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PAGE FOURTEEN
THE ANARCHISTS.
Law is the basis of society, the
foundation of the state. The social
structure stands or falls with it.
With its destruction the whole state
collapses. Thus speak the defenders
of the state, all those who have or
believe they have an interest in the
maintenance of the present order of
society. They are right. Law is the
basis of society, and upon the law
rests the structure of the state.
But a foundation must itself rest
upon solid ground. A base must
stand upon a firm substratum, a
strong, stable, immovable support,
without energy or resiliency, so that
the weight resting upon it will not
rock nor the structure tremble. This
substratum is the people, the stolid
masses, the laborers, the fourth es
tate. Upon them rests the law —the
foundation upon which society is
built. They form the ground upon
which the foundation is laid; the
more compactly the ground is com
pressed, the firmer the foundation,
the safer and more enduring the su
perstructure.
Law, the foundation of the state,
divides mankind into two quite sep
arate strata; the upper, which is
above the law; and a lower, which is
beneath the law. Those of the up
per stratum are those whom the
structure serves. They are the
property-holders who seize upon the
state, the rich for whom “I’etat
c’est moi.” Their edifice rests upon
the law; they themselves are above
the law. The lower stratum is com
posed of the great masses upen
whom the state rests, who have to
bear the weight of the law —the- mil
lions of the fourth estate, the work
ing men. They are beneath the law.
“The law is the protection of so
ciety,” say jurists and statesmen.
Protection against whom? Against
those who have nothing. It is a
protection to the rich against the
poor, a protection to the few against
the many. The rich need the law
and use it without having to feel its
weight; the poor support the law,
but cannot use it. The poor are be
neath the law, while the rich are
above it. Those who are above the
law do not bear its burden. To them
it can be no burden. They are free.
Their will is not restrained by the
law, nor are their acts circumscribed
by it. They are beyond it and above
it and have no concern with it. They
are exempt from law. They are the
anarchists.
The law commands and forbids.
Thou shalt not steal; thou shalt not
murder; thou shalt not bear false
witness —all in the categorical im
perative, which, however, only the
destitute masses must obey. For
them alone commands are made to
resist their desires and suppress
their voluntary actions; they are un
der the law. But the wealthy are
above the law; for them there is no
necessity to commit acts forbidden
by the law; their wealth removes
all motive to commit such acts, or
gives them the means of attaining
their desires without becoming amen
able to the law.
Moreover, the penalties prescribed
for the commission of forbidden acts
are for the most part of such a na
ture that they are severe punish
ment for the poor, while the rich are
WATSON’S WEEKLY JEFFERSONIAN.
quite insensible to them and are not
to be restrained by them from the
gratification of their desires. Os the
thousands of provisions that crowd
the statute books of all nations t only
a small fraction can apply to the
rich or restrain any act of theirs or
in any way restrict their freedom.
They are above the law. They are
the anarchists.
Suppose, for example, there were
a law against coughing, or its result
ant, expectorating. There is such a
law, or a similar one, actually in
force in many cities. Whoever
coughs in a public place, then, vio
lates the will of society, commits
a misdemeanor, and shall be pun
ished. This law would be appar
ently just and impartial, directed
equally against all classes. In real
ity it touches only those who must
cough, those with weak lungs who
cannot take a deep breath without
coughing; in order to live at all they
must violate the law. The healthy
whose lungs are sound need never
fear such law. They do not come
in conflict with it because they can
breathe as deeply as they please
without committing the misdemean
or of coughing.
Acts designated by the law as
crimes are, for the most part, of
such nature that those who have
nothing, the masses, the short
breathed majority, need commit
them. Often they must commit
them. These masses are always un
der the law. But the happy minori
ty, the people with full purses, are
not obliged to commit crimes in
the fulfillment of their normal, often
of their abnormal, desires, because,
with their wealth, they are not
tempted to transgress, having al
ways the means of attaining their
objects without overstepping the
bounds set by the law. This happy
minority are above and beyond the
law. They are the anarchists.
Take a few examples from life:
The millionaire and the tramp
wish to perform the same perfectly
natural act. They wish to eat. One
has an appetite; the other is hun
gry. One drives to a fashionable
club and has the best foods and the
most expensive wines set before him.
He dines and is conducted to his car
riage by a lackey. In the realiza
tion of his desire he needs to break
no law. But the tramp seizes a loaf
on its way from the baker to the
shopkeeper, is arrested and, since
he cannot pay, is taken to jail. Ir.
order to satisfy his hunger he had
to come in conflict with the law.
Mr. Parvenu would take a journey.
However far it may be, however
long it may take, his private car and
his steam yacht are ready. He can
make a journey around the world
without encountering a prohibition.
He is above the law. But the tramp
who wishes to go to the next station,
if he would ride must hide himself
in a freight car or cattle wagon, and
if he is discovered he is made to
repent his pleasure trip in jail. He
is under the law, and comes in con
flict with it the moment he attempts
to fulfill his de sire—the same desire
as Mr. Parvenu’s.
The poor expressman has his waq
on filled with other men’s goods.
