The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1902-10-14
THIS A NATURAL RESULT
O~nerators Violate the Law, Believe
Themselves Above It.
SHAW IS ANOTHER lRAhS6RtSSUf'
OIney Pictures Him Rushing 10 the Relief OF
IT.. Wall Street, Gan,bl,r RS. OIney's
Gfea. Speech II at a Democratic
Bsrqnat in Ros'on.
lBv the Associated Press.)

pocton Oct. u.-One Of the features
Of the present campaign was the dinner,
which the Democratic Club OF MasSachu-
sets rendered tonight to Colonel William
A. CASTOR. the party candidate for Gov
.rnor over go party followers listened
10 eucscbes by Richard Olney, former
Secretary of state; Charles S. Hamlin,
Josiah Quincy. John r. Thayer, con
o,oeeman from the Third district; Henry
II. Hollis, Democratic candidate for Gov
erpor in New Hampshire, and Colonel
CASTOR.
Undoubtedly the speech of the evening
was that delivered by Mr.. Olney, VINO
was cheered for som minutes when he
arose. Many greeted him as the next
President.
MIR. Olnev spoke, in part, as follows:
"rhe signs of the times are that under
the regime of the Republican party, ana
through the national government $ lofty
wears of partnership with the protected
Industries we have come to a pass Whefc
uullic officials as well as private citi-
zens seem themselves above the law.
"Witness the jealous haste with which
the Treasury rushes to the relief or wall
street spectators by q novel ana 1ofceu
construction of the National banking law.
Witness the astonishing proceeding OF
the same department in its instructions
to subordinate officers respecting the
duties to be collected on coal. But the
generally lawless atmosphere in which
the protected Republican reign has en-
yploped us is even more Strikingly illus
trated bv the recent Presidential demon
stration upon the coal strike. There are
those who say that as the President DIS
claimed any official duty or relation TO
the matter he should not have interfered.
There is something to be said for that
view. Though his office is charged with
great function and invested with great
powers. the President is a constitutional
officer, whose sphere OF action is strictly
limited by law.
Within that sphere he IS we'll nigh
absolute-without, he is legally impotent.
When, therefore,, he goes without 1t the
danger is that he may fail and be defied,
and thai his great office may lose pres
tiee and power and thus be less capable
OF performing its Legitimate duties.
"The President, for example, is our
representative with foreign powers. Will
it strengthen his hands that some half
a dozen private citizens are found snap
ping their fingers in his face? The PreSi-
dents overture to the coal operators was
prompted by the best motives and should
have been treated with respectful con-
sideration. It should have been declined
courteously, even if firmly.
But the opportunity to administer a
snub to the President was 100 tempting.
Accordingly, he was not only treated as
Il rash intermeddler; he was also lee
tured upon the law and facts of the case,
and to crown all, was notified that the
cause CT the troubles was lawlessness,
which he was sarcastically invited to
SUPPRESS.
For sheer audacity this attitude Of
the coal operators could hardly be
matched, and nothing could more strong
ly emphasize the disrepute into which
the law of the land has been brought by
long continued Republican domination.
Yet, who are they who were so IN
sistent upon the suppression of laWless-
ness III the mining regions? Why, the
most unblushing and persistent of law
breakers. For years. they have defet
the law of Pennsylvania, which forbids
common carriers engaging in the business
of mining. For years the have dis.
eliminated between customers in thu
freight charges on their railroads in VIC
lation of the Interstate law
For years they have ~unlawfully monopo
LIED interstate commerce in violation
Of the sherman Antitrust Law.
Indeed. the very best excuse and ex
PLANTATION of their astonishing attitude a
the Washington conference is that, hay
ing violated so many laws for 50 long
and so many times, they may rightfull,
think they We're wholly immune from
either punishment or rcprOach.
1T is sometimes urged in extenuatio1
of the coal operators foolishly offensiv,
tone at the conference that they Wer,
onraged at the recognition of labo
unions, and the presence by invitation o
their representative. If that be SO, the,
must be as blind to the salient facts o
the era they are living in as they ar,
oblivious OF legal obligations.
I'm these days of combination by eapi
tai on Il scale and to an extent as start
ling as it is unprecedented, can the,
possibly imagine that labor is to be de
MED an equivalent right of combination
II they do 1t is only another instance o
their complete indifference to the law O
the land.
In 1891 receivers of q railroad Wer
brought into court in a claim that la
borers ought not to be DISCHARGED be
cause or membership of q labor union
The court was a Federal court, it sat i
pennsylvania and the petitioners go
nothing from that court.
But what followed? In a year or tw
Pennsylvania made it a criminal offens
to deprive a man of work because he he
longed to a labor union. In 1898 Con
gress not only did the same thing, but
in a statute providing for the arbitration
or labor disputes, expressly made labo
organizations parties to such arbitration
This was in addition to the previous leg