Newspapers / The Charlotte Observer (Charlotte, … / April 14, 1907, edition 1 / Page 19
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? . : . V ih i !' - ' . i ; . I 1 1. ; t ! ' , 1 lil V 1 d 1 t . ; ; 1 . ? J , ri t lee convened in t-xu i , t i.-e t'.e breaking out of tli3 ;i ..r, end has considered acl - t s measures as they dt-emid v t the public satty or detetre. i j i l.tvr of either House, in aix r'atlon of the crisis, senii n thought of a test oath, forced i 1 the people, under terror of ex r 1. 3 of privilege, as among these .res. "Caesar Augustus sent out a ts.it all the world should t tax i he North Carolina convention 13 i to send out a decree that all the J shall be sworn. There is v'rtue In lion. Money is the sinews f war f what nation wafl ever defended by s oaths imposed on its own people out distinction, especially when the native was banishment or degrada- - , ' OFFSPRING OP FEAR. . President to Bay of this measure t la absurd and calculated to bring ale on -our legislation, and that it mecessary, and will be wholly inef--ial, if necessary, Inaimuch as a od oath is TveU understood to be no in the sight of man or his Maker, ut to characterize its more obvious nres. I am fully .pursuaded that ad, if not at home, it will be re ed as the offspring of fear. It will rgued and the hypothesis cannot stated, that a proceeding so univer unusual, so searching, so destruc j of personal freedom and dangerous Hihlic liberty, would not be resorted n a State where public scntl t was suppressed by the high hand rc) and a sense of danger had driv 6 government , to desperation. In ."sspect no measure could give great Heouragement to the enemy, and no I could mote .deeply wound the sensi V of the people of the State, or do a', more gross injustice. They have t upon the pending contest , as a in war, of nation against . nation, i d upon the frontiers by national ar- Dut you propose by this ordinance, clare It a civil, and social wen tn i no man is to do trusted in which Secrets of the right hand may be aled from the left until you have out the conscience and made ance doubly sure by a forced oath. not enough that 35,000 men, por- of them, from every country m me vi , iha flntrl ovnoslne their to the arms of the enemy, and to estllonce of camp and garrison, ana almost every family has its repre tlve there: and they have submlt- deerfully to the burdens of taxation, he privation incident to a destruc ot commerce, and have over ami this, voluntarily and cheerfully buted of their labor, their sub ie and the very comforts of their s, to give aid to your soldiers and j t their efforts that there is not lid of disloyalty to bo seen In all th-: Jt as big as a man's head; but 'the whole people, it may be with I exceptions, are pressing forward .4 noble unanimity to the establish I of our national independence. Al. Vlll not suffice. Every man must .Aged as by fire. And all for whatt eport of the committee wrorms us. f"rld the country of traitors at wno are suppuaeu iu m ew hi br, and will be discovered when by this oath. Such doctrine, Mr lent, ts the very bigotry of despo Who constituted us the , searcher xrtsr What government " ever un- :k to deal with any thing as crimes, i the over acts of its people but Vithe overt acts of its people, but i4btless republicans . In principle "S under every monaihfy In Eu and there may be monarchists In ttes uf 3 America. , btt sd long . as iemean themselves rai peaceable! .a, do not levy war against the lor. the Confederate States, nor ad o our enemies giving them aid and rt. 'they pass without molestation, e Under the protection of the con on and laws. If there be, as the tte presumes, , traitors amdng, us. iro not of my acquaintance, . nor, as I am awareXof my section. Bu er they arc treason is an offense Jown to; and denned by law, and ther crimes, la to bo dealt with ing to law. And it is quito remark hat while the committee inveigh ehemence' against the despotism ractieed by the Lincoln govern- i Maryland, they should bring for- measure equally abhorrent to in North Carolina. Sir, if such 4nrv firAvnll anA An nrnnieaoprl Jn f little moment what may be the of the present great conflict In the neld.. We shall In the end be in ent slavti, and present-the sad Ie of a Htate throwing away its in a struggle to preserve them, ry imitation of the contagious ex (of an enemy , who threw away 1 o give vigor, to their efforts' for i;iugatIon. I protest against it, noss abuse, amounting in effect surpation of power as a danger vice by which -a, faction; may at pervert the government and ate it into an oligarchy. I protest it in the nama of religious free r.d domestic quint and the name x. civil liberty which s our birth and has been the Inheritance of cestors for eight hundred vears st against It as a weak and futile i of defence, calculated only to en- the enemy, weaken ourselves i bring - our legislation Into rldl d desrespect at home and abroad, i-de our citizens in their own -an an officious intermeddling e province of the Congress of thr ra.te States-as a libel upon the vve -.represent, whose noble alac itience. perseverance, self-danis iV?ryMn this contest deservo al,' iVVhereas, the statute book, in the i times, and much more In th ! i , In .til historical interpretation construed to imply an imputa-'wkle-epread disaffection, I protest ; it, flnnlly, ; as an imitation o n despotism, outstripping its no other State- of the South hav oeiveif such an idea, though stalks In erms, - . 