page 2 1 G6 Nebraska.
lion can be restored. Consequently lie dees not demand the removal
of special privileges. lie favors government interference at all
points and gives the opponents of rate regulation a strong argu
ment, lie would even regulate insurance by means of a federal
bureau.
The opposing theory of government intervention can be stated
briefly. Let the government withdraw the special privileges that
foster the trusts. Let the government own the railways as the only
means' of preventing discrimination. Let the government control
commerce in such a manner as to prevent monopolies and thereby to
destroy the trusts. ,
)t vt & v8 ',',, i j i '
KEEPING UP THE FARCE ' 1 - ? , j ' i
The removal of United States Marshal T. L. Matthews because
he failed tp keep under surveillance Comstock" and Richards, the
cattlemen who were sentenced to his' custody for six hours, is silly
and childish. Marshal Matthews rightly interpreted the sentence
of 'the court as a virtual acquittal' and he promptly turned over
I ho stockmen to the custody of their dttonieit Tic , yed .ihri' .spirit,
if not the letter of the sentence, and htvklfew that he was exacted
to obey rather in the spirit than in the letter, lie, was simply
carrying out the court's design. Judge Hunger, who sentenced
the stockmen, doubtless approves the conduct of Marshal Mat
thews. . . '
President Roosevelt and Attorney General Moody dismissed the
marshal in a spirit of pique and spite. After carefully investigat
ing the case, Attorney General Moody found a scapegoat. He as
certained Jihat Marshal Matthews had not strictly carried out the
farcical order of tho court. Then the thunderbolt of the adminis
tration was launched upon the luckless head of the marshal. "
President Roosevelt and the attorney general have really set
an example of disrespect to the court. They knew, as everyone at all
acquainted with the circumstances knew, that Marshal Matthews
was doing precisely what ho believed the court wished him to do!
Had he obeyed the court literally he would have excited wonder.
The court had practically ordered Comstock and Richards to be
released from custody and the marshal tried to obey the order.
The; fact that the administration was not able to discipline a
federal judge serving a life term should have prompted them to be
lenient with an officer of the court who was jn no way. to blame
for tie court's laxity. The administration's disapproval was just, '
but it has found expression in a most ridiculous fashion. '
i & st
IN DESPOTIC COLORADO
"So far as I aru "concerned, if the court please, I am unwilling to be
uounu uy sucn a system, ana, tnereiore, it no other result is to come from
these preceedings beyond my own punishment, then by the arousing of the
public to the danger of such a power in the hands of any body of men, a
great good will have been accomplished; more, perhaps than is necessary
to compensate for what I may suffer t and I only desire to say, further be
fore I sit down, that no matter what penalty the court may inflict, from this
time forward I will devote myself by constitutional amendment if neces
sary, and by the decisions of the court it has become necessary to deprive
every man and every body of men of such tyrannical power, of such unjust
and dangerous prerogative, of the ability to say to publishers of newspapers:
While about everybody else you may speak the truth, no matter what our
offenses may be, you speak the truth with the open door of the Jail staring
you in the face, or the depletion of what you may possess of this world's
goods, and probably, of both. If the court pleases, I am now ready to
receive the judgment of the court."
These eloquent words were uttered by Senator Patterson of Colo
rado when asked whether ho had anything to say why sentence
should not bo pronounced upon him for contempt of court. Re
spectfully but forcefully one of Colorado's best men called atten
tion not only to the corruption of Colorado's supreme court but
to the growing disgrace of Colorado as a state, "
There has Inn something seriously tho matter with Colorado
for many years, but it is only within the last live or six years that
its tness for statehood has appeared to be a question. Justice
long ago fled from Colorado in despair and left not even her broken
scales behind. The rule of the strong and the tyranny of tho cruel
have attainted the name of Colorado with an indelible infamy. Not
even in tho Philippines have the lx'st and bravest suffered so much
from flaunting injustice.
