The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1886-08-02
LABoR,s BOYCOTT OF LABOR.


to. The competent workman, the man who
left to himself, would easily take care of him
self and acquire competency, is the very
man it bears hardest on, and he of all others
should hesitate before committing bis inter
ests to the keeping Of an assembly or union
that arrogates to itself the right to throw him
out of work at the bidding of men less COM
petent than himself and more likely to get
into difficulties with their common employer
In every strike there have been men made
the victims of the power conferred upon the
union; men who had no cause to complain,
and who would not have thought Of striking
AS for the man who for any reason does not
see fit to ally himself with some union, there
is no assurance to him that he will be allowed
to work at all, except at the sufferance of
such unions as he may come into con-
tact with. Thousands and tens Of thou
sands of men have gone out on expensive and
disastrous strikes for no other reason than
that some man not member Of the union has
been given employment The Knights of
Labor and similar organizations have taken
the bit of temporary power between their
teeth, and have assumed to declare that free
American citizens shall not be allowed to
work except by their permission. They have
| arrogated to themselves power that the fed
eral government of all the people would not
dare to claim. There would be revolution
inside of six months were the government at
Washington to make such claim. The only
reason the defiant attitude Of these organiza-
tons has not provoked condemnation has been
that, like all evils Of the kind, they are suf-
fered in patience, until patience is no longer
a virtue and the people compel better order
of things. The very fact that the Knights Of
Labor are rapidly increasing in numbers is
the best assurance that the end is near when
the fight for. place will begin within the
men in it, the men who are the bone and sim
ew of the organization will not be content to
be the hackers of men who are unfit to take
care of themselves or who are too quick to
find pretext for Improbable idleness. Strike
Is following strike SO rapidly that it is excep-
tional when men are allowed to work for a
month without being disturbed or threatened
in their positions.
Within day or two there has been another
exhibition of the workings of the boycott" by
labor upon labor in the city of New York
Thousands Of cigar-makers are thrown out of
work unless they surrender their Individual
rights, and consent to join the Knights of
Labor. This means that, unless they find ia
vor with this organization, they are not to be
| permitted to work in this free country. The
cigar manufacturers, hoping to placate their
black mailers, have made membership in the
Knights OF Labor condition to working for
them. There was firm in the city of Chi
cago that tried this thing, and rushed frantic
ally into the experiment of making eight
hours a day without a corresponding reduc-
ton Of wages, relying upon the patronage Of
those who favored this thing to float them.
The plan did not work, and last week this firm
was shut up by suit in bankruptcy. The
cigar manufacturers of the city of New York,
who are intent on the patronage of class to
the exclusion of all workingmen, who do not
wear the badge of that organization, will
find that it does not pay. A firm mean enough
to do thing like that does not deserve
the patronage of men who believe in the old
fashioned idea that all Americans have the
right to work for whom they please at such
wages as they are willing to receive, and that
no one shall say them nay. This idea is as
sure to triumph in the end as popular govern
lnent is to stand. It may be that for time
trades unions may succeed in regulating the
rights of others to suit themselves; but just as
soon as they become numerically strong enough
to embrace the best workmen in the land, lust
that soon will there be an attempt to stand on
individual merits, and the men who are capa-
BILE will not consent to be tied down to the
tyranny of unionisin as has been practiced in
the past in this country. Already the effect
has been to cripple enterprise, with the inev-
table consequence of depriving many thou
sands Of the employment they would have en-
joyed but for the interference Of the organiza-
tions that strangle freedom Of action. The
tyranny exercised by the trades-unions will
only hasten the day when the better members
Of these organizations win not consent to