The Labor enquirer., 1886-01-09
an Il snLr Dnrnnsnl.
4 Rrtvuts Lettsr to tAe EAiter Which
tAssRablie Bhsuld READ and
ThinA UpeA.

9zzs---
The following letter was not intended
for publication, but it contains some very
forcible Arguments, hnd l publish it and
take chances on the howls is will cause
and the shafts which will bs leveled at
the editor of this paper:
The success OF come of the boycotting
movements has had great deal to do
with the new accesslons to Che ranks of
the different unions anei eventually
boycotting will have another progressive
effect, that the most Of those who use it
and defend it do not anticir ate, and that
is, it will compel the capitalists to organ
ise to strike back. And that is just what
is necessary to bring the retl question to
q final issue, and when that time comes
Providence will be on the side Of the
heaviest artillery which brings me to
consideration of that question which, in
my humble opinion, is beirtg altogether
too much neglected aad sal. down upon
by organized workingmen, s.nd that ques-
tion is: Is it advisable for organized
labor to provide itself with the instru-
ments of physical warfare as soon as
possible2 In the interests of peace, in
the interests of humanity. and of justice.
answer most empl llaticallY, Yes, and
the reasons that lead me te to this con-
cluslon are as followlI:
First. War will become one of the
lost arts when the cls sss who profit by 1t
and therefore desire 1t. are dom mated by
those whose interests are fer peace, even
though such domination is purchased
through the possession of the means OF
war by those who desire itnot.
Second. Other things being equal,
proficiency in the art of war has always
preceded the advance ofa higher civil
ization.
Let not this be coI,sidertd as an en-
dorsement of the necessity of war for
the sake of conquest or plunder, but
rather as an evidence that so long as
there are races and classes who profit by
and desire war, that higher and nobler
civilization is only possible when it can
meet resistance by a superiority of force.
Third. When there are two classes
whose interests las now understood) are
antagonistic, the preservation of peace
and the prevention oiblooGshed demand
that the superiority of armament and
tactical skill should belong to those who
do not desire war.
Fourth. There have always existed,
and still exists, individuals and classes
who believe however much they are
mistaken) that their own individual
welfare can only be conserved by plum,
dering those more scrupulous and less
powerful than themselves. =
Fifth. That the natural tendency oi
such system, whether it be Casarism,
Feudalism, or Mer,antilism, wherein
class supremacy has existed for its own
individual aggrandizemenb alone, is to
isolate that individual, farnily or class
from the body of the people. to the OBJ.
liberation of common sympathies, aspi-
rations, and enjoyments, III. fact step
backward toward batbarism.
Sixth. That this present Mercantile
system contains all the essential elements
of warfare, in SO far rs killing and main.
ing human beings ara concerned for the
yerifcation of this fact, we are indebted
to those whose avartce and sensuality
sacrifice yearly in industrial warfare
more lives Of children, women and men,
than have ever in the same time been
slain on the field of battle. -.