Daily Yellowstone journal. [volume] (Miles City, Mont.) 1882-1893, 1888-01-06

not obay as readily II told TO vote At
the diclation of their masters, as they
did Ia eeasing work AT the com mand
Of these masters, without having any,
even the slightest pretext, OF
wrong. or injl.tlcs for 30 doing?
Anc man who blindly, unquestion-
ingly and promptly obeys the DiddiDg
Of smother when obedience thereto
means great injustice TO himself, great
wrong to his employer, aud great in
d. III renee TO the rights OF his fellow
citizens, il a vassal, and vasssl 80
lacking in intelligence that perhaps 1t
is well for him to have a master. But
the law Of the land which makes il b
special busines, of IL own to take care
ofthe weak minded and the mentelly
irresponsible, should here step in and
protect these incompetents from the
tyranny Of lEeir few master.-lhe lat
ter having shown themselves to be
Iully a. weak-minded as their tools,
but lhousand-fOld more dangerous
an ferocious.
The second conclusion presented for
the consideration OF the thinking man
is. do the working men Of the country
really think the owner ofSroperiy or
n business has the right 10 manage IL
rs he pesses, or do they regard him
simply rs the unpaid agent in charge
OF their property-to which they have
no legal or moral right, and to which
they can put no claim higher than
that of brute force
In view of the boasted intelligence
and bua,ted virtue Of the American
workingman II is on insult To him to
seriously put such question. In
view of his action in the late abortive
.trike on the Reading railroad the
question il not only wisely put, but il
The only one that can he asked. These
striking employees did not own dol
lars worth of property in the road
Iney were not responsible to the ex
tent 0f cent or the fraction Of Cent
for the management Of the company.
All the extent to which they were in
terested was to do the work mapped
out tor them and to draw the wages
paid by the comIany for doing il.
Vet they grsvely stop The business OF
The company. arrest all its operations
in flash. because the company hap.
pened to have some business dealing
with an elevator company that EN-.
ployed few men that didn't belong
to the Knights OF Labor
To the ordinary man the astound-
ing fact seems at first sight TO belong
to the realm Of the joke-to be bur.
lie que Of the truth. 1t Is however a
very grim and terrible fact. Blink at il
AS we may the fact stsres us in the
face that there ale 60,0C0 workingmen
in the United States whose represeD-
tslives are SO Indifferent 10 the law,
Justice and common honesty that
they are willing to arrest the opera
ton Of a railroad and for the time be.
ing break up the business of their en-
ployers because tuose employers will
not boycott some other company that
employees a dozen men who do not
think precisely on one subject ss The
representatives Of the 60,000 do!
There is danger ahead TO the insii-
tutious of our country when our work.
Ing uen 80 far surrender their man
hood aud right OF individual judg.
ment and personal liberty at the sim.
ple bidding of few others. as these
striker Reading operatives have done.
II all the workingmen Of the country
are liable to 80 act (Which We do not
believe, however, then the duration
Of our existence As republic, or the
continued exercise OF manhood suf.
frsge il, each Of them, destined to be
very short.