1 ''CEDENTS DANGEROUS. ' committee plants' Itself on W '.in an. act of the General As ' of 177f. and says all 'the-materia) f this ordinance are copied from t., Precedents - in the pleadings W tire said to tie dangerous things. f(ics rot know - how to 111 up . and -statuary precedents, ar CalliNe and deceptive as guides foundings of historical facts istinguisii former times from ou- t me Inquire of the committee, ,-halnnan holds ' a high Judlcia whether. this, ord'nnnoe does not nc the bill of rights and con- the particulars 1 have enu , and if It dop, whether a slml Pissed tin 1777. by the Gcneml v. d?d n-t cjually contravene h!tr-an act of the General As , s come In conflict with the tn, which Is ta giv way? Ht i.l to answer, the act of As io course. But it was- not so .d m lji. Th opinion seems to vailed then,-and for years after hat the General Assembly-'was ,nte; -t w-tbr British- Parliament; i la 1(M, the courts of Justice ui net of tho , Legislature to be cit onal, it produced a great the minds of highly, Intelligent : net of .1777. which nderook u freemen who were inhabitants late at the adoption ot the Con or to deprive them , of the right If they rcfuRed to. take, nn ''yiicgiance, was clcarlj unconsti Vifrf fttly-. in- the points elready lnt iivamtmlnfr to take away Cf mftrnpa in th face of thf i of th? constltu'Jon "-denlarintf . ffc;ncn ;i,vwirot ige;-tph(j en inhabitants a certain ' tlm" I putllc taxps, Khnll exerclso it! ''.nsf- I he -"i-,'Hit;'o-.:)i ucu,-,.r, i , : ! ;l I t 'I l 1 I V .1 I I - - ; . .-. n C I if j 11 f 1 1 ,!:.--'-' . ( ! :--,-!,' . IT! fl 1 " 1 1 - t t, 1 1 1 1 l C ,rlbi i III1 irsfarciii s in tne pr,U;c paocrs of his county, vlicli is cue cf his-'torleal re nown; has he ever fount", sucrt a boolv? Have you, sir, or any other gentleman here? One or two conclusions is certain. Either that there was no general attempt to exact such an oath, which is tha more probable; or. that if exacted, it had not tha least effect. For when the Brit ish invaded the State in 17S0-'S1. the To ries rose in those sections where they were known to be in the outset of the war, and In no. other. The act was, therefore, .as characterized by the gen tleman from Richmond, Mr. Leake, trutura fulmen. producing no efficacious result. With the men of 1776-7, there was a total change of government, and of the administraticn of government. With them "old things had passed away, and all things had become- new." There was no general government on which to rely for general defence and welfare. The States were united only by certain articles of association. And in North Carolina a State government Just form ed,, with no laws or officers to adminis ter! them, except what they enacted and: appointed in the pressure of the emergency, waB their sole reliance In general and domestic concerns. fThey had to provide for treason, sedition, and every crime in the calendar, and it Is lu a. statue concerning treason that the committee has found the model of this ordinance. Now, sir. If so much weight is -due to a orecedenL why not re-enact the whole statute, that part which re lates to treason as well as misprison of treason nnd test oaths? That is the or.ly ' part of the statute that we have heard of toeing put Into execution. The, Tory colonel, Bryan, was tried for treat son, and convicted. I presume, "under this statute. But he Had a trial by due oourse of law. He was not called on to furnish evidence against himself by a test oath, and he was defended by Davie, who had slaughtered a large part of , his regiment battle,, bujt who, after the example oi John Adams in defending the British soldiers who fired on the multitude in the streets of Boston, was equally firm In asserting all his rights ot defence, as a criminal. But who ever heavi of a trial for misprison of treason or sedition, or the general enforcement of a tesi oath upon any but suspected persons? The revolution of the 20th of May last, was under wholly different circumstan ces. What our fathers did In weakness we have done In strength. In the State government, with the same constitution, the same laws, the same officers in all Its departments and ramifications, v there has been no change that would caust a- ripple -on- the aurface of the waters. The ship of State has sailed on In hei great career of justice, without reefing a sal) or changing a spar. In national affairs the difference Is still more re markable. Instead of no general govern ment, and a dependence on the discord ant legislation of thirteen States, we find a constitution of national government copied almost literally from the consti tution of the United States, ln full and vigorous operation, with aAPresldent, Congress and Judiciary defending our cause with an army, In effectiveness, 11 not in numbers, such as the populous North never poured on the Rhine or thf. Danube, or the sunny1 plains of Italy- with treason defined in the constitution! for the security of the citlsen as well as safety to the government with the pos sible power, to pass sedition and tes laws for it dofence, like as1 tha State governments, but like those governmenti abstaining from the use of them, as th cast-off paraphernalia of despotism. To think of bringing a State test oath Into play as a means of defence In such o posture of affairs, upon a precedent of an unconstitutional act of Assembly In 1777. is to my mind, as If one should propose, In the midst of rifled cannon and all the advancement and Improvement In modern warfare, to return to the bo and poisoned arrow of the savage, be cause the Aborigines had -u"sed them In the earliest wars of this continent. Let them both be consigned where they be long, to the curious investigations of the antiquarian; but let us hear no more of them in the enlightened legislation of a free people. .r , NOT ANALAGOUS CASES. Mr. President, there is one8 diversity in the two revolutions, which, whet brought to notice, .must convince al that there is the least analogy Imagin able In the two cases; and that Is in the person called, to fill ; office upon the thanae of government. Our ancestors woul as soon have thought of electing Lord North to the office of Governor as of recalling Governor JUartln or Gover nor Tryon, and of bringing over Lord Mansfield with his