: Vol. XVI. ; ;.;"LINCOLyt-' NEB.; PEOEMBER "15, 1904. No. 30
' The Mirgly Prerogative Sit,or.do
. The conduct of the supreme court of
Colorado is attracting the attention
of the lawyers both in this country and
in Europe. It has appeared from time
to time in , the news dispatches that
the Colorado supreme court has con
stituted itself, as it were, a returning
board to canvass the Denver election
returns; and, connection therewith,
to ferret out and punish frauds on the
franchise. But just how the court got
into this extraordinary position is not
generally known, and should be a mat
ter of interest to all American citizens,
as it certainly is to lawyers.
: The action of the Colorado court is
only the logical outcome of the new
assuption of authority by the judges,
popularly known ' as "government by
injunction," and will end in the com
plete transformation of our govern
ment. It began with Cleveland and the
work of the courts in the Deb's case,
and has grown with what it fed upon
ever since. Sometimes it rises to a
threat against the defenses set up in
the constitution to preserve the liber
ties of the people, and sometimes de
scends to thr ridiculousas in the case
recently reported in the newspaper
where a judge issued an Injunction
against a woman to prevent her talk
ing too much.
In this Colorado case, where the su
preme court has constituted itself a
returning board, created hundreds of
offices not known to the law or the con
stitution of the state, and appointed
many men to these offices, paying them
large salaries, under the name of
watchers for the Supreme Court," the
whole thing is based on an injunc
tion. A lawyer went before the su
preme court asking an injunction and
the foiloiwng is the argument that he
made: '' ;;
"The king when his prerogatives
were assailed, could direct his chan
cellor to use any or all the machinery
of his court to protect those prerog
atives. Soothe people of Colorado, not
as a political corporation having prop
erty rights to protect, but as a political
sovereign having prerogatives to con
serve, qan come into the supreme court,
as a tribunal of original jurisdiction
invested by the constitution with the
power, among other things, to grant
injunctions, and demand an Injunction,
not for the protection of a candidate
in any property right he may have in
the office, nor for the protection ?f
state property of any kind or in any
way, nor because there is no other ade
quate relief; but solely for the con
servation of the kingly prerogatives
which American states derive from the
common law of England and iis
without regard to the fact that the
act enjoined may be a crime. Upon
the plea, then,, that the debauching and
falsification of the suffrage is de
structive of the prerogatives of the
people of a state entitled to a republi
can form of government." -
A bill in equity was presented to the
court and an injunction was' granted,
based on U.e principles set forth in
that argument. When a court in these
United States claims for Itself all the
prerogatives of an unlimited monarch
the prerogatives of a king of feudal
times it has only extended the prin
ciple of government by Injunction one
step farther. - If the principle .is right
the action of the Colorado court is
logical.
This action of the court brings un
der it and subject to its control the
co-ordinated branches of the govern
ment. It can issue injunctions com
manding the obedience of the executive
and legislative branches of the ' gov
ernment The court with its "kingly
prerogatives" will be the real govern
ment Elections will be legal formali
ties and over them the court has as
sumed absolute control. .There can be
no appeal from the supreme court. If
it sends a man to'jail without trial
by jury, fines him or imprisons him
in the penitentiary, that is final. There
is no way to escape from such a gov
ernment except by force and armed
revolution. The court will count the
ballots if another election Is held,
throw out such ballots as it pleases,
declare who i3 elected, and those so
elected will get down and lick the feet
of the power that has placed them in
office, just as men have in all ages of
the world.
This talk of armed resistance of
such a program in Colorado is the nec
essary result of such action by the su
preme court of the state. If a man
who has received on the returns of
the regular officers appointed or elect
ed to supervise elections over 10,000
majqriy can, by the action of the court
from which there is no legal and peace
ful appeal, be deprived of the office,
then as in all the ages past where such
injustice ha3 been done, there will nat
urally be an appeal to arms.
Such a result has been continually in
dicated as the outcome of "govern
ment by injunction" ever since the
courts started on that line. Every
lawyer knows that the whole proced
ure of the courts has been changed in
the last few years. Whoever heard be
for the advent of the Grover Cleve
land invasion of Chicago of a court
issuing an injunction forbidding a man
to commit a crime? The law was on
the statute book and every man was
presumed to know the law. . If he vio
lated it he could be arersted. He was
presumed to be innocent until he was
proved to"be guilty. He had a right
to a trial by jury. The court was not
allowed to say that he was guilty.
