Kansas agitator. [volume] (Garnett, Kan.) 1890-1905, 1900-01-12

ever reluctantly, be recognized as Law
valid in every state and territory of the
puion.
have before me the November Bull
letin of the department OF labor issued
4 few days ago, which shows in con-
crete form the laws having for theiI
purpose the regulation and pro
lection of labor of the grea,
industrial countries of Europe. In
England the Truck act provides that:
"Workingmen must be paid the full
amount of their wages in the current
coin of the realm. except that, II they
so agree, payment may be made In
bank notes or checks payable on de-
mand. Any contract providing for the
payment of wages otherwise than as
above provided will be treated as null
and void. If payment, in whole or IN
part, has been made in kind, the EN-
ploye can, nevertheless, sue for the
payment of his full wages in money
and the employer cannot bring for
ward as set-off any goods supplied
by himself or any store in which he Is
interested. Neither can the employer
maintain an action against an employe
to recover value of goods furnished as
part of wages" This law is general
in its application. with a few minor
exceptions. 1t is a prohibition that
prohibits, and is enforced by every
court in England But such law
would be impossible in America. Eng
land has no constitution, as we under
stand that term-that is, no written
| document serving as basis for all other
| law, and to which all other law must
conform. An act of parliament ap-
proved by the crown. and the crown
unless in very exceptional instances
never vetoes, is law. binds ALL cannot
be declared void by any court, and
must be enforced.
The American system is different.
The judiciary is an Independent part of
the government. 1t holds enactments
up to the federal and state constitu-
lions, and if it finds they conflict, re-
jects them. This method often works
out oddly. Thus, the fourteenth
amendment to the federal constitution,
promulgated in 1868, was intended to
establish and more particularly protect
the civil rights OF negro citizens, re-
Gently slaves. 1t is short 1t provides
that no state shall make or enforce
any law which shall abridge the privi-
leges or immunities of citizens of the
Ifnitp6 Sfatac " onI that oil Chnn n
joy the equal protection of the laws"
This amendment, by judicial interpre-
tation, stands in the way of much leg
islation by many deemed salutary and
necessary. "A person has right to
make bargain" one can imagine a
court saying, land you may not
'abridge his privileges or immunitie3;
he may agree to work at rate that
lands his family in the poorhouse, and
to trade out his wage at pluck-me
store, and you may not 'abridge his
privileges or immunities; in short,
everybody has a right to do as he
pleases. and you may not 'abridge his
privileges and immunities' | have
stated the case little strongly in the
above. for | want to bring out the
point clearly, which is, that under ex
listing methods of determining and ap-
plying law, a provision made for spe-
cifc purpose, to wit, the protection OF
freedmen in the enjoyment of newly
acquired civil rights, is, and probably
necessarily must be- made to apply to
!, to &c ID
inal scope, and not at all contemplated
by the power that enacted the amend
ment
1t does not follow that one need
method and smash the fabric of gov
eminent Amendments to the funda
mental laws of the nation and the sew
eral states are always in order, and |
sometimes there's a way to attain a |
thing by indirectiOn that it is not legal |
to attempt directly. Thus it's not legal |
to forbid man to come to your town |
not do a mercantile business for few |
days; but your local merchants guard |
their trade by inducing the town coun-
such transient dealers, and unless the |
tax is "clear out of sight" it must be
paid. Dairy interests have invoked the
aid of boards of health to protect their
markets from the invasion of oleomar-
garine, substance much purer and
wholesome, from a hygienic stand
point. than most butter, and SO on,
through long chapter.
1t is only too evident that the direct
assault on the company store must al
ways fail, but it is not said that legis-
latures regardful of the peoples inter-
est rather than jealous to serve cor
porations, and courts disposed to re-
solve a doubt in favor of the masses
rather than of great moneyed interests
could not find ways to attain the de-
sired end.
Naval COurtesles.
The wrongs of Ireland have lately