The record-union. [volume] (Sacramento, Calif.) 1891-1903, 1892-07-08
THE PENNSYLVANIA TRAGEDY.

The awful tragedy near Pittsburg illus
trates once more the senseless and pas
sionate rage of the mob spirit and testi-
fies with new emphasis against the strike
backed by arms.
1t is wholly unnecessary in the pres
ence of the Pennsylvania riot to go back
to the issues between the workers and
their employers. These we do not in the
light Of the bloody tragedy Of the week
consider, since there were and are no
issues that cannot be adjusted by peacea-
bic means; or that justify the resort to
agencies of violence which never have
and never can achieve success. Invaria-
bly, such resort to force reacts most
disastrously upon the striker. It is SIM
ply impossible for him to compel the
wheels of industry to turn by prying
with bayonet.
But in this country of popular govern
ment, if capitalistic arrogance becomes
unbearable, if misused wealth is applied
to the sore injury of the wage earners, il
combinations, trusts and corners threaten
peaceful and prosperous conditions, the
ballot-box affords the best remedy. If,
as we assert with such pride, this is a
government of the people by the people
and for the people, then the people,
through the one only agency of peaceful
raUO1nfinY
power which resides in them. When.
therefore, a portion of them rise against
the laws or the exercise of inalienable
rights under them, and with force and
arms defy them, they move directly in line
with the subversion of the very system
that guarantees them freedom of action.
We appreciate the claims made by the
workers, while recognizing the rights in
property, and of employers to conduct
their business as they see fit within the
bounds of the law; we also know that the
resort to force and bloodshed is bad foi
both sides and infinitely worse for the
workers.
The manifestations of ferocity, brutal.
ity and inhumanity that succeeded the
surrender of the employed guards, while
shaming civilization and putting the
atrocities of war to the blush, serve tc
demonstrate the dangers that lie in meth.
DDS which supplant the law and give the
scepter of power over to hot blood
The victors at Homestead had it in their
power to prove their titles to respectful
hearing for their claims by treating theii
prisoners as the chivalrous do. But it APP.
pears that the leaders lost control over
the mob, and the lawless spirit that once
let loose always runs to the extreme, fol
the thousandth time gave the world
proof Of its danger and terrors.
Labor, unfortunately, will take harm
by the Homestead carnage; in no re-
spect viii its cause be advanced by the
scenes of Wednesday morning. The
great conservative, peace-loving, prop.
ertypossessing masses of the people will
sound protest that must be respected
The friends of labor, the advocates of fail
pay for an honest days labor, for equality
before the law, the enemies of oppres
sion, the champions of personal liberty
within the law, the defenders of the righ
of every man to do with his own as BIZ
pleases within the law, the conservativ,
American people with homes and fami
lies who are consumers of products, anC
whose industry and frugality underlit
national prosperity, will not tolerate these
resorts to arms in resistance of the law.
of the land. They will see to ii withou
countenancing violence that labor is no
made servile, that the employer does no
become the oppressor, that the employ,
does not become the dictator, that capita
shall not enslave nor labor paralyze, anC
that all the contentious and riots that th,
misguided may promote and shortsightet
policies provoke are put down, and tina
the contestants are referred to the suprem
American arbiter, the ballot-box.
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