Freeland tribune. (Freeland, Pa.) 1888-1921, 1892-10-03

|
Referring to the arrogance of the COM
| mander of the militia at Homestead and
the latent power in the hands of the
workingmen, Mr.. Walker says:
There are enough workmen in Pittsburg and
/ vicinity to give a hundred regiments of the
| full complement of ten companies Of seventy
| men each, with as many more left over for on
| lockers at parades. Six months of hard drill
such as the enthusiasm of these men would
permit would leave them equal to the best OF
the Philadelphia troops. Does any one believe
for an instant that, If there had been hun
dred such regiments among the workingmen
OF Plttsburg, General Snowden would have de-
clared that he could not recognize the existence
OF such body of men as the Amalgamated as
sociation2 / choose to ask this question as a
reductio ad absurdum, in the hope that 1t will
cause my own class, who have power and au-
thority, to stop and reflect that perhaps it will
be best to concede something In the way of
law, to regulate this one sided distribution of
wealth, lest it should be regulated through
bloodshed, or, what is more horrible still,
should throw into power. through sheer brute
force, elements which will bring our republic
to anarchy. II there could have been pointed
out TO the mobiles of Louis XIV the things
which were liable to follow their arrogance,
the children of these French rich would have
cause for congratulation today.
This warning coming from man of
wealth and position will command at
tention. From a workingman or the
editor of labor paper it would be Gin
citing to murder and anarchy"
There are some men, mostly editors,
who will not learn. They remain in the
old ruts of ignorance-or pretended ig-
norance-and see only the "rights of
property" when there is a struggle
between the oppressed and their op-
pressors. The rights of man are as
nothing when in conflict with the dol
lar. The trickery of some of the edi-
torial servants of capitalism when dis
cussing the industrial question is con-
temptible. Take, for instance, the de-
ception practiced in the use of the word
capital" This has been shown up as
many times as there are visible stars on
clear night, and yet it is turned out by
the capitalistic newspaper regularly
every day during the consideration of
strike or lockout. A recent editorial in
the Buffalo Express will explain how it
is done:
He the employer) comes to look on organ
do him an injury at every favorable oppor-
tunity. His natural tendency is to seek TO
destroy that enemy If he can. He Is challenged
to fight, and he fights Surely this principles Is
wrong. Capital cannot prosper without labor.
Labor would be worthless without capital
The two should be friends and not enemies.
At least they should not destroy each other.
The design is to create in the minds of
the readers the impression that "em-
ployer" and ''capital" are interchange
able terms; that labor in challenging the
employer by q strike directly attacks
capital. We all agree that capital is
necessary to achieve satisfactory results
in production and that "labor cannot
prosper without capital" But the en-
ployer is not capital; his complete over
throw would not lessen existing capital
by one penny's worth. Nor is money
capital. Capital Is those things, natural
and man improved, which, by the apph-
cation of labor, become wealth-articles
of utility-which again become capital in
another form. In the strictest sense of the |
word labor itself is capital. The muscles
and skill of the workingmen are his capi-
tai. Labor does not quarrel with CAPT.
tai. Its contest is against a class which
has, by trickery and class legislation,
gained control of natural resources and
the tools of industry, and refuses to share
fairly with the actual producers. But
the purpose of the capitalistic press is
served if it can befuddle the mind which
that resources, labor and tools
must cooperate in production into the
belief that organized labor is threaten
ing, Intentionally or not, the destruction
of this cooperation. The employers, as
a class, are called the ''capitalistic class"
because they have gained control of the
capital used in production and retain all
the increase which comes from produc-
ton.
great deal has been written lately
by prominent men In labor organizations
on the subject of workingmen belonging
to the state militia, and all agree that,
since the "citizen soldiery" has come
into such popular use as force to crush
workingmen, no true trade unionist
can belong to the militia. The unnatural
position of the labor militiaman was
shown in lurid colors at Homestead. An
ingmen who belong to the militia of
Pennsylvania were forced to become the
armed enemies of their brother work
men is shown in the following extract
from an editorial in the New York Sun
summarizing Colonel Volkmar's eulogy
of the mobilization Of the soldiery at
Homestead:
He found that another company, mine miles
from railway, had been gathered from har
vest field and workshop, moved in wagons to n
railway and was In waiting for its cars before
these arrived" He found that a company con-
sisting wholly of coal miners was called nm
from underground and soon hurried off. He
found that in Pittsburg factory, which was
notified by telephone of the call, the foreman
instantly stopped labor, and directed all be-
longing to the national guard to advance to
the center of the workshop. Men, your regi-
ment Is ordered under arms; go to your armo
ries. Your places will be kept for you here"
Over twenty-five men hastened from that shop
to their ranks.
There can be no excuse for any of
these men. The militia has been used
to crush workingmen for fifteen or more