high, tory princlplei to their chief justiceship, as to have e pointed ' one of the late Kings' Judges Whereas our State officers, as 'we'Jiavc seen ipp"'1181 particular: Confederacy, It has been no "objection that the appointee held a similar ap pointment with a regular commission and oath of office,-- and' - received its emoluments from the Federal treasury to the last pay day,' before the Procla mation, of the 18th of April. Now. sir in the revolution of 1776, this would not have been permitted. The first persons on l whom .the act of 1777, to which the committee refers in terms of such high approbation, laid its hands and required to be sworn, were all the late offices oi the King" of Great Britain. They were put1 before the "traders who had beei making voyages to England within ter years then last past." There are manv copies of Iredell's Revlskl, stowed away In the houses" of -the- people of the coun-try;-and When they are informed that the precedent for this ordinance is to br found" there, they will brush the dust from the .old book and read It for them, selves.. And since the law is to be exe cuted so rigorously on them, they will demand to know whether you began r the beginning and cleared out all who held office under the late government; and when they are told r.o; such persons have been considered eligible to place under the new government, and no ques tions nsked. they will scout the pre cedent of 1777, and say if we are to be purged with this great oath or leave the country, those who held the, offices, and received their compensations under th old government, should take a dose that rhldabacJa ca.nn. at least before they are trusted with official power. I SPff thi?,ifih'wJlentha sub3ect 18 vlew ed in this light, that many. though they have not slept for the last year like Rln lent revolution after - all. and that ft there has, such terrible swearina-'ls not Christian-like or decent. W'fft NOT CHRISTIAN-LIKE. " Mr. President, ' the first and second sections cf this ordinance are aearoel less objectionable than what I have been considering. The report otYhJ Tcmm?" tee Informs us, that the off ences therein enumerated, and which the committee calls sedition, were In the act of im eulled misprison of treason. It la therel fore, reviving an obsolete high" crime under a new and milder name Th? American world, at least,, has made some progress as to these crimes oi Leae Majesty, treason, misprison ol treason, etc., since 1777. If was a great point gained Jor human life and liberty that in the Federal constitution of 1787 trenson was defined to consist only In levying war against . tho United States or in adhering to their enemies, giving thtmald and comfort; a provision that has been literally copied in the consti tution of the Confcrerate 8tate-and bv nn ordinance of this body, into that oj that State also. , It Is enough to main the blood run cold, now to review the history of what were at different times denominated and adjudged ' treason , In England and to remember what hecta rombs of human victims the nuctuatin state of the law. and Its pliant and cor ritpt'admtntstratlon, to favor the . view of tbc reigning sovereign or cf his min-Ir.r.s.-' carried to the scaffold anl th r'l'-t. An etrordIniry lr?:'.r,.w I nn I v I r. i t I T W i Ct l. 1 V I I. 1 t TMt'.u-e craves "To prevent , 1 i hi 1 i lri i t . a- 3 c . 1 'i 1 u', 1 i i i ii o iv o nsanv i-iaoint tl o pi -s 1 itj of t.w calamitirs which re.euit from thr extension of treason to offences of minor importance, (says Chief Justice Mar shall,) that great fundamental law which defines and lhnlts the various depart ments of our government, has given a rule cn the subject both to the Legisla ture and the courts of America, which neither can be perrnitted to transcend.' With this limitation upon charges of tteason, and the experience of that rational freedom established by the con stitution of the State, came more liber al views in relation to the Interior crimes of its class. Misprison of treason has entirely disappeared from the statute 'books of the State. It is found in that of the United States, covering only t single offence, according to its literal meaning, that of concealing and not dis closing and making known to the public authorities, the commission of any trea son that may come to the knowledge of the person charged. Sedition is found in our Revised Code, aB the heading of a particular offence, . that of exciting slaves to insurrection. In this connection. It is a salutary part ot our law accord ing with public sentiment, and can . be executed with effect wherever ah offend er may be found. This was abundantly proved In the case of Daniel Worth, and of others. This law applies to at tempts to excite rebellion In a degraded caste In our society, wholly devoid of all political power. . v . ; . HONOR OF FREEMEN. ' - But among freemen, - every one of whom is equal, in consultation and at the ballot-box. If restraints upon the . free dom of speech' and of the press may b Imposed, beyond those provided by thr common law, It has never been found necessary to call them into operation heretofore. , There seems to have been a general acqulescene In the doctrines ef Jefferson In his Inaugural . address. "If there be any among us who would wish to dissolve this Union (Confederacy) or to change its republican form, let them stand undisturbed as monuments , ot the saiety with which error of opinion may be tolerated, where reason Is left free to combat It" I have myself been ac customed to associate statutes of sedi tion with those indictments for seditious libel, where there were attempts to screen corruption, imbecility, , favorit ism, and the insolence of office, by" crim inal prosecutions against persons who exposed them, and when the gallantry ot Ersklne, Curran, and other advocates at the English and Irish bar won immor tal names In wrestling