New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1892-09-12
Washington, y. j., Sept. 6, 1892.


An shouldn't greatly wunter
Fl there's 'hOu'ans o ~ ~ %Id y MOTT
Washington y. j., Sept. 6, is0s.
The RIGHTS AND WRONGS OF STRIKERS.
THEIR NEW POINT OF VIEW AS TO PROPERTY
RIGHTS AND EMPLOYMENT.
To the Editor OF The Tribune.
Sir: The underlying conception of their own rights
and wrongs which inspired the recent action OF the
men Of Homestead and which IS also the anmating
principle OF members OF labor organizations who
strike but yet refuse allow others to do the work
which they Will not do although 1t has often been
stated clearly. is certainly not understood
by the generality Of thinking persons.
Members OF labor organizations. who are OFTEN
intelligent men, and men who have studied both the
history principles of the labor question, regard
themselves as contcndlng liberty against tyrannlcal
power and rs the nherors OF the spirit Of all the
men I'm the past who have defended their own rights
and the rights OF others against opprcssors RIDICULOUS
this view appears those who regard them simply
MS violent awbrcaicrs and thieves. ii Is well Tor
persons who desire he farmnded and TO do justice
to their fellow men, to look little more closely INTO
their claims and 10 compare their conduct with mat
Of others, who in times past were regarded by those
whom they. resisted In exactly the same nght al
though now II Is the custom TO call them heroes
To go no further back than the men who began our
Revolution. In Massachusetts samuel Adams was
ontlawcd and a price his head by the authori-
ties he dcfed and III" mon who threw overheard the
tea from the ships In roston ITarbor allowed no con
sheraton for the sacrcdness Of private property to
restrain them I'm what they thought patriotic duty,
but they were doubtless regarded thieves by the
unhappy merchants to whom the tea belonged
Those men in Massachusetts fighting against
the existing order Of things; they were rebels ana
revoluonlsts: they Intended most OF them uncon-
scousy at nrsO 10 substitute for the form OF govern
ment they were resisting a new one and one which
has since then been acknowledged by large part
Of the civilized world as the and IDEAL form
~ government although Mt that limo to the bulk OF
mankind II seemed to he tho crazicst subverslon
not only Of what was natural and safe but OF Gods
laws.
Now tho trnde union Of to-day arc also CON
tending for n order Of things. not In the HhncaI
hut in tho Industrial world they are also rebels and
rcvoutoniss whom the existing industrial authorities
WILL Of course sock overcome. but who are jnst-
dcd I'm using force in defence Of what they con
,idcr their rights on the grounds that nave
Justified nil rebels from the beginning oi history
Locally they arc wrong; morally they are right; IN
iollccttallv thcv may lc right or wrong IN" fhct
that they hold theory OF their rights ana OF inc
RIGHTS Of private property In general quite different
from tha, hcla hy their employer and by most MINK
IN, and minimizing men and women does not prove
n,dcnr from analogy that their view IS necessarily
/
wrong. ,
The theory 70 which I refer and which whether
mt Into words or not. Is firmly fixed In the mlns
u al trndc unioni.t.. Is that the man VINO 10y "'s
labor for n series ~ years helps To huh UP s'V'
busncss De- II factory mine railroad thereby
ACQUIRES distinct right II property In That business
while The General Wow T. that II Is only the man
who helms 20 build up the business by MS money
who IN, a property Hight in II. Whiie away w
knovlcdring the hight Of an employer to discourage
worlmcn for Just cause. the trade uniohiNt mas 'i'
u-r Wow ~ villa. constitutes Just cause, and does
not include under head the exercise OF the Pea
tight 10 belong to political religious or trade aNSo
c,,,ous nor doc, hc acknowledge that taking part III
strike + lust cai. ~ discharge. or Tint by reason
Of such action belonging 10 trade union OF '""i's
mr., In q strike, workman loses lis property right
in the cuisines, d" has helped 10 bIlld mp pS 'i'
labor This Wow f. the ground upon when "o'hNH
mon locked ont %, at Homestead. or even on str'"
refuse 50 long A. thcy can. TO allow other men "
como I'm and takc possession Of what they call I"
,bc sco-pful amu-cuicut II their employers, thelr
places
This * evidently q new conception Of the rights
Of private PROPERTY ami no especial means 10y "m'n
II mislt b, put into practice have as yet 80 lar rs
I know. been pointed out even BY the men VINO
defend the principle Itself with their lives. as did
ia, mon locked ont Al Homestead. The fact that the
rorcs 81 only 700 of the 5000 men employed In the
Homestead mills wcr. De- affected by the proposed
reduction proves that the resistance on the part Oh
the whole bodv was one IT principle, and presents
spectacle Of Industrial pubIc spirit which coud no,
have bcen found probably. In any trade less wen
orc,ulzmi that H. I'm any trade III" members Oh WHO"
we're not educated to recognition Of the fact that
mon who will not defend the rights e.. 'hclr fellows
will SON lose their own.
TIN, suggestion that the laws relating 10 PiN"'
nropcriv NAV I'm the future De- materially changed
will be- new to many persons who nave no, S'uu''"
carefully the principles underlying 'hose ""s
euch the following quotation from letter written
I'm 1870 by the distinguished thhher' '""""'''
Wright, will be very nstrlctiVe'
The rapaciiy of wealth l.. of course the 'aProo VI
all those cvils-th. source Of the hostility which
,1,o,,s o,,ol irs,ituiions We have got to amend
tho cre,, Roman invention, the laws OF properly
Looked ,t nationally and from utilltarian point
~ view tho rights Of private Owncrshlp-the Plv,eo
lion Of The individual in the possession hcCu'
c nrmuciiyc administration. ana p0sthu-
MINIS I-,r'sol Of nj, surplus gain founded simply
LIZA .ni,, H., the motives they afford 10 his making
"''y - ." and adding Them rs he really does I'm
spite Of his seeming private "pproPra"oh s %. 'n,
10 the store Of public wealth ~, ~ lar ,nngd
"ircumstnnccs have come 10 be, productive not o,
increased gain, but OF rs ana p.r'dd ev gS Of
cgr,ized robbcrv and must ~ abrognted or hnehucn
IL justice is 10 be eiIect'd by ieg's"uo"' ''"7
E ,,.rans Unfortunate that the problem will have
IN he solved through democratic agencies ana the un
avoidabc ascendrncy Of the wi Of III" oaI question
which is Inc more untownd instrument Tor the really
just and wise planhropst To ~oI hr ~it s s"nchi
mr. the e1nalIv eufcod arisocracie' binded DN Sl
n"coccs and arstocrnclcs both blind. and
n led by mon Of their sort, must inevitably carry
tho State with them to Destruction, but 90 m3o =,
Ms dwell dcspondnely the power; and tendencies 'f
''' ' " JOSEPHINE SHAW LOWELL.
Geneva switzerland. July 49, 'ls'2'