Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1904-08-17

tnem or not, ~ necomes deSlrabie$ TO
call attention to the fact that the
people, in whom all power resides,
have seen fit, through the medium of
the constitution, to limit the govern
mental powers conferred and to say
to departments created by it: "Thus
far shalt thou go and no further"
To secure the ends sought the peo-
pie have by the constitution sepa-
rated and distributed among the
three departments of government
the executive, legislative and judi
cial-certain powers, and it is the
duty of those administering each de-
partment so to act as to preserve,
rather than destroy, the potency of
the coordinate branches of the gov
ernment, and thus secure the exer-
else of all the powers conferred by
the people.
Thomas Jefferson, in letter to
William @. Jarvis, touching the per,
petuity of our institutions, written
many years after he had retired to
private life, said: sIf the three
powers of our government maintain
their mutual independence of each
other, it may last long, but not 80 if
either can assume the authority Of
the other" 1t must be confessed
that in the course of our history ex-
ecutives have employed powers not
belonging to them F; statutes have
been passed that were expressly for
bidden by the constitution and
statutes have been set aside as uncon-
stitutional when it was difficult to
point out the provisions said to be
offended against their enactment; all
this has been done with a good pur-
pose, no doubt, but in disregard,
nevertheless, of the fact that ours is
government of laws, not of men,
deriving its "'just powers from the
consent of the governed"
If we would have our government
continue during the ages to come,
for the benefit of those who shall
succeed us, we must ever be on our
guard against the danger of usurpa-
tion of that authority which resides
in the whole people, whether the
usurpation be by officials represent
ing one of the three great depart
ments of government, or by body
of men acting without commission
from the people.
1mpatience of the restraints of
law, as well as of its delays, is becom-
ing more and more manifest from
day to day. Within the past few
years many instances have been
brought to our attention where, in
different parts of our beloved coun-
try, supposed criminals have been
seized and punished bAa mob, not
withstanding the fact !, vt the con-
stitution of each State guarantees to
every person within its jurisdiction
that his life, his liberty or his prop
erty shall not be taken from him
without due process of law
In struggle between employers
and employees, dynamite is said to
have been used by the latter, result
ing in the loss of life and destruction
of property. The perpetrators OF
this offence against the laws of God
and man, and all others engaged in
the conspiracy with them, should,
after due trial and conviction, have
had meted out to them the most
rigorous punishment known to the
law. This crime, added perhaps to
others, led to the formation of com
mittee of citizens that, with the sup
port of the military authority, de-
ports from the State, without trial,
persons suspected of belonging to
the organization of which the perpe-
traitors of the dynamite outrages
we're supposed to be members. In
both cases the reign of law gave way
to the reign of force. These illus.
trations present some evidence of
the failure of the government to pro-
tect the citizen and his property,