The representative. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1893-1901, 1894-08-01
THE ISSUE.
What a Republican Paper Says Vt
the Strike.

In laid down is mainly sound 1t is a
pity that so few of the old party papers
take the same stand:
1.-The railway companies were under
contract to haul Mr.. Pullman's cars.
The a. X. Y. men were under contract
with the employs at Pullman to aid
them in resisting Pullmans oppres-
sion. Had the railway managers re
fused to haul p llmau's cars the rail-
road traffic OF the untry would have
gone on uhinle rrupted, there would
have been II" rlk but the railway
companies I'D have violated their
contract with Pullman. Had the rail
way employees consented to have
handled ,he Pullman cars there would
nave been II" >tIiAe, but they would
have vlClaten their contract with t. e
Pullman cmplo>e> Here is the case:
MIR. Pullnlan m kv> 4 contract with
the railroad COM aiicS whereby TIL V
are compelle To n vi his cars. Nh
Pullman'S men make Il ctntrac with
their fellow railway empiuyes in the
country whereby they agree not to
work unless all are at least paid what
they regard as ltv ng wages, Mr. Pull
as living wages ana by this one act
forces one of t"" possible alternatives
1st lie for es he railway compa :
les to violate theirc' ntracts With him.
or else to suspend business and arrest
cOmmert all over the country.
End. lie forces the railway en-
ployes, members Of the A. r. o., to
violate their contract with une-anoth
er, or else to all yield and p rmiJ their
fellow workers at his shops t. BE-
starved out. only IT, be visited witt
similar treatment themselves as soon
as opportunity offers.
uHere, then, is d case Cf unavoda bic
violation of contracts On the one
hand the railway companies must VIC
late their contract W TIN Mr.: Pullman.
and, on the other. the men must viu-
late their contract with one another
How are contracts to be enforced?
When 10th parties to contract re-
fuse to come to terms what follows?
But three courses present themselves.
The first, the patriotic, the Christian
manner Of adjusting such difficulty
is to arbitrate. The second, and the
foxy, rascally manner. is to litigate
The last resort is a choice between ty
rannl on one hand and liberty on the
other and is to fight. The fight of the
A. K. L.. until driven to absolute star
Walton, has been the fight of peace.
simply refusing to at, taking strictly
negative and defensive, instead ct
positive and aggressive courses. I'm
fortunately the workingmen are not
all good and wise, and in that they are
not materially unlike capitalists and
politicians. 1t is one thing to take
possession of the fort of peace and self
defense. but it is quite another mat
ter to hold it. Besieged on the one
hand by starvation, on the other
Knocked, derided and insulted by those
whose hypocrisy and duplicity in their
dealings with men has rewarded them
with positions of authority at the
hands of the common OppreSsOr, draw
upon wOrkingman's powers of endur-
ance just as it would draw upon the
human side OF any other mans nature.
AS il this were not enough to exhaust
any mans tortitude, the A. r. u is
bounded day and night by an army of
agtators and diSorganiZers, made mad
and desperate by the the oppression
and tyranny of European monarchists.
and driven to this lard to ply the torch
and WELD the bomb as a reprOach to
free and willing American labor. Is it
strange that an OccaSi nal American
lab0rer becomes tainted with the i'm
ported ideas Of anarchy and socialism.
and that in his despair at the sight of
starving wi and children, he once in
a while loses his better ju gment and
does or says indiscreet things? And
what is the consequence when he does?
Not only himself is condemned. not
only the imported anarchists who in
cite him. but the entire brotherhood
of organized American workingmen is
denounced as traitors to the conStitu-
tion and rebels to the government.
That is un Just and undeServed. With
violence and the destruction of prop
erty, attributed t. the A. r. o.. but
which in fact belongs to the anarchists
and foreigners, many of whom were
brought here under contract to dis
place American workingmen, no good
citizen can sympat hize. What the
true situation is in Chicogo we don't
know. But one thing we do know and
that is. the next man don't know any
more about it than we do. In Chicago
both sides to the controversy are eX-
cited: they are mad now. 1t is impOs-
sible to get at the true solution of
problem when both sides are mad.
Now, order must be restored, and
the only way to restore order is by the
introduction of a superior force, and
the national government is the only
power endowed with sufficient force to
restore order. We must stand by the
law and the government. But that
does not necessarily eliminate all con-
siderationS of equity from the subject
No question can ever be settled until
it is settled right. To intimidate or
drive the working people in this cOun-
try to break faith with one another, to
violate their agreements. their con-
tracts of mutual protection and de-
Tense with one another, simply that
certain corporations may thereby be
permitted to carry out their monopo-
llStlc c0mpactS, does not settle the diff
ticulty. We can not have a popular
government and military govern
ment both at the same time. We want
to preserve law and order, and in Chi
cago it may be necessary to shoot down
people, but that is not the solution of
the problem. To solve the problem we
must reason: to reason we must keep
cool; to dispel passion we must be just.
Therefore, any man who is guilty of
inhamatory language and whose words
are calculated to give otfense, on one
side, as well as on the other, is an enc
my of law and orper. Either an agree
ment entered into between two pri-
vate individuals is as bindin before
the great common sense of the Ameri-
can people. us is a compact between
corporations, or else it is not. And in
its present phase, tiiat is the issue be-
tween labor and capital. Troops or
no troops, it will never be settled until
if is Sett led right