., 1897-04-15
M EMS SUITS--AII New.

QuestiOu6 are uot Inc only
parts of Organism. 1t is an assault up
on constitutional government and the
regularly constituted order of things.
It attacked in terms the opIy JEFF
~fersonite in whose hands the people
had entrusted the administration of
the government for the last forty
years, simply because he used an hon
est endeavor to keep the pledges of
his party to the people; because upon
a certain occasion he enforced the
laws of the United States and at all
times unswervingly performed his
official duties.
1t assaulted the judiciary of the land
because the judiciary declared the law
as it found it and as it has been since
the foundation of the Republic.
The facts of the strike at Chicago,
the unlawfulness of certain men en-
gagged therein, their treatment by the
national executive and the decisions
OF the courts in relation thereto are
all too fresh in our minds to require a
recounting of them here.
They are we'll understood by all the
people of the United States and every
body knows that the Federal authori-
ties simply enforced the law for which
they received the appreciation of all
law abiding citizens. But Organism
spoke out in condemnation of this and
at Chicago brought forth the following
remarkable declaration in relation
thereto: ave denounce arbitrary in
reference by Federal authorities in
local affairs as a violation of the Con-
%stitution of the United States and a
crime against free institutions, and we
especially object to government by in
junction as a new and highly danger
GUS form of oppression by which Fed
eral judges, in contempt of the laws
of the States and rights of citizens,
become at once legislators, judges and
executioners."
Now let us come a little nearer
home as to this question and make
use of q little common sense to see if
we cannot in our midst find a circum-
stance that completely refutes and ut
terly puts to rout all such infiamma-
tory nonsense as that part of the Chi
cago platform just quoted.
In the case of Hamilton Bro Wn
Shoe Company vs.. Saxey ct. al, 131
Mo-, tried before the Supreme Court
of our own State, where a number of
employees had joined a strike and
were soliciting others of PLAINTIFFS
ChlPA0y % W 0o GuC all auu WcIo
engaged in an effort to force the other
employees of the plaintiff to quit their
work TO JOIN in the strike. and in Or
oer 10 ntC0mpisn Jn1s purpose they
were intimidating with threats of per-
sonal violence, etc., plaintiff sued out
an INDUCTION to restrain these defend
ants from their acts and to prevent
them from interfering with their other
employees and committing trespass by
going upon its premises for their un-
lawful purposes.
This was exactly the same kind of a
proceeding which is condemned by
the Chicago platform, the right to
prevent a damage by resort to the
courts by a writ of Injunction. The
Supreme Court passing upon this
question made use of the following
language, which is nov and always
has been the settled law of every
state in this Union.
ga court of equity may interfere by
Injunction to prevent persons by in
timidation, threats of violence and
other unlawful means to force en-
ployes to quit work and join a strike"
And the Court further, in discussing
the law of the case, said:
1.-THE Injunction in this case does
not hinder the defendants doing any
thing that they claim they have a
right to do. They are free men, and
have a right to quit the employ of
plaintiffs whenever they see fit to do
SO, and no m can prevent them, and
whether their act of quitting is wise or
unwise, just or unjust, it is nobody's
business but their own. And they
have a right to 8 fair persuasion to
induce others to join in their quitting.
But when fair persuasion is exhaust
ed they have no right to resort to
force or threats of violence. The law
will protect their freedom and their
rights, but it will not permit them to
destroy the freedom and rights of
others. The same law which guaran-
tees the defendants in their right to
quit the employment of the plaintiff
at their own will and pleasure also
guarantees the other employees the
right to remain at their will and
pleasure.
''These defendants are their own
masters, but they are not the masters
OF the other empioyes-they are
not even their guardians.
"There is q maxim of our law to the
effect that one may exercise his own
rights as he pleases, provided he does
not thereby prevent another exerais-
ing his right as he pleases. This max
i'm or rule of law comes nearer than
any other rule in our law to the golden
rule of divine authority: THAT which
you would nave another do unto you,I
do you ever so unto them.' Whilst
the strict enforcement of the golden
rule in beyond the mandate of a hu-
man tribunal, yet courts of equity, by
Injunction, do restrain men who are
so disposed from SO exercising their
own rights as to destroy the rights of
others"
The courts are the bulwarks of the
Republic. 1t is that department of
the government in times past that has
stood for the liberty of the citizen and
rescued him from the tyranny of the
classes and the despoiler of public and
private rights. How does all this
Organism look when held up by the
side of some of the essential principles
of government and used by jefferson
to shape its administration. In his
first inaugural address he said, equal
and exact justice to all men of what
The Fine Saddle a
H~~ 49,