The Montgomery advertiser., 1902-10-12
LAW IS NOT RESPECTED
Controlling Party Permits De-
 fiance of Statutes.
Democrats > ~ Now Heading in the Right Direc-,on-Josiah Quincy, Colonel Gaston and Others
 Also Spoke.

ner which the Democratic Club of Mas sachusetts rendered tonight to Colonel William A. Gaston. the party candidate for Governor. Over 250 party followers listened to speeches by Richard Olney, former Secretary of State; Charles s. Hamlin, Josiah Quincy. John R. Thayer. Congressman from the Third District; Henry H. Hollis, Democratic candidate for Governor in New Hampshire and Col onei Gaston.
 Mir. Olney was cheered for some min- utes when he arose to speak. Many greeted him as the next President. He said in part: &
 MT. Chairman and Gentlemen-I well come the opportunity to declare my be- lief not only that the Democratic party is now heading in the right direction and is toierably sure of ultimately recovering It's old time ascendency but that that re- suit Is essential to the welfare of the American people. There is one aspect of the present situation to which desire to briefly call your attention.
 ''The vital principle. as well as the dis tinguishing merit of our political institu- tons. consist in liberty regulated by law. With the exception of the two Cleveland administrations the Republican party has been in control of the National govern ment for a period of more than forty years. Where it has landed us as re- spects liberty I will not now consider. But where has 1t landed us as respects law. which has ro xight to the name un- less It. Is the same tor the millionaire and for the beggar? The signs of the times are that under tho regime of Republican party and through the national govern ment, forty years of partnership with the protected industries. we have come to AA1 fa mall q private citizens deem themselves above tie law.
 Rusirss to Aid Speculation.
 "witness the zealous haste with which the Treasury rushes to the relief of Wall Street speculators by a novel and forced construction of the national banking law. Witness the astonishing proceeding of the same Department in it's instructions to subordinate officers respecting the du- ties to be collected on coal. But the gen. orally lawless atmosphere in which pro- tected Republican reign has enveloped us is even more strikingly illustrated by the recent presidential demonstration upon the coal strike. There are those who say that as the President disclaimed any of ficial 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 functions and invested with great pow CTS. the President Is a constitutional of- ficer whose sphere of action Is strictly limited by law.
 within that sphere he Is we'll nigh ab- solute-without. he Is legally impotent. When, therefore, he goes without 1t the danger Is that he may fall and be defied and that his great office may lose pres tige and power and thus be less capable I&a ta d1tiPQ
 ''The President. for example, Is our rep resentative with foreign powers. Will 1t 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 snoulo have been treated with respectful con alteration It must have been decHned courteously even if firmly
 Opportunity Too Tempting.
 But the opportunity to administer 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 he was sarcastically invited to suppress For sheer audacity this attitude Of the coal operators could hardly be matched ana nothing could more strongly emphasize the disrepute into which the law or the land has been brought by long continued Republican domination.
 "Yet who are they who were so insis- tent upon the suppression or lawiesshess in the mining regions! why, the most unblushing and persistent of law break ers For years they have defied the law of pennsvlyania which forbids common carriers engaging in mining. For years tbev have discriminated between GUS toners in the freight charges on their raiIroads in violation of the interstate commerce law. For years they have un- Ia wfully monopolized interstate com merce in violation of the sherman anti trust act Indeed, the very pest eNeuse and axnlanation of their astonishing atti- t,'Sa at the Washington conference is ttot having violated so many laws for so ionv and so many times, they might r'sht- H,,Ii1, think they were wholly immune from either punishment or reproach'
 ..It ,s sometimes urged in extenuatlon
 = tha ooaI operators' foolishly offensive ~ -. +he conference that they were en- ,.a soil at the recognition of labor unions and the presence. by invitation, or thel: renresentatiye If this be so they must he as blind ti the salient facts or the era they are Hving in, as they are ooilN- ious of legal obligations.
 Law Recognizes Unions.
 .In these days of combination by eaF@ .a, or n scale and to an extent as start linz as it is unprecedented can they pos sibiy imagine that labor Is to be denied an equivalent right of combination? If They do it is only another instance of Their complete indifference to the law of the land
 .In 1894 receivers of railroad were hrought into court on a claim that la borers ought not to be discharged be- cause of membership of labor unions. Though tLe court was a Federal court II sat in Pennsylvania and the petitioners got nothing from that court.
 But what followed? In year or two Pennsylvania made 1t criminal onense to depriye a man of work because he be- Ionged to- a labor union. In 1898 Congress not only did the same thing but in a