Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1892-07-24
PITTsBURG. SUNDAY. JULY "a. 1892
A vILLANoUs ACT OF ANARCHY.

The cruel and cowardly attempt upon
the life of Chairman Frick, of the Carnegie
Company, yesterday, will cause thrill OF
horror among citizens in every part of the
land. The response to the bullet of the
assassin will be one of deepest execration
for the shame it has brought to what has
hitherto been accounted the freest, the
safest and the most considerate govern
ment that human civilization has ever de-
yelOped.
The circumstances of this shocking eli
max of the labor troubles which have been
lying like a nightmare upon the commu-
nIty for three weeks past, leave no
room for doubt as to its character. 1t
was only one man who was struck at; but
every American citizen will be compelled
10 recognize that the weapon was the
smoking pistol of Anarchy which, under
the guise of personal assault, was boldly
and defiantly thrust at the throat of Amer
lean Government.
The criminal wretch who attempted
this foul and deliberate assassination must
be left for present to the sure punishment
Of the law in whose hands hr is. His
victim is in the hands of {. wise Provi-
dence; aud upon this Surday morning
ep sincere prayers will arise for the
complete recovS-y, of which his physi-
Clans happily are enabled to give good
hope.
Il is a shocking and an unutterably
shameful thing that it is necessary to
speak of labor troubles in connection with
such a cool and brutal piece of business as
,r,+ D1i 10 ~, 40 oil Cd
and for a sure understanding of what is to
come after, it is necessary to do so in clear
terms The Amalgamated Association
leaders Join in repudiating with bitterness
the act of the Anarchistic assassin,
and in expressing their sorrow, newly
changed from antagonism, for Mr.. Frick.
How could they feel otherwise? The
assassin who defiled the name of humanity
aud the cause of labor by the pretension
of his villainous deed has put upon Or
ganized labor the onus of clearing its
reputation forever and effectually of the
soil Of Anarchy, which he would have
fastened upon it. The expressions from
the leaders proclaim their purpose to do
this; but even these must be followed by
such formal and universal expression as
can leave no possible doubt as TO where
organized labor stands in relation to the
sanctity of the laws and of human life
One of the first things to be insisted
upon is an attitude of complete respect
Tar these laws in every particular of the
further bearing of the men af-
fected by the troubles at Homestead and
Duquesne. Before the public will listen
to any further discussion of the rights
or wrongs of those troubles, they will in
sist upon complete recognition by
all concerned of the obligations of the
law. The men locked out or upon
strike must so comport themselves that
they cannot be charged with interfering
with the free right of other men to work
if they see fit. This is what the law re-
Quires-nothing less than this. This is
what the union labor organizations must
abide by, without cavil or evasion.
The questions beneath the issue be-
tween labor and capital must, as The
DISPATCH has continuously insisted, be
settled not by violation of the law, but in
stnct and thorough regard for every
right which the law guarantees. One
Of these rights is for the union
men to strike if their Judgment SO ad-
vises; the other is for other men to work,
if they so elect, without let or hindrance.
There can be no pretense of any sort of
issue upon this, unless those who contest
ii put themselves in the unequivocal atti-
tuda of deliberate law-defiers and incur
the stern penalties ultimately imposed
upon such.
1t would be the cruelest injustice to
labor to, assume that any honest working
man can have any other feeling but de-
testation for the scoundrelly act of yester-
day. Let this be now shown not only by
word but by deed. Let it be shown by
such conduct in the troubles with the
Carnegie Company as will give no pre-
tense for a new outbreak of the virus of
Anarchy, whose appearance in any form is
a signal to all good citizens to rally with
crushing force against any and all who
give it the slightest appearance of tolera-
ton OF encouragement