The Princeton union. [volume] (Princeton, Minn.) 1876-1976, 1894-05-10
Where Does the Responsibility
Rest?

w AAOso A>OOo OAAS
Rest?
Well-fed people express disdain
and disgust of the tramp and the
Coxeyite, never thinking of the
cause that made them so or the re-
sponsibility therefor. These sleek
and well-to-do people are impatient
at the slowness of the government
in taking action to suppress them
and think no consideration what
ever should be given them, but
that they ought to be arrested and
put out Of sight or shot down and
SO be got rid of for good. The
thought seems to be that these
tramps are not human beings, with
souls to be lost or saved, with ap-
petites that demand appeasing,
with sensitiveness to heat and cold,
with affection for their wives and
children, who want for food and
raiment which they are unable to
supply; with reason and intelli-
gence by which they are made to
see the great inequalities of life
and that while they are poor and
despised others luxuriate in wealth
and are honored.
What produced the Hogan wing
of the Coxey army? The true
answer is the government of the
United States. These men are
miners. They are doubtless rough
and uncouth, vulgar and profane,
addicted to vice and excess; but
they are men, and under different
influences might become better.
Steady employment minimizes
their opportunities for mischief
and keeps their inclination for
wrong doing in subsection. Idle
ness is not only the worst possible
condition for themselves, but makes
them menace to society. They
had employment in the mines. By
their labor the made a living for
themselves and many of them sup
ported families. The government
deliberately closed the mines and
deprived these men of the means
of living. There they were in
town that depended entirely upon
one industry for the supporting of
its inhabitants with the necessities
of life. There was nothing when
the mines closed that they could
find to do by which they could
procure food and clothing. What
ought to be expected of men IN
such a situation? They are not
angels. Did the government sup
pose they would remain at ease,
and like martyrs to a cause that
might be promoted by their sacri-
fees, quietly stay in their tracks
and die of starvationj Did they
not Go, after all, just what most
men, maybe better men by out
ward appearance and profession,
would have done-made an at
tempt to get away from a place
that could furnish them no employ
ment or food? AS they were
thousand miles or more away from
where employment might be found
and plenty existed, was it at all
remarkable that they seized To-
connective and cars to carry them
somewhere?
People may denounce and CEN
sure, they may moralize at the
wickedness of men and they may
despise and sheer, and clamor for
punishment of the law-breakers,
but they should first think what
they would do if placed as these
miners were. Self-preservation is
the first law of nature. Action is
necessary to life. These men made
a move-and now the government
that deprived them of the means of
making a living is feeding them.
The existing disorders in society
in the United States, the armies Of
idle men, the protests and strikes
of those who have employment
against low wages. the deDrecia-