Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1885-12-20
GEN McCLELLAwS LAST PAPER

Gen. Geo b. Mcclellan will have u pa
per in the January Harper's, written Just
before his death, in which he discloses
among other things our danger from in
| observations and deductions are of par
ticular interest at this time, when the
country is startled by the disclosure Of the
plot to assassinato leading men in Cali
fornla by socialists, as it deals directly
with this evil Of socialism.
Cranky and fully acknowledging,
says Gen. Mcclellan, "that the much
needed amclloration OF the condition of
the laboring classes is an inevitable and
the most important problem Of the imme
date future, il must at the same time be
interest as In that of the society
of which they form so important part
that in the prosecution of their ends the
labor organizations shall restrict them
selves to fair, open, honorable and legal
methods that they must never resort to
violence toward either the persons or
property OF their employers, or toward
those Of their comrades who may hold
different views and that they must, still
in their own Interest, always recognize
the fundamental truth that each mans
liberty of action is bounded by the equal
rights of his felow-mcn, To pass beyond
this limit is license, not liberty; Il crime,
not virtue ora privilege, The individual
who perpctrates this crime becomes at
once a 1T subject for the reprcssive action
of the law.
"Our danger, If danger there be, will
come, not from the true workingmen, but
from those who do not labor and do not
intend to do so, but prefer to gain an
easy living by mlsguiding and deceiving
the true workingmcn, and, cmulating the
wreckers of by-gonc times, seek with
their false lights to lure the ship of soci-
ETY. upon the rocks ofauarchy and atheism,
that they may prey upon the remnants of
the rich cargo washed to the shore.
llt hlNhll Vi but ullAlNulNlNt luNNIuu~
tionaisCs and nlhiists have only recently
found their way among us; they are
strictly foreign productions, which our
protective tariff has not sunlced to ex-
clude, and tits not probable that they can
make any considerable or lasting head
| way among our own people. 1t is to the
highest extent improbable, nay, it is i'm
| possible, that free and enlightened Amer
/ leans can abandon all they cherish far
more than life itself in order to court
misery and ruin at the call of few mis-
guided or wicked men, who have brought
hither theories which have wrought de-
| struction and no particle of good where
ever they have attempted to carry them
/ into practice in the Old World when
the moment for action arrives, there is no
! question as TO the manner in which the
masses of Americans win deal with these
men and their wild theories,
''Tho ultimate result is not for a mo-
ment doubtful, But as these men openly
ayow their intention Of organizing aud
armmg for The purpose Of carrying their
views into practical effect, it Is wise to
prepare the means OF crushing their CT
forts at the outset, that no harm may
come to the Innocent, and that the ruin
invoked may fall solely upon the heads
of the guilty conspimtors.
"a few hours control in our large
cities by these madmen might cause al
most lrreparable damage the opportunity
should not be afforded them; and they
viii never strike the blow II convinced
that proper preparations exist to meet
them.f
The danger which Gen. Mcclellan fore
saw is nearer than when he wrote more
Immediate than he thought. The men
who do not labor and DO not intend To
do so, can, by their persuasive
arts, bring the men who look Y
them for leadership into the deepest
woe. II Is these meu who fomont
dissatisfaction, promote strikes, declare
boycotts aud iuolte riots They have
nothing to lose Ia times OF enforced idle.
ness, for they are idle at an times, except