The independent. [volume] (Lincoln, Neb.) 1902-1907, 1904-06-23

dence, the decision itself was rendered
some years ago, and 1t is. not unlikely
that, with the changes, since then, in
the personnel Of the court, the MAJOR
ity Of one against the tax might be
changed into favorable decision.
6. The whole trend of labor legis-
lation has been toward larger opDor-
tunity for labor-not only opportunity
to earn more money and live more
comfortably on the material plane, but.
what is of even more value, opportun-
ity to conserve the health. and to Gull
tivate the moral, intellectual and So
cial nature of the iabo-cr. It is not
claimed that diminution of the pres
ent working hours would cause under
production, and the be1ofi's to be de-
rived by labor, ani through IL hy the
whole community, froI. an cIght-hour
day are SO evident and considerable,
that opposition thereto would appear
to be akin to the short sighted policy
Of the slave-driver.
Z. Whatever the intellectual capac-
ity Of the average American jury may
be, the jury system itself has been
indicated by 600 years of history as
a principal bulwark of civil liberty.
The injnnctlOn is useful legal pro-
cess, but experience has proved what
theory teaches, that public instru-
mentality IL liable to abuse in pro-
portion as the number of its agents is
limited. The jury numbers twelve,
the judge Is single man. In obedl-
ence to the principle indicated, and
as a result of present-day imperial
istic tendencies. the injunction has
come to be used more and more to re-
press the wage-earners of this coun-
try in their legitimate efforts for
more equitable share of republican
prosperity Legal process, equipped
with rulnOus fines or Jail sentence, is
an unfortunate weapon in the hands
OF man prejudiced against the COM
mon people, and the populist manifesto
is timely protest against a growing
abuse.
8. 1t is an open secret that officials
from the highest to the lowest of any
consequence are quite systematically
supplied with railroad passes. Rail-
roads are money making concerns. and
do not curtail their revenue without
substantial prospects of reimburse
ment, and the average official is more
susceptible to the demands of graft
tude for personal favors, than to the
demands of the general interest. Much
legislation in the interest OF railroads
and to the detriment of the peoples
rights may undeniably be traced to
the pass system, and it is high time
that some effectual remedy, like that
proposed, be tried
9. OF Imperialism but little need be
said here. Imperialism, practiced by
the American government today as it
has been practiced in all history, is SO
utterly antagonistic to American prin-
ciples and policies since the founda-
ton of the government. SO largely sub
versive to the best ASPIRATIONS and de-
velopment of its victims--in a word,
SO thoroughly un-American, that its
advocacy and practice by any Ameri-
can political party, and most of all
by the party of Abraham Lincoln,
would a few years ago have been
deemed an impossibility, and is now
incomprehensible to all save those
who know the depths of infamy to
which the love of money will some
times sink it's devotess.
10. 1t is unnecessary to set forth the
very great desirability and import
ance of saving money. AS Russell
Sage once said, business success is not
after all so much determined by what
one earns as by what is saved. But
savings banks are generally limited
to the larger cities, and share with
banks in general the unreliability
which has so often swept away the
hard-earned savings of the poor Some
agency convenient to every mans
hand. providing the utmost possible
security for money deposited-the
solvency of powerful government
and insuring interest which though
small is sure-such an agency would
seem most appropriate accompans
ment to policy which. as we have SO
often heard, has of late years filed
the American laborer's purse to over
flowing. The proposed postal savings
banks appear to fulfill the require
ments of this great desideratum.
III. The eleventh plank OF the pop
ulist platform merely restates the fun