with a domi neering and subservient bench, v that never forgot . thehand that -elevated it above the people, nor its favorites, and prevailing In the contest. I have been accustomed to look upon them as bring lng 4nto active employment, if not pro ducing, a vile race of parasites and sycophants, Titus Oateses, Bedloes, etc.. thronging the gates of office and patron age, in the character of spies and in formers, ready ' to discover Meal-tub plots and Rye-house plots of the mos direful import, and to accuse any man, whom it might be desirable to hunt dowt and destroy, t You propose by the first section of this ordinance, tro create nine Indictable offences, every one of which Is described In a manner so loose and undefined, as to hold out the greatest temptations to-' malignant accusers, and to produce neighborhood strifes without end. I shall ; not detain the convention by a recital of them. Their, counterpart amy d touna in tne misprisons against tho King's person and government, which Blackstone says may be' "by speaking ot writing against them. curalne ior within? him 111, giving out scandalous -stories concerning mm, or doing, anything that may tend to lessen him In the esteem of his subjects; may weaken his gov ernment, or may raise-jealousies hAfwf,s him and his people." Under this It has oeen at amerent times held indictable, to say of the King, that he had a cold. t a. time wnen nis services were impor tant in Hhe field-also, to say of him falsely, that he labored under mental de rangementor to drink to the pious memory of a traitor, or for a clergyman to absolve persons at the gallows whe there persist in the treasons for which they die, etc. 4. Black Com. 123. Sir, tlit whole doctrine is unsuited to our free institutions. It is founded or. the suppo sition, that force, compulsion." Is tho only means of upholding government, even tt excite love for it-and that public opin ion is nothing and must be subordinated by It, We have sufficient law now to af ford all the security needed, if, as no one iicubt5. t:nfclic sentiment is with us, and will enable us to enforce It and if It Is not, n new statutory .enactment will be enforced. The common - law of riot, rout, un'aw i ul assembly, and conspiracy enable you to take hold of any parties whose guili may be dangerous; an-l tl.e doctrine of seditious libel . is the same tiow that It was In 1S02 when Harrv Crosswell was convicted of a libel on resident Jetlerson-r-except v that the truth of the matter published Is a de fence. Over , and above - this, every sec tion of the ; State .Is -accessible on brief notice by railroac. and the mUitary pow er may be x cited with effect on the first appearance of insurrection. .,, CENTRALIZATION WRONG. ' i But, sir," the whole sqope of this ordi nance is to give proper defence and pro tection to the Confederate States. There ?.re ' expletives thrown in, m which the State Is mentioned, but they , seem only uesigned to till out a sentence, and give roundness to a period.! Now what business is t of ours to pass-a. law to punish sedition against the Confederate States any more than to punish the rob bery of Its treasury or postoff ice, or pi racy against its ships on .the sea? It there is to bo such a crime as sedition against any government, ought it not to be a general crime, punishable In Vir ginia Tennessee, Kentucky and other States? And has not that "government a -Congress now in session for the third or fourth time?; Is is supposed that we are wiser than they, and are to usurp their lunctions? If that Congress has the same propensity to copy that - prevails here, they need only turn to tho admin istration of the elder Adams, and to .re enact the sedition law of thajr day,. re-, ferred to by the gentleman from Rich mond, (Mr. Leake.) It is a very well drawn statute, much bettor than this ordinance. I say that without disrespect to the committee,, for. toey only profess to copy from the act ot 177. The gentle man from Richmond. m.i.lv a slight er ror in supposing thlsVas thesame with the sedition law oi ... infinitely worse. Judge ChaBe had decided and cor rtctly too, that bo:e s t,w ol he United States except what was enact ed by statute, and lunfor-j Must there was no law of libel to protect its offi cers from the President downward against any defamation whatever. The act was consequently passed to punish by indictment libellous publications e gainst them, which would be indictable If made against other persons by the common law allowing, h however, ' the truth to be given In evidence as a de fence. Yet, so distasteful was it to the public mind, and so odious did it rendei (ts authors, that after a lapse of half a century, when all other party issues oi hat time are forgotten, It still remain? in public recollection. But as a restric tion, on liberty, the liberty of the press and of speech, it was .as nothing cotnp pared with thisact, which has, been fx-i humed from tho oblivion In which It has lain for 80-odd years, and which it is pro posed to revivify Just as It . was on the day of Its first enactment At the time the doctrine prevailed here as well us In tho mother country, of "the,greater the truth the greater the libel." So that 1. any man "shall publish and spduk: delib erately or write against our publlo de fence," (this 1 one of the offences 1 creates) no matter how true may he the words written or spoken, jTi-h n tha" -ommwiing- genera! fed ' Inloriiutily' from a field of tattle, when victory was within his grasp, or thrft from hist Inci.m r,pf,.nf.y ),e sacrificed half l:- cm-i t f - ii,- ' . . r . i). . . LlzlA 1 heir I'M: y Meal Tlu-.'r Tl. . Do r t i.