The Prince George's enquirer and southern Maryland advertiser. (Upper Marlborough, Md.) 1882-1925, 1902-10-17
OLNEY ON THE STRIKE.

Secretary Of State Richard Olney said:
Il welcome the opportunity to declare
my belief not only that the Democratic
party is now heading in the right direc-
ton and is tolerably sure of ultimately
recovering its old-time ascendency. but
that this result is essen tal to the welfare
of the American people. There is one
aspect of the present situation to which
desire briefly call your attention.
"The vital principle, as well as distin
gushing merit, of our political institutions
consists in liberty regulated by law. With
the exception Of the two Cleveland adj
ministrations, the Republican party has
been in control of the national Govern
ment for period of more than 40 years.
Where it has landed US as respect liberty
1 will not now consider But where has
it landed US as respects law, which has no
right to the name unless it is the same for
the millionaire and for the beggar.
The signs of the times are that under
the regime of the Republican party and
through the national Governments 40
years of partnership with protected in
dustries We have come to pass where
public officials. as we'll as private citizens
deem themselves above the law.
Witness the Jealous haste with which
the Treasury rushes to the relief of Wall
street spectators by novel and forced
construction of the National Banking lay
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same department in its 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 coal strike. There
are those who say that as the President
disclaimed 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
functions and invested with great powers,
the Pesident is constitutional officer,
whose sphere of action is strictly limited
by law. Within that sphere he is well
nigh absolute; without, he is legally i'm
potent. When, therefore, he goes with
out the danger is that he may fail and he
defied, and that his great office may lose
prestige and power and thus be less cap
able of performing its legitimate duties.
20
representative with foreign powers. Will
it strengthen his hands that some half
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 consid-
Grafton. 1t should have been declined
courteously even if firmly.
But the opportunity to administer
snub to the President was too tempting.
Accordingly, he was not only treated as
a rash intermeddler; he was also lecture6
upon the law and facts of the case
and, to crown all, was notified that the
cause Of the trouble was lawlessness,
which he was sarcastically invited to sup
press.
"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 insis-
tent upon the suppression of lawlessness
in the mines? Why the most unblush-
ing and persistent of lawbreakers. For
years they have defied the law of Pen.
sylvania which forbids common carriers
engaging in the business of mining. For
years they have Disseminated between
customers in the freight charges of their
railroads in violation of the Interstate
Commerce law. For years they have un-
lawfully monopolized interstate com.
merce in violation of the Sherman Anti
Trust law. Indeed, the very best excuse
and explanation of their astonishing at
titude at the Washington confe. cnce is
that, having violated so many laws for so
louS anu 81 mduS LlIueS, tuSy
rightfully think they were wholly immune
from either punishment or reproach.
ut is sometimes urged in extenuation
of the coal operators foolishly offensive
tone at the conference that they were
enraged at the recognition of labor unions
and the presence by invitation Of their
representative. II that be so they must
be as blind to the salient facts of the era
they are living in as they are oblivious Of
legal obligations.
"In these DAYS Of combination by capt.
tai on scale and to an extent as startling
as it is unprecedented can they possibly
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
brought into court on claim that labor
ers ought not to be discharged because
of membership in labor union. Though
the court was Il Federal court it sat in
Pennsylvania, and tue petitioners got
nothing from that court. But what fol-
lowed? In a year or two Pennsylvania
made it a criminal offense to deprive a
man of work because he belonged to IA
labor union. In 1898 Congress not on ly
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