Whilo states and cities, east and west, an? awakening under
less intolerable wrongs, Colorado yet ideep. How long will tho
people of that common wealth permit a reign of ezariiu to impair
I heir rich inheritance of lilicrtvi
Senator Patterson's ofTene lav in tho fact that in hU news
wiper, by word and cartoon, he told the truth concerning Colorado
Mtpreuu mtirt. Slung by the revelition of their ill deed1, they
eifed the brave and honest "nutter for eoitteiitpt. Senator Patter
Independent December 14, 1905
son demanded a trial by. jury, but the court, fearing the . proofs
ho promised to produce, sentenced him without a hearing.
The senator was lined $1,000. He has secured a suspension for
sixty days and -has appealed to the United States supreme court,
but it is unlikely that the federal court can take cognizance of the
case, inasmuch as this would probably be stretching its jurisdiction
too far. .
In his message to congress President Iloosevelt makes a rather
vague reference to the injunction power of our courts, but it is evi
dent that he believes the power should not be taken away nor even
materially modified. .The people, however, look upon the injunc
tion as a growing evil in the hands of tyranny. Government by in
junction is still an. issue of vast importance. Akin to the legal
lawlessness of the practically unlimited injunction power is the
power of the courts to sentence for contempt unrestricted by proper
safeguards of individual liberty. ' .
Nof all the blame, of course, can be laid at the door of the law.
If tho people elect bad judges they must 'expect bad decisions, but
in Colorado the people arc not wholly to blame. A reign of terror
has existed in that state so long that the people realize their weak
ness in the hands of judicial and administrative brigands. Stolen
elections have perpetuated in power a regime that does not represent
the people. V
It is time for Colorado to awake, not merely to turn, over in
sleep. In the face of such great perils there should be unanimity
among the people. They should speak in such a united chorus that
the autocrats who now rule by the triumph of injustice may be driven
in terror from the seats of power they hold as usurpers.
A i A k i FORMS OF LEGAL GRAFT ,. , ,
Representative Williams of Mississippi, democratic leader in
the house, made a strong point when he introduced an amendment
, to the canal bill providing that the $40,000,000 of government money
now on deposit with national banks bo used to pay for canal con
struction. The republican plan is to create a new debt bearing 2
per cent interest. , Each year this program will be repeated, until
tho people are harnessed with another enormous liability.
What would be said of a man who would deposit his money in
a bank without interest and who, when he needed money in his
business, would not draw on his' bank account but would borrow
money of the bank at 2 per cent. It would be, said that he was
needlessly assuming a liability that benefited. only the bank. And
yet this is the way in which our national revenues are being 'ad
ministered. In the national banks of the nation we have $40,
000,000 which could be used to build the canal or to meet other
expenses. Instead of using this money we allow the bankers to
draw interest on it and we borrow money from the bankers at in
terest to meet our obligations. ; -
. Every special privilege is a graft. The tariff is graft. The
railway rate to pay dividends on watered stock is a graft. The
banking monopoly is a graft. The nation is honeycombed with
legal graft, and it should surprise no one that a system of legal
graft has led to a system of illegal graft. The insurance official
finds it difficult to distinguish between taxing by a customs tariff
or taxing by a needlessly high insurance premium. In both cases
the beneficiary is the man or corporation possessing the power to levy
the tax. Even the common grafter who accepts bribes excuses him
self on the score that he is merely doing without legal sanction
that which the recipient of a special privilege does under the sanc
tion of law. Suppose, for example, that a legislator were per
mitted by law to accept bribes from corporations for enacting legis
lation that would rob the people for the benefit of the corporation?.
Tu that caw the legislator would be granted a special privilege to
assist eoriioralious in the commission of theft. Under tho shelter
of law he would share in the spoils, as ho now shares in the spoils
without tho law's sanction.
As long as the people permit spmal privileges they will lie
robbed. Just so long, moreover, will legal graft. le supplemented
by illegal graft or by a sjKvies of graft that the law neither con
demns nor approves. Of this tqeeies is free pa bribery. It is a
graft which the law in most states neither condemns nor approves.
Nevertheless it is a theft upon the x;ople, for its result is sneh
legislation as enmM the railways to rob the Mtp1c.
There has Ihui an awakening in the nation to tho eviU f
Mvial privileges that allow frenzied linanei rs to mine trni
funds, but of greater l iu lit to the wlmle jtcoplo wmild U nt
awakening that would destroy the Mci;tl prhihue grft whieli U
established by law. When the people are nibU-d bv their eitv f-