-i- by j m:s S. JI CAKTIIY. our i i . from tin in Mayir.T our 1. ; v . j : f t: T.r,l cut :" r so v ale, sc!;: o : ' :t Out. t: l t : f. i ourselves c" InwitaUy do It part of dclud- Washinton, April 12. In discuss ing the political situation recently Hon. Grover Cleveland, twice Presi dent of the United States, referred to tho peculiar situation .in which both the great political paries find them selves. Ho hes a keen realization of the truth that a political party implies a political policy, and that a political organization without a policy for the advocacy of which It exists is in no pro-per eense a political-party. Mjr Cleveland appears to be conscious of the political anarchy of the day and sollcious that some line of political re crystalization - be found. He 6trongly. advocates the malting tariff reform as the paramount issue by the Democrat ic party. - Referring to the Democratic- out look, Mr. Cleveland said; "It behooves Democrats to lose no time in bringing to the front the Is sue of tariff reform and in focusing tha attention of the country upon it. Tariff reform is the issue that will clarify the atmosphere, solidify the friends of Democracy and bring vic tory tosthe party. ; , A FUNDAMENTAL TRUTH. "I -cannot believe that it is because the refomx of the tariff, has been a special Interest of "my own IKelong thought and conviction that I deem it the reform the Democracy must force. Nor do I hold thte opinion because we have won our victories in so large a degree upon Its merits. "I hold the mater of the reform or the tariff to be absolutely fundament ial. This Question of the trusts is en tirely dependent upon it.lt cannot ever de denied, and It should never be tor gotten, that the tariff is the father of the trusts. In it all forms ox coio rate injustice find their origin and their refuge. If the country is inter ested in securing . to. every . man an equal choice, let it guarantee hlms-flrst such rights as. for instance, the right of irmrchasinr aa American-made ar tide as cheaply as It can be purehased bye foreigner abroad. "They can never deny nor - escape from the deslre ;slgnlflcancot that fact. American goods "ar cheaper abroad than at home. It is due to talk of surplus stock and the like. The simple fact is -the tariff puts Into the hands of corporations a powerful weapon wherewith to do Injustice to our own people. n railway Evils imaoinery. In discussing the Impulsive denun elation of supposed evils in railway management, the ex-President spoke as ionows: "There is much of the natute of de lirium in the popular out cry against rajiroaa corporations, for rinstance. We shall all be ashamed of it by and by. I dare say I have Bome reason to know of the rear iniquities of corporations. and I do know them, but there Is much that is not only groundless, but wrong, in the offhand attacks made on the railroads by thoughtless people on a 11 .''hands. ( s What is well founded In them will be cured, , but the craze of denunciation will soon pass. We shall reflect that railroads are vitally relat ed to i our prosperity, and : to - attack them needlessly is to attack ourselves. It Is not the stock of soulness million aires, but the property of citizens, of widows, and orphans, whose "savings are Invested in railroads,' that Is being damaged. ; We shall recall what rail roads, have been and are still to be in the development of our country, , and this craze will pass. - "Uf course, there must be some form of governmental supervision, but it should be planned, In a quiet hour, not In one of angry excitement. - x ; ; ; popular emotions: "Popular emotions ; follow peculiar laws. The psychology . of a craze is most interesting.- The temptation is well nigh irresistible to do What we observe our neighbors do. ' If they be. egin to throw stones, we hunt for mis tsles ourselves. . , . "The railroads have had a hard tlmelately. Every man's hand is aginst them.: Wherever a railroad head is to be seen it is safe and amusing to hit it; Its owner has no frienda There are some pretty big difficulties before rail road managers Just now. Before long we shall have a crop to move under perplexities greater than those of last year. And the incraslng production of the country will increasingly embarr ass , the railroads. But Ihave faith to believe that wherever a thing must be done American wit and pluck will And ; a way to do it especially if there is any profit in it," .added Mr. Cleveland i with a smile. ' ','We should help and not hinder. I have -observed those passionate out bursts during a life t three-score years and ten. I trust I have a fitting appreciation qf the Justice which lies beneath the present popular clamor against corporations, and especially railroad corporations, but : i oeiieve that as a frenzy it will pass, and that the people will demand of the party to which they give their suffrage the enunciation of a principle rather than the denunciation of a condition. NO FRIED OP CORPORATIONS. "Doubtless the questions which the press keeps so persistently, before the public attention and In which there la indeed keen public interest are urgent and important. They must he met and solved. They i will be solved by com mon sense and Justice. , I am i no friend of corporations. I am afraid I should wipe out the possibility of the exlstehce of the evil ones, but I see In the question as to whether railroad fares should be 3 cents or 2 cents a mile no great principle. ; ' ' ed folly In our corn or of the family home? "It is time to end the farce, and the conscience and brain of the nation, riow, after its century of internal de velopment, pulsing with a realizing sense of its call to a higher life, will respond depend upon it to the de mand to throw off this barbarous su perstitions of industrial Isolation and gladly, confidently take its true place in the industrial scheme of a well-ordered world. MAY STEAL OUR THUNDER. 'Soconfldent am I. for one, of the success that would follow the forcing to the front by Democrats of the tar- m-reform issue that I am disposed io predict that If we fall to do bo now our friends thd enemy will take it out or our hands before four more years have rolled by u -. --.