The Daily clarion., 1886-02-24

recognizes no distinction, in this regard
between agricultural and any other con
tracts
But Sir. Magruder says that no one
can d>ny that the willfui violation and
abandonment, without cause, Of an
agricultural labor obligation, Is ast only
immoral and demoralizing, but also a
great wrong, injurious to all, and there
fore public wrong. Pardoning the
double negative, We reply that il this be
true a. to agricultural contracts Il Is
equally true Of all other contracts But
the violation Of sn ordinary contract,
whether agricultural or not, is rot n
public wrong, but private wrong and
/ is matter in whieh the public 10 il.
organized capacity is not interested
The public the State lis interes, ed
in the performance Of the contract Of a
seamtn, and for obyions reasons, bat
there are laws useful for the government
Of those who go down to the sea iu
ships which would not be tolerated by
land lubbers.
what would be thought o. law to
punish railway employees FOR abandon
ing their "labor' contractsl Certainly
they, TO the same extent as the sailor,
Contract to transport the crops and If,
in the one case, it is "a duty essential to
the general welfare aud it, abandon
ment constitutes public wrong, to be
prevented by "penal enactment" why
not in the other2
The employment OF a person 70 carry
the mail, referred to by Mr. Magruder,
is essentially public aud no. private
employment.
+ In the space ~ our command we can
not expose all the faIIacies contained in
Mr. Magruder's twenty-Gour page pam
phlet; but We have given him more than
fair treatment in selecting passages for
criticism.l
The times are not propitious for legis
lation Of the character proposed by Mr..
Magruder. We believe that the en-.
forcement of such law of any law max.
ing the violation of labor contracts a
crime--would bankrupt the, State, and
destroy both employerand employee We
believe that it would disturb existing
conditions and relations to an alarming
extent, and that sooner or later it would
result in the dethronement Of the Dem
ocratic party.
Look at the laboreB in the North and
Westl Does any one dare to propose to
enforce the performance Of their
contracts Of employment by penal
statutesl No sane man would propose
any such thing. Banded together AZ
they are for mutual protection and sup
port, it is as much as the civil authori-
ties can do to keep them from enforcing
their demands for employment on their
own terms. Think Of the lsbor organi-
cations in the United States and the
almost omnipotent influence they WELD.
Is no lesson of wisdom to be learned
from the Strikes by labor organizs
tions throughout the union2
Our belief is that the laboring masses
Of the country would, in course of time,
resent the passage of such law. On
such II question they would not look
into mans face to tell the color Of his
skin, Why, in New Orleans, the metrop-
oils of the South, the negroes and the
whites work in harmony onall questions
affecting the contracts Of labor, and as
to such questions they make no distinc-
tion on account of color
Moreover the State could be censured
by the enlightened Press of the age,
aud, As we think, justly censured.
Mr. Magruder, and all of his way Of
thinking may not know it, but they
mistake the cause of the evil of which
they complain. 1t is the freedom of the
negro, that produces the results shown
/ in his statistics, and in Just so far as the
effort shall be made to change them by
enacting criminal statutes, will it be
the judgment of impartial and intelligent
observers, that the State is endeavoring
to control that freedom, This will be y
step backward which the State cannot
afford to take