The President Is Right

The fearless performance of duty by the president in such a trying emergency as the present should be commended by all good citizens. To be sure he has done nothing more than is required of him by his oath of office, but it is inspiriting to find an official, high in authority, who has the courage and firmness under the trying conditions of the present to do his whole duty. No doubt the conditions which have made necessary the calling out of the military forces of the United States have been a source of deeper regret to him than to any other citizen, because of the treraendous weight of responsibility resting upon him; and that there should be no shirking of the painful duty, is a matter for commendation. The idea that the president has taken the stand he has from autocratie motives or because he does not sympathize with labor in all its legitímate undertakings and aspirations, is preposterous. His reply to the first communication of Gov. Altgeld is convincing proof of this. He said that he was employing the federal troops to enforce the laws of the United States, upon evidence that the ordinary civil agencies for their enforcement were inadequate. It was known of all men that at the time he acted, acts of violence had been committed, United States mails had been stopped, interstate commeree blocked, injunctions of the United States courts treated with open defiance, inland comraerce loo.ted, and millions of property belonging to citizens of different states destroyed. In fact great bodies of men were in rebellion against the United States. Under such circumstances the duty of the president is plain, it is to see tnat insurrection is put down and that the laws of the United States are duly executed. This stand is not taken against honest labor but against the turbulent and criminal element which has under cover of the industrial disturbances, seized the opportunity to engage in rebellion and crime. It is the plain duty of the president, therefore, to put down the insurrection and see that the laws and authority of the United States are not denied and trampled under foot. No peaceful and law abiding citizen has anything to fear from the action of the president, in factjall acts of his thus farin the matter are in their interest. Men ot all parties, therefore, whose judgment is founded in reason will commend the president for his prompt performance of a most painful duty. He needs no defense.