The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1900-09-04


have seen how, in every industrial depres-
sion. race animosities result in riot and
bloodshed. We cannot afford TO bring into
this country those who cannot amalgamate
with our people.
THE attempt to use the injunction of a
court to deprive. the laboring man of trial
by jury should alarm all our people, Tor.
while the wage-earner is the first to feel
its effects, the principles which underlie
government by injunction is so far-reach-
ing that no one can hope 10 escape ultl-
mately The thing forbidden by an IN
junction would. without the injunction, be
either legal or illegal If IL would be legal,
the judge usurps the fuDction OF the Legis-
lature when he forbds II. II IL would be
illegal the injunction of the court is un-
necessary, for any one who violates the law
can, upon conviction, be made 10 suffer
the penalties prescribed for such violation.
The meanest thief and the most brutal
murderer are entitled to trial by jury: why
should this right be denied the laboring
man? Those who oppose government by
injunction are not in favor OF lawleSSneSS.
they are, on the contrary. the best friends
of law and order They deny the right of
any man 10 violate the law in an effort TO
advance his own interests. but they insist
that IL is inconsistent with our ideas OF
government, and dangerous 10 all classes.
to invest any judge with the three-fold
power-nrst, TO make the laws; second 10
bring accusation against those charged
with the violation of the laws. and third.
to sit IN judgment upon the case. Govern
ment by injunction is so indefensible that
the anti-injunction bill. Endorsed by the
Chicago platform, passed the Senate with
out a yea and nay vote being demanded.
and since that time no party platform has
specifically Endorsed government by in
junction, and no prominent member of any
party has entered upon defense OF the
system; and yet corporate influence is so
strong that ii has thus far been impossible
to secure any remedial legislation.
MILITARISM AND IMPERIALISM.
''The resolutions adopted by the various
labor organizations i'm condemnation of
militarism and imperialism justify ME in
making a brief reference to these ques-
tions. No class contributes more than
the laboring class, in proportion to its
numbers, to the rank and file of the army;
no class contributes more in proportion
to its numbers to the expense of the army,
and no class is more menaced by the ex
lstence or large army. Most OF the
countries in Europe which maintain large
military establishments collect an income
tax which adjusts the burden of the gov
eminent TO the income of the citizen.
Here our federal taxes are largely collected
upon consumption. and while they are
income taxes in the sense that they must
be paid out of the incomes of the people,
yet the eXactions are not proportionate
TO the incomes The taxes upon consump-
ton bear heaviest upon the poor and light
est upon the rich, and are, in fact graded
income taxes, the per cent. collected de-
creasing as the income increases.
If this Nation adheres TO the doctrine
that governments derive their just pow
ers from the consent of the governed, and
the people have an easy and ready means
OF correcting all abuses, the government
will not need to be supported by large
permanent army, for every citizen VIII De
ready 10 defend such government from
attack. The only domestic for a large
standing army is TO suppress by force that
dlscontent which should be cured by legis-
lation.
ITO support permanent army of 10o,-
100 men requires approximately one-half
for education in the United States How
much cheaper 1t is to uplift people by
the gentle and peaceful process of intel
lectual development than TO blow them
up with powder and dynamite!
imperialism involves departure from
principles which were universally accepted
in this country until within two years
To know that all men were created equal
one needs not the wisdom of a sage or
the learning of the schools. 1t was de-
clared TO be a self-evident truth: it was
evident to those who pledged their lives
TO the maintenance of the Declaration OF
independence, and IL is evident still 70
those who are not blinded by the glamor
of wealth and the glittering promises of
colonial system. If ali men are created
equal and endowed with inalienable rights.
Ii follows as logical and necessary Sc
quence that governments were instituted
for the welfare of all and derive their
just powers from the consent of the gov
erned. On the preservation of this doc
trine our hopes depend if it is abandoned
there is no foundation upon which a gov
eminent like ours can be constructed.
do not allow yourselves to be deceived
by those who question the capacity of this
people or that people for self-government.
Macaulay, in his essay on John Milton,
points out the folly of attempting TO pre-
pare people for self-government by deny
ing them the right to participate in their
own government. He said:
al our
habit of laying Ii down as a self-evident
proposition that no people ought to be free
until they are fit to use their freedom. The
maxim is worthy of the fool in the old
story, who resolved not TO go into the wa
ter till he had learned to swim. If men are
to wait for liberty till they become wise
and good in slavery, they may indeed wait
forever.
LINCOLN'S WORDS TWISTED.
when 1 say that those who distrust the
capacity of the people for self-government
tend directly toward monarchy, / am only
repeating what Lincoln deliberately de-
clared in his first annual message. He said:
Monarchy itself is sometimes limited at as
a possible refuge from the power of the
people. In my present position L could
scarcely be justified were l to omit raising
warning voice against this approach of
returning despotism. 1t is not needed nor
fitting here that a general argument should
be made in favor of popular institutions,
but there is one point, with its connections
not so hackneyed as most others, TO which
l ask brief attention. Ii is the effort to
place capital on an equal footing with, If
not above, labor, in the structure of gov
eminent. No men living are more worthy to
be trusted than those who toll up from pow
erty; none less inclined to take or touch
aught which they have not honestly earned.
Let them beware of surrendering a politi-
cal power which they already possess, and
which, If surrendered, will surely be used
TO close the door of advancement against
such as they, and TO fix new disabilities
and burdens upon them till all or liberty
shall be lost.
THE warning is even more needed now
than 1t was forty years ago. The Army
and Navy Journal is already justfying
the colonial idea, and declaring that fate
has decreed for us a destiny in which an
imperial executive, free from the restraints
of written constitution, will govern sub
jects according to his own pleasure. The
United States Investor, published at Bos-
ton, in its issue of July Is, says: Only a
blind person can fail to see that remark
able transformations of one kind or another
are in store for the race; hence the folly of
asserting that the policy of this country,
which is destined TO play such leading
part in human affairs of the future, shall
be governed for the most part by political
maxims uttered more than hundred years
ago. The greatest evil which now con-
fronts this Republic is the clamor raised
by certain faction for a settlement of
our problems of state by lust such methods