The aegis & intelligencer. [volume] (Bel Air, Md.) 1864-1923, 1902-11-21

I'll IL Nolllu ScelIl, IlbNCNSl, ~ i'N W.
little avail as it has been we'll said
that good laws amount to very little
so long as the people who administer
the statutes are criminally careless.
THE SHORT SESSION OF CONGRESS.
The short session of Congress will
convene on Monday, December 1st,
and it will find plenty of business to
occupy the time until the fourth of
March, when it will expire by limita-
ton. The first subjects to be taken
up are the appropriation bills and
without these are promptly disposed
ofthewheels ofGovernment naturally
will stop. The most important OF
these bills are the urgent deficiency,
the general deficiency, the ARMY, the
naval, the legislative, the executive
and judicial, the pension, the postal,
the fertilization, the District Of Col
umbia, the agriculture and the sundry
civil measures. During each Congress
a river and harbor appropriation bill
is usually passed, but that measure
was enacted during the first session,
so the next bill for improving the
rivers and harbors of the country
will be taken up by the ffty-eighth
Congress. One bill that will attract
particular attention is the Cuban
Reciprocity, which passed the House
at the last session, but was halted
in the Senate by the action of the
beet sugar Republicans. This brings
up the subject of general reciprocity
treaties which now rest before the
Senate for ratification. Some OF
these will meet with strong resist
ence by prominent Republicans who
regard reciprocity as all evasion OF
of the tariff duties and therefore may
in some manner become inimical to
their pets, the different gigantic
trusts of the country.
A bill will also be introduced which
will accurately define the meaning of
Conspiracy" and the use of restrain
ing orders and injunctions in certain
cases. The present construction of
this law by United States Judges is
one of the most serious blows that
has been aimed at the cause Of labor.
On the petition of corporations, the
Judges of the United States District
Courts have not hesitated to grant
of the most sweeping
character against those who are en-
gagged in an effort to obtain what
they consider to be their just rights.
These injunctions have always been
enforced in a strict manner and many
times persons are landed in Jail and
thus punished by an evasion of the
Constitution of the United States,
which guarantees toevery person the
right of trial by jury. The commit
ment is made out on the grounds of
contempt of Court, an absolute
power that must rest somewhere i'll
every form of Government. 1t was
thought wise by our forefathers when
they framed the organic law of the
land that this could be more safely
lodged in the judiciary. District
Judges, however, have not hesitated
to use this ex ,ren'e and questionable
authority aid as a consequence,
justice has frequently 1niscarried,
without any right of appeal or even
the judgment of a jury, which is the
of every civilized form of
1t is doubtful, however, if this bill
will be passed as such a law would
too largely operate for the benefit of
the masses as against the classes and
it is well-known fact that the Re
publican party owes its existence, if
not it's foundation, to the principle
that the classes have always been
favored at the expense of the masses.
The Democratic platform of 1896
declared against Government by in
junction and at the time a howl of
criticism went up from all over the
country asst was considered by many
in measure lese majestic. AS time
passes by, however, the wisdom for
this plank is more and more apparent
and it doubtless will beincorporated
in our next national platform. The
strength of the Republican form of
Government is in the uprightness Of
it's judiciary and no country has had
fairer or more upright Judges than
the United States. No one even
charges that the present strained
position as taken by some of the
Federal judiciary, is actuated by any
other motive than the policy of good
but nevertheless this
bears so heavily upon the oppressed
and poor that it is for the people
to protest against such
action by those who are to interpret
the laws as we have framed them
by our representatives in Congress.
1t is said that the only way that an
unpopular law can be repealed is to
enforce it and therefore the position
that has been taken is doubtless an
excellent one, for it will bring the
people to the realization of the neces-
sity of enacting legislation which will
bear alike on everyone.