The West Virginian. [volume] (Fairmont, W. Va.) 1914-1974, 1922-05-09

OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES
sscI;asaas faIoniess and niademean-
sorrs9 All $crimes Wfich ara punish
q ble by death Or fmprisonmentsin
THE speni tentiary at hard labor are are
fe1onies and all lesser crimes are
mfsd emeanor6.
e.There IS no time limit for the
$prosecutin OF felony cases except
"a election cases where the limit
las one year and Al forgery cases
where the limit is three years. -
misdemeanor must be brought to
the attention Of the grand jury
within one year, except petty lar,
ceny cases which must be prose
cuted within three years.
Jealous of Human Life.
1.-THE law is very jealous OF hu-
man life. It throws around the IN
dividua1 every safeguard possible.
In some countries citizens exist
only for the benefit of the state:
They are trained and educated to
be soldiers. In time they are
IN our country things are diff
ferent. The state exists for the
benefit Of the individual. We fos-
ter laws best fitted to aid citizens
to obtain property, to procure the
3nroper education, to build home,
to raise children as they should be
raised. Those are the things
which are calculated to give to tht.
citizens the best things OF life:
THE law drops about every citl-
zen an arm OF safety. Even a muir
de.e-an accused man against
whom every hand is turned--is Pre-
tected when the mob, would seize
and kill him. The law steps In and
says:
"Let that man be held Tor the
grand iury's Investigation.
after the man has been found
guilty he is given another hearing.
The law does not act in malice.
The law is memorable. Z crime rim
has been committed, it must o g
punished. but only after proper
trial and procedure has been had.
The ku klux Khan.
sThere is o growing tendency to
organize bands of men who usurp
the powers of the government and
who take away the power OF the
law The-es is no place in this
country for. such an organization
as the Ku K1ux Khan or any band
of men who array themselves IN
masks They can wear masks for
only one Of two reasons: to hide
their cowardice or to hide their
vil1ainy,.
II hope that there will be no
such organization here. e there
: is one. even If no crime has been
committed, return an Indictment
against the members or ofhcers
and they will be punished for
maintaining such an organization.
There may be cases of murder
come before you. There are other
kinds OF ~ urder than lying in wait
for a man and Staying him. IL a
person destroys a life that is in
the womb it Is abortion II the
baby is born alive and is made
away with by the mother It IS
murder, Just the same as il one OF
you gentlemen had seized a#Wea-
pom and slain it.
Mentions Strike
I've are going through a very
delicate situation right now in this
country: Six hundred thousands
of men are out of employment. In
other words, the great coal indus
try, which is the basic industry OF
this county. is tied up, and the
workmen are out on a strike
L
far as I know there have been no
violations Of the law by those who
are on a strike but that those who
are leading the strike have been
careful and di1igent to instruct
those under them to obey the law
in all respects, to conduct them
selves as law-abfding manner.
II hope this condition will con-
tinue to exist. It is a dangerous
situation with which we are con-
frcnted and it is hard to draw the
line where lawlessness begins and
ends.
ut is no offense against the law
for body Of len to meet togeth-$
er, discuss matters and march, il
they so desire. But If they march
to a certain point and there assault
another man and attempt to make
him quit work. then not. only the
man making the assault would be
guilty Of the charge but also every
man with him.
II think it is entirely proper to
say also in this connection that.
while this strike will unquestion-
ably, be settled some time in an
amicable manner, I do hope, gen
tIemen, that the time VIII soon
come when we will no longer need
to resort to strikes or walk-outs to
settle our industrial differences.
Justifiable in Past
There have been times in the
past that employers, by reason of
their greed and avarice, have ex-
plotted labor and made it necessary
for labor to organize in order to.
protect itself.
THAT organization has succeed
ed in a great many ways in i'm
proving the condition of labor,
bringing about better hours and OBJ
tanning equitable compensation.
But it has proceeded to the point
now where, regardless of the equity
or the justice of demands, business
can be tied up by striking groups.
mr.. Gompers is quoted as hav-
ing recently said that if Mr. Lewis