Salt Lake evening Democrat. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1885-1887, 1885-11-07
DANGER AHEAD.

Such is the title of an article by Lyman
Abbot in the Century for November. We
think the discussion OF the causes of the
danger ahead superior to the remedies
suggested, although to foresee danger is
far easier than to suggest the means for
meeting it. The remedy suggested is
cooperation among the working classes,
although the manner in which it is adj
vocated leads to state socialism. Some
thing must be done ; what to
do is the grave question. Labor strikes
and riots may be reprcssed, but as MIR.
Abbot says, "Repression is not remedy"
The accounts of the labor troubles in
Galveston bring this question prominently
before the public mind, and while strikes
lead to many excesses and the violation
OF rights and the destruction OF property,
still there is an underlying cause for it
all. The causes are nowhere bet
ter set forth than in the article
referred to. Cooperation may avert
many dangers, but not all. Take,
for instance, the present strike in
Galveston. The executive committee
of the knights of Labor have made this
announcement through their organ:
"You cannot starve in submission. The
whole city is stored with groceries, and
the first law of nature is self-preservation.
Be warned in time" Such an announce
ment is q preliminary to pillage, and
what pillage means, all know. If self
preservation is the first law of nature, it
is the first law of nature with one class as
much as with another. 1t isthe doctrine
of brute force applied to the remedy OF So
cial evils. When the honest workingman
cries aloud in his anguish that self
preservation is the first law of nature"
the world feels a sympathy for him but
his cry of despair is taken up by the crimi-
nal class as a watchword, and herein lies
the danger. The criminal class in the
larger cities is very numerous, and seizes
upon any pretext whereby it may create
social disturbances, and in the disturb
ances so created indulge the natural love
for pillage and crime. Men who are not
OF the criminal class but upon whom are
depending wife and children,
in times OF depression, with work
scarce and wages low, become
desperate, and their desperation leads
them to commit crime, but not with
criminal intent The criminal class always
associates itself with strikes and such
things in the hope that an opportunity
for the commission OF crime will offer it.
self. Very often, in fact most of the
time, the men who lead labor organiza-
tions are OF the very class to whom work
of any kind is most hateful, and
who prey upon the cupidity OF the
workingmen for their livelihood.
The discovery that the dynamite out
RACES in st. Louis were the work of the
Knights OF Labor proves this fact. 1t
was strenuously denied at first, but
finally the men themselves acknowledged
that it was their work. III such out
RACES receive the sanction OF the Knights
OF Labor organization, then the organiza-
ton is for the perpetration OF crime, ii
crime alone can accomplish the object
sought.
These things are among the greatest
dangers ahead; and if secret organiza-
tions seek to accomplish any object by
crime, no matter how worthy the object,
those who may become dissatisfied with
the organization, will, in all probability,
resort TO the methods OF the organization
for the very purpose OF righting Il
wrong it may have committed. Once
inculcate the doctrine that social
wrongs are to be righted by
the commission OF crime, and
the commission OF crime will be the
means used for redressing all wrongs,
real or fancied, public or private. Such
method is the introduction of an.
archy.
Labor and capital are inter-dependent
and capitalists and laborers should real
ize this fact; and realizing it, they
should endeavor to harmonize their rela-
tions and encourage mutual confidence
and mutual concession. What the
remedies for the danger ahead are
no one can say, but they are not in
strikes; neither are they in the use o
troops. A thorough study OF the ques
ton by all will lead to better under
standing between what are now hostile
forces; and with better understanding
the chances for discovering the remedy
will be greatly improved.