Birmingham age-herald., 1894-07-12
IGNORANT LEADERSHIP.

exercise of authority unless it's necessity be plainly demonstrated by open violence, yet they never fail to condemn officials who do wait for that. When Governor Altgeld hesitated and waited to call out the troops, he did 1t in deference, no doubt, to large public sentiment which listened to Debs' mouthing against lawlesness and which opposed the extreme measure of armed in- tervention. This same public sentiment is now loud In condem nation of Governor Atgeld for his lack of promptuess. And rightly so. He was commissioned to keep the peace, and the responsibility was his. He listened to the uninformed and irre- sponsible murmurs of the multitude, and Is today the most execrated man who ever filled GovernUr's chair in the United States.
 So far as the strike here in Birmingham is concerned, it is lamentable that of all the communities in Alabama only this one furnished wage earners so lily in- formed as to enter Debs' great and hope- less fight against interstate commerce, the right of the people to the use of their own public highways, the forces of organized society aud the United States government The leaders in this foolish struggle of 1900
 
 followers that they are not well posted; in fact, that they are incapable. They simply know nothing of Alabama, or of the senti- ment and feelings among the wage earners and other people of this State outside of Birmingham. In every locality in the | State except this the workingmen are | nearly all Southern born and bred, iden-
 titied from infancy with the people round | hnu hoTt1 ia
 distinction. The men who labor by the l day belong to old established families, are | just as much part of the regular order of
 things as the bankers aud railroad superin-
 tendents, belong to the local military and are identified in every possible way with their surroundings. They can't be carried | who would have them do a thing to harm | their people.
 Our workingmen here in Birmingham need to become better informed about that | greater Alabama outside of this district. If | every wage earner in Jefferson should fol- l low the lead of the comparative strangers | who ignorantly got up this strike and have caused so many good men to perma- | nently lose their jobs, and if every citizen
 
 l with them, all of us combined would not affect the public opinion and the determi- nation of that great Alabama of which we | form only part.
 l The first duty of every newspaper in l times of threatened trouble is to promptly and vigorously uphold the authorities. | "Enforce the law, D is the first considera- 1 tion, and the only road to the supremacy | of law is through the efforts and the meas | ures of the authorities. But newspaper l duty in this respect is no more binding | than that of every good citizen. Those l people who have failed in this respect are | merely a symptom, showing that we need
 some growth here in the line of healthy, | healthful and vigorous public sentiment. | They will be ashamed of it, are already | ashamed of it. If out of the furry we have | had shall come more effective unanimity | of good citizenship and it's more effective
 readiness to maket itself felt, we shall not
 have suffered in vain
 The strikers themselves have had time to | gatber their wits together and realize how use!essly and seuselessly they have been misled into nfict with public opinion
 and the State and Federal governments l They are sensible men when they can think | free from excitement. We have great l many idle men here already, willing bands | with no work to do. Men who, in this
 season of depression, have work whereby | to earn Il living for their families, are | fortunate. The man who hasn't had his | wages cut is in the biggest sort of luck. | rhe strike has lost many poor fellow bis | job. And who is responsible7 Tbe lead | CTS, of course.
 | Now who are these leaders9 Mir. D. | Douglas Wilson is the chief amoug them. | He is good workman, an educated man, | sober, industrious, intelligent, law | abiding, peaceable citizen. If all the pop
 ulation were such men property would bc | safe without either military or police to 1 pro,e ect it. We haven't the least disposi- | ton to say anything to harm him. But he | has extravagant notions of the duty of the | government to own and operate the rail- | roads and telegraphs. He is extremely | fa,tered by the prominence he has won. l He is an Englishman, a comparatively
 new conner to Birmingham, a citizen nat l uralized only few weeks since and a Pop | ulist nominee for the Legislature. He | knows nothing of Alabama outside of the | Birmingham district. Of the currents of
 thought, the opinions, the feelings, the
 conditions of the 1, ,5c0 900, he is ignorance | personifed. It was in ignorance of the 1 hiindest sort that he led few hundred | workingmen here in Birmingham to throw
 up their jobs, many of them for good and
 all, and to enlist in struggle against the
 solid public sentiment and commercial in- l terests of great State.
 MT. Wilson is a nominee for the Legisla-