The independent., 1903-07-09


casm and ridicule upon it and in few
months they will have their partisan
followers declaring that they will nev-
er vote for party of that name any
more than they would now for party
called democratic or populist.
&SS&S
A CHARACTERISTIC DECISION
Commissioner Pounds opinion in the
Omaha walters case is characteristic
OF the man. Even a cursory reading
of it will show to the people of Ne
hraska the sort of man who has been
selected by the regents of the uni
versity to preside over the law school,
from which in after years will como
the future judges of Nebraska.
Down in Omaha for some months
the walters union had difficulty with
a number of the restaurants, and 1t
resorted to the practice of handing out
unfair cards." This resulted in such
loss to the restaurants attacked,
that the city council enacted an ordi-
nance ostensibly to prevent the distri-
button of circulars or hand bills upon
the streets, but in reality to cripple
the unions in their fights against their
employers.
| Under this ordinance Sid Anderson
and Si Johnson, striking walters, were
arrested and fined 81 and costs, AMI
thrown into Jail pending payment Of
| same. They invoked the writ of hao-
cas- corpus-or, rather, tried to in
| yoke it; but the judge-a republican
and a great ''frie nd Of labor"-refusec
to grant it. Then they came to the
/ supreme court.
| The supreme court, strange to say,
assigned the case for. hearing to the
department in which Commissioner
(and Dean} Pound sits as one Of
three; and TO him was assigned the
writing of the opinion. Although the
court proper, that is, Judges Sullivan,
Bolcomb and Sedgwick. presumably
decide all cases passed upon by
the commissioners, reasonable people
know that the whole system is essen
TALLY one-man in character. And on
close questions, as this doubtless is,
the personal bias of the judge or COM
missioner who writes the opinion u.s.
tally determines the whole contro-
yersy.
Naturally, one could expect nothing
else from a man of Pounds makeup.
He holds to the Hamiltonian theory
that an aristocracy must rule in order
to protect the people from themselves,
and, of course, he decided against the
striking walters. And this is what
he said:
when municipality is ex-
pressly authorized by legislation
to enact certain ordinance in
execution of the police power, such
ordinance stands Ion the same
basis as a statute, and its reason
ableness or 'nreaSo:- lbleneSS is
not a matter for the courts, except
as such question would bear upon
the constitutionality of a statute
of the same nature.
"a police regulation, obviously
intended as such, and not operat-
ing unreasonably beyond the oc-
casions of it's enactment, is not
j invalid because it may affect Incl
dentally the exercise of some right
guaranteed by the constitution.
"An ordinance making it unlaw-
full to circulate or distribute
printed or written dodgers, hand
bills or circulars upon the public
streets, alleys, sidewalks or pub
lie grounds of the municipality
does not contravene section 5.
article of the state constitution"
Let us read what section 5, article
T., of the state constitution says:
EVERY person may FREELY
speak, write, and publi S b
on all Subjects. being responsible fo-
the abuse of that liberty; and in ali
trials for libel, both civil and GRIM
ina, the truth when published with
good motives, and for iustifable ends,
shall be a sufficient defense"
Ever and always 'the dollar above
the man." When the liberty of a hu-
man being is involved, courts may
rot inquire into the "reasonableness
, or ,lnreasonablenesS" of an ordinance