The Birmingham age-herald., 1902-10-12
Says They Snapped Their Fin gers in Face of PrGsi-
 dent of the ], 5.
HAVE NO RESPECT FOR
 LAWS OF THE COUNTRY
Shows That Roosevelt Jeopardized the Prestige of His Great Office By Calling the Conference, Though
 He Meant We'll in So Doing.

Boston. October Hone of the principal features of the present state campaign was the dinner which the Democratic club of Massachusetts rendered tonight to Col. William A. Gaston. the party candi- date for governor. Over 25o party follow CTS 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 Colonel Gaston.
 MT. 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: well come the opportunity to declare my be- lief not only that the democratic party is now heading in the right direction, and is tolerably sure of ultimately recover ing It's old-time ascendancy, but 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 insti- tutions consists in liberty regulated by law. With the exception of the two Cleve- land administrations, hg republican party has beenan control of the national government for. period of more than forty years. Where it has landed us as respects liberty l will not now consider. But where has 1t landed us as respects law which has no right to the name un- less 1t Is the same for the millionaire and for the beggar?
 Above the Law.
 "The signs of the times are that under the regime of the republican party and through the national government forty years of partnership with the protected industries, we have come to a pass where public officials as well as private citi- zens deem themselves above the law.
 Witness the zealous 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 proceedings of the same department in it's instructions to subordinate officers respecting the duties to be collected on coal. But the generally lawless atmosphere in which protected republican reign has enveloped us is even more strikingly illustrated by the recent presidential demonstration upon the coaR strike There as those who say that as the President disclaimed any official duty or relation to the mat ter he should not have interfered. There is something to be said for that view. Though his office is charged with graet functions and invested with great pow CTS the President Is a constitutional of f1cer whose sphere of action Is strictly limited by law.
 within that sphere he Is we'll nigh he is legally impotent. When, therefore, he goes without it. the danger is that he may fall and be defed tige and power and thus be less capable of performing its legitimate duties.
 President Lost Prestige.
 "The President, for example, is our with foreign powers. Will 1t strengthen his hands that some half dozen pirate citizens are found snapping their fingers in his face? The Presidents overture to the coal operators was by the best motives and should have been treated with respectful con- It must have been declined even if firmly.
 'But the opportunity to administer snub to the President was too tempting he was not only treated as rash intermeddler, but was also lectured to upon the law and facts of the case. and to crown all, was notified that tne 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. 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 nsis- tent upon the suppression of lawlessness In the mining regions? Why, the most unblushing and persistent of law-break- CTS! For years they have defied the law of Pennsylvania which forbids common carriers engaging in the business of min Ing. For years they have discriminated between customers in the freight charges on their railroads in violation of the in- terstate commerce law. For years they have unlawfuly monopolized interstate commerce in violation of the Sherman antitrust law.
 Indeed, the very best excuse and ex- planation of their astonishing attitude at the Washington conference Is that, hav- Ing violated so many laws for so long and so many times, they might rightfully think they were wholly immune from either punishment or reproach.
 Enraged at Unlonism.
 It is sometimes urged in extenuation of the coal operators foolishly offensive tone at the conference that they were enraged at the recognition of labor un- ions and the presence by invitation of their representative If that be so, they must be as blind to the salient facts of the area they are living in as they are oblivious of legal obligations
 ''In these days of combination by capi- tai on a scale and to an extent as start ling as 1t is unprecedented, can they pos sibly imagine that labor is to be denied an equivalent right of combination? If they do it is only another instance of