The labor world. [volume] (Duluth, Minn.) 1896-current, 1907-01-12

fugees, then the gaspipe men, then the
abortive vigilance committee, then a
government by the best citizens Of the
Chronicle. Why is 1t that on the eve
of election we must get a new Grand
Jury? And why must the fiery cross
traverse the whole country and must
the telegraph wires hum with the mis-
deeds Of the Union Labor people, in
say, may be indicted for getting away
with twenty-eight dollars and six
teen cents?
1--WE are suffering all this because
the Lord, thinking we were not pun
ished enough with the fire and earth
quake, had to send US a wooden In
dian candidate, ready-made by the
man who thought he could buy the
United States. and with him Grand
Jury. It Is one Of our institutions,
and one can never tell who is going
to have up before it next
Political Grand Juries.
But want to ask you, and I want
you to ask yourselves, what is this
Grand Jury? What does it mean?
"a Grand Jury in the state Of Cali
fornia means that you get sixteen men,
or eighteen, don't know which-(A
voice: 'Nineteen.' )-nineteen, Is it?
1t is worse than I thought it was-and
that you can take your choice Of the
Agnews Asylum, or the Home for the
Feeble-Minded in Glen Ellen, or from
any walk in life in which men have
made most conspicuous unsuccesses;
+ hot Alb
you put them in a box, that you lock
the doors, that you put detectives on
the stairs, and detectives under the
beds, and detectives on the roofs, de-
tectives sitting on the chimneys, and
then that you go out and you take any
poor man that you please, I don't care
who he is, you dray him in there. you
lock the doors after him, you seal
them, you put the detectives around
about them, and then you put him on
the rack. And the next morning the
young gentlemen Of the press have it
all.
Use Of Grand Jury Immoral.
Nov, I say here, with the deepest
sense of responsibility Of what I am
say1ng-1 say it here as an American
citizen-that the Grand Jury, as it is
used in California, is immoral from it's
topmost branch down to it's lowest
root. I say it is an immoral thing to
bring an indictment or charge
against any men, no matter how slight
that charge may be, without giving
that man chance to be heard in his
own behalf
What is the essence of human lib
erty? Is it not that you may defend
yourselves? In the olden times, before
there were laws and lawyers, before
there were courts and juries, every
free man carried his sword. To be
able to carry arms was the sign of a
freeman. The difference between "a
freeman and a. slave was this, that a
slave had no arms with which to de-
fend himself, while the freeman had,
and could defend himself.
When in the course of time, States
began to evolve, and it was found bet
ter to put the defense Of the citizen in
the law, to hand it over to the soldier,
or to hand it over to the policeman,
the freeman laid by his material arms,
but he held that which is greater than
pistol or saber, greater than gun or
cannon, the right to speak word in
his own behalf.
Eloquent Appeal for Liberty.
IF there be any country in the world
today where a man, no matter how
poor he is, can be. accused of crime
md is not given the right to answer
it on the spot, I say that country has
fallen from the state Of freedom. And
If In California today men are hailed
before the Grand Jury, men Of all
kinds and of all classes, If that Jury
can go down into the slums of city
If they can with their undertakes, pull
up the dregs of society, and if, on the
words Of men Infamous in business, in
famous in name, infamous in word
they can daub with dirt the fair fame
Of man ten thousand miles away
| then say to you the star that marks
California upon that flag has palee
and has lost it's luster.
! True Purpose of Grand Jury.
"Originally, the grand jury system
was system produced for the purpos,
OF revising cases in the lower courts
We have borrowed that system from
the English Jurisprudence, and Their,
the grand jury sits when the judges
are sitting in assizes. The grand jur,
there brings before it, or has brough
before it, only cases which have al
ready been passed upon in a love-
court, and in lower court where tn,
prisoner is allowed counsel, and wher,
he can confront the witnesses agains
him. The object Of the grand jur,
there Is simply to revise these cases
and If any Of them seem too trivial t,
throw them out Of court, in order t,
save the time Of the judges.
| THAT Is the object Of the grand irr,
In England. It was for that that i
was instituted. But it has been pros
tituted here in America to be VIVA
the Star Chamber was in England. an,
what the bribed Judges and the pack
! ed juries were for six hundred lon,
years in the country from which
came, the most distressful country O,
the face Of the earth, poor old Ire
land.
Star Chamber Methods,
And America was builded bv me-
who fought in England against VIVA
Is known as the Star Chamber (an