Willmar tribune. [volume] (Willmar, Minn.) 1895-1931, 1919-12-03
0BSERV IONS
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! (Bys the Corndeld Philosopher.)
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The liberties Of people are mover
taken away or destroyed at one Tell
stroke. They go little by little. being
gradually undermined BIZ court decision
and by arbitrary assumptions of prero-
gatiye and power: The Frat. Amend
ment to the Constitution Of the United
States denies to Congress-. and incident
ally 70 any state. the right Or power TO
abridge the freedom OF speech or Of the
freely assembling together. r5I5s23z Il: =,
their work saw that they had made q
very important omission and made
haste to srectify # sthrouEh the very first
consress that sassembled.r5B But cOnstt-
tional provisions do not inforce them
selves They are simply mandatory
directions TO- Congress- and the courts.
Congress Is expected to and required
to make laws to- carry out and enforce
constitutional safeguards;s but IN this
case the matter has been wholly neg
lected. It: will not cnor cannot5be sue
| cessful1y denied that these. are highly
important provisions. Of the Constitution.
Indeed they may rightly be regarded
as OF the very highest Importance, for
II men could be summarily thrown into
Jail for anything they might print or
say that was distasteful to q fellow
! citizen or g public official; or IL anyone
! could be imprisoned for simply attend
ing a public gathering or for meeting
with two or three friends and talking
over the affairs Of the state or nation,
what rights or liberties would we have
| left that would be Of any value or could
be retained? j..
l. How can our most priceless heritage
freedom itself--be preserved or sue
! cessfully defended II any Of these great
rights are denied or even abridged
How can any giant wrong be removed or
corrected without discussion? =
We have had an object lesson herein
America that ought not to be ignored or
lost sight Of by a people who value
their liberties Everybody today will
| admit that African slavery as it once
existed in this Country was wrong And
l take 1t that there is not a community
anywhere in this broad land, so tgnor-
ant or so benighted that an "Anti Slav-
cry Agitator would be mobbed or even
-interfered with. Yet it was not always
So: Less than 60 years ago in fifteen
states Of this Union any suspected
abolition1st' was subjected to ali sorts
of insults and If he even mildly doubted
the Divinity of Slavery, his life was not
| worth a farthing. Even in the Free
States Of the North, Anti Slavery Ag1-
tators were beaten and robbed: without
mercy: Learned ministers from the pull
pits and great publicists> from the ros-
trum and in the press openly and SOL
EMMY declared that anyone who persist
ed in discussing the slavery question
should be regarded as an enemy of his
Country"
| Abraham Lincoln was the worst abus-
ed man who even ran for public Office
in: this Country, and when he was a. can
didate for President in 1860, he dare
not set foot in at least ten states of this
Union nor did man In any Of these
states dare cast vote for him on
election day. All this is a matter of
undisputed history.
And yet the essence of Slavery is or
was the assumed right Of one man to
live off of the toll of another on ac-
count of the color Of his skim" That
doctrine was finally "shot to death by
the million guns upon the cory battle
fields of the South" and it finds no ad-
men today. And all this happened less
than 50 years ago.
But there has appeared in this Coun-
| try great business interests, fostering
and protected by class legislation, en-
ploying millions of working people, that
has assumed the right to determine all
of the conditions under which these
| wages.
In addition they, through interlocking
! directorates, have sliced control of the
means and instrumentalities Of distri-
buting farm produce and take two-thirds
Of what the farmer grows. for carrying
the other third to market.
These favored classes having al
ready accumulated two-thirds of the
surplus wealth of the nation are now
DESTROYS of making it a crime for any
one to object to their absorbing the
balance. Indeed they appear to be
adopting the same tactics in some
what milder degree, that was practiced
by the old Shareholders.
Against this condition of affairs there
is a mighty nationwide protest that is
fast assuming shape and form. Organic
ed Labor Is up in arms everywhere,
and staid and conservative well-to-do
farmers have taken serious alarm in
| many sections. In former uprisings,
only the poorer classes of farmers took
active part. but in the present move
ment the financially independent farm
ers are generally the leaders. In fact
in some townships in Kandiyohi and
many other counties every single farm
owner who lives upon and operates his
|
livelihood is actively or passively en-
gagged in this work.
! To meet this spirit of unrest, the
special interests not only use the news
papers, but are endeavoring to curb and
deny the great constitutional rights of
free press, free speech and free public
assenblage through the courts. They
apparently do not dare to meet the
questions, How did you acquire your
wealth." What profit are you MAX
ing?" in the forum of open discussion.
They seem to fear the light of publ
city. But invoking prejudice, misre-
presentations and falsehoods will not
win in the battle. In the end the
American people will preserve their
constitutional rights and liberties even
though the highest courts should de-
eide as they did in the case Of the negro,
that the "toiling masses in the mines,
in the factories and upon the farms have
no rights that the big capitalists are
bound to respect"
A. l. NELSON i