The workingman's advocate. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1864-1877, 1874-05-09

INDIANA. April "a, 1874
T. tHy Editor vi the wuRAr>ep,,.- ADVOCATE
The men Of Indiana have been com
PEELED to yield t. the terms If the bosses,
one Or two works excepted. Everything
was against them. Their organization was
not yet complete. hut TAR from it NJ
market scarcely for their coal. more men
than could find employment, and last,
though not least, a great many cranky men
who undertook to do battle on the side Of
labor, and who, when they smelt the first
powder, SO to speak, broke the ranks and
fled their posts, thereby strengthening the
haSds IF fnemen. feel sorry for the poor
men who have sacrificed So much. but hope
the lesson will not be altogether prottless
Other places as well as Indiana ought TO
learn from their defeat that it is almost
impossible to organize ia week, and enter
into a struggle with the least hope of sue
cess at the same time 70 be successful in
a campaign Of this kind, men must be
trained to understand each other for
months and months Lefore the effort is
made. 1t is not for each to be pursuing
his own way, unInindful Of his ncighbor,
without any consultation or preparation
till the very hour when an assault is made
upon them, and valuable right wrested
from them, and then think against not the
power Of the bosses alone, but all the cir
cumstances Of dull times, to assert their
rights or to defend them If they have
any left that they prize, and they have
some left yet withal what have been taken
let them now, when there is little chance
To act upon the aggressive guilty, eau
tlOusly put themselves in position to de-
fend those in case of further attack. or
should circumstances enable, recover those
they have lost. Men say. sometimes. we
have no rights, all are gone, all are stolen
from us, there are none worth cherishing
lett-but this is all nonsense We never
realise how dear the least Of those are to
us till they have been ruthlessly torn away
In an hour when we were thinking not. Is
1t not such an outrage on some sacred Jewel
being taken from ms, that when assaIled
becomes thousand times magni6ed, and
hallowed to us, and we rise up and strike
prepared or unprepared, and endeavor to
retain possession. How much has such
carelessness cost us When we are beat.
into submission at any time. we sink into
hopeless disregard, and believe life is
scarcely worth living for, and there we
wallow till we are again beset from some
quarter least expected, then we rouse up
and make a momentsry splurge, prompted
more by our feelings than our Judgment,
and if we fail, as fail we must, we rail
against everything and everybody, and are
apt to believe there is no truth in the old
adage that "in Union there is strength.
Thus too many men and places, year after
year, vainly attempt to make their Unions
success because they work altogether on
false principles, and give Unions no chance
whatever
May hope the men Of Indiana will take
common sense view Of their situation.
and make the best of it. l would have
them now go ahead with their organization
as they have been doing during their struQ-
gle. Let every man consider himself
bounden. if he would keep what he has.
and keep himself in good standing ON the
books Of his Lodge. So that when re-
vival Of trade shall come around, the price
they have now had to forego they may be
enabled to retrieve.
The Johnstown men are still on the
field and are acting nobly. As one man,
they stand to their colors and are deter