-- - -' I am serious. The opportunities for Democratic success were never bright er, once the mind of the party is Clear as to Its mission in this supreme hour. The chances are far better than they were in 1896. There is gathering, and will still more swiftly gather, a reali zation on the part of theAmerican people of the essential iniquity of the protection by tariff fraudof the fact that it underlies most of our eco for Democrats to enter into the victo ry. for which they have so Ion fought. It wduld be sad, Indeed, to see our thunder stolen, our victory seized, by political opponents shrewd er than we in Judging of the trend of publlo sentiment". SUPERSTITIONS OF BARBERS. Left-Handed Man May Throw Whole Shop Into Disorder. Chicago Record-Herald.' 'Superstitious?, ; I - should say yes.' They won't admit it to any one except members of the oraft, but "barbers are the " most superstitious peeple in the world." : - ' The man in charge of the second chair at one of the large hotel shops stropped his razor and loquaciously continued: , "You see that new man down at the end of thchair? He ijust came to work here this morning, and he'n have a nice large can tied to his coat to-night. Why? Because he's left-handed. If he remained hero every barber in the shop would quit before hte week was out. ' "A left-handed barber Is a hoodoo to ny shop, and there's no getting - away from it. You may think that's only a prejudice that barbers have for left handed knights of the razor, but it's f well-grounded superstition, as old as the trade itself. "We'd be apt to haye all kinds of hard luck If that fellow stayed here any length of time.' 1 1 once worked in a New York shop where there was a left-handed barber, and almost every day an ac cident would happen to some ot the others. We told the proprietor where tho trouble lay, but he was not a barber and he couldn't understand what differ ence it made whether a man shaved with his right.br his left hand. ijne day a runaway horse plunged ' . :.:;:! wu.s wt u .., "if I ; i ret f:,r my.-:ci;, who will Le for i ; and if I am wholly for mvlf, -'.-.at am I? And if not now, when shall I be?'" (Pirko Aboth, Ethics of the Fathers, 1, 14.) It wa3 a conclusion similar to that contained in the latter ot these words of this wisest and gentlest of the an cient rabbis, which we reached last week. Our closing thought va3 that a purely self-regarding and self- cir cumscribed Individualism did not rep resent the highest and could not be the ultimate form of society. In fact we pointed ' to various indications which went to show that the present order of society with such an Individ ualism as Its basis was nassine: and to be exact we might have rone even farther and ventured the statement that it had long ago passed. It has been only by a lax, license of speech that men for many eneratlons past could speak of an individualistic order of society. The only true individualist at any time was the primitive man, who found and made and acquired wholly and solely by self-dependent effort, study and labor the means of subsistence for himself; and ever since his time, with the members of the race growing more and more In mutual dependence upon one another, there has been no being, save perhaps nomlc and political ills. It rema" some savage denizen of a wilderness statutes to put down Pabacy, nr uphold the prerogatives of royalty, the wsy U perfectly open to them. Hut lot' us not render ourselves a subject of merriment, by taking better care of. that govern ment than It takes of Its -lf. Let us not stigmatize our neople by sliigllnsr -them out 'as peculiar subjects for the opera tion or laws ot tnis ittna. us not give Just cause of offence to them, by nhow Inga distrust of that elevated patriot ism and unanimity with which they me sustaining their count.ryiii this her hour of trial. Let us abandon this measure as Impolitic, as It is insultjng, oppressive end unjurt.-1' ask the yens and nays on the question of Its Indefinite postpone ment. . Note, On looking Into- 4th Black Stone's Com. p. lL it will be seen that the whole Of this statute ft 1777, In rela-J tlon to a test oath and banishment, oi disfranchisement as a citizen, Is literally copied from tUa statute. f . (htrg 1st, ugalnfct Popish recunants. St that tho or fiinnnctt of the committer is Intt a copy of nn wet of 171.", applying a religious ti t to r w-t t!-it i'i th f - r through the plate glass window, and an other day a mad dog ran into the shop, followed by a policeman, who killed the lieast under. tho left-handed man's chair. Without any -.apparent - reason - the hot water faucets would get cold as Ice, aftd the rasors would refuse to work proper ly. Customers who for years had been, In the hab4t of getting shaved three or four times a week stopped coming, and it was all due to that left-handed bar ber. During all the while he was there not one of us won a bet on policy, al though the porter used to dream some of the best numbers I ever saw. This fellow I speak of had red hair, and that, of course, made it worse.' We finally in duced the boss to fire him, -.and Just as soon as he was gone things began to get good again. , "Now, this - fellow on the end, who drifted in this morning, looks to be r pretty, good barber, . but Just as soon hf the bass saw him etrop a razor with his left 'mif It was al for Julius. In most shops before a new man is hired ho. Is. asked whether he is right or left-handed. -"Left-handed men wno learn' the-trade get onto this after a while, and then they switch to the right hand that is, if they can make good with the right. I'm scared to death that somebody is going to get killed around here before 6 o'clock to-night, when his 'nibs' will tike off his coat-andtake it awaydw4th- liim. -v v.