The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1886-03-23
LETTERS FROM THE PEOPLE.
The Diabolical Conspiracy.


ror, during which the streets of Paris flowed
with human blood. every murdered man being
the victim of his neighbor, who, in turn, was to
become the victim of to-morrows mob was none
the less devilish because it was baptized LIB
erty, fraternity equality" No less diabo]ical
is the present great conspiracy against the rights
OF the toiling millions because it claims to be in
the interest of laboring men. 1t is lie upon its
face. and every student of history who has ex-
amined the true inwardness of this movement
can but be struck with the exact paralle.ism be-
tween that movement and this. both as to its
purposes and its measures, far as it
has progressed The only difference traceabe
is due wholly to the different civilization which
century of comparative quiet and prosperity
has created. The inspiration TO that conspiracy
was the mad communism OF the Jacobins; and
Its brawn, at first, was the sans culottes, who
would rather pillage than labor; though before
its bloody work was finished it had drawn men
and women of all ranks into its vortex. The in
SEPARATION of this conspiracy is class of I'M
Americanized men of foreign birth, Who refuse
to assimilate with orr customs and Institutions,
but live by fostering discomfort aslong honest
but ignorant people. while it's Drawn is almost
wholly of the same element. True they have
succeeded, by their system of force as well as by
some plausible statements, in mastering under
their banner some men who are otherwise very
ty, the tyranny over the helpless
and the wanton destruction of business all too
plainly show that the ninism OF to-day which
pervades this conspiracy is but another name
for the communism which, less than a century
ago, threw France into anarchy for ten years or
more, and resulted in the destruction of life and
property beyond any power to estimate. And
let me here record my conviction, without pre-
tending to foresee the invisible, that the momen-
tum already acquired will carry forward this
anp yairaax until fhYOaO oh a rnd of aOa
and the destruction of property greater than
that known as the late civil war, or the
other opposing force will succumb from sheer
exhaustion. 1t has passed beyond the realm of
reason and argument, and is already upon the
very verge of brute force. Perhaps this is well.
1t may be that the principles of right
are yet too ETHEREAL to become the rule
of life with the millions. A regard for
the right thirty years ago would have
averted our bloody war, but men madly rushed
to the issue, defying all considerations of right.
They had the power, they thought, what cared
they for the right
This organization of class is diabolical con-
spiracy against the rights Of the millions of
toilers who cannot organize against IL. The
census of 1880 WIDOWS less than 6, 900, 600 of the
80, 900, 900 of American citizens engaged in the
industries which are represented by the knights
of Labor. Of these, not more than two thirds
can possibly become a part of the organization
so that at the outside figureit is 600 600 against
46,000,O00. Of the entire population not more
than IL per cent, or 6, 000 600, are too young or
too old to work, and all work, or ought to, and
the real toilers are not found in the we'll
appointed shops, but among the obscure and I'M
skilled. Hard work is not confined to the male
porsion of society, but the hardest lots of all
with the mothers, whose hours OF labor are not
marked by the clock. There is more truth than
poetry in the old couplet.
''Poor helpless woman meier can say
Her work is done till judgment day."
Ruf hora copoaa n hand 0f stalwart man VII
declare that they will work but eight hours out
of the twenty four, and that the millions who
must work indefinitely must support them at
that. They have taken possession of the more
profitable industries and propose to drive away
all others. They will not even allow their own
children to learn the trades Of their fathers ex-
cept on burdensome conditions The intent and
the consequence of this is the enhancing of the
value of their products, that it Is sword that
cuts two ways; it impoverishes the consumer by
driving him away from the more profitable call
ing, and it exacts from him and her higher
price than is just for the goods they must have.
The surface appearance ia that it EFFORTS from
the railroad or factory owners, or from the man
who builds house Neither of these Is the
ultimate sufferer. The man or woman who
consumes the goods is the sufferer, and these
all tolers. The wise parent puts his boy and
girl to work long before school days are ended.
1t is the bane of city life that too few opportuni
ties offered for juvenile labor; it is the bane
of factory life that too much is apt to be exacted
from childhood. But here is a bard of conspir-
ators, bound by the most sacred oaths to resist
all attempts to increase competition by allowing
children to learn trades Among the vagabond
arabs that infest our streets and fill our reform
schools are thousands of the children of well-to-
do mechanics or their widows, who are cudgeled
away from the shops and into the streets by the
arbitrary mandates OF this band of conspirators
who are determined to reserve their places for
members of the guild who come from the starv-
ing wages of the old world to drive away from
xnAtv n11r ali 1E
own families. 1t is conspiracy of 1000, 900 of
bodied Knights of Labor against 46 900 900
of those who have to earn living as best they can
There is nothing too sacred for their touch.
The Knight of Labor will meet on the level with
his Masonic brother in a fellowship once regard
ed as most sacred, but he will go from the lodge
to the camp and join approvingly in any diabol-
ism against his Masonic brother, not Knight
He will derail his cars, or burn his bridges, or
boycott his business, or drive off the hungry
man that wants to work in his shop The
Knight of Labor will sing, ard pray, and COM
mune with his Christian brother in the house of
God, but 60 hence to injure his business in any
way the camp may direct. No religious
one of these conspirators AS to politics, he has
none. He knows no party that does not cater to
his interest The consolidated move of the To-
cal Knights of this city against a man who was
born with tools in his hands, and has pounded
his way through life with mallet and Ratchet.
except when pounding rebels, because he
does not belong to their secret oath
bound conspiracy, is small mat
ter Of itself; but he is blind
who does not see in this most alarming element
of danger2 When the economic interests of in
dividuals and Of the Nation are in the hands of
indicative, oath-bound leagues the reign of ter
ror is not far off.
1t may not be the province of the pulpit to
correct all social political evils, but when that
engine of power is turned against the morgan
lied forty millions Of men, women and children
who. in obedience to the divine law earn their
bread by the sweat of their faces and caters to
the demands of the organized four millions;
when it breaches to women who work twelve to
fifteen hours out of twenty -four, and expresses
no sympathy for them, but weeps over the
overburdened mechanic who, at the furthess,
works but ten; when it teaches that whenever
five or five hundred men have combined to build
a railroad or factory they become at once legit-
innate prey for conspirators, and have no rights