Fayette County herald. [volume] (Washington [Washington Court House], Fayette County, O. [Ohio]) 1860-1???, 1880-11-04

And here, we may say, is fact not
to be left out of the discussion: that,
instead Of the tyranny of capital, we
are presented with very lively pict-
uTe of the tyranny Of labor. The laws
Of supply and demand are set at vari-
ance by the striking wOrkmen. The
law of self-preservatiOn comes in, and
men say, "We will work for the wages
YOU offer" The pure tyranny of a
Miners UntOR" dares to say, with mus
kets and stones, mo, you shall not"
Could there be more pertinent ill
ustration of the whole idea of oppres-
sion? 1t is labor depressing itself. 1t
is the suicide Of labor in its self-in-
fiicted wounds. And to that fact the
problem must know that with such
self-made enemies as the Miners Union,
it can have no other name for Its freaks
of ignorant malice than suicide. For
what is capital but aggregated and
coined labor. Every dollar is so much
brain and bone, nerve and muscle, en-
deavor and efOrt-sO much work, crys-
tallized and approved by a nation. EV-
cry dime is sweat-drOp, made solid for
purposes of trade. When labor fights
against capital, it wars against itself.
Every furnace it shuts up, every factO-
ry it stops, every railroad it holds by
force, is a means of bread to thousands
stopped. Labor suffers from labor. 1t
is labor which, at Corning, has harmed
labor. Now, it is absurd to blame
American institutions and laws for this.
1t is ridiculous for BOnapartist spa
per" to seek to frighten France into the
idea these are the peculiar outcome Of
Republican ideas and aims. The Peas
ants war, the InsurrectiOn of WAT
TYLER, the days Of the Jacquerie, the
fires of Bristol, the rayages of the
Ludites, and the Commune itself, are
enough to show the folly of such pO-
sition. We are simply smiling in this
country at wnatthey have sense enough
to regard with seriousness abroad, and
what they seek to put down with all
convenient dispatch. Another fact to
be noted is, that as some other Outrages
recruit their forces in Europe, so also
do these foes, so dangerous to the pub
lie. MormOnism, as noted in the pres
ent issue Of this paper, goes to Europe
for her converts; and so does the spirit
of Communism, so unnatural to our
soil. Men who care nothing for the
institutions of the country can send
terror into the heart Of our productive
enterprises, and those who fail to prac-
tice such infamies in England and the
states Of Europe, seek to do it on Amer
team soal, And all this comes, perhaps,
from the notion which is begotten of
ignorance, that in this country libery
means license, whereas, nothing is so
certain as that in country to whose
citizens so much liberty is given, so
much also of loyalty is expected to
keep that liberty from degenerating
into license. Liberty is freedom by
means of and under the protection of
law-and license is lawlessness. Let it
be once understood, that with respect
to obedience to law, more is demanded
in a republic than in a monarchy,
because more liberty is granted
and the solution Of the prob
lem is begun. There never was any,
thing more un-American than the af-
fair at Corning. The whole fabric we
have reared above our heads stands
upon this one stOne-that every man
has right to himself and his efforts.
This the Miners Union has trampled un-
der foot. Another stone-the next to
this--is this; No man has a right to use
his liberty so that it limits another's.
This the Miners Union has disregarded.
We plead for a public sentiment which
shall recognize such aggressions against
public policy. We urge upon labor
that where it has rights, it also has du-
les. The worst enemy to the miner is
,he Miners Union, and the sooner that
abor recognizes this the better for both
,apital and labor.