The examiner., 1886-06-19

that these principles are carried out as far as could be sat on the safety valve and said No.
 We have all along advocated po- litical action as the only means ot fighting the wrongs imposed on La Dor. We know that there IS no other way out of it. And that political ac- ton, too, must not be allowed to skim the surface of things, but must go to the very roots. It must tend to bring about the naturalization of the land
 and a cooperative commonwealth. 1t
 must take the monopoly of money
 from the Shylocks, the monopoly ot
 transportation from the iron-hearted
 Goulds, and all other monoPolies from
 those who now sit in idle luxury while
 they drain the life blood of buisy toll. l
 It is gratifying to note that the La
 bor journals generally are now preach ing an endorsement of our position.
 This of itself may force the leaders of
 the Labor army to decisive action.
 We find in the columns of our good
 contemporary, John Swinton's Paper,
 an article on this very subject. Touch
 ing on the resolution passed at Cleve-
 land holding members of Congress
 accountable for their actions on La
 bor measures in future, 1t says =
 ssThere is no doubt of the necessity of
 some such action as this. During the
 seventeen years of the existence ot the Order, and ever since it's platform was drawn up, it's members have gone on voting for politicians who repudiated every prln-
 ciple of that platform, and legislated in
 direct opposition to them all. The plat
 form favored land reform, while the mem
 bers cast their ballots for men who ravaged
 the public domain. The platform favored
 currency refol m, while the members voted : for the Money-Power. The platform favored the Government ownership of all railroads, telegraphs and telephones, while the members voted for the paid tools of . these monopolies. The platform favored
 the eight-hour system, while the members , And so on through the whole list of the
 twenty-two blanks of the platform. Such course was incongruous, absurd and de- moralizing. It subordinated the princi- f pies of the Order and the very object of it's s existence to the debauched old political , parties.
 Surely the time has come when all this r should be changed; and the General As ] | sembly, in adopting the resolution Whlcf we have quoted, has taken the longest stride that has ever yet been taken by lht Order toward making the platform living g reality, and bringing it's principles to thu 0 practical test by which all things must b' I tried in our country"
 e Again, we quote from the Pittsburs
 Labor Tribune, one of the oldest, a! s we'll as the ablest and most infuen e tial Labor paper in the West, the fol n lowing in reference to the same phas' ,r of the subject
 l. ssWe congratulate the convention on tn i; adoption of the energetic and efficient pol ! icy set fourth in the resolution, namel y l, the appeal to the ballot-box, the onl. it proper and effectual means the citizen ha l of fighting wrongs or assuring good gov ,e ernment. It has not been our fault tha this way out of the woods was not put i
 determined practice long since, for we hay n- expended many columns in the endeayC m to persuade the working people of Americ t- that if they be true to themselves aud 5- may well wonder why so simple a panace Iy was not long since applied. The ballot ar the bulwark of equal rights, the certai a and peaceful remedy, the potent facto
 which time-serving politicians, monope T. lists, stock waterers, in fact, all wron r. doer3 of the civil class, fear. It is tn = ballot such men as these have through tn o party press and their stump speaker
 | WlLu success nofe l. tofore-to have workmen avoid except a of partisans of the old political parties. Ha e the resolution adopted in the foregoin been adopted and lived up to rigidly tn , last twenty years, the panic of 1873 woul, q have been avoided; there would have beer tt DO occasion for the railroad strike of 1877 II and the present disturbed condition would not be, for there would have been sucl ' laws enacted as would have prevented tn. s rascalities which have put greedy grad, ', of stock -waterers and impositions gener I ally on top, and left 1, ,000, 900 workmen ou1
 of employment. The ballot by all means | workmen, for this honestly handled, witI : the determination that even-handed justice t shall prevail, will win all that should be f won, and make America what it ought to ! be, happy country.''
 7 Yes, the ballot it is, and the ballot only. All your organization for high CT wages, self-protection, strikes, boy colts and the like will be of little i, avail while the source of power and authority is allowed to rest in the i hands of the politicians. Every ap- parent advantage gained in this way will be only as so much Dead Sea fruit, for once more we proclaim to
 the deluded workers that whosoever controls your politics controls your purse-strings, and your purse-strings
 control your lives.