Ceredo advance. [volume] (Ceredo, W. Va.) 1885-1939, 1892-08-10
THE HOMESTEAD TRAGEDY.


n Has Furnished AN Opportunity for the
tiiac-server and the Dcmagrguc-If
Workingmcn VIII Let Their Reason De-
eide for Them Thcy VIII Soon see the
falsity of Free Trade Assertions.
1t is passing strange that anyone can
be found who does not gricvc over the
bloody work at Homestead, Pennsyl-
vania. Here were score of human
lives destroyed. several scores of our
fellow-men dangerously wounded, and
hundreds of others so badly injured
that they will not recover for many
days. Yet there is no denying that the
politicians interested in the election az
Mr. Cleveland positively rejoice in this
blood letting. They see in it u hope
that the aroused passions of labor ma,
lead il TO do that which reason would
never allow it TO do-to tear down the
temple on its own head in the blind en-.
dcavor to crush its employer. For while
IL might seriously injure capitalists en-
gagged in American manufacturing To
vote free trade into power next Novem-
Der, IL would usher in an era of blank
despair for American working people
and their families.
For weeks the free trade papers have
been gloating over the prospect OF
trouble between employer and ccn
ployed in the iron and steel industry
and have persistently attributed what.
ever reductions may have occurred in
wages TO the new tariff The Home
stead carnage has inspired them with re-
newcd zeal and the cartoonist has been
pressed into service TO supplement their
dcmagogic editorials by picturing the
Mckinley law rs the mongtrous cause
of the bloody battle on the banks OF
the Monongahelia. Not "A single man
Of them believed what he wrote. For
no one with sufficient intelligence 10
write ten words of the English Ian.
guage correctly can believe such ram
pant aonsense.
Unfortunately. the tariff cannot pre-
vent strikes and locl5outs. No one ever
contcndcd that il could or would. No
matter how high wages may be- in this
country, differences between worlsmcu
and their employers viii occur SO long
as human nature remains what il is
In many instanccs-as rule, we might
almost say-StriScs are result of
high standard OF wages, which tend
toward a higher plane of intelligence
among worllmcn and promote organi-
zation and discipline. The result is a
lively sense OF their rights and an ag-
greSsivc pronencSs 20 maintain them
Slaves never strike. Labor troubles are
unknown in Russia. where the lahore;
stands next door to slavery. In coun.
tries like Austria and Spain, whore the
working classes enjoy only little more
freedom, protests from labor against
the eNactious of capital are few and
feeble. As we ascend the scale to coun-
tries whose labor enjoys more and more
Liberty. protests against ca pitalistic OPP
preston grow in frequency and vigor.
and finally, in countries OF the best paid
and most intelligent worllmcu, take
take the form OF demand and even
coercion Of employers. 1t is n country
like the United States, whose working
people enjoy the greatest liberty and
the highest wages i'm the world. and
have advanced in intelligence and ac-
quired the genius for organization, that
workingmcn are most aggrcssive; not
merely clinging TO every advantage al
ready gained but pushing vigorously
forward for other concessions i'm the
way of higher wages or shorter hours
1t Is rs natural for our American work
ingman To strike rs TO refuse To take off
his hat to his employer on the street.
So let workingmen hold passion and
prejudice in allegiance, and allow their
calm reason 10 decide for them the
questions growing out of the Home
stead carnage. Let them not forget
that while the existing disagreement
between the Amalgamatcd associa ton
and the manager of the Homestead
works is most unfortunate, it is pretty
good thing that there is n steel plant at
Homestead to occasion such a contro-
versy. 1t is perfectly true that the
lockout would not have occurred under
free trade. There would be no steel
plant at Homestead to bc locked out of.
Free trade would get rid of labor trou-
bles just as the amputation of the leg
would rid one of corns.
If making possible the existence of
the Homestead works is to incur re-
sponsibility for the recent slaughter
there, then is protection responsible for
1t, but on no other possible theory.
These are the plain facts OF this
Homestead business, as any honest man
in his right senses must acllno Wedge,
and they should not be obscured by
passion or prejudice.