Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1886-02-23
NATIONAL PROBLEMS.
ARTICLE TX.
THE LABOR MOvEMENT-A DEMAND
FOR JUSTICE.
Tho Labor Army Wants I,eiiigerent Rights
The Mob, Strike and Boycott Ex-
piained-objscts Of the Knights.
ny GEORGE Il, McNEfLL.
Secretary Of the Mass. District OF the Knights


Secretary Of the Mass. District OF the knights
Of Labor.
copyrighted, 1856
The history OF the labor movement Is
the history of human effort toward har-
mony Its forms and phases of develop
ment are as varied as the conditions OF
life, time and country From the day OF
the murmuring of the Israelite brick |
maker against the Egyptian task-master |
to the strike OF the street-car employe |
against barbarous hours OF labor and
emi.civilized conditions OF life, the labor
movement has been a protest against
arrogant power and demand for justice.
The labor agitator before the capitalist,
no less than Moses before Pharaoh, de-
mands the release Of the people in the
name OF the living God.
AS Sinai Numbered forth Gods anath-
ema against idolatry, over-work, UNI
neghborliness and disobedlence, shifting
TO death with the anger Of justice, so
from the Businesses of iron and coal does
the same anathema come forth against
the idolatry OF wealth and the curse Of
greed Labor voices the wrong to the
poor in the penetrating whisper OF the
dagger of the nihillst, in the crash Of the
dynamite of the land-robber, the secret
oath OF the socialist and in the free
speech of the citizen wage-worker.
PROFITS AND BELLIGERENT RIGHTS DE-
MANDED.
The labor movement OF our time and
country Is not the rush of a mob for ven
geance, but the advance OF an organized
army, equipped and Differed, seeking
first TO secure better wages, or reduction
of the power of capital, by demanding
profit upon labor; the second, demanding
the recognition of belligerent rights. Our
varied industries and heterogeneous
population necessitate all phases of war
fare, from the guerrilla system incident
TO isolation, to the arbitration of differ
ences consequent upon the higher civili-
cation of congregated citizenship.
The criticism of any movement OF men
must be governed by the conditions of
life. Bludgeons may be legitimate where
bayonets are unknown, Torture can be
defended only where it is the only method
OF striking fear into the hearts of an
enemy.
THE WEAPON or wAGE-woRKERs.
The great weapon OF wage-workers is
the strike-the cessation OF work Like
all methods of warfare IL is dangerous
and costly. Starvation, pestilence and
death move in the name of poverty, and
cessation from work to compel Justice is
a voluntary sacrifice by the oppressed to
obtain liberty
The class feeling that prompts the re-
sistant force of the wlge-worker is met
by the class feeling of defiance over the
advancing inferior class. The king will
not yield to the barons; the barons to the
commonsi the commons to the yeomen
or the yeomen to the hind, until the
safety of the class demands concession.
As the king looked down from his throne
upon the people, so the mason looked
down from the scaffolding to the hod /.
Under this confusion of conflicting in
terests the building of the tower of democ-
racy in political, social and industrial
life Is stayed
THE LABOR MOVEMENT A GROWTH.
The student of the labor movement
must understand that it Is not the crea-
ton of leaders. 1t is always a growth
and leaders are but part of that growth.
In lS44-45, upon almost the same day OF
the same year when the Rochdale pioneers
were organizing their great cooperative
experiment, dozen workingmen in Bos.
ton were discussing the same question.
This coincidence Is but one of many.
AS the products of climates differ in
kind, yet are fruit, bud or flower, so the
labor movement is OF one kind, the frui-
ton of the hope of ages, the towering
out of humanity.
THE MOB, STRIKE AND BOYCOTT Ex-
planned.
Starting with a recognition Of the fact
that methods and measures are confined
to the limitations Of opportunity and In
telligence, the mob, the strike and the
boycott are explained. The London mob
instinctively attacked the club-houses,
because they represented the social an.
tithesis, 1t was cry of vengeance from
the unemployed, or forced idlers against
the representatives of the loafers OF So
ciety. One class was idle and starved
the other class was idle and Toasted
Both classes are the victims OF the same
system, as both represent the rot
from root to flower poisoned root and
poisoned flower.
THE SPIRIT OF MOB
The mob raided the bakers and butcher
shops for food, the wine shops because
of appetite and excess, and the iewelry
shops as the representative of luxury,
The passions were led in the order OF
their natural channels. Without think.
ing they said "We will have that which
the wealthy have-food, wine and
: luxury"
II is as easy to forecast the path of the
mob as the course OF stream. Tho
stream runs toward common ocean
the mob PUSHES toward community of
wealth The pent-up waters when
loosened seek the lowest level to expend
their wrath. The pent-up forces of labor
sweep through the swamps and marshes
, OF poverty.
: SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC PHASES OF TIM
PROBLEM
The question that stands as the eternal
, interrogation mark Of civilization. is no,
( 80 GLOW can class interests be recon.
ciliatedp" but GLOW can classes be an.
literatedp' In its economic form the
problem is stated in this proposition
/ "How can the producing power of day's
! work be Increased without increasing Inc
cost OF the product7n This Is the eco.
: nonic labor question, and the movement
4 OF labor is always in the direction OF its
solution. To this end strikes break ON,
, everywhere, when civilization has reaches
the level OF social and Industrial discon.
i tent. Content under wrong Is idiocv
Discomfort is the hope OF the world
The labor union Is born of the strike
The federalist trio, -amalgamation. arhi.
tration and cooperation, are born of the
trade union. ''''
THE KNIGHTS or IIRoR.
The new form of movement known az
, the knights OF Labor is the attemntsd
concentration of all the forces ~ IAN