The daily morning journal and courier., 1894-07-09

huluS or il lew men or I'll tnt nhiiur oI Il | combination of men, 10 control elections and to secure such legislators and ad- mmlstrntors of law aS may be desired | by the men who buy the votes.
 Again, Il young lawyer of character and good standing in this city recently published m article on corporations in Il magazine, which was republished In one of our daily papers. This article, which Is written In n spirit friendly To | corporations, claims that their chief evil and danger lies in their efforts to brbe legislators. and to control lcgslu- | lion.
 Again, the investigation made by the | Lcxow committee In New York city make plain the fact that in tho me tropois of our country the political | ring which has governed the city and police. whose duty is to enforce law and preserve credit, have both been in alli- nnce with the violntors of laws and the criminal classes, whom they have pro- tected for payments of money.
 Yet hope for better and brighter days In the future. One of the most prom | ising things of the present. time Is q re- vival of il sense of individual responsi- bility for political action, Il revival of civic conscience, a renewal of interest in municipal government, n determina- ton to discover political crime mud the widespread public condition of the evils which prevail. A revelation of evil is the first condition of it's cure.
 Another evil which occasions more immediate danger than plutocrncy is mobociacy; that is, the power of mere numbers and the effort to obtain de- sired end by physical force. We prac- tically accept politically the principle that the voice of the people is the voice of God, that the majority shall rule, that the might of numbers is the might of right. We have, politically, Il safe guard in that if we find that we have made mistake we can subsequently change our action. There seems to be some men among us, however, who adopt the principle that the might of the majority makes right and who think that if they can only obtain sufli- cient numbers anything which they may do is right.
 Like Demetrius and the silvcrsmiths of Ephesus who sought to oppose Paul and to defeat Christianity not by truth and reason, but by mere numbers and uproar, where men seek 10 redress wrongs and to obtain what they call rights by the application of number | and force to the matter. Mobocracy appears by dispensing with co lrts and
 the punishment of supposed criminals by lynching in the South, by the cap- ture and use of railway trains by so- called commopweal armies in the West and by the present railway strike in Chicago. The right of men to unite and form a company for the pur- pose of disposing of their labor is as clear as right of men to unite for the purpose of disposing of the product Of labor, The right of men to dispose of labor by contract, 10 quit work when their contract is com- pleted, to refuse to work for price Ill . satisfactory to them is admitted on al sides. Any man who has the time and who will take the pains to read the his- tory of labor and labor unions in Eng llnd and America, will conclude, l think, that they have been .benetciul, and that they have improved the condi- tion of laboring men,. Any man who will inform himself will ascertain that there are unions, like one of R. R. con- dllctors, whose headquarters are in this city, whose principles, rules and prac- tices are most commendable and whose existence is beneficial. And now having said this much ill the interest of truth and fair dealing, wish to call at- tention to the great evil which exists and the wrong which is perpetrated when any of these societies attempt to prevent others from laboring, by force, or to control the property of other men, or to settle by force questions of wages and business ih which they have no personal connection. The present strike in Chicago is cnse to the point. So far as have the facts they are these: The workmen who manufactured cer- tain line of sleepers were dissatisfied with their wages and struck. The manufao- turing company refused to pay more or to submit the matter to arbitration. Thereupon the young president of certain railway union, recently formed, ordered all the members of that union to quit work, unless the railroad con- pAnles would refuse to use the cars made by the manufacturing company whose wOrkmen were on strike. About the merits of the case in dispute be- tween the manufacturing company and it's men I kliow nothing. Assuming, however, for sake of argument, that the company was in the wrong, the evil and wrong of the railway union are yet most apparent and great. To right what is claimed to be wrong, the president of the railway union orders the members of his society to- break their contract and to leave passengers and perishAble goods far from their destination; he att tempts to force railroad companies to break their contracts by forcing them to refuse to haul cars which they have agreed to haul; he forces other men to break their Gontracts, because the goods which they have agreed to deliver at q given point at given time cannot be delivered; he interferes with the business of innocent parties; he throws thousands of workmen out of employment; he o6casions loss of property; he endangers the health and ile of the people of great city. Railroads are the arteries and veins of the social system; they are tie means of supply. Let all trains be cut off from entrance in to Q great city like Chicago or New York for three days, and with the loss of the olie article of milk, what multitudes of bables depen- dent upon the daily supply of milk from the country might sioken and die. Such aan act as that of the present strike, SO causeless and so useless aud 50 injurious, seems to me to De equiva- lent to treason, rebellion and riot, and