The Labor enquirer., 1886-12-04
be that we should kill for the amuse.
ment of the Roman mobiles 2"

And / say now in an era In which
there is an intense struggle for existence
among the class that has no money OF
property, that it is a struggle for the
amusement of the property nohles. The
children that play together in the streets
Of Chicago and in the villages that dol
this continent from the Atlantic to the
Pacific, will grow up and engage in q
life and death struggle for existence, for
the amusement and for the benefit of
nobody but their masters, the American
mobiles. / cay, my friends, as you draw
4 the line tighter and tighter, the conflicts
that are going on aud will go on until
these men Will array themselves against
their masters.
If l can say anything in the interests
of humanity, in the interests of liberty
equality and fraternity, l would say it
now. Take heed, take heed. The time
my friends, is not far off. The swift
process of reduction of the mass into a
condition of depravity and degradation,
as is evinced bv the NUMBER of men out
of employment, shows US clearly where
we are going. We cannot deny it. No
thinking man, no reasoning man, no
friend of his kind, can ignore the fact
that we are going rapidly onto preci.
pice. If I call halt, consider it is in
the interest of humanity. I make no
threats, have never made any threats.
l have merely spoken and told the peo-
pie what YVES the natural result of pres
ent existing conditions. 1 tell them
now l do not advise any man to COM
NIT any act which would render him
but i say to those who have the means
of existence in their possession, there
may come time when the people will
no longer be crowded together, when
the rats, as Mr.. Grinnell has said, will
come out of their holes. l would ask
you to read Victor Hugo, read the de-
cription of the vermin that crawled out
of the Latin quarter in that grand work,
"The Hunchback of Notre Dame" Un-
pleasant as these are. they are human
beings. Look at the result of the degra-
dation the masses have been brought to.
They knew nothing. They only knew
the bli.d rage of an enraged tiger TO kill
something-to DESTROY something, when
their condition had become so desperate
that life was no longer desirable and
death had no terrors. 1t is lesson of
history. No man ever wilfully throws
his life away.
1t is not probable there will be any
revolt in America, that there will be
any rebellion in any country under the
sun until the time has come when the
people can no longer live. They will
never do it until then. 1t is for society
to think, it il for them to compare. 1t
will not do for man to LOOK around his
little home, his own hearthstone and
imagine how comfortable he is, and
think because of that, everything is
lovely and everything is safe. 1t is not {.
Outside are the men that are suffering,
men with appetites, men with passions,
men with desires, men with sentiments
as fine perhaps, some of them, as those
of the most intelligent portions of the
community. Men being driven to the
wall, they will continue to be unless this
system is changed When l have told
you, or indicated, rather, how the peo-
ple's means of existence have gradually
been concentrated into the hands of the
smaller quantity and number Of the
community, it is an indication that
points unerringlv to danger. l wish 80
ciety would avert this. | have said
upon the witness stand, it was not pleas
ant for me to contem plate anything of
the kind. 1t is not a pleasant thing,
but 1t is IN the interests of peace, as I
told these people.
Your honor, there is one thing wish
to say about nv own peculiar case, and
then have done. Dynamite has been
spoken of here, and it has been charged
| by Mr.. Ingham that all of US knew vlo-
lence was to be used at the haymarket.
| If he didn't say as much, it was indicated
as much in the assertion that we ere
all equally guilty. That NAV be 80. l
don't know the extent to which any Of
the others are guilty. Fischer, Lingg
and Engel are men that have not asso
ciated with for year. know Fischer i;
l didn't know Lingg. Mr.. Engel l have
seen, but quite while before the hav-
market AFFAIR." and know at one time
he did not belong to our organization
had left it, and 80 had Fischer, and l
didn't know they belonged to it. could
not have been then conspiring with
them to do anything IN the haymarket
square on the foufth of May. 1 hadn't
seen these other gentlemen since the
Sunday previous l believe didn't see
Mr.. Parsons on that Sunday at all and
had not seen him for week before that.
don't know what the Ingredients of
dynamite are. l had never seen before
l came into this court room dynamite
bomb. l have never seen any expert.
ments or taken part in any experiments
with dynamite in any shape or form
And knever knew-and only know
now, If may believe the testimony oil