The Labor enquirer., 1884-04-19
DYHAx1rE is strong to-day at 4Sc.
IN TIMES OF PEACE.


pressed have been .numberless and have
differed aslgreatly as the positions occu'
pied and the education and interests OF
those holding them. 1t is characteristic
of the American people to forget or cease
to speak of such catastrophies as that at
Cincinnati as soon as the victims are
put into the ground-frequently sooner!
We are "fast" people, and we do not
waste any of our valuable time in reit-
erations, investigations or tears. But
The ENQUIRER sees something in the
recent disaster which the people of this
country cannot afford to lose sight Of
and, therefore, asks its readers attention
for short time, while the bloody battle
ground of Cincinnati is reviewed.
There were awakenings and revela-
tons in those three days of horror.
There were warnings which will never
be forgotten by those who received them.
1t is established that there can be no
effect without a cause, and no cause
which is not followed by effect. Now,
what was the cause of the uprising of
the people of Cincinnati? The answers
to this query differ, when the immediate
cause is stated; but what we wish to
know is, what was the prime, the bottom,
the real cause of the outbreak. No one
believes that the verdict of the jury in
the Berner case is responsible for the
havoc and death of the Cincinnati affair.
1t is true that that verdict was what
caused the bursting inall its fury of a
smouldering volcano of popular indigna-
ton. But why the smouldering volcano? :?
Why were the feelings of the people
pent-up crowding to break forth in all
their. fury7 These are questions which
can have but one answer. There was
discomfort. 1t was the natural outgrowth
of corrupt administration of corrupt
laws and systems. By law the people
are robbed and murdered, and by law
the robbers and murderers are sheltered.
There is oppression and crime, and JUS
tice is unseated.
The same feeling animated the mob
at Cincinnati which led to the storming
of the Bastile-an ungovernable desire
to compel the administering of Justice.
The people have been outraged, and
at Cincinnati their patience was tried
beyond their powers of endurance. That
Justice assumed the garb of a mobite,
with torch in hand, the people cannot be
blamed. The corrupt courts subsidized
and controlled by the power of money,
are alone responsible for that.
An insulted, outraged people fol-
lowed their natural instincts and took
justice in their own hands Because
they were defeated, their ill-shaped plans
frustrated, it cannot be said they were
wrong in their intentions. 1t was only
a more public defeat of Justice; but such
defeats only hasten the day of final and
perfect victory.
Considerable quiet thinking has been
going on throughout the country during
the past two weeks, and the harvest OF
that thought will be abundant in due
time. The thought is not confined to
corruption in criminal courts; but it
embraces the administration of all pub
lie trusts; it linger, over the legislative
halls of the land; it pauses at the palace
of the politician and the monopolist; ii
recognizes the union between the two
1t goes further, and sees in the misery
found in the hovel of despoiled pro,
ducer the shadow Of crime darker and
more potent than that surrounding the
cell of a respited murderer. And these
thoughts are tenacious; th5y will never
lose their hold until Justice be securely
installed in her place and the wronget
are righted.
These are the conclusions of one who
forgets the petty affairs of every day life
long enough to penetrate into the deeE
waters of social conditions; to read tht
heart and mind of the People these ar,
the conclusions of the Socialist.
A few thoughts concerning the com
ple1ion of the "mob" at Cincinnati
from a social and moral standpoint, ar,
in place here.
Considerable stress has been laid BY
the aristocratic press upon the statemen
that there were few men of "high stand
ing in the community" amid the thronl
that surrounded the jail and court house
This is easily understood when we re
member that there was more or les
danger in that quarter. The men O
"high standing" confined their outburst
of indignation within the walls of Musi
hall and their own comfortable homes
They were ready with their mouths tt
pronounce against the wrong-doers al
sorts of condemnation and threats, bu
they lacked the physical courage to joil
the ranks of the honest and practica
men whom they melted to action. 1t il
always 80. The aristocrats who "stant
high in the community" are frequently
ready to issue proclamation of war
but the mechanic, the laborer, the mel
of deeds, not words, are alone those whit
carry out its intent-even if the promi