The Goodland republic. [volume] (Goodland, Kan.) 1891-1907, 1892-12-23
A PRESENT PROBLEM.
Signs Of Approaching Conflict Between
Capital and Labor More Desper.
ate Than Ever.
Lessons From the Late New Orleans
strike That Should Interest Every
American Citizen.
The Giant Labor Has a Power That Is
Terrible to Contemplate II Used
URwisely.

There are signs of approaching con.
ffictS between labor and capital more
Desperate than this country has ever
seen. The late strike in New Orleans
indicates, probably. the new line or
ganized labor will take, line new
not in principle but in practical APP
plication, that. namely, of many trades
or many branches of one trade, taking
up the battle for one. In the New
Orleans affair, less noticed by the pub
lie than it would have been had it not
occurred just before election, sixty-One
unions were involved, the workmen of
every skilled trade carried on in the
city and day laborers also The men
Of one union, the teamsterS and load
ers, went out on a strike because of
trouble with their employers, and the
other unions called their men out on
"Sympathy" strike.
For nearly week the busiest mart
on our southern coast presented the
extraordinary spectacle Of absolute
business paralysis, for labor stood with
folded hands and said: See how you
can get along without me-" Private
carriages and walking were the only
ways of getting about the city, for
street car and omnibus men refused to
work. So, too, did cOmpositorS and
pressman, and the morning and even
ing papers tailed to appear. So, too,
did the gas and electric light men, and
the city was In darkness, So, too did
the bakers, and bread could not be
bought. And so with every industry.
True, in less than week this strange
strike was broken. The state authori-
ties were invoked, the state troops
called out, and settlement by arbi-
traitor was effected, But the object
lesson was given, and it is superficial
student OF his time who does not know
1t Is grave one.
Organized laborers. driven into soli-
darlty, as the endeavor to destroy their
organizations will drive than, can
bring about by simple refusal to work,
conditions which will imperil the peace
and safety of an entire community
which may bring hunger into the
homes Of rich as well as Of the poor
which will demonstrate beyond cavil
that great as is the power Of wealth,
impregnable as are Its buttresses law
full and lawless, natural and filched, it
isa pigmY when opposed to the solidi-
He'd ranks Of the men who not only
produce the wealth itself, but all the
environment that makes that wealth
worth more than apples of Sodom.
Those to whom it does not appear
that this question of capital VS., labor
Is anything more than the stock IN
trade OF "agitatOrs" will do well to
ponder over the lesson of tho New Or
leans strike, 1t was purely local, and
lis effect was confined to the one city,
Int in that city=where once slave
tabor, skackled hand and foot, was APP
praised as cattle and sold from the
block-free labor, organized for self.
defense and mutual assistance, held
the commerce, the industries, the
traffic, the very food Of the citizens in
It's grasp. Imagine this power and
purpose of concentrated action ex.
tended from one city to another, from
one state to another over the railways
that net them together!
IT il not to be assumed that in such
crucial hour, when the giant labor
first really apprehends its full powers
those powers would be temperately
wisely, fairly exercised. The contrary
Is probable. Are the American PEG
pie, then, wise when they evade the
study Of the problem Of capital ant
labor as they do? Is it safe for th'
general public to remain Indifferent
to what so vitality affects the com
,mOnWealtbf Capitals rights" ant
"labOr's rights" are shibboleths owe
which industrial warfare is waged al
over this country. Isn't it time tn,
rights Of the cOmmonalty against boil
should interest acknowledgement