The Conservative (Nebraska City, Neb.) 1898-1902, May 18, 1899, Page 7, Image 7

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    I
Conservative *
aiul utterly demolished the mills and
buildings aforesaid by the explosion of
the powder aforementioned.
Now the Chicago platform says , in
effect , this mob should not have been
enjoined and restrained by the courts
from perpetuating these outrages. The
parties injured , it says , should bo con
tent with prosecutions of the members
of the mob before the criminal courts
and suits against them for damages ,
and they dare appeal to the principles of
that glorious common law we inherited
from ancestors authority
our Anglo-Saxon as
ority for their appeal. To anyone who
is really versed in the principles of that
law which we brought hero from. Eng
land , and under whose benign influence
our country has grown , up to its marvel
ous state of development , such a claim
as this sounds little less than sacrilege.
That law to which they appeal , de
clares that if anyone is threatened with
an injury which is irreparable and for
which the verdict of a jury caiinot give
adequate compensation , the courts shall
interpose and prevent the person mak
ing the threat from carrying it into exe
cution. That laws cherishes the princi
ple of jury trial whenever jury trial is
appropriate and can give an injured
party adequate redress , but it just as
emphatically recognizes the principle
that some injuries cannot be compen
sated in damages , and it just as emphat
ically declares that if one of these in
juries be threatened , the courts may and
must interpose , and prevent the pro
posed malefactor from , carrying his pur
pose into execution. And what sort of
social organization can we have with
out the full and complete recognition of
this principle ? Who is going to build
up an enterprise if he be told beforehand
that such a mob as attacked the mine at
Warduer is not to be restrained and pre
vented beforehand from executing its
purpose , but he must content himself
with prosecuting the individuals com
posing it in the criminal courts or get
ting from them such damages as a jury
of themselves may award ?
It is pretty hard upon these mine-
owners at Warduer that they should
have been selected to furnish an object
lesson in "government by injunction , "
but it is most fortunate for the Ameri
can people that so glaring an object les
son in that matter should have been set
before them at this time. They can
learn from it what is in store for them
if the time-honored and essential prin
ciples of our laws are to be abandoned ,
and we are to be again committed to a
state in which might makes right , and
the mob is to have its undisputed sway.
Mr. Atkinson's pamphlet No. 8 is evi
dently the one which has stirred the cab
inet so profoundly , and led to the issue
of the order of the postmaster-general
excluding it from the mails to Manila.
It is entitled "Criminal Aggression , by
Whom Committed. " It is dated Feb
ruary 22 , with an appendix dated March
3 , 18)9. ! ) It begins with an allusion to
the phrase "criminal aggression" used
liypothetically by President McKiuloy to
describe forcible annexation of Cuba.
It then reviews President McKinloy's
speech at the Homo Market club in Bos
ton iu a temperate manner , but showing
up his inconsistencies and his frequent
changes of policy and of phraseology in
dealing with the Filipinos. After com
menting on Mr. McKinloy's frequent
"flops , " Mr. Atkinson publishes two
letters written by Consul-Geueral Pratt
of Singapore and Consul Wildman of
Hong Kong concerning their interviews
with Aguinaldo ; also the testimony of the
Rev. Clay MacCauley , a missionary , as
to the chapiter and capabilities of the
Filipinos. Mr. MacCauley says , among
other things that the most intelligent
and thoughtful soldiers and sailors in
the American army now in the Philip
pines "are increasingly opposed to the
proposition to incorporate the Philippine
people into the American body politic. "
The remainder of the pamphlet is plain
argument controverting Mr. McKiuley's
speech at the Home Market club , and a
few extracts from the speeches of Con
gressmen Henry U. Johnson and Rice
A. Pierce in the house of representatives.
We find in it nothing calculated to cause
mutiny among soldiers. It is undoubt
edly very aggravating to have one's in
consistencies set down in black and
white , as Mr. McKinley's are in this
third pamphlet , but it was an enormous
political mistake to draw attention to it
by excluding it from the mails going to
Manila. Only six thousand copies of
this pamphlet has been sent out , and
only six copies to the Philippines , but
with the advertisement thnt the post
master-general has given it , the demand
will be increased a hundred fold. The
price of the pamphlet is two dollars per
hundred copies , and Mr. Atkinson asks
for pecuniary help to pay for printing
and mailing. Address : Edward Atkin
son , Box 112 , Boston , Mass. The pam
phlet has not yet been excluded from the
mails of this country , and Mr. Atkinson
has not been arrested by any United
States marshal on a charge of high trea
son. Now York Evening Post.
THE FALL , OF A PEOPLE.
"When the common ways of man
prevailed , no longer able to abide iu the
things they had , they went astray ; and
to those who could see the truth they
appeared disgraced , having cast away
their noblest honors ; while to such as
discerned not the true blessings of life ,
at that very time they wore accounted
most fortunate and glorious , filled with
unrighteous covetousuess and power. "
This language being cited from a dis
course upon the people of the Western
world , the inquiry might be natural
whether it were Cleveland , Schurz ,
Caffery , or what other teacher of na
tional good morals , who had spoken
them ; as to the application , there could
hardly be a question. Then a fair
spirit might suggest , but is not all this
a little hasty ? Have the people been
iieard from ? Surely many voices which
might bo taken as best representing
them , have arisen to quite auother pur
pose. But let us bo right about our
quotation first.
The words are those of Plato ; they
are found near the end of an unfinished
piece , called Critias , the fable of a people
ple dwelling once in a land amid the
Western ocean ; who had enjoyed rare
favor of the gods , prosperity and peace
in their borders , endless riches of the
soil above and below , divinely appointed
leaders in their enrlier days. They had
followed these for a time , but at length
the light grew dim , the heavenly seed
corrupted , and they wont about to do as
other peoples of the world. Just here
the tale breaks off , and no result is
known that the "Atlantic"
, except people
ple perished , and almost their memory
was lost.
This year will bo observed the cen
tennial of the death of Washington ; one
of those leaders surely , and the chief of
them. Whether it be the passing of the
man or of his principles that is now to
memorize the anniversary will be the
practical issue. But it is a presage of
hope , not of fear , that we utter. The
people of this Western world have not
yet been heard from. When the mem
ory of present chieftains shall be found
deeper in their minds than Washington ,
then they may be near their fall.
There are several
TO ISKING IN more lines of railroad
T11E MONEY.
road needed in
southeastern Nebraska and also a num
ber of now industrial plants. There is
room for a railroad from Nebraska City
southwestward through a good and well-
farmed country.
There might be a large sugar beet
growing industry established in Otoo
county together with a sugar manufac
turing plant. But it takes money , cold ,
clammy , heartless cash to construct rail
roads and build factories. And to se
cure the needed capital for the purposes
afore mentioned , why not ask the
chairman of the state populist and fu
sion committee 'to appoint a delegation
of leading sixteou-to-one advocates to
invade the plutocratic jungles of the
Eastern states and ask for it on the best
security they can furnish ?
If Allen , Bryan , Clem Deavor , Uncle
Jake Wolfe and the other partisan po
tentates of fusion and confusion can not
go east and got money to bring into Ne
braska for the purposes of safe invest
ment , who can ? Who knows more about
finance , who has better facilities for lur-
I ing cash into this state ?