Indian chieftain. [volume] (Vinita, Indian Territory [Okla.]) 1882-1902, 1892-07-14
LAST WEEKS BATTLE.
A Review, With Some of the
Principles Involved.

Vinita, Jnly 0, 1902
EDITOR CHIEFTAIN, DEAR SIR
| beg the privilege Of offering
through the columns Of The CHIEF
TAIN a few thoughts suggested by
the battle on the banks of the
Monongahela; that battle has
brought questions to the public at
tention which will refuse to be set
tied at the mere demand of Mr..
Frick or any other man, and it be-
hooves our citizens to give little
time to careful study Of the
problems involved in the situation.
| Judge that uine years experience
as wage. Garner in iron mills has
given me an acquaintance with
that industrial system which quail
ifies me as well to speak as any
man in the Indian Territory OF
equal candor and honesty is quail
ited to speak.
Unquestionably our laws are
framed for the protection of prop
erty and of vested financial inter-
ests, and under ordinary condi-
tions rightly so unless | am self
deceived / would protect at the
cost of my life Mr.. Shanahan the
druggist, Messrs. Swain and
Balentine the merchants, in
the possession of their prop
erty and in the exercise of
a lawful business against any
body of men who should endeavor
to dictate to them whom they
should employ or what they should
pay for labor. Obviously it is for
the general interest that such men
should be free from interference;
it is the business of labor to find
those who are willing to employ
it; labor has no more right to force
itself on these tradesmen than
they have to force people to pay
for their wares who do not want
them.
The above | judge is a fair and
candid statement of the proper re-
lation between capital and labor
under ordinary conditions. |
claim, however, that this reason
ing does not apply to the Carnegie
case, il usually has been however;
up to this time our public press has
as with one voice applied this prin-
ciple, and through ignorance, as
honest and white-souled men as
ever wore the mantle of American
citizenship have been stigmatized
as anarchists, sots, and enemies
Of society Now what are the
facts; in my private and mi-pub-
lie life in Indian Territory now ex-
tending over five years, my verac-
ity has never to my knowledge
been questioned, and / expect
now to tell the truth and
nothing but the truth. The illus
tration | am about to give can be
in the experience of mil.
lion men in the great industries
Of our common country. You are a
wage-earner receiving two dollars a
day. / am an Irish emigrant; and
zen generations of my foreiathers
have existed q will not say lived)
under an absentee landlord system;
ror ten generations | and my fore
fathers have starved in the midst
If plenty; for ten generations we
sold every pound OF butter and
grain and every egg to pay rent to
)ur landlord and to pay taxes, for
he landlord paid no tax out of his
.ent, and | and my father and
Ge }F9thers and siStsTs NtG are raised 9a
andlord class has so hedged about
is privileges with law that if / kill
/ rabbit or if | catch a fish in the
streams Of my native land, | am
guilty not of misdemeanor but of
ebony, and | and my family are
branded with infamy as long as
he memory of my punishment
ingers in the mind of one of
ny fellowmen. never wore
/ pair of shoes until came to this
country; three-fourths of your
wages are a fortune to me; | can
reat myself to the unwonted lux
lry of white wheaton bread and
'resh butchers meat 1t is a sim
pie fact that three-fourth Of the
irish laboring families in the coun-
ry live almost exclusively on these
articles, and keep themselves on
he verge of ruin buying this costly
md comparatively useless food;
he cheaper and better food they
will not have. | have taken your
oh and a year passes; this year Of
good fare has widened the circle
If my wants; | want a starched
shirt with a laundered collar for
Sunday; if | am young and regard
'ull Of my standing with the bet
.er sex, | want cuffs; | may want TO
marry a wife and hire a pew in the
church where | can sit with her on
Sunday; | want a carpet for the !
loor she walks on; my dollar and
lalf which once seemed big now
eems small; it was my price how
,ver and | am willing to squeeze |
through with it, but less would be /
Alas! the intolerable |
ike the unexpected is what US
tally happens; Ireland is not the
,nly unfortunate nation in Europe; !
he social condition in continental
europe, which, in addition to
eudal aristocracy supports vast
tanding armies, have produced
type lower than /. A boy whose
ather was in the army, and who
IS an infant was strapped to his
nother's back, while with brogans
N her feet and a dung-fork in her
land she spread stable offal over
europe, comes on the scene and
asts an envious eye at my dollar
nd a half; he takes the job at
dollar per day; no skill can save
ne; cunning machinery leaves no
,lay for skill; / have seen "green-