-. " "Another superstition among barbers' Is that they don't want to shave the first" customer that comes In - on ' Monday morning. That's a sure sign of poor business all week for the unlucky bar ber. Of course, somebody has eot to ehave tho first man In, but you don't see the barbers rushinr madlv n to their chairs and beckoning to the cus tomer, you'll see one of them go for a drink of water, another is too busy read ing the sporting page to look up, and the others are all (doing somethlne that an. cupies their time.' Whatever chair the customer cumDs into the barber who runs it is hoodooed for the week. Anotner peculiarity about barbers Is that one of the craft can tell a fallow tradesman by shavlnc him, although he mny never unve seen tne man oefore. The way a barber lies In a chair when he Is getting shaved, and the way he unconsciously assists the man with the rosor tips him off every time.-. lie will turn his head from side to the other In a different way than other men who are not barbers, and when the razor Is on his neck he will raise his chin in a way that cannot be counterfeited. I never missed out on calling the turn on a barber In my life" v Mr. Tawncy, of Minnesota, Has a' Good Voice, Chicago Chronicle. r , - James A.. Tawney, who represents tne f irst congressional district of Minnesota, has the beat slna-ln volc in Congress a high baritone which at times sounds like a tenor. 'Only once, at the wind-up of the Fifty seventh Congress, did he give his as sembled colleagues, a specimen of his vocal ability. There was the usual din that marks the close of a session, and a lot of would-be songsters had been torturing the air with. all sorts of choruses. Then somebody started the doxology. None of the 'singers seemed able to recall the words of the fine old church song. As if in very shame for the ignorance of his col- Icabues. Mr. Tawney raised his voice. His first clear note stilled the tumult He sang the doxology as never before or since has it been heard in the halls of Congress, .Every word of the old hymn took its flight to tho uttermost part of, the great chamber. But Mr. Tawney' has resolutely refused from that day to Join in the singing in tho House.' ... Jungle, who has been as completely self-sufnclent a human unit Emerson states a truth when he writes: . " "Ail are needed by each one, Nothing is fair or good alone": and it were the veriest of common places to call to mind how much we all bear eloquent testimony in our en tire beimrs and : persons, In all that relates to our mode of life, thought and conduct, to the correctness of the statement. Here we sit and regard lng what of all there is about us, an that we have and enjoy, can we say that our own hands, singly, unaided and unsupported by any others, have acquired, contrived or accomplished it? How manv nersons air over tms fair earth, away off in China and Ja pan. the distant plains or California, or right et home on near by (farms have been emDloved - In tilling - the soli, sowln the seed, carefully tend lng and nurturing the growth of the grain and fruit, all the produce of the fields, and all In order that we might have the food of which we partook an hour or so ago when we were seat ed at our tables ? How many more persons, thousands upon thousands of others, had to go into the forests and hew down the trees dig down- into the depths of the earth and 'bring up the stores of mineral treasures hidden there, load them upon pack animals, carts and cars and vessels, trans port them across vast stretches of land and water, carry them into work shops, forges and factories, beat, smelt carve,, turn and shape them into all manner of forms and devices, in or der that we finally might have these different articles of use and ornamen tation with which, we furnish our homes?, How many further thousands have had to do with the tending of the sheep and cattle and insect larvae, stripping the skins, shearing the wool, extracting the silk, growing the flax and cotton, following these through all the different processes of prepara tion, tanning the hides, making the leather and the textile fabric, spin ning, weaving, sewing, cutting, fash ioning, fitting, in order that in the end you and I might hav these different garments with which we clad twid adorn our persons? This wealth, more over, that we nave ana can our own," those of us who are the boast ied owners of stores, warehouses and factories, mills, mines, railways and whatever else, and point with such pride to the goods with which they are stocked, the -products and the profits which come from them as our "personal acquisitions," that which we ourselves have "made," how much of that in truth represents any real ac tual "making" of our own? How little of It should, we Indeed have, - were it not ' for theN toil and industry of an -undetermined and ' Undeterminable number of other men, - not alone of those under our Immediate employ, but men whom we have never seen, scattered to the remotest ends of the earth, whose exertions In .the main have made this wealth in our hands a possibility?. . . And not aiono In this material way, are we dependent upon the efforts and achievements of other men for our possessions, but in other. In Intellect ual and spiritual ways as well. How many of us can say, that wholly un taught and undirected by "others, we have acquired whatever opinions, achieved whatever knowledge and wrought out whatever philosophy of life we claim as our own? There Is not one of us, I dare say, whose thought is not. influenced, and mightily Influ enced, by the thought of the world around us. There is not one whose boasted wisdom is not in the largest measure the borrowed wisdom of our elders, whether of our contemporaries or of the ages past , We should know very, very little, inflnltesslmally little, if all that tho previous generations of men had learned, discovered, tested and. proven, were to . be , blotted out All the men of superior