The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1899-06-21
THE LAW PARALYZED.

The extraordinary conditions growing
out of family feud in Clay county, KY.
with which the press reports have mads
the reading public more or less familiar,
are still in existence. Indeed the feud has
spread, as the result of the death Of
terror prevails throughout the entire sec
ton, and the civil and military authori-
ties alike are apparently powerless.
1t is hard for one unfamiliar with
the social conditions which produce such
a state of affairs to understand the con-
dition of paralysis which seems to have
ed at from close range, 1t does not
at all seem inexplicable. One of the great
sources of such evils, as the Courier
Journal points out. is the disposition to
esta blish new counties. There are more
counties in Kentucky now than there are
in the state of New York or in the state
of Texas, where a county in territorial
exent is often as large as a European
principality. BY this means the agencies
of government fall into the control Of
these who are interested in maintaining
and who foment rather than discourage
violence.
The cause of politics, too, hangs over
the entire bloody affair. State authori-
ties are afraid to interfere by reason of
the political influence of the various par
tisans in the prevailing feud. Nobody is
willing to assume responsibility. Martial
law, which. if declared and enforced.
would speedily put an end to the war
fare, is an instrument which everybody
appears afraid to invoke. Militia are call
ed out but the charges are virtually
drawn from their pieces before they are
sent to the scene of the prevailing dis
order; so that it was recently made pos
sible for one of the combatants under
shot fired from the house of the sheriff
of the county
1t is now generally recognized that the
presence of the military at the scene
of the trouble only intensifies the pas
sions of the combatants. One, of the fac
tionsr-is regarded as having control OF
all the agencies of the county govern
ment, and by reason of the wealth Of
its members has succeeded in substituting
a large element of the local population
by the liberal distribution of provisions
and supplies of different kinds. Hence
the novel proposition is advanced that
the other faction should be bought OUT
end its members be induced to remove
from the vicinity. The prospect of hav-
enforced against the lawbreakers seems
to be dismissed by general consent Mr.
Watterson's paper seems to regard the
breaking up of the lawless counties as
the only available remedy Referring to
the last murder in the vendetta being
committed from the house of the sheriff,
the Courier-Journal says:
1.-The people who will elect such officers
and among whom there is su h deg en-
eracy that aSSaSSins and bush Whdckei q
pass for heroes are hardly fit for self
government. They cannot be deprived of
representation, and to do so would work
greater evils than now exist but Their
little rotten boroughs can be abolished
and they can be placed in the midst Of
large bodies OF population who have an
interest in the observance of the law"
This may be the true remedy. The
judgment of those who are on the ground
or in the vicinity is certainly worthy of
the highest consideration. But, viewed at
this distance, 1t seems quite difficult to
understand why the state authorities do
not proceed to break up this state of
lawlessness. If necessary, by the same