The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1902-10-13
oLNEY ON THE OUTLOOK
The Operators Insult to the Presi-
deni-Secretary Shaw Above
the Law. &C.,

Boston, Mass, Oct. 13.-One of the feat
ures of the state campaign was the dinner
which the democratic club Of Massachu-
setts rendered to Colonel William A. Gas
ton, the party candidate for governor.
Over $50 party followers listened to
speeches by Richard Olney and others.
Mr.. Oney said:
1.-THE signs Of the times are that under
the regime Of the republican party end
through the national government, forty
years Of partnership with the protected
industries, We have come to a pass where
public officials as we'll private citizens
deem themselves above the law.
"Witness the jealous haste with which
the treasury rushes to the relief of Wall
street spectators by a novel and forced
construction Of the national banking law.
Witness the astonishing proceeding Of the
same department in Its instructions to
subordinate offices respecting the duties
to be collected on coal"
Mr.. Olney seemed to fear that in med
ding In the coal strike the president was
outside Of his sphere.
THE president, for example, is our rep
resentative with foreign powers Will 1t
strengthen his hands that some half q
dozen private citizens are found swapping
their fingers in his face? The presidents
overture to the coal operators was prompt
ed by the best motives and should have
been treated with respectful considera-
ton. It must have been declined courte-
ously. even if firmly.
But the opportunity to administer a
snub to the president was too tempting.
Accordingly, he was not only treated as
rash intermeddler, he was also lectured
upon the law and facts of the case, and,
to crown all, was notified that the cause
Of the troubles was lawlesSness, which ne
was sarcastically invited to suppress.
For sheer audacity this attitude Of the
coal operators could hardly be matched
and nothing could more strongly empha-
size the disrepute into which the law OF
the land has been brought by long-con-
tinued republican domination.
yet who are they who were so insist
ent upon the suppression OF laWlessness
in the mining regions? Why, the most un-
blushing and persistent of law-breakers.
For years they have defeated the law OF
Pennsylvania which forbids common car
riers engaging in the business OF mining.
For years they have Disseminated be-
tween customers in the freight charges on
their railroads in violation OF the inter-
state commerce law. For years they have
unlawfully monopolized interstate com
merce in violation of the Sherman anti
trust law.
In these days of combinations by cap
ital on scale and to an extent as start
ling as it is unprecedented, can they pos
sibIy imagine that labor is to be denied an
equivalent right Of combination? II they
do it is only another instance of their
complete indifference to the law of the
land.
In 1894 receivers Of a railroad were
| brought into court on claim that labor
ers ought not to be discharged because OF
membership in a labor union. Though the
court was federal court, it sat in Penn
sylvania, and the petitioners got nothing
from that court. But what followed;
In a year or two Pennsylvania made it q
criminal offense to deprive a man of work
| because he belonged to a labor union. 1r
| 1898 congress not only did the same thing
but, in statute providing for the arbitra'
| ton of labor disputes, expressly made Ia,
| Dor organizations parties to such arbitra'
| tion This was in addition to the previous
| legislation by congress encouraging anc
| providing for the Incorporation Of labor
unions In ignoring them, therefore, the
coal operators simply ignore and condene
the law of the land.
Law supreme and equal for all men II
| to the American people what the ark O.
| the covenant was to the Jews OF old
While we have it, we need not fear To-
our sa fety; when we lose it, we are fal
advanced on the high road to ruin. Hence
| if we would not enter upon that road
! change and the displacement of repub
licanism cannot come too soon or too de-
| cisively."