Twelve good men had to be convinced
that the man was; guilty beyond a rea
sonable -doubt. Ills punishment was
fixed within narrow limits by another
body of men the legislators.
All that, the courts changed. The
judge could make a thing a crime that
was not so declared on .the statute
books. The man could be presumed
to be a criminal before he had ever
been hauled bei'ore the court and tho
judge could issue an order forbidding
him to do certain things that had not
been made crimes by tho lawmakers.
If the man did those things, he could
be arrested without a warrant and
without an indictment and brought
before the judge. There he could be
tried by the judge without a jury and
the judge could inflict any punishment
he saw fit. No law maker had pre
scribed or limited the punishment. The
judge exercised the "prerogative of
a king" and he inflicted such punish
ment as he saw fit.
The old rule was that an injunction
could not issue where there was a
remedy at law. If a man committed
a crime there was a remedy in the
criminal law. Exercising this "pre
rogative of a king" the courts have
forbidden men to preach the" gospel,
to distribute bread to the hungry, to
walk on the public highway and now
have taken charge of the election re
turns and are counting the balloU
themselves.
If we are to have a king, let us havo
one. Do not let us have a. triumvirate
of corporation lawyers who have been
elevated to the bench assuming
"kingly prerogatives."
The situation in Colorado is only
warning of what is coming. If that
court does what the newspapers say It
intends to do, it only Dressages what
is ii. store for the people of this coun
try; submission to the "kingly pre
rogative" or armed resistance.
: "Coming events cast their shadows
lefort" '
Old Guard Populism
Editor. Independent: Today (De
cember 5) is the first anniversay of
the old guard of populism enrollment.
One year ago today . I mailed out 960
circular letters explaining the objects
of the enrollment, to a selected list of
names, and awaited results. My cash
book "shows three enrollments on -December
8, with $1.25 in contributions;
the next day seven enrolled and gave
$2.85; December 10, nineteen enrolled
and contributed $7. In one week I had
.$23.77 from fifty contributors. And so
on. I need not go all over this now,
as it was reported in detail in The In
dependent each week for many weeks.
. That -selected list , of names was not
secured by picking out the major gen
i e: als of populism. I had been for ne"r
rJyVa year keeping a list , of populists
Kwho had sufficient "spunk" to write
about populism to The Independent,
the Missouri World, the Southern Mer
cery and one or two smaller papers. I
figured that a man interested enough
to write for publication to his favorite
I paper would be interested enough to
' answer an Inquiry looking toward the
revival of his - party and that was
one time I guessed right But I included
also in the list the members of the
"Butler" national committee and I
guessed wrong that time, for very few
of them answered, and the ones who
did growled a good deal.
The printing and postage on ihat
first 960 letters cost $32. My record
shows that vhe enrollment was self
sustaining after the third week; that
is, by counting my own time as noth
ing. In other words, I could get
enough from day to day-to pay print
ing bills and buy postage stamps, if
I did all the work myself; but I never
could bring it to the point of paying
clerk, hire. Possibly, however, I was a
little too "old-maidish" about the work
it was to be a permanent record and
I wanted it well done. A cheap clerk
couldn't do the work as I thought it
ought to be done and I couldn't af
ford to hire a. competent clerk. So I
sat up nights with the Old Guard of
Populism,' adding to Ahe profits of the
Standard Oil trust.
Many of. those who sent in their
names for enrollment, and have since
done valiant service in behalf of popu
lism, never really seemed to under
stand the real object of the enrollment.
Perhaps these can better understand it
now"; when I say that the cards made
for the OM Guard of Populism now
form the backbone of. our national
committee records. I had that in mini
at the time and have, worked all along
upon the same line, with the same end
in view. . Considerable experience with
committee work, both . national and
state, had taught me that the record-
dook, sneets of paper, method of keep
ing names is a great waste of time and
energy. As soon as a new campaign
is on a new set of books, sheets and
blanks is necessary, and much time is
wasted comparing the old with the new.
In any event, considerable duplication
of names comes in perhaps "a given
populist is a member of the county
committee, of the state committee, per
haps of the national committee; he
may be a. candidate for public office;
he may even then be holding a public
office. Under the old system his name
will appear on several different sheets
or lists. Under, the card index system,
one card does the work; all his dif
ferent itles. appear on.it. . .
