Barbour County index. [volume] (Medicine Lodge, Kan.) 1880-current, 1892-09-14

legally right, perhaps, for Frick ant
LoveJoy TO attempt to convey the ide;
that the wages paid are remarkabl,
high, without showing that the labor i.
very severe; that continuous labor is al
most physical impOssibility, and veIy
liable to impair permanently the phys
lcal energy of the employees.
We ought not to condemn too severe.
ly the leaders on either side of this
great struggle. They are simply daring
chargers on either side of the skirmisb
line IN this great struggle between or
gained capital and organized labor. OF
course we use these terms in their ordi.
nary acceptatiOn, though we believe
both to be misleading to some extent.
That Homestead was only a violent
sklrmlsh in great struggle everything
tends to prove.
Inc scale was placed on steel h;llets.
and the price of these reduced. WhyP
10 reduce wages.
"A demand for REIMBURSEMENT, during
the winter season, was made. Why?
10 take advantage Of mems necessities
and reduce wages.
The men were locked out before their
contract expired. Whyp To exasper-
ate them and provoke them to deeds Of
violence.
Inc works were fortified by high
FENCES, hot-water mains, canon, electric
wires, and fash-cameras and watch
stations. WhyP In anticipation of a
desperate struggle.
PROVISION was made to board men in
side the works. Why? In anticipa-
ton OF running the works under an
armed guard.
Pinkerton thugs were imported in a
manner resembling an armed invasion.
WhVP Because they had decided on
policy OF force and defiance.
They refused the slightest recognition
OF the amalgamated association as such.
Whyp Because the struggle was ex-
presSly begun to deal Q death blow to
organized labor.
Every step shows An organized con-
spiracy to this end.
Whichever party is victorious mat
ters little 30 far a. the final solutic- :.
this problem ia corcarnad IN of
Either may be beaten.
Quered. =; neither con-
It is not mere
vivaI of or oIyA question OF the sur
UNI carnations.
- Aerlyjng the present conditions
-Ie grave questions of politics, political
economy, not merely partlzan strife.
Among these are the questions wheth-
er or not the producing toiler can. as q
matter Of right, demand certain por-
ton of the profits of industry, which be
himself has built up in some other
mans name, and whether he can, as q
matter of right, organize to insist on
such demand. Whether or not, as q
matter of right, workmen who have
built up homes dependant on certain
industry, can demand voice in saying
what shall be the reward of their labor
Whether or not, when society has
given protection to these great indus
tries, guaranteed their safety, allowed
by the rules and regulations of trade,
by the monopoly of patent rights, by
the advantages of special privileges OF
Incorporation, by protective tariffs, by
monopoly of natural opportunities, al
lowed few men to amass great for
tues-whether OF not society and the
law have a right to interfere and say
these differences must be settled by lie.
gal arbitration.
Because the combined energy and in
dustry of society, and that alone, has
created all wealth, have they not the
right to say how that wealth shall be
usedE Merely because In the process of
Its creation, a few favored individuals
have been given special opportunities
to gather titles into their own names
does society thereby relinquish all man.
ner of control over the wealth it has
producedP
If nature has furnished us certain op-
portunities to produce wealth, and the
combined effort and energy of society
have produced that wealth, can society
relinQuish absolutely all control Of those
opportunities, all control Of that wealth
to q favored few without rendering it.
self subseryient to those few, and un-
dermining the very foundation princi.
pies of republicanismp
If certain few are thus allowed such
advantages over society, is it not bound
to lead to distress, dissatisfaction and
disquiet on the one hand, and unreason-
able averice and greed on the other,
with all the attendant crimes Of the
calendarp
Is it possible to avoid Homestead AZ
ter Homestead, massacre after massa-
Gre while such conditions prevail
Is it right to condemn . few indiyid-
uals who are pushed 10 the front IN this
struggle that social conditions have
precipitatedp
Would it not be better for organized
labor, instead Of wasting it, strength