mind and soui-vlslon who have seised upon and given to the world some new teaching, some new aspect of eternal, truth, have given it for all after tlm, and we fn our day and generation are do ling the only intelligent thing when w In our turn seize upon it and make it as our own. All legacies of this kind ara left in perpetuity for the race, and truthfully then may each Individual say of himself as does the poetr . Alcohol From Cactus riant. Milwaukee Sentinel. i v TTpxag'- rft-ncher are Imuch pleased with the hew donnturcd alcohol law, for it !s expected that they will be able to maker a goodly srnrr of '"money from the ctctu plant, which grows so pro lineally there," sold A, It. La Rage, ol Cincinnati. "Lnr ureas of lund in Tox-fir-1 cnw'fd wlih cict'ts, v ' h "Heir of all ages, I, Heir of all that they have wrought! All their stores of emprise high, All of their wealth of precious thought! Every golden deed of theirs Sheds Us lustre on my -way: All their labors, all their prayers, Sanctify this present day. V:o;'r:v;-.--ViT v.v;,;f Heir of all that they have earned By their passion and their tears," Heir of alt that they have learned', Through the weary, tolling years." ; But true this now is, dependent In these' manifold and far-reaching ways for so much that 'we hnvo und and ' are' and know, upon the labors and accomplishments of countless hosts of other .men both of tha pa st and thr i resort, it it n otci'.wi'j trv - la' s' If-.- i t th'3 aikir;:, There are t divisions of r the powerful c:i I poor and po? the so-called pr- recogntae no such : ligation. There are thos? " " whose theory se- property Is spoil. . that a man has, la c -any principle of r earning; that sooi. man at all a livln-r, c c ing unconditionally to man is here by sod.: Society calls no man 1 it He comes Into it w 1 without any consruVtatk t sent from it The respor; presence lies entirely e ' mediately and solely wi give him birth; and the With no terms of qualiik soever to be set thereto, me say, that. society eb nothing prlmartly to ar if any, may he charge wit a living. As for society, if time any obligation here to it. It can only be in th responding degrea that e ual separately, by persor his own, gives : to society thing to be obligated for. Then there are those, r suggested, of the- other, th the capitalistic class, wh o , any question of social . re anything due society is cor pear to hold a theory sir of the founder of the Va tunes, who expressed him? cholcene'ss of a profane e; reminded upon a certain o there was a public .outsid whom something was o are men of wealth and day, who by their actions, saying the same thing of which this grandsire of t Vanderbllts then did. The: be possessed of the idea th their .success purely end s' factor, their own astute n and enterprise of hand, thanks are due nowhere r part of it. But what a pen taken idea Is this! How v to the plainest and most facts of life, as we have There is no man, I care r capajble, energetic and t however much a master ar his craft, who is not helped what he is and achieve tho does, far more by the effort than by his own unsuppr tlons. Is it not then an act premest arrogance, of the t scionable ingratitude, Join most beggar-like pauperi wljling thus to take all t has to offer, and to recot ing as due in return? .; It is indisputable then, tempted r controversions f that served by society as ' society has the right to a in return that It. be server! ' But now, how Is this d rocal service, of a socialc to be determined and comr It be computed, as we are t to-day, by any purely moti( dards, by any standard of ; lence of compensation now Money, we say. Is the ex ken of services rendered : Rr sage of money between pa nniform indication of the passage of some service, I for-instance; was the Tiervlo transaction as that which w to light in one of our -Eas not so iong ago, when 'operator," one of-that cu! of modern commercial br; so-called "promoters," te he and a few partners asso him In the enterprise, hafi trifling 14,8,000.000 simply c motlng a certain trust The here. If any there were, s never have entitled these r Buch a - prodlgous - .arnou "made" to-day. So much " of all reasonable proporti services actually rendered, of It, and our Socialist f right at leas't here, Is pur tory, purely Bpollatlve In representing only what by stronger arm, brigand, hit like, In a position of advt? men of high finance can hold-up upon the public an stand ard deliver to them. And even where this is nr where there is a clo'ser e tlon, and even a balance of s portion and equivalence bet vices and compensation, ( can It only infrequently t that the debt of social re Is properly recognized and discharged. How, often doe that one man renders a another, which, though I full value for the reclpier compensation he gives, and gladly gives at that. yet has no such equivn' of effort and exertion t of the service? Instanc will suggest themselv where a benefit fully t with a charge paid an 1 : fully paid, yet taxes o-' - and the slightest comr the powers or the sk'Il cf t of that benefit The only t ard of valuation of pen ' spirit of a right ethics f. constrained to see, can I solely this, "the cost vr' services not to tho ren giver." And here then we fc.iv : to guide us in comput.r r Cal debt between soci dividual, the debt of f bllity. Society, even or tlly as it is now, sr short of doing an i' the tndivldual, st .1 1 ; lng S3 much for hin. l so regularly tho l r : rections of it ' which if they co- i ' however largo " achievements, still Ings" by exclu: :' 4 What else. wh U 5 ual then do, t : the utmost of f ers, la requi" " : servtct sod-' y COSt Va""!0 t ! given, i t - p(-!:--!"
The Charlotte Observer (Charlotte, N.C.)
Standardized title groups preceding, succeeding, and alternate titles together.
April 14, 1907, edition 1
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