Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1918-11-05
TUESDAY, NOVEMBER ), 1918
Camoufiagins a Gross Outrage.

Camoufaging Gross Outrage.
II was bad enough for the Police De
partment. on Sunday last. to violently sup
press, by an arbitrary and unjust exercise
cf the presumed authority Of law, two
public meetings, duly advertised several
DAYS in aGva nee, for the consideration ot
important public questions Why the
PARTISAN representatives OF law and order,
with this public notice of the meetings Tor
their information. did not act sooner IS
rather hard to understand.
As we have said, it was bad enough Tor
official representatives Of law and order
oI the protection of person AMI property
f,om lawIess depreciation. 10 take such
,uvarranted action; but the endcavor OF
their newspaper defender, the Morning
Nous 10 Justify their action and disscmbic
the vital issues of the situation, was even
worse II was cumulative oi the best efforts
If the Bolsheviki Of Russia TO justify their
assumption of the right OF mere power 10
10 10 the excesseS Of which they have been
ruiIty thus far, and for which. thank Cod.
tLry arc soon 10 be called 10 book
The circumstances attending this out
rapeous exercise Of police power only
serve 10 render il more deserving oi severe
nd righteous condemnation, snd i :
,ight 10 refer TO the matter nov, when
<nrtion being about over PARTISAN con-
.rations do not apply L was no m
vation when the Louis y. Brandels
A. composed OF Hebrew citizens who
.. ned this organization for the purpose
,npropriatelv recognizing the honor
..y.icrred uron them by the appointment
- Hon. Louis ID Brsndels. Hebrew :"
.jgh standing and superior inteliectnai
.dtainmentS - the exalted position q
.lustirc of the Supreme Court oi ~"
United States. arranged for publIe meet
ing. last Sunday afternoon. f"r wears
meetings Of this character have been held
in Wilmington during election campaigns
a. Sunday afternoons ana evenings, with
out protest. without even question But
this ,ine. meetings Of this character were
suppressed by police power IS ruthiessiy
aY.rrsed as anv autocrauc government
Europe ever ventured upon IN suppress
ing manifestations OF public sentiment
assinst the reign OF autocracy.
It was the same in respect OF the meet
ing at the Queen Theatre, Sunday evening,
under The auspices OF the Central Labor
Union. II had been advertised IN advance,
without the slightest intlmatlon from the
Posioe that it would be suppressed.
Il also w.s arbitrarily, by the exercise OF
unvarranted police power, suppressed and
prevented
No public interest was threatened By
thnsc gatherings. Distinguished pubic
men were announced among the expected
xucAkers. Earnest, thoughtful citizens
attended in the confident expectation that
they would hear able discussions Of grave
and important public questions by men
thoroughly qualified 10 speak thereon, and
that. therefore, they would be the better
prepared to exercise the highest duties OF
citizenship m casting their ballots al to-
dave election. But they were stopped at
the doo1s by partisan mandate OF repre-
seota4av.e Of the law, which forbade them
70 0tW.
Az 70 have said, there . no apparent
justification for this arbitrary inter
frenoe with the right Of public questions
even On the Sabbath day. They have
been held right here IN the city OF Whining
ton, dunng election campaigns, for years
Why were they 20 ruthlessiy suppressed
this time? There is only one answer that
the people can comprehend partisan
reasons.
What the people think OF this repre-
beasibIe exercise of the presumed
authority of the law for partisan pur-
poses may perhaps be emphatlcaly ex-
pressed at today's voting But what will
be thought the endeavor Of the news
paper apologist OF this outrageous i'm
pusition-the Morning News-to camou-
lAee the entire proceeding and turn 1t Il
partisan ACCOUNT Of the forciblc sup
preston of the meeting arranged by the
Louis d. Brandeis Club it said not 3
word. II entirely ignored this incident
for reasons that will be readily understood
business reasons, pure and simple. IL
giving space to the ruthless and unwar
ranted interference with the meetins
arranged By the Central Labor Union al
the Queen Theatre, Sunday evening, i
endeavored TO justify the outrage-first
by alleging that the sponsors Of the meet
ing were acting without authority and die
not officially represent the Central Iabo
Union an assertion void Of the vestige o
truth-and second, By claiming that th'
proposed assemblage was in violation 0
law, and therefore was justly estopped b.
police interference
How ridiculous TINS contention Tn