Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1913-07-01

STIRRING UP SCANDAL.

STIRRING UP SCANDAL.
EnIisntsning Comments On the Mo
Nab Case.
The Republican brush h-beaters wht
are seeking In every way to stir VI
some sort of scandal under ant
against the Wilson administration II
divert public attention from the Dem
ocratic programme in congress ant
possibly distract the Democrats from
the successful prosecution Of 1t, art
making a great to-do about the post.
ponement Of the trial Of California
eloper named Caminetti, who Is be-
ing prosecuted under the Fedora
white slave act for running away
with q girl. The eloper, abductor. OF
what not. happened to be the son Of
the new commissioner Of immigra-
ton who was being broken into hii
duties and whose inability to be al
his sons trial without inconveniencinl
the public service, was made the ex.
cuse for postponing the trial to Q
further term of court. The delay
was ordered by Attorney General
McReynolds, at the request Of Secre.
tary Of Labor Wilson. who has super
vision of the immigration interests
It Is attempted to turn the incident
against President Wilson's admin
istration as an evidence Of partisan
partiality In the enforcement Of the
laws.
We think ourselves that the attorn-
ney generals Intervention In the mat
ter was an act of bad judgment, but
President Wilson was not even per-
sonally informed Of the matter until
after 1t transpired.
I'VE have no doubt that there Is Q
large measure of cheap California
politics in the so-called white slave
scandal in which Attorney General
McReynolds had involved the Wilson
administration" says the New York
World. Continuing, the World says:
"The case itself bears no relation
to the white slave traffic that the
Federal statute was enacted to punish
Two girls eloped with two married
men and accompanied them from Cal
ifornia to Nevada To all intents and
purposes, this Is local crime, pun
ishable under state laws. The ma
tional government has nothing to dc
with 1t, except as the Mann white
slave act Is perverted to cover any
violation of the seventh command
ment in which the parties cross q
state line.
Nevertheless, the attorney gen.
erals Intervention was great blum
der, for which there Is no excuse
II he had stopped the prosecution on
the ground that 1t was the duty OF
California to punish her own scoun-
drels, he could readily have justified
his position. But to postpone a Grim
inal trial merely to accommodate de-
fendant's father who happens to be q
Federal office-holder Is a grave abuse
of official power. To be sure, Re-
publican attorneys general have done
this sort Of thing times without num-
ber, but the Democracy was not put
In charge of the government to initiate
Republican methods Of disposing
privilege.
"Mr. McReynolds merely followed
the policy of his immediate predeces-
sors, but it is a pernicious policy,
begun under Mr.. Roosevelt and de-
signed to centralize In Washington
all the machinery Of the enforcement
of the Federal laws. During the last
twelve years the attorneys general
have been making themselves uni
versal judges. juries and prosecuting
attorneys. They have ordered indict-
ments. They have ordered convict
ions. They have ordered cases dis
continued. They have ordered cases
postponed. They have ordered cases
advanced. In many instances the en-
forcement of the laws Of the United
States has been made political pro-
ceeding in which the grand jury took
orders from the district attorney, who
took orders from the attorney gen.
eral, who took orders from the pres
ident, and the power Of the national
government was swung for or against
the defendant as it happened to suit
the purposes Of the administration
That this vicious system obtained
under Republican administrations, Is
no excuse for it to continue under the
Democratic regime. President Wilson
does not hesitate to change the course
pursued by his predecessors when
ever he deems them wrong and to get
back into the right road. and the
members Of his cabinet and the
subordinates in the governments serv-
Ice generally, cannot do better than
initiate the examples set them by the
president.
President Wilson, while expressing
approval Of the attorney generals
purposes and good faith, has directed
that the trial Of the alleged white
SLAYER" be proceeded with at once,
and that special counsel be employed
to conduct the case, in place Of Nc
Nab, whose resignation he has ac-
cepted.-Columbia Record.
INSIpIoUS MAIL ORDER TRUST.
Big Houses Combining and Spreading
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