The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1886-02-04
/, rTTERS FROM THE PEOPLE.
po,cotting and what Comes Of 1t.


rs,.or Of the Indianapolis Journal:
koveOtting is only new name for An old
pOs a. present it is epidemic and devastat-
ssA's has not yet reached its worst stage. 1t
ins, onlv foreshadowing the rioting upon
s.cred interests of civilization that the
sns will witness, while every class of citi-
pS'' IDS appalled, and paralyzed, as men
-. vhen some pestilence is sweeping over the
s'A dafving the skill of the wisest physicians.
Sns' hsan endemic for ages, but always de-
.,;vo 70 peace and general prosperity where
ssOs has obtained. To no one agency, If to all
w. .omhined, are we 80 much indebted as
o'Ns 80. Cor that mal-adjustment of labor
w capitsl which has thrown SO much labor
pa 81 nuch capital out of employment, result
~" t,s;ness failures and individual pauper-
NJ T.b.s not vet reached its worst but it Is
ism; 80. = eliminating that probably in less than
50 i. .,ora years the industrial health OF the
-, sa,;on will begin to improve as montreal Is re-
.rar;ne from the smallpox Tor want OF uateriai
cow cow TSich to work its mischief
upon ".ll in America is only new name for
DVy. which has long existed in the so-called
t9as r;ons os the land, now confederated so
tsVo' ,non of hotel walters and union or bar
s ssss enter common brotherhood with iron.
DsrI and glass workers, coal miners and
woIA wore L,owars and which essays to die
gas' tsrms to employers and employees
=" ovsrv branch of industry, and which,
- we zee compact organization. can strike
hus,ness, any place. at any time, and ruin 1T.
:. laid be sufficiently disastrous II It's manipu-
iI.;o~s struek down only the owners of mills
s"S the proprietors OF foupdries, but Its cher
S;rt;ms are the members oil It's own nousenoio'
Capital and labor, az their STOCK phrase cas tns
.nntsnt with debating the price of labor and all
C .t 80 cannot suffer without the other;
In"O MT the greatest sufferers are those
~ho themselves strike the blow. Note
re Conditions it lays it's vigorous hand upon the
nolitics of the Nation: Men are elected or de-
ts.tsd nv it's nod, with or without just cause.
:. rms stands q constant menace to business and
4srror to politicians. 1t is the more alarming be-
s.rsa the obligation to be true to the brother
kooa "a held more sacred than any other
obiieation known in religious or social life A
Mathodist or Presbyterian union man viii stab
. brother Methodist or Presbyterian without
S.oment's hesitation if ordered to do SO by the
Motherhood: and Mason will work on the level
nth his Masonic brother till the hour Of mid
niobt and 20 thence to any work of ruin that the
h,otherhood has decreed against his Masonic
brother. This is the supreme obligation of the
member of any branch of this great alliance.
What comes of all this2 In short. general
disqualification of every industry that can con-
tribute to financial prosperity and the infection
Of cruel burdens upon the body polite. Take
a home fact as an illustration. More
than 100000 have been invested in
the rolling mill plant on South Ten
uessee street. but it's fires are out,
and whyl Primarily, secondarily and entirely
on account of this criminal brotherhood. At
one time it paid expenses and provided means
sow Tee ant n
hundreds of men. with promise to hundreds
more; but, controlled by law that no brother
hood can avert. the price of the products of the
mill declined so that at the price of labor at the
mines, at the bloom works and at the mills, it
could not make goods and pay costs. With a
phetors continued to draw upon the savings of
better times until these savings were exhausted,
and then they closed. Had the proprietors of the
mines and mills been at liberty to employ men
at price to be by themselves agreed upon. those
mills might to-day be in full blast and
FIVE hundred men might have had employment
I'll these months. But there the mills stand,
idle while many of the nce-thrifty employees
have been living this cold weather upon the
charities of the township bodied
men, many of them skilled workmen in their
line, and willing to work. but they are driven
from the mills, and there is nothing they can do.
Very few Of these men are idle volun tarily.
DelO0E
hood DEGREES such prices that the proprietors
cannot pay. and the township has to be taxed to
keep these idle men from starving. Is not boy
eotting a crime2 England is wrestling with it.
and proposes to make it felony; but England
cannot do that, but we can. When the tax
payers OF America come to realize that
our poor funds are drawn upon to feed
the families of able-bodied men, in good health,
that are starving because brotherhood of boy
cotters will not allow the husband and father to
work at prices that can be paid, they will exer-
else a sovereign power that the Queen of Eng
land does not possess. But this is not the worst
feature OF this giantcrime against society, There
are $4,000 of capital now idle in this city that
would move to morrow in starting the fires Of our
two rolling mills but that this boy
eotter stands with drawn sword and
dares it to move Three-fourths of the
men who were thrown out of employment
BY the closing of the mills are ready to begin
WORK az once, and at such wages rs would enable
the mills to compete in the market with other
mills, but they dare not, and the capital dares
not take one step, because in less than six
months this brotherhood might impose burdens
mat would swamp the business as before, so that
mere Is the capital and here are the men kept
rom each other, and the city deprived of its in
terest in the business because this monstrous
crime stands in the way.
What is true of our iron industry is true Of
every other. There is not a consumer Of coal, nor
nearer OF dry goods, nor consumer of meats that
Is not unfavorably affected by this system of
OoYcotting or in danger of being. 1t permeates
eVery department of business, and yet not one
xorSineman in twenty belongs to the brother
SSOO0' and more than half of those who do belong
nave not even temporary advantage by their
SmTination AT present it has as at its pleas
VA but it will not always be so.
U. L. SEE.