The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1904-10-23


great Roman, Cicero, what liberty
really meant, for he said that 1t
CONSISTED in the power or DONG that
which is permitted by law, ana there-
fore. shut out all usurpation ana tyr
amy. 1t is not possible to recover
peoples liberty after 1t mas oeeh
wantonly, blindly sacrlflced py parry
or a leader. The mghest lilciple S9
underlying liberty as understood ana
expounded by John Milton, the great
est of all Englshmen but one, were
what he craved for he said over two
hundred and fifty years ago-GlVe
me the liberty to know, to tnlnk, 10
believe, and to utter freely, according
to conscience, above all other iIber~
ties" And that is the precise liberty
that is sometimes endangered even py
aulOcratS on the bench called ny
courteSy-judges
That eminent German, Hon. Carl
Schurz, long resident in the United
States, ex-member of the Cabinet and
eX-U. S. Secretary, Republican tfoL,
his youth up, in a recent letter, or al
mirable precision and ability, wrote
this of his party: 1T is more and more
becoming a party owned by rich men
who want to become, through it. still
richer While many of it's leading men
treat the principles of the Declaration
of ndependence-Once it's Magma
Charta-With superciiious contempt,
as antiquated nurSery-rnymeS."
A party of that kind is a public men,
ace and antagoniZes every true prin-
ciple of liberty. 1t is a perpetual
menace to the people. Mr. SchurZ
well discerns the imperialistc ten
dency of his old party. He sees ana
notes it's infidelity to the cause of lib
erty and the safety of free Institutions
and writes with acutenesS and direct
ness:
THUS the Republican party, which
owed it's existence to its belief in the
Declaration of Independence, has be-
fore all the world hauled down that
banner of our faith and hoisted in
it's stead the flag of conquest and ar
bitrary dominion over subject popula-
tons. / am we'll aware of the philan-
thropic cloak in which this autocratic
rule is wrapped-how it is all for the
benefit of our subjects, how we intend
to make them free and rich and con-
tented, if they behave themselves. 1t
is the talk of autocrats from time i'm
memorial
History overruns with such danger
Gus examples: Hon. John Sharpe Viii
Hams, in his most noticeable speech in
Brooklyn, n. Y, said very many eX
cellent. most pointed things, but
can make room but for one or two.
He asks:
How can there. then, be any good
trusts Good monarchs there are and
have been, but good monarchies never
One-man power is essentially unjust
and iniquitous, whether abused or not
Generous and good trust magnates
there are and have been, but good
trust never. Such unlimited and
adjustable power in the hands of a
creature of the law essentially antag-
onzes free institutions and industrial
welfare. Shame shame, on the. Re
publican party. Ruling a land which
IS the home of varied industries and of
intelligent, patient. industrious work.
ing men. it has made of that land the
chief breeding place of trusts, to bind
fast the toler at one end of the indus
trial line, and to rob the consumer at
the other"
Again referring to Roosevelt's sus-
pension of law against ingrates and
offenders, Mr.. Williams asks:
What right has an executive to
suspend the operation of the law of the
land? Was it not for this that Charles
the First lost his head. and James the
Second his throne? What has an exec
alive to do lex scripta?''
1t may not be without profit and
interest perhaps to refer to the en-
croachments upon the Constitution by
L
cans. Mr.. Mckinley was Il kindly
man, a sincere Christian leader
among MethodiSts. In politics he was
intensely Republican, but was infiu-
enced at times by the trend of public
sentiment as to measures of policy.
He was an urgent extreme high pro
tective tariff advocate. The tariff
named after him is in evidence. Under
1t the baleful, grasping. unsatisfied
Trusts were nurtured He set Il very
bad example. and Roosevelt with his
characteristic bull-headedneSS fol-
lowed him, and went even beyond him.
The Republicans have very seriously
offended in violations of organic law
as is plain to observers and students.
More than sixteen years ago, Judge
Roger A. Pryor, a Virginian resident
in New York city. wrote a paper for
g leading Northern monthly, upon
|tthe serious violations Of The .Constitu-
ton that had been made since 1866, by
the Republicans. They were many
and alarming. If bad and dangerous
then, how is it now? There have been
more assaults upon fundamental Law
by the Republican party under the last
two trationS-Mc<inley and
Roosevelt's-than ever occurred in AL!
of the history of the past. The Nor
folk VirginianPilot we'll puts il in
this wise:
"a spirit not merely of reckless dis
regard, but of open contempt for the
fundamental law of the land has seized
upon the Republican party.
Its men in power have oVer-ridden
the Constitution as though it came TO
no more than the paper it was written
on.
Look at McKinley's usurpation of
power in declaring war against China,
and his hidden agreement with Eng
land that might have involved the
country in tremendous war invOlv-
ing enormous sums, and all this by
palpable usurpation of power. for the
senate was not consulted. Then recall
the Philippine conquestS, and the gov
eminent established without consult
ing the Federal Congress. And so
with Porto Rico, and so as to the
$1,000 900 of pensions added by Roose-
welt clear usurpation and wrong
for which he ought to be tried and
broken of the office he SO outrageS.
The conduct Of the Supreme Court
was unWarranted and violent in de-
claring that the people in our newly
acquired territories are without the
pale of the Constitution and may be
subjected to whatsoever Congress or
the Executive may choose to mflict, :"
to quote the Norfolk paper. That in
part in McKiniey's record as q con-
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