The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1884-09-03
FROM POLLY TO CRIME.

the farmers Of the country. At Detroit on
Monday night, from harmless clown he had
turned to an inciter Of insurrection. Men
| like Justus Schwab, and Dick Trevelick,
and Denis Kearney may say what they
please without doing material harm. III Their
influence is limited, because their abilities do
not lift them noticeabfy above their fellows.
But in General Butler, man prominent IN
the history Of the country in war, in legisla-
| ton and in business, and successful in each,
as success" is counted in the popular mind,
such incendiary utterances as he made IN his
speech at Detroit are fraught with danger to
law and order With all respect due the serv-
ices Of General Butler and his char
acter as citizen, we feel that
no honest, patriotic man, preferring the
good Of the country to the qualification ct
personal ambition, would have so far forgot
ten himself as to even coyertly recommend
resort to armed violence to redress the wrongs
Of any class Of citizens.
We are proud to give credit to the intelli-
gence and patriotism Of the laboring people
Of the United States. But, after all, they are
but men, moved by the same appeals that
have moved men in all times of the worlds
history. 1t is a dangerous, dishonorable
thing to throw the rebrand of pas
sion and revenge among them. There
are wrongs under which they have
long suffered and which remain to be re-
dressed. But the general trend of legislation
is toward greater justice to the lower and
weak, and it is absurd to deny that their CON
dition is better now than ever before in the
worlds history. They live in better houses,
they wear better clothes, are better educated,
and enjoy more comforts than ever before.
The great body Of American workingmen
know this too well to be deceived by the
sophistry Of any man seeking to
\ crafty his own ambition. But there
are yet many who, while they may know all
this, are not content desperate men, who are
| quick to fall victims to unreasoning passion,
and need but the word to inaugurate a cam
paign of bloodshed and destruction They
gave an exhibition of their folly at Pittsburg
in 1877, when millions of dollars worth of
property was wantonly destroyed without
accomplishing particle of good to those en-
gagged. Examination showed that the work Of
destruction was done, not so much by the
striking railway employees as by the dis
reputable thugs and bunmers who
infested that city, and who are to be found in
every larger town and city in the country.
The great body Of American workingmen
are conservative and sensible Any man who
imputes danger of instruction and anarchy
to them tenders them gratuitous insult,
as false as it is uncalled for. Impassioned and
unfounded appeals are wasted upon them.
The men who are so quick to respond to riot
Gus calls when opportunity offers, if laboring
men, are not the friends of their more
sensible fellows, When the ball is set in
motion these are reinforced by the desperate
elements, the men who never work and whose
manner of living will not bear scrutiny To
these, over the shoulders of honest mechanics,
General Butler offers excuse for rioting and
bloodshed, and anarchy. Neither Of these
can long prevail in this country The people
in general are too enlightened, too sensible to
be fooled into believing that good
L Il
can be accomplished in that direction.
| Security in life, limb and property is the
fundamental object in establishing govern
| ment. This the worlngman knows as well
as anybody knows and is more interested in
than anybody else. A man who lives in a
cottage is just as anxious to have it and its
inmates protected as is he who lives in villa
The government that guarantees the same
measure Of protection to the family Of the man
who earns dollar day as to that Of him who
! is millionaire is not wholly bad
That it may be made better is
conceded. Al lawful way is provided,
and in that way the vote Of one man is worth
that Of any other no more, no less A com
bination of working men has no more right to
burn property than has q mob Of employers
General Buffers intimation that laboring men
would soon resort to violence is an uncalled-
for insult to their common sense and to their
patriotism
His incendiary speech at Detroit ought TO-,
| and nrohahIv' will sat tham RI vonderin0
what General Butler has done for the labor
ing man. What has he done in
Congress to ameliorate his condi-
tiOn--tO formulate laws tending to
obviate the direfuI things he pretends to
j folseef The aim &c tha Rar,i,l;ns,, ,,a,t,r bas