Up to the present time our system
of filing is as follows :
(a) Guide cards for the states, ar
ranged alphabeticany, followed by the
territories; (b) Guide cards for the
counties, arranged alphabeticalry, un
der each state; (c) individual cards for
each enrolled populist, arranged al
phabetically by surnames, under each
county. Whenever thj enrollment for
any county gets large enough to war
rant it, guide cards for the election
precincts will re inserted and the in
dividual : cirds re-arranged. Here is
where the great advantage lies in the
readjustment of the files to meet emer
gencies and permit growth. Typewrit
ten lists .will bear but little interlinea
tion, and it is always difficult to keep
any semblance of alphabetical order;
but the card ; may be arranged and re
arranged as often as necessity requires.
A little care will bring them all in
place. ' .
Upon the back of each individual's
card is noted every cent contributed by
him to the national committee, giving
date and our receipt number, if any;
also any other Important data. Where
we send . out numbered letters (and
nearly all go that way now), the num
ber is placed on the individual's card.
When hjs reply comes in, a small
check mark is made after the proper
number. , Accordingly, when the work
is all up. to date, a glance at the cards
will show wha; populists are likely to
answer Important letters and what
ones are not. It is not a matter of
guess work but of record. We know
the populists who pay no attention to
letters sent from national headquarters
and those who do and we have it all
down in "black and white," so our
sucpessors will not need to waste much
postage finding out what we have al
ready learned.
-This ' system enabled us to do a
larger amount of work with less money
than any other national, committee.
Chairman Ferriss is authority for the
statement that the socialists expended
a hundred thousand dollars and re
ceived about, six hundred thousand
votes a . cost . of over 16 cents to the
voter. The . prohibitionists expended
about 20, cents for ecch voter. And the
republicans . and . democrats each, paid
out more, than a dollar for every vote
cast for Roosevelt or Parker. Assum
ing that Watson and Tibbies received
200,000 votes (and I believe they did),
our entire campaign, including the un
paid bills at headquarters, cost Ie3S
than iy2 cents to each Voter. Mr. Wat
son's own expenses were paid by him
selfsomething like three thousand
dollars more. Hence, counting both
together, we got along with three cents,
where the socialists spent 16, the pro
hibitionists 20, and the republicans and
democrats over a dollar each.
The work of card indexing is going
right along. We have all the state and
county guide cards in place. Each card
shows the vote cast for president in
1900 and will show the vote cast in
1904, as soon as we can get. the official
returns. It will be possible then to
take up a given county, analyze the re
sult, and determine whether it is worth
while to spend much time trying, to
organize it While, we do not intend
to abandon any locality, yet our object
will be to develop most in the localities
where we can make our strength felt.
Wherever populist clubs can be organ
ized, this should b) done. But clubs
will not do well in all places, and in
these we must look after the individual
and get him enrolled at headquarters.
The church, the fraternal lodge, end
other organizations have the right-of-way
in some places to the exclusion of
the newer circles, and in these local
ities it will be difficult to make head
way with a populist club.
To keep the wortc going, we should
have something like $300 to $400 each
month for postage, printing and cleri
cal work. This is more than one or
two-or half a dozen men should be
called upon to pay; but if every popu
list who now holds one of our cum
bered envelopes would enclose a dol
lar bill to aid in the new work, we
would have plenty to clear up our old
indebtedness and keep the work going
all winter. The socialists and prohibi
tionists paid practically all, their cam
paign funds themselves; so did the
populists; but everybody was compelled
to help pay for the republican . nd
democratic campaigns, by paying trib
ute to the trusts who furnished the
cash directly. ;
Long live the Old Guard of Pouiisml
In this campaign nearly all the effec
tive work, the good, true, lasting work,
was done by those who were early to
enroll. I coujd name them by the hun
dreds, but it is not necessary now. A
year ago we started with nothing. Our
card list, when it is all aranged for the
new work, will contain nearly 30,000
names; a year from now we want it
to have at least a hundred thousand
a hundred thousand radicals who will
keep on fighting until the victory is
finally won.
L CHARLES Q. DE FRANCE.
Joliet, 111.
Watson Vole in rVew York City
Editor Independent: Watson vote in
New York city, official count, Just com
pleted, 4,910. Will write fully when en
tire state count is completed.
M. G. PALLISER.
New York, N. Y.