The Labor enquirer., 1886-09-18
What She Understood.


For the Enquirer.
The Daily News grows mpassionate
in this mood as is the case usually with
hypocrltical villains, it is uncomfortable.
1t plies that noble woman, Mrs. Parsons,
"because she did not know to what her
course would lead her and her husband,
and because she did not understand the
spirit of our laws, etc"
Shades of ignorance-pity them
She understood better than they ever
could, better than most of us in fact, the
spirit of the whole bourgeois class, aud
foresaw with keen, prophetic vision,
what would be the condition of society
when they should by any means begin
to feel their seat of power shaking,
through the efforts of the proletariat
class. She knew that the spirit of Rus
sia slumbered here, where classes are
made by the same means as there, and
would surely arouse whenever the old
|
glorious country" should prove Insult
Cient for the subje ction if the masses.
She understood the organization Of 8 )Ci
ETY. 80 well thot she knew what to ex-
pect and faltered not an iota in saying
and doing what she believed to be right
No Spartan woman ever did a brayer
or more devoted deed than did she
when she gave up her husband, dearer
to her than her life, because she felt it
would be est for the cause and other
imprisoned comrades.
But "she did not understand the
spirit of our laws2" Who did, a year
ago?
Who would have interpreted them as
making it a crime to speak ones
thoughts?
Who ever read in the constitution.
Declaration of Independence, or legisla-
tive laws anYth ng that would warn a
man that he put his head in moose if
he turned labor reformer?
Who could have guessed, a twelve
months since, men and women in Amer
ica and under the laws of govern
ment by and for the people" could b9
arrested without warrant, tortured in a
sweat-box, imprisoned in underground
cells and impregnable jails for months,
and sentenced to death, all because they
believe and advocate ideas which the
ruling classes do not like?
All, she understood the "spirit' Of the
law and read Its "letter," better than
most of us. And she dared it for the
truth.
A mile from my home, men are work
ing on a railroad grade. Young men
with pale, intellectual oking faces are
working there. who stagger under every
load of dirt, and keep up only by strain
ing every nerve and they are earning
$l25 per day In few DAYS they will
be tramping.
In that much-lauded watch factory at
Elgin, their slaves only last sixteen
years on an average, and earn through
the year an average Of Is cents per day.
They breathe brass dust and chemicals
instead of oxygen, and pour their eyes
out through glass tubes at a rate that
finishes them in fifteen wears or SO. But
| will leave this modeI(?) institution to
be dealt with by an abler writer who
has given it nnsiderabIe attention lately
Every day willing men who want to
work. sneak by, trying to keep out of
range of the authorities eyes, and beg a
bite to eat.
Vanderbilt, Gould, Pullman count
their salaries" by the second, more dol,
lars than We care to think about for each
one. Ingham gets $50 per day from the
state for helping to judclallv murder
+ innocent men. Yet men exist who In
sist the system doesn't need changing.
LIZZIE NJ. SwANK.