New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1894-06-10
THE JIUIESS STRIKE.


more disastrous than defeats. The strike OF
coal miners and coke workers may yet end III
such victory. though appearances now indi-
cate n different result. The organization when
inaug1Iraicd the strike. avowcdly with intent
70 compel the employers Of all the Central States
10 accept n single scale Of wages. 10 be dictated
bv a central committee for the miners OF all
those States seems 10 be almost ready now
10 make what terms ii can for the miners OF
Ohio Indiana and Pennsylvania. In order 10
end the struggle. But whether II ends In par
tjal defeat or complete success. the miners
strike OF 1894 must hereafter be- recognized as
the most fatal defeat the cause Of organized
labor has experienced for many years. The
reason is one which the ADLER leaders Of The or
ganization are not slow 10 recognize. starting
with public sympathy in nearly every state me
miners have turned public opinion against them
everywhere by the lawlc-SncSs 81 their conduct
II is never safe 10 forget that In n self gov
crning country the instinct ~ The people IN
favor OF enforcement ~ law Is always a tr"
mendons force In other countries. whore IN"
laws are thrust upon the people by rulers VINO
owe their power 10 the accident II birth. men
Nnd an excuse for resisting all authority ana
striking NJ all established institutions. Then
they find refuge In free America and know
so lizzie OF freedom. Us blessings and Us duties.
that they fancy The millions are ready 10
tramplc upon the laws which tho millions them
selves have made. one crazy rebellion was
indeed bcgotten ~ American thought. hut OF
sectional hatred. and ended thirty years ago In
blood and mcasurclcSs disaster but from that
doy every extensive resistance 10 law has In Its
origin been the product 81 foreign born preju-
dices and imported ignorance. The fatal fact -
that the striking miners have resortcd 10 law
loss violence I'm every State where they have
begun "A struggle. The ablest Of their leaders
have ordered and implorcd them 10 abstain
from violence but every where without the
slightest effect. The organization OF labor mas
by these performances placed Itself in the ntti-
tude OF a great conspiracy against The rights
OF other citizens and against the authority OF
law The one idea which appears To have gov
erncl the organized miners in every locality,
without any regard 10 the advice or the orders
of any leaders Is that other men must not he
allowed 10 mine coal In place OF strikers, or TO
transport II TO the disadvantage Of the strike.
In one region after another. men who started
with the warmes; sympathy ~ good citizens
have treated with such brutality and hendish
cruelty other men who did not wish TO strike
or who wished 10 work ~ The wages offered
and have SO insolently dcncd all restraints Of
law and denied all rights Of individuals, that
decent citizens have been compelled 10 see In
their outbreak revolution against all civilized
society. for the purpose OF establishing dcs
potism less tocrabc than that Of any Emperor
or Gar.
This may as we'll be recognized as funda-
mental principle OF American life that no or
gani2atlon will long be tolerated which sets
itself against the freedom Of the citizen or the
maintenance Of the laws which free citizens
have made 1t may be granted gladly that the
competent leaders Of the miners organization
have tried 10 restrain strikers from violence
and lawlessncss The fatal fact Is that they
have not been able In any State. The pro
fcssions Of the organization, and the purposes
Of It's most intelligent