The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1886-03-17
A DANGEROUS DOCTRINE.

u. L. SEE.
A DANGEROUS DOCTRINE.
Terrorism and Intimidation the Chief Factor
In the Labor Troubles.
New York Evening Post.
There are various plans on foot, { sin the
Legislature and some outside, for the ,ment
OF disputes between workingmen and ir en-
ployers by means Of arbitration. But rs cheme
of this kind. however carefully considered can
be successful, unless it be based on clear I'M
derstanding of what the rights of the parties
who submit to arbitration are That is to say,
there can be no sound, lasting and healthy set
Element of the labor question which is not pre-
coded by plain definition of the position of the
the kind seems to have been reached. Appar
emily very large body of the workingmen all
over the country seem to be possessed with tho
idea that they have right to be hired by any
. rate OF wages to be fixed by
themselves or by the trades-unions to
which they belong 1t may be said
that this is an exaggeration. that all that the
trades-unions claim at most is the right of men
to continue in the service of men who have
already employed them. But this is a distinc-
ton without a difference. In the field of morals
right to be employed by any man you please
flows logically from the right to be employed by
a particular man who does not want your serv-
laborer ia has right to insist that B shall
give him work at 81 day heaving coal when
does not want him to heave coal for him on any
terms whatever, has a right also to impose
himself on G, D, or E as coal-heaver.
In most of the strikes which occur nowadays
this point is clearly brought out. The laborers
OF the Steam-heating Company, for instance,
call on the company to make certain changes
in it's mode of doing business, as condition of
their continuing to work for it. The company
and ha Ia nave%I fau ifo
service. All is right thus far. Each side has
exercised its liberty as a citizen. But the labor
ers do not go away and let the Steam heating
Company alone They surround its premises in
an angry way, as Ii the company were in posses
sion of something which belonged to them, and
they threaten those whom it takes in their places
with serious bodily harm. They insist that they
have right to continue in the company's en-
pfoyment for an indefinite period, on terms fixed
by themselves and without regard to their be-
havisr. They do not concede to the company
any right whatever of withdrawing from the
relation or dispensing with their services, nor
will they allow IL to mention any fixed term of
ONCE for them. They are 30 sure Of the justice
or this arrangement too, that they propose to
assault anybody that interferes with IL, and to
damage the property Of anybody who deals with
the company and refuses to be q party to the
quarrel
Now, arbitration on basis Of this sort Is I'm
possible 1t cannot succeed in any organized
shape unless 1t is avowedly conducted between
free agents-that is unless the parties to 1t have
perfectly equal rights unloss the Knights Of
Labor, for instance, openly acknowledge, and
agree to live up to the acknowledgment, that the
employer has the same right to dismiss that the
employe has to leave, and that the laborer has
no more right to hit or kick the capitalist, or
damage his property for not giving him work,
than the capitalist has to hit or kick the laborer
for refusing to stay in his service. We trust
too, that employers Of labor throughout the
country. and all intelligent and peaceable men
of every calling, whether employers OF labor or
not, will insist now on the abandonment OF the
monstrous theory. which the Knights of Labor
are either putting forward or sanctioning that
man whether the other man wants him or not
This sounds, when one sees it in q
paper, SO absurd as to be laughable; but
such doctrine is not laughabie when held by
to be free country; it is dangerous. 1t merits
the prompt and unfaltering resistance of every
lover OF his country and his kind Nothing
much more monstrous and oppressive was ever
concocted In the middle ages to bolster up the
power of feudal lords. All this "boycottingn
which is going on in support of it is simply a
disguised form Of robbery, and should be met
and stigmatized as sucl. Working by all sorts
OF methods to injure mans business, or In
other words to damage his property because he
Will not hire you, is no more moral nor respect
able than going to his safe and taking some Of
his money, and it is pity and shame that it is
not as punishable and as easily punished. Every
body, no matter his place or calling, who encour-
ages it, submits to it, or connives at it in
the case of his leighbor Is an accessory to a
most odious offense against society and against
his fellow-man. The moral law has not changed
since the Knights of Labor were organized any
more than the law Of the land, and no change in
the law Of the land which does not take the moral
law into account can possibly work any thing but
confusion.
Moreover, the doctrine of compulsory hiring
is capable Of indefinite extension without losing
any of its force. 1t can easily be applied to the
sale OF any other commodity as well as labor.
1t have the right to insist on another mans
hiring me whether he wants me or not, and am
entitled to kick and cuff him. and smash his
machinery and furniture, and persuade his
neighbors not to deal with him in case he re-
fuses, why may not do the same thing if he
refuses to purchase goods of my manufactured
Why might trades-union not set ND a produe-
ing cooperative shop and carry their goods
round to people for sale, and hit them over the
head, and break their windows, and hang round
their door kissing and hooting and threatening
every body who attempted TO enter, in case Of
their refusal to buyq What can be said in de-
Tense or justification of the first of these per-
formances which cannot be said IN defense or
justification of the secondl Nothing that we
know. of.
The issue is plain one. 1t must be met by
the American people sooner or later. The pres
ent position of the Knights of Labor is an at
tempt to introduce terrorism and intimidation
in their most odious forms into the every day
life of that community of all in the world from
to expect This is as good a time to meet it as
will ever come
TELEPHONES IN THE WEST.