Free trader-journal. (Ottawa, Ill.) 1916-1920, 1919-01-21
ENFORCING THE LAWS OF
STATE AND NATION ::
By EDWARD j. BRUNDACE.
Attorney General of Illinois.

cannot be safely accomplished in a
d2y.-a people - per cent illi'erate
suddenly freed from the tyranny OF
autocracy and confronted by the
horrors of starvation cannot realize
the true meaning of liberty. To their
mistaken notion. liberty means the
right 10 take by force from those who
have with vengeance for the wrongs
of the past. the tyranny of mob rule
replacing autoCratic tyranny but with
less cOgency aud directness OF pur,
pose
We who have always enjoyed liher-
". see in this Russian maelstrom the
supremacy of the unfit and the reign
Of anarchy.
Dazed by their new freedom, dema
gogism and utopianism leads them 70
dart headlong against the basic laws
OF human existence.
Long before the time Abraham
wandered with his toCks, property
rights were recognized because they
were based upon the immutable laws
Of nature.
Idealistic diclatCrs with the support
OF the mob propose a new social
world TO be enjoyed only by those
who have toiled and who shall toll
no more The movement is interna-
tional as TO its yotaries yehemently
proclaim. In the darkness and con-
fusion OF stagnant industries, dis
banding armies and insufficient food
supplies, the movement is appealing
to the unthinking and the distressed.
in the conceit OF superior national
ism we firmly believe our shores rock
bound to such doctrines. We forget
that many OF the leaders in Russia
We're harbored and protected for 4
period in our land, only to return to
Russia with a prejudice and hatred
for America and its institutions. In
the blindness of our great hospitality
})f all lands to partake of our liberty
These restless, Disconnected ablOr.
NAL minds cannot understand or ap-
preciate a liberty which means
equal rights and equal opportunity.
Let us not be unmindful that in our
great cities are vicious elements still
,imbued with the predjudices OF the
old world, ignorant of our institutions
and ready TO follow the first dema-
gogue to assume leadership.
The bloody deeds Of an outraged
peasantry suddenly freed from arbi
trary restraint are repelleat to our
sence of justice and conception of lib
erty.-yet We need not look beyond
the confines of our own borders TO
discern how peaceful population I'M
der malicious leadership may sud
denly become q vicious mob blindly
destroying valuable property and with
bloody hands taking toll of human
lives
In the southwestern portion OF our
state lies a city almost exclusively de-
voted TO manufacturing and large in
iustrial enterprises. 1t is city
which has tolerated weak and ineffi-
cient government. By long liberation
laws were evaded and their enforce
uent uninterrupted Disrespect for
law breeds violent and East St. Louis
paid the price of its mistaken idea
of liberal government. The impor-
tation OF negroes from the south to
replace alien workmen from the Bal
kan States returning to their native
land to participate in its battles,
created a race prejudice. This pre-
judice was fOstered and encouraged
by some Of the unions in order to
discourage the migration OF negroes.
a corrupt political system played
local politics with both elements un
til finally upon this inaamable struc
.ure OF lawlessness and race hatred
II needed but a revolver in the hands
Of drunken man to start the confa
grafton.
From that incident the most dis
graceful riots ensued in which black
men were shot, mutilated and muir
iered without pity or mercy. Law.
less mobs with the torch and the
rope ran hither and thither leaving
flames and the trails of blood behind.
This was not in Russia, but in tlli-
nois--not Russian peasants but Amer
lean citizens, uncontrolled by police
and unfettered by laws In Madison
County a mob under the preteyt OF
patriotic ardor hanged a man to q
telephone pole because he was said
10 he prn-German.
In Illinois, today, local officials are
their eys TO the violation Of
aw In some counties it is iadiffer-
enee to the liquor laws. In others it
IS the prof of vice it its most Of
.ensive forms The trampling down
If the laws which are the outgrowth
1f centuries of human progress by
he uncontrolled mobs of Europe be-
cause no efficient government re-
mains to enforce those laws is far
more excusable than our weak ac
luiesence in the evasion of laws