The Goldfield news and weekly tribune. [volume], November 16, 1918, Page 4, Image 4

About The Goldfield news and weekly tribune. [volume] (Goldfield, Nev.) 1911-1947

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THE GOLDFIELD NEWS
AND WKEKLY TRIBUNE
ISSUED EVERY SATURDAY BY
THE TRIBUNE PRINTING COMPANY
V. L. RICKETTS. . President tnd Manager
Subscription Rate*
One Year ..$6.0#Three Month* .|1.25
Six Month* "..— 2.60 Single Copies --10
When Paid in Advance
One Year __f 3.60 Six Months ..-**00
Address aU Communications to..The Tribune Printing Company
Entered at the Goldfield Post Office for transmission through the
Basils at second-class rates. April 8, 1911. _
THE CASE OF VICTOR BERGER
The ease of Victor L. Berger, elected to congress last
week with two indictments for sedition hanging over him, is
likely to attract the attention of the country when the next
congress meets, especially if these indictments shall not have
been finally passed upon by the courts. The Tribune is not
advised as to the language of the indictments, but assumes the
charges are similar to those under which Eugene Debs was
recently convicted, and that they are based largely upon the
latest socialist platform, for which Debs and Berger stood as
sponsors. The federal court at Cleveland held that the lan
guage of this platform was seditious and Debs was convicted
and sentenced and now awaits the action of the circuit (ourt
on his appeal.
# * *
Berger has served at least two terms in congress, repre
senting a district in Milwaukee populated largely by those of
foreign birth or descent. Berger was born in Austria, .edu
cated there and is said to he of German blood, as the dominat
ing element of Austria is. According to his biography appear
ing in the Congressional Directory his family came to Amer
ica after financial reverses in Austria. For many years he
was the editor of a German-language newspaper in Milwau
kee and was secretary for America of the International Social
ist Bureau at Brussels. He has long been under suspicion in
connection with Germany’s espionage and propaganda system
that has sought to weaken where it could not control. And if
Germany lmd her agents holding seats in the British parlia
ment why not in the American congress? In any event he has
played the kaiser’s game as industriously and consistently as
Lenine and Trotzky, even if he hasn’t achieved as much.
* * *
Berger was the first socialist elected to the congress of
the United States. In the election last week he received
about 18,000 votes out of a total of approximately 42,000, there
being three candidates.
*. * *
Now, assuming that Berger made his campaign on a plat
form that the courts have already declared to be seditious,
there is a well-defined issue before congress, or will be when
he claims a seat in the legislative department of a government
tie would have surrendered to his former sovereign and that
sovereign’s allies, the emperor of Germany, the king of Bul
garia and the sultan of Turkey. Are these 18,000 people of
Milwaukee who voted for Berger on his platform entitled to a
share in a government they would have destroyed and would
destroy?
* * *
Fortunately there is a precedent for closing the doors
against Berger and sending him hack to his people and telling
them if they want representation in congress to send some
body who is eligible.
Some years ago Utah sent to congress a polygamist nam
ed Roberts. The people of Utah, when they asked admission
as a state, had given to the other states by a clause in their
state constitution, and by other assurance, a pledge that they
would no longer practice or tolerate polygamous marriage.
This had been exacted of them in the preliminary enabling
act. A protest from the gentile or non-Mormon population of
Utah followed Roberts to Washington after his election and
the whole nation watched the subsequent proceedings. Hen
derson. of Iowa, was speaker and he appointed a special or
select committee to take testimony and establish the facts.
With one exception this committee was made up entirely of
lawyers, and that exception was Charles B. Landis, of Indi
ana. a brother to the federal judge in Chicago who imposed
the twenty-nine million dollar fine on the Standard Oil com
pany about that time and who recently sentenced Haywood
and his hundred associate leaders of the I. W. W. to terms in
prison. But the committee included some of the leaders of
the American bar. Judge Day, of Ohio, soon afterward ap
pointed to the federal bench, was chairman. Littlefield, of
Maine, probably the greatest lawyer in congress at that time,
was a member.
The committee was unanimous in the view that Roberts
should not be permitted to sit as a member of the house, hut
here was another instance in which lawyers disagreed. There
was no question about the power of the house to expel a
member by a two-thirds vote, hut a majority vote would ex
clude. And would the house expel a member for an act com
mitted before he became a member and well known at the
time of his election to those who elected him? Or would the
house, on the other hand, by excluding him assume to say to
the people of Utah whom they should or should not send?
* * *
And so it became, with the committee, a question of ex
clusion or expulsion. Probably a preponderance of legal
opinion held to the theory of expulsion and opposed the
view that the house had a right to exclude. This was the
view of Littlefield and a minority of the committee, and prob
ably a majority of the lawyers of the house.
* * #
But Judge Day and a majority of the committee held that
the house had the right to exclude and reported accordingly.
Littlefield and others submitted a minority report and the de
bate that followed was a memorable one. Landis, a news
paper man and the only layman on the committee, was com
plimented by one of the best known justices of the supreme
bench on having made the best legal argument submitted in
the case, and he did it on the pledge the people of Utah had
given to the Union and his analysis of the word “marriage.”
embodied in that pledge, as defined by Webster and other lex
icographers.
And the pledge that the people of Utah gave was no more
definite or binding than the pledge that Berger gave when he
forswore allegiance to his Hapsburg sovereign and asked the
privilege of becoming a citizen of this republic.
Anyhow, when that debate closed the house declared hy its
vote that it had the right to exclude a man certified by a state
as having been elected to congress. And aside from the Rob
erts case the Tribune believes that a careful reading of the
Documentary History of the Constitution and the debates in
the constitutional convention affecting the provisions that
rppear in Section 5 of Article 1 show quite clearly that the
makers of the constitution had in mind the possibility of just
such issues as the election of Berger has raised. And they
provided in advance for their solution when they had the con
stitution declare that “each house shall be judge of the elec
tions. returns and qualifications of its own members, and a
majority of each shall constitute a quorum to do business.”
The provision Tor expulsion by a two-thirds vote occurs in
another paragraph.
* * #
Not all the people in the new states that had just broken
from the mother country were in sympathy -with the form of
j government the convention was proposing to establish and
there was prevalent a fear, clearly and distinctly voiced, that
other powers—particularly the mother country—and other
systems inimical to free government, might covertly seek rep
resentation in congress and in the executive branch of the
government with a view to its ultimate overthrow. And no
man who has read those debates will doubt what the mem
bers of that convention who afterward entered congress—as
several of them did—would have said to Victor Berger if he
had presented himself in their time under circumstances such
as surrounded his recent election.
* * *
If the facts are as we believe them to he we shall expect
to see Berger challenged and asked to stand aside when he
presents himself with the other members-elect to be sworn
in. And we expect to then see the house direct Mr. Berger
back to those people in Milwaukee who sent him. with the
message that if they want a representative in congress they
must send someone who means what he says when he swears
to support and defend the constitution and the laws of the
United States.
-O- ---
A DEBATE THAT DID NOT HAPPEN
_
Of course the election is over, but people are now receiv
!ing copies of a speech by Senator Pittman, which purports to
be a “debate” on the subject of the president’s recent appeal
for a one-party government. But the trouble with Mr. Pitt
man’s document is that it isn’t what it says it is—a debate.
The “debate,” as we all know, never took place, and Senator
Pittman’s friends, according to the Congressional Record, are
responsible for the fact that it didn’t take place.
The senator started the “debate’’ October ^8 and finished
lit, for when the other side attempted a reply there were some
j cooler heads than Pittman’s who forced an adjournment. And
day after day that adjournment was forced for the one spe
cific purpose of preventing that “debate” and without even a
pretense of any other reason. And day after day those who
wanted a real debate made the record show who forced ad
journment.
There were a lot of things Mr. Pittman and his colleagues
wanted to keep out of that debate, and out of the record, and
had reason for wanting to keep out; and they resorted to the
only way they had of keeping them out. And nobody dream
ed that even Pittman would call his slump speech, with a few
j interjections by other senators, a debate, after what followed.
There is probably not in the history of the senate another
isuch instance of a party, especially a majority party, running
from discussion, and being forced to keep up the running un
til alter the people had voted. The flight of the Huns isn’t a
circumstance in the annals of running.
If Pittman could have heard some of the things said by
men of his own party about his speech and what followed, he
[wouldn’t have reminded them of it by sending copies labeled
a “debate."
There are times when forgetfulness is a consolation.
o
K\IT WILLIAM II
Kuiser Wilhelm II is kaiser no more. In the face of de
| mands of the German people, through their representatives
i in the reichstag, he has until today gripped his throne and his
j crown with a desperation that was finally broken, no doubt,
by fear of the fate that overtook Nicholas of Russia, and from
which the kaiser's brother. Prince Henry, so narrowly escaped
hut yesterday.
In the meantime, if longevity be an object with him, he
will seek to avoid the wrath of his own people long enough to
be tried as a criminal by some court yet to he established by
the allies. And in the meantime also Focli and Haig and
I Pershing are proceeding with their work of wrecking Ger
many’s war machine, for there will be no peace conference
with any German government, no matter by whom organized
! or who may stand sponsor for it, while the German people or
the German army have guns in their hands. That is one thing
j that will not happen.
--—.— »-©—
"We are under divine protection,” the kaiser told them in
' a speech in Alsace only a few weeks ago# But they will find
| that they need something more than the divinity of the kaiser
1 when the Americans come upon them. And the Americans
i are going forward in that sector.
SOME CRIMINAL CARELESSNESS
There has been very severe and very general condemna
tion of the port authorities of the United States in connection
with the introduction and spread of the epidemic of influenza
that has already taken a heavier toll of life than any contagion
that has visited Aemrica since Columbus first set foot on
American soil. It has taken a heavier toll of American lives
than the present world war and the Spanish-American war
combined.
The disease had already taken thousands of lives in Eu
rope before it crossed the Atlantic, and its deadly character
was already known. It is pointed out that the medical rec
ords of Europe were available and that the most cursory
reading of the medical journals, without going further than
that, should have revealed to the quanantine officers that here
was a disease that called for the most rigid and exacting ap
plication of the quarantine laws.
It is plain to everyone now, and should have been plain
to our port officials and other responsible officers before the
disease reached here, that when the first ship with influenza
patients on board cast anchor at an American port that ship
was to be isolated until the slightest possibility of carrying in
fection ashore had passed. The Scientific American suggests
that “the rigid precautions that would be taken if an arriving
ship had yellow fever patients aboard should surely have been
taken in the case of this deadly scourge.” And then the editor
of that magazine adds:
“But what are the facts? Incredible as It may seem, in
fluenza cases by the score and, for all we know, by the hun
dred, were taken ashore and placed in the general wards of the
hospitals. Fellow passengers of the patients, who must in
evitably have been exposed to infection, and must many of them
have been carrying the disease, were allowed to go their several
ways throughout the land.
“Was ever official fatuity stretched to greater lengths than
this?
“When once the ship’s company had scattered, whether to
spread the infection among fellow patients in a general hospital,
or among the unsuspecting and unwarned citizens, in home, of
fice, passenger car or theater, the mischief was done.”
Goldfield has suffered but slightly so far, but that is no
reason for relaxing our vigilance. Tonopah has had twenty
nine deaths. Ten thousand preventives have been suggested,
and nobody cares how many of them you use as long as you
i comply with the regulations the authorities have prescribed.
1 And those regulations tell you to wear a mask in the presence
of others, not under your chin nor under your nose, but over
your mouth and over your nose. And while.you are observ
ing the law just keep in mind that you have a right to demand
that others observe it.
And don’t be afraid to assert your right.
The individual who hasn’t respect enough for others to
! avoid exposing them to danger hasn’t any feelings that are
worth respecting. Don’t be afraid of hurting them.
-o
DOES THIS MEAN YOU ?
If a train conductor or an engineer through carelessness
, or indifference causes death or injury he goes to jail and he
or his employer pays damages besides. If anybody through
carelessness or indifference spreads contagion he should be
held to the same accountability.
In many cities where individuals were indifferent they
have been arrested and fined. In other instances the peo
ple have taken the punishment into their own hands, and in
those cases the penalties were not limited to fines.
We have already lost more men by influenza than we
have lost by the war, and most of these losses were unneces
sary. If the editor of the Tribune felt that he had, through
carelessness or neglect, spread contagion and caused death
1 he would believe himself a murderer and properly subject to
trial as such.
"Any employer who will needlessly, or for profit, expose
his employes to contagion, is a criminal and should be treat
i ed and regarded as such. The Tribune will not ask nor
i knowingly permit any of its employes to wait upon any cus
tomer who does not comply strictly with the orders of the
| health authorities in relation to the wearing of masks, and
for their protection and that of the public it respectfully asks
that no patron enter the office without a mask properly
worn.
With a view to carrying out this policy and making it
general placards have been printed and will be supplied
without charge to any business house in Goldfield that will
display them and enforce this rule. Employes have a right
to ask and insist upon the adoption of this rule, where any
employer may be disposed to disregard it.
Observe the law and see that others do.
PEACE HEIGNS
— ■
Peace has come to the world. And wherever men are
, governed by the rule of law, there is rejoicing today. The
i brutal policy of force exemplified and intensified by a race
i that has for nearly two thousand years practiced plunder
under the doctrine that any nation has a right to what it can
lake—this policy of force which its disciples taught was be
yond all law has been beaten by the forces that rallied un
der the banners of law. And it is a peace by victory, a sur
render of the forces opposed to law.
There will be rejoicing in every home in America; there
will be joy in every home in France and Belgium and Italy
land Serbia and Roumania; there will be joy today in every
home where the lamp of civilization has been lighted. Es
pecially will there be rejoicing in those homes that have giv
j en of their husbands, their fathers, their sons and their *
; daughters to the greatest task that humanity has ever been
asked or required to assume.
-o————
-o-—
There must be some satisfaction to the French in the fact
that they are getting the Germans off their soil, not by “ne
gotiations,” but by fighting. That is the kind of a victory
that the French will forever be proudest of.