The weekly Union times. [volume] (Union C.H., South Carolina) 1871-1894, 1886-04-23
A NEwi BILL OF RIGHTS.


organize for tho coercion of their employers
A few voices were heard in opposition here
and there sturdy adhercnt to principle
was outspoken in condemnation; but the
laborer was supposed to be the weaker
party and had therefore the public sympa-
thy. Tho employer was held up, for the
most part, as bloated capitalist disposed to
grow rich out of the lifo-blood of his moor
dependents whose ll-requited toll filed his
groaninG Golfers; aud it was claimed tha,
there was no other methord ofredress. The
workmen were pictured as salves to ,yran
nical master and only by conspiracy land
revolution could they secure their emanci.
patton from such cruel bondage: The end
was held to justify the means, and strikes
became tho order of the day.
1t is but just to tho great body of work
ingmen to say that they were never heart
lily in favor Of the system. Whenever the
hands In a workshop or factory turned
against their employer, and by leaving his
service in body, sought to compel him to
increase their pay or to allow them to man
age the establishment after their own fash
ion, it was the few noisy and turbulent
spirits who prccipitated the contest, and b.
tauuts and threats, and appeals to passion
and prejudice, compelled their more than
half-reluctant companions to join the con-
spiracy. Tho latter often saw that such
exercise of force could never subserve their
interests. Capital is not grim aud beard
cd tyrant welding the mace of despot. 1t
is always timid and conservative. 1t hesi-
tates at invesmeuts; it is apprehensive at
every show of popular violence it bas
an instructive dread of anarchy :;
and every successful attempt to wrench
by force a reward for service not
willingly conceded by those to whom it is
rendered, counts in the long run against the
laborer by closing some avenues that would
otherwise be opened for his employment,
and preventing Tie establishment of new
and profitable industries.
The system Of coercion once adnnted can
have IN the nature of things NO recognized
limits. Revolutions, inaugurated in con-
spiracy, may have peaceful beginning, but
are sure TO result in violence ifthe end can
not bo otherwise attained. The operatives
in an establishment ask for some terms the
employer feels that he cannot or ought not
to grant. They seize upon some moment
when be can i'll afford a suspension of his
work, or at any rate least expects it, and
leave his service. This, as we have
said, when it takes the form usually
adopted, is conspiracy to produce an
illegal effect, by an act which for each
in his place might be legal and
proper. \ customer at grocery wishes
for extended credit or for some other
favor the proprietor is unwilling to grant
He has perfectly legal right to cease trad
ing with the offending dealer. But he has
no moral or legal right to canvass the neigh
borhood and to induce ali the customers of
| the establishment to combine for the ruin of
the grocers trade.
The revolt among the the workman soon
goes beyond the withdrawal of the strikers,
and this, if men will ponder it. shows at
once the true character of the plea upon
which it is made. 1t is designed, its
advocates say, to protect the rights of the
laborer; to secure for his hungry wife and
children larger share of tho peccssaries of
life, and to protest in the only effective way
against an intolcrable Tyranny. But the
employer is not willing to accept the dicta-
ton, aud he looks around for other work
men to take the place of those who have
left him. He finds, it may be, any number
of the unemployed who are not only ready
but anxious to step into the vacant places
and take up the lines which their fellows
have abandoned.
Are the strikers content with this They
are struggling ostensibly for the rights of
workingmeD; and if a sufficient number. of
this class arc willing to fill the vacant
places may they not do it? Are the work
ingmen who 20 out on strike the only
members Of the fraternity who have rights
entitled to respect If it is their right tc
combine AMI leave the looms, or the forges
or the turning lathcs, or the car fronts
silent and deserted, may not other working
men with equal rights come in to fill th,
vacancy aud restore the old activity? Are
the wives and children Of men who hav,
been long unemployed and who jump a
this opportunity to earn livelihood any
less entitled to bread than tho families o
the strikers, who have been made tn
theme of so much eloquence
What do we see on every side J? Tn
most intorerable tyranny over bis fellows
practiced by the very men who claim to b'
the anointed apostles Of freedom. For, lie
all mark it, violence is not directed aSains
the employer. Iftherc were no idle work
men anxious for service there would be n
need of bowling mob armed with club
and paving stones to keep the desertc'
works in the idleness to which they hav
| haa., IauaIal Tha a,axlaua. aaannt ata r