The Superior times. [volume] (Superior, Wis.) 1870-1912, 1892-07-16
Defending. ''T:lcir ll1.hts."
Pioneer Press Editorial.


AMI enpIota has become prev!l,.nt
] when tne intIl Il, isita.lu;g Wii3 ;.re
prepared t. prevent .iiy others, i,y
| force Of arms, from taking lh- rl.ce,
which they have resigned, can talk
about th!, as Z; defense Of Their rights;
and when Il inemJer Of the nited
States senate Can declare III debate
that IL Worklngman acquires, by The
tact of doing Il certain thing tor GER
| tain length of time, Il right to contIn-
! ued employment ut Il sat Stactory wage.
1t would seem to be high time for IL
courageous, open and PLAN spoken dis
cliSsion OF the relations OF capital and
labor when such monStroliS opinions as
these can find Judgment and utterance
among men otherwise reputed to be
sane and honest. 1t is evidently ac-
cepted by everybody 1T the Homestead
works, as a fixed principle OF action,
that they have the right to keep Mr..
Carnegie from operating his own mills
unless he chuoses to employ them 1T
their own price. pom What principle
ot demOgoGy the men can Justify this
10 themselves We cannot in igint
That they have Il right to work, il they
are wiling to ccp' the wages offered,
is untlouDtei. 1t is equally umdouhted
chat they have Il RICH. to quit wo. kil5
if the terms OF their labor are unSItlS-
| factory. With this their rights begin
and end But they declare that these
works, in which they have not one dol
lar OF interest, shall be used by none
bat union men. They deny first the
right of any man not IA member OF
their own order to obtain any employ
ment. even though his family are
starving while he is idle; ard second,
the right of an employer to carry on
his business except on the terms which
they prescribe. If any gentleman,
! senator OF striker, can explain on what
ground Of reason these alleged rights
rest, he VII perform 4 public service.
1t is true, we think, that the ten ure
of service in most occupations, par
ticUl / Is in those connected With rail
ways and other functions III which the
public are directly concerned, should
be different from what it now Is. We
have felt the need of it when great
railway systems were tied up by some
! trivial dispute, III which neither The
great ma jorltN OF the employees nor lie
suffering public had any interest What
ever. We see it from the other side
when men who have been Ill the EN-
plov of a concern for many Years, al
! ways faithful and efficient are DIS
charged or locked out because they do
not assent to IL wages schedule as Il
/ whole, when they may think parts OF
1t unfair We are likely To see more
OF it il workers in the building trades
refuse, as they threaten t. do, to
handle steel beams made by non-uniDn
labor, and the disputes between Ihen
/ i'll PlltSburg are made to paIalyze i'll
dustry all over the United States.
| The tact that Il man can leave his
/ post at Il moments warning without
! exposing himself to any penalty, and
! that an employer can discharge Il man
! at Il moments notice without cause,
are equally unfortunate. Probably
some uniformed notion of this was
moving in the nebulous mass OF the
senator's mind when he made the
! statement quoted above. What he
| would have said, If he had stopped
/ to think, ANA if he We're talking hon
/ eStly instead Of for political effect, is
that there ought To be some regulation
/ by which Il stable tenure of service,
+ within certain limits, should be fixed;
SO that a man could not quit work
without cause, or an employer dis
charge Il nau without cause, under
| penalty of damages.
Outside of tins proposition, which
! has been bat little discussed aS yet,
the talk about the rights" of the men
| at PittSburg is the abSur.leSt twaddle
! that ever dIsgraced the literature of
buncombe. What right" was it that
! the strikers were defending when they
Shot down men and .loried i'll the act:
HTsl5s, WhlthH THEY r9ylb Iat "biIFihy DIS
theirs. To keep the Homestead works
silent and still unless they themselves
/ choose to go to work again, and to
/ prevent, by murder if necessary. the
! introduction OF other men To fill the
! places which they have vacated. For
! this claim there is not 4 particle more
of foundation than if the workmen
! should assert that the entire posses
/ sionS of Nh Carnegie ought to be dl
vldCd among them per capita. Their
position amounts to nothing more or
i less than the assumption OF the right
| of one man, by force of arms, to take
/ possession foI himself of the property
of another. That is the whole logic OF
the terrible events that followed the
/ Homestead strike. 1t is permissible
| for any man to declare that the EN-
! ployes of Mr.. Carnegie We're unfairly
I treated, and that no effort WAS made
to prevent rupture; and he would
not find himself without arguments
1t is possible to claim for the men the
right to feel resentment and to try to
force the company To terms 10y every
legitimate means within their power
But when 1t comes 10 talking about
their right" to keep away non union
men by violence and outrage, to main
tain such Il state of siege about the
works that they cannot be operated,
and to do to death any guards not OF
their own number who may be set to
work TO defend property from attack,
it amounts TO rank anarchy, of which
even the most diSpicahle ana unprin-
cipled politician ought TO be thorough
Ia ashamnl