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 fol
meeting it. The remedy suggested is
cooperation among the working classes,
although the manner in which it is ad-
vocated leads to state socialism. Some
thing must be done what to
do is the grave question. Labor strikes
and riots may be repressed, but as Mr..
Abbot says, Repression is not remedy. Z"
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 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 sympathy for him but
his cry of despair is taken up by the crimi-
nal class as 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-
tons are Of the very class to whom work
of any kind is most hateful, and
who prey upon the cupidity OF the
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
inally the men themselves acknowledged |.
hat 1T was their work. Ii such out
ages receive the sanction of the knights
If Labor organization, then the organiza- !.
ION is for the preparation of crime, if
rhine alone can accomplish the object
sought
These things are among the greatest
angers ahead and if secret organiza-
ions seek to accomplish any object by
rime, no matter how worthy the object, /,
hose who may become dissatisfied with
be organization, will, in all probability,
esort 10 the methods of the organization
Or the very purpose of righting a
'rong it may have committed. Once .
lculcate the doctrine that social IL
'rongs are to be righted by |"
ne commission OF crime, and &c
he commission of crime will be the
leans used for redressing all wrongs, .
,al or fancied, public or private. Such ii
method is the introduction of an g
rchy. u
Labor and capital are inter-dependent, =,
I'd capitalists and laborers should real .
e this fact; and realizing it, they VI
lould endeayor to harmonize their rela- '"
,ns and encourage mutual confidence y, "
Id mutual concession. What the W
medies for the danger ahead are w
one can say, but they are not in vi
rikes; neither are they in the use of 9, !"
oops. A thorough study of the ques- VI y:
m by all will lead to q better under ~
anding between what are now hostile -
rces; and with u better understanding, ~
e chances for discovering the remedy "
IL be greatly improved. o'