The great West. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1889-18??, 1892-11-18


prohibition party. At this writing
there are three parties in the field, the
democratic, the republican and the
peoples party, the latter sometimes
being referred to as s'the Farmers
Alliance" and which at the same time
claims to be q labor party, or the work
ingmen's party.
If we were to be guided in our esti-
mate of parties, predicated upon pro-
fessions expressed Immediately prior to
an election, we should be compelled to
aver that all political parties are deep
" concerned about the welfare of
labor-that their solicitude for the hap
piness and prosperity of workingmen
absorbs large per cent. of their
thoughts, and that they are ceaselessly
wrestling with the subjects. how best
to promote the interests Of men whose
labor pays all interest taxes and reve-
nues, and keeps the world from stag
nation and decay.
This system Of profession. chicane,
duplicity and hypocrisy has been prac-
ticed for years and has inspired many
time, workingmen,
with hopes, that but allure to fly,
With joys, that vanish while he sips,
Like Dead-Sea fruits, that tempt the eye,
But turn to ashes at the lips.
Here and there, now and then, the
claims Of workingmen have been recog-
nized and laws have been placed on
the statute books which modified some
outrage that had fastened itself upon
our Christian-savage Jurisprudence, a
relic of barbarism and legacy from
the dead past, those dark and damned
ages when, in judicial parlance, it was
always master and servant" or '.mas-
ter and slave" but never s'man and
man;"4when no workingman, either in
court or out of court sought to have
any right restored or respected, which
had been cloven down by his master"
The world Of workers took hope when
the declaration of independence de-
clared that ''all men are created equal"
and the day on which it was first read
is national holiday wherever float
the stars and stripes, and he shouts:
s'Forever float the standard sheet!
Where breathes the foe but falls before US,
With freedoms soil beneath our feet
And freedoms banner waving DER u.s.
But the question arises, over whom
does the starry banner float now-a-
days? Over nation of freemen?
Nominally it does, but in fact it does
not.
Workingmen declare that they are
not free men, if their employers may,
with or without law, hire Pinkerton
thugs, arm them with rifles and order
them to shoot down workingmen like
dogs without provocation. These in
fernal cut-throats. these vagabonds
from the slums, these hired outcasts
constitute military force unknown to
the state, and yet workingmen have
been unable, except in few instances,
to strike down the murderous policy
of some railroad corporations which
employ the thugs.
We confess that in all our readings
of savage and barbarian methods we
have found nothing more essentially
devilish, more Internal in all regards,
than the employment of Pinkerton out
laws to murder workingmen at the be-
hest of corporation.
We talk glibly of lands cursed by
autocrats and aristocrats, and exclaim,
read our declaration of independence!
Behold our flag! Remember Bunker
Hill and Yorktown! Contemplate the
territorial grandeur of our republic!
And in our rapture we contemplate the
luminous track of glory. permanent
and bright, made by our fathers, to
which we love to refer; but as one be-
holds an armed gang Of Pinkerton MUIR
derers ready to kill railroad men under
orders from a railroad corporation,
does not his blood run cold in his veins?
And when men who make laws are ap.
peale to to end the infamy by enact
ing law forbidding its continuance,
and are given to understand that it
will not be done, what, it any, is the
remedy?
Is it longer wise to continue in affiia-
ton with any party that thus rudely
and contemptuously thrusts us asldes
Is it not wise to form an alliance with
some party that is pledged to reform
abuses so glaring that Satan himself
would be unable to frame an excuse
for their continuance?
Is it not Of the highest Importance
that railroad employees should give
special prominence to the ''co-employs"
iniquity?
It is scarcely required tooffer word
in outlining its measureless injustice.
and that it should be Incorporated into
American Jurisprudence staggers be-
lief Railroad men fully comprehend
the wrongs it inflicts.
What is the demand? It is not to re-
peal statutes by virtue of which sthis IS
wrong, scarcely less than a crime, ex-
lists, but to enact law which shall *
once and forever strike from the records
~ the courts the damning evidence