Man and beast sweat under the
strain of their burden. They pro
ceed slowly and painfully. At last
the poor animal goes lame. In spite
of help from the man and of blows
from his whip the horse sinks to the
ground. A policeman seizes the
poor driver, himself almost fainting,
and drags him before a Justice whe
sends him to jail for cruelty to ani
mals. He is under the law. But a
rich railroad magnate has a horse lit
the Derby. For weeks it has been
trained. A highly paid jockey has
been ordered to overcome all- obsla
cles«and to win the prize at any
cost. The decisive moment arrives.
Rider and horse, inspired by the
desire of the owner and spurred bv
his will, fly like an arrow. The goal
is near. Suddenly the horse stum
bles, throws the rider over his head,
and with broken necks they both li«
dead. Is the owner, the magnate in
whose interest and by whose wiT
the death of both man and beast oc
curred, held responsible? No; he is
above the law.
A workman who by frugality has
saved a little money and bought a
bicycle, rides through the park fast
er than the law allows. A park po
liceman arrests him, and since he
cannot give bail, keeps him in the
police station until a
time to sentence him to pay a fine
and costs, that is to say, to so many
days in jail, for he has no money.
He is under the law. But a rich
banker scorches through the same
park in his Parisian automobile,
threatening the life of eve y pedes
trian. He is stopped by the same
policeman and taken before the
same Justice, bat not for a mom- ut
is he deprived of his freedojn. The
maximum fine is no punishment, and
can in no wise serve to restrain l”m
from committing the same offense
in future. The very same day he
may whirl as madly through the
same park. He is above the law.
All the thousand misdemeanors
punishable by a fine, and all tne eth
er crimes which admit of bail, arc
examples of the differen <e with
which the law treats the two strata
of society, while it imposes the
same nominal penalty upia both.
The one class, made up of the mil
lions who have nothing, ar.» by that
means held under the law; the eth
er, made up of a few milimuaires,
are lifted by the same mennj above
the law. The crimes of the one
class, since they cannot pay their
fines, must be expiated : n person,
by loss of freedom, separation from
their families, forfeiture of fresh
air and healthful surround n.s. They
are the ants who shall be thrown
into the water. But for these same
crimes the other class prv a little
of their money, lhe loss of which de
prives them of no comfort or lux
ury, in the accumulation <f which
they often have no part. They are
virtually exempt from punishment.
They are the sharks who shall be
thrown into the water.
History tells of royal children
whose offenses were expiated by their
playmates; for whose naughty deeds
their comrades must be whipped,
'lhe worse the conduct of the
princes, the more blows fell upon
the backs of their poor playfellows.
The statutes of all civilized peoples
treat their favorites in the same
way. The offenses of the rich are
punshed by a fine; that is. by money
which represents the labor of others.
The rich themselves suffer no cur
tailment of personal freedom. They
are virtually exempt They are
above the law and need give it no
attention. They are the anarchists.
To be sure, rich men may be
hanged if they murder. But rich
men do not murder, at least not if
they know how to use their money.
The lethal weapon of the rich is of
gold, not iron.
“Ban au as! Bananas! ’ ’ screams
the shrill voice of a ragged Italian.
He is a peddler who has paid his
hard-earnecF money to a wholesaler
for tainted fruit. But suddenly his
call stops. A policeman appears and
with the iron hand of the law dumps
the contents of the cart into a garb
age can and the poor sinner into
prison for selling unwholesome
fruit. But rich army contractors
who sacrifice the lives of hundreds
of our soldiers with poisonous sub
stitut s and rotten so ds, thereby
add ng thousands to their millions,
are not observed by the law and are
never reached by its punitive arm.
They are above the law. They are
the ana: chists.
“A very sad occurrence occupied
the court,” says a daily paper. The
defendant, a grocer, had been an
noyed by rats, and to rid himself of
them he pimped some bowls of rat
poi on in the closets. His little six
year-old daughter accidentally drank
from one of the bowls and died in
a few hours The grief-stricken fath
er was tried for criminal careless
ness. The Judge recognized that the
def ndant was to be pitied but im
posed a sentence of one month’s im
prisonment for his negligence. Even
in his misfortune the poor grocer is
under the law. But in aisen c,
phosphorus and lead factories thou
x sands of workmen are exposed to
the cruel, hideous tortures of chroi
ic poisoning and are systematically
killed, and these manufacturers and
“captains of industry” are not held
accountable to the law.
The rich packers combine to raise
t the pi ice of food, violating several
statutes intended ostensibly to pre
vent jst such combinations. A
suit in equity is brought against
them, but they do not worry. The
worst that can happen is a fine
amounting to less than one day’s
profits, and this not until they have
had the full advantage of the law’s
delays. They do not fear the
law. They are above it. They are
the anarchists. But their teamsters
strike for higher wages or shorter
hours. A meat wagon is diiven
through the s reels and a disturb
ance occurs. The police make ar
rests right and left. After the law’s
delays the poor devils are sent to
jail. They are under the law.
These examples might be multi
plied indefinitely. Every one may
see them for himself in the daily
life of the country. Almost every
paragraph in the law books of ail
civilized peoples furnishes such ex
amples. Almost every penalty fur
nishes the magic formula that places
the many under the law and the few
above it. Only those who have lit
tle or nothing are subject to it. On
ly the poor stumble over its prohi
bitions. The life of the rich is free
from temptations and crimes, from
laws and punishments. The ants
are thrown into the water; so are
the sharks.
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