New-York tribune., 1885-01-17
TORK OR VAR.

Some unemployed men in an Ohio town have
issued sort of prOnunciamentO, declaring that
they will have "work or war; and threatening
to burn the town down unless employment is
proyded for them 1t is always difficult to
argue with hungry men, and Labor is apt to lose
its head when the pinch of distress comes, and
not only the workers but their wives and chill
dren are brought face to face with dcstitution.
Yet unemployed men everywhere ought to have
sense enough To see that turbulence cannot
mend matters that in fact it can only make
them worse For it is certain that the first
effect of labor disturbances is to weaken conf
dcnce in the future, and thus to prevent
the investment of capital in many branches
of industry which give employment
to labor Such talk that OF the Ohio
Yorkingmen referred to is wild and foolish
in the extreme. "War" cannot be means
of improving their condition. and therefore re-
course TO il is only proof OF unreason. There
is no surer way to prOlong the present business
depression than TO break into lawlessncss OF
anv kind The miners of the Hooking Valley
have shown this already. Some of them fired a
mine as a means Of bringing employers to
terms. What did this act efcctf Ii simply
made it impossible for any one to obtain en-
ployment in that mine for a long time. and thus
narrowed the field of industry, and rendered the
general situation more hopeless than ever.
All attacks upon property have the same ten
dcncy If employers have been compelled by
| dulness OF trade to suspend manufacturing, 1t
cannot be believed by any rational being that
| the destruction of their property by the en-
Moves will make il easier for them to resame
| business. or will induce them to sacrifice their
own interests still further to those who have
injured them no employer of labor abandons
| or snsprnds his undertakings out Of caprice
| All would much sooner engage new hands at
higher wages than discharge or cut down the
old ones And it il certain that the en-
ployers will be quick to resume operations the
| moment the prospect brightens. No doubt
| it il hard for those who are suffering To think
| calmly and act cOmpOsedly, but the c0nsidcra-
| ton that nothing can be gained by Incorporate c
| courses ought to cheek the impatient. Ii is
| by and through the maintenance of law and
order and the security Of all property that any
| industrial activity and progress. exist To
| threaten law and order. therefore, is to attack
| the very foundations of wage-carning, and il a
| distinctly suicidal line when adopted by those
| who depend for their maintenance upon labor
| While it is unquestionably very trying to en-
durc such pinch as the present, the world has
as vet found no means Of preventing such tenn
porary doprcsslons, nor is there any country on
the ,loDe free from them, while in nearly all
countries they are far more severe than in the
| United States. Patience is the only weapon
| with which to meet these trials, however All
other resorts aggravate the suffering and put
| off the recovery And since there is good ground
for believing that the worst is now over, any
| lawless action at such juncturc would be
especially mischicvOus and unreasonable.