St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1885-11-22
st. Paul and Minneapolis Correspondents
Defend the System of Boyootting from
Recent Attacks Upon It.
The Platform and Principles of the Knights
of Labor-A Minneapolis Workman's
Experience in Nebraska.
An Alderman's Efforts in Behalf of
Better Wages--Labor Discuss
sion in Church.
A Workman's Idea of Public Inn
proven ents--Ipdustrial Notes
from Two Cities.
TEE BOYCOTT DEFENDED.

a Committee From the knights of
Labor Speak on the subject.
To the Editor of the Globe:
The Knights of Labor appointed COM
mittee to discuss the boycott question to the
satisfaction of the Pioneer Press and show
to a conclusion that the ideas entertained IN
it's issue of Nov. Is, under the head
of Social Dynamite is fabrication of the
grossest character. To that end we re-
spectfully ask indulgence III the columns of
your journal The injustice of the attack is
plainly visible in many instances. First,
N the declaration that it is a
remedy for the weak" appears wrong
and uniustiiiable feature, for we mark the
difference in conditions under this and
other forms of government. Where all
men have the ballot. and means of uni
yerSal organization, numbers always mean
strength. and always have it.
Second-The assertion that it is a COM
paratively new word is proven false in the
writer's own statement of its origin.
Third-'The strike is supplemented by
the boycott" says the writer. Now, OBJ
serve the difference. The strike always
was and always is, wnen resorted to.
prompted by the necessity of the trial of
endurance, being the course of action that
brings into effect the force of cohesion to
the fullest extent. while the boycott is
prompted by business principle; by prin-
ciple recognized in the business world as
legitimate in every sense of the word.
Again. lit was carrying cOmpulSion to a
second degree" Here we advise that the
reader read the editorial in full first. And
now mark the injustice of this attack. Its
On attempt to deny that same right to work.
ingmen that was practiced by the boss
plumbers of Milwaukee in their disputes
with the plumbers. In refusing to patronize
the supply stores, and carrying the
point so far as the Chicago houses,
they did no more nor less then the work.
inglnen of Galveston did in resisting the
persecution of the offending railroads. On
the basis that one is justified, the other is
also. The fact that the boycott can be
used to the extent of ''paralyzing the bust
ness Of great city,"
PROVES ITS SUCCESS,
kand explains the grounds of the attack
made on it. IF you want to see flock Of
pigeons flutter, fire into them" They are
the pig under the fence" and their squeal
ings explain the weakness of their position.
Again, the attempted justification of
Whitelaw Reid, in this discussion, is a
thing repulsive to every honest man in
America. When has man deserved more
than he the condemnation of all true men,
both socially and politically? Never.
And the means resorted to by the
printers as against him in the
boycott are only all offset to that of his
turning out-as they styled them-''the
seventy foolish printers" What is sauce
for the goose is sauce for the gander."
The great point attempted in the edi-
torial, is TO shOw-indirectly-the injustice
Of involving Others in any one mans call
ing. GA resolution to subdue particular
employer of labor. may involve in common
ruin score of related industries" Such
things would lead men to believe that a
wrong should be tolerated to avoid scorch-
ing the innocent. It is often the case in
warfare that the city must be burned, and
the country laid deS0late to subdue a ma
ton. One of the fundamental laws of all
legal proceedings, is that the wrong should
be punished even to the injury of the inno-
cent. The preservation of the innocent
does not justify the liberation of the guilty.
This is calculated to teach that the criminal
Difference of judgment and chas-
tisement. because he has a wife
or child. that may and do
suffer the pangs of hunger and the loss
OF care as a result of absence from home in
the Imprisonment of the father. 1t is far
wiser idea that the dishonest and unjust
business man should be baniShed from the
community and others allowed to prosper
in his absence. for every dollar paid to such
a man or men, is so much taken from
honest trade and so much encouragement to
dishonesty. Who can deny the force of
this proposition and be fair? The criminal
must suffer even at the cost of an injury to
the innocent. The rest of the unjust part
of the article is comprised in the following,
and similar utterance: 1T courts the fate
OF the nihilst." To claim this is to place
the workingmen on a level with
the assassins of Caesar and picture
them with their hands dipped in human
blood, deserving of
EMILE OR DEATH.
Can any reasonable man countenance the
statement for a single moment? Has the
cause of labor become such an enterprise in
this age of advancement that it deserves
such taunts as these? Is it a crime to ask
for your rights, We men at whom this shot
is directed? If So then is the onslaught
justified. But it is not so. By all the
rights by which any American citizen may
defend his interests. have we every right
from any and all injustice melted out to us.
Instead of the boycott being not endured"
it has come to perform task that it shall
never have the prosecution of. until it has
been accomplishment that is to show to
the world that all men have rights under
the law. regardless of station, that they can
and will defend. In doing this they but i'm
itate the example of their would-be oppreSs-
Ors Sin all the branches of trade OrganiZa-
ton exists for the purpose of self-protection,
and every available means is brought to
bear on that point, recognizing the justice
of courtesy, which is on the basis of arbi-
tration, and of the cardinal principles of the
Knights of Labor Only in cases where ar
bitration fails does the order resort to the
boycott, or in cases where men will not lis
ten to reason. We might review at greater
length the contents of this most unfair at
tack, but we refrain from longer discus
sion, hoping that if the writers ON the paper
seek information on the points they will
ask for it, so that we may instruct them. as
we delight in having the world at large
know our principles and by what means we
propose to carry them out. All such at
tacks as this one are prompted by mali
ciouS spirit, and can only, if persisted in,
result in an injury to the offenders, for the
day has passed when money or af1uence can
claim anything over labor in these common
affairs. As well be fair and face the issue
as it is as to retreat and cease the warfare.
The Knights of Labor can, and will. Justify
their principles.
K. OF L. COMMITTEE.
st. Paul, Nov. 81.
BOYCOFTENG.