Gloucester County Democrat. (Woodbury, N.J.) 1878-1932, 1900-10-11

tending his rule with lire anu DiO0d,
and the Filipinos, who voted in the
Malolos congress for annexation to the
United States when they thought we
were still republic, are laying down
their lives TO resist the advance of our
empire,
There never was Il time before now
when any political organization In
America felt affronted by mention Of
the Declaration of Independence. Dur
ing the Dreyfus madness in France a
cry of give Ia republique!" was con-
sidered an insult to the army. II an
attendant at a Republican meeting in
this country should shout "Hurrah for
the republicr' lie would run the risk
of being thrown out as a disturbing
Democrat. A mention Of the constl-
tuition or the Declaration of Independ-
ence would simply convict him offhand.
Equally revolutionary. from the old
American point of view, is imperial
ism's twin, militarism The idea of a
great standing army is repugnant to
every American tradition. The found
ers of our government seriously con
sidered the policy of prohibiting the
maintenance Of any standing army at
all Every statesman, of every party,
down to the advent OF the present adj
ministration, has held as one of this
eountry's chief blessings its freedom
from the military burdens Of Europe.
Yet the Republican party is now COM
mitted. to a permanent standing army
of 100000 men, and il is spending for
military purposes more than any other
country in the world.
The Republican alliance with the
trusts involves an upheayal of the very
roots of our national life. The Demo-
cratic policy here, as in everything
else, is conservative. 1t proposes to
keep as near as possible to the familiar
landmarks-no stubbornly resisting all
change. but not rushing recklessly into
untried paths. The policy by which the
American nation has grown great and
the American character has been
formed has been that OF individual en-
terprlse. The trusts are destroying
this enterprise They are turning us
into something worse than Napoleon's
"nation of shopkeepers" nation Of
servants. They are giving US social
Ism, with ell It's dement's and none of
its advantages socialism, not for the
common benefit, but for the advantage
Of few They have organized the
industries of the nation so that for the
vast bulk Of the people nothing is left
but wages. The element of profits
is concentrated in the possession Of a
handful Of proprietors.
This is a change as revolutionary as
the transition from feudalism to the
factory system. The party that advo-
Gates it is the revolutionary party, and
the one that opposes it is the conserya-
tive party.
Again, the Republican organs would
have US believe that the Democracy Is
taking new and dangerous ground in
opposing government by injunction.
The fact is that government by in
junction Is a noxious novelty. 1t was
not known in this country ten years ago;
it is not known In England now. The
writ Of injunction is old 1t originated
III England, where the lord chancellor,
as Keeper of the kings conscience"
used it to grant relief in civil cases that
could not be reached by the rigid proc
esses of the common law. In the
English equity courts it is still used in
the old way. No employer in England
can get an injunction restraining a
labor union from disbursing strike
benefits, or can make writ of injunc.
ton means of abolishing the right of
trial by jury ia criminal cases.
The courts in this country followed
the old rules until a few years ago,
when ingenious corporation lawyers
devised the scheme of procuring in
functions against whole communities,
warning them against the commission
of crimes. and so putting them under
species of judicial martial law.
The old criminal law, built up by our
race in thousand years Of struggle
against oppression, says: You shall
not commit crime If you do, you
will be indicted, tried before jury,
and, if convicted. subjected to such
penalties as the law provides"
Government by injunction says:
you shall not commit a crime. If you
do, or If q judge chooses to say you do,
you will be arrested for contempt Of
court and subjected, without trial, to
such punishment as the judge may
direct"
Through this system a reign of ter
ror may be established over whole dis
tricts and the liberty of the entire
population subjected to the arbitrary
viii of one man.
This revolutionary usurpation was
fire new when the Democratic conven-
ton at Chicago protested against it in
1896. 1t Is four years older now, but
still new enough to stamp the party
that would substitute 1t for the system
that has come down from the time of
King Alfred as the party of reckless
innovation.
In the matter Of the income tax, too,
1t is the Republican party that is root
ing up the ancient landmarks. From
the foundation of our government
down to the year 1895 the power of
congress to impose an income tax had
been sustained by an unbroken line of
decisions The Republican party IT.
self before 1t had become the instru-
ment Of constituencies wealth repeat
eddy made ues of that power. But un-
der its new proprietorship 1t dragoon-
ed the supreme court into reversing Its
whole record and depriying the nation
OF resource that may prove vital In
some future emergency.
1t Is the Republican party. too. which
has abandoned Washington's rule
against entangling alliances and Mon
roe's prohibition Of European expan-
sion on the American continent and
has made the United States the tail to
the kite of British diplomacy
ManifestIy the voter who breads rash
experiments has only one recourse It
is to vote for the conservative canii-
date the uphoIder Of American fradi-
TONS William Jennings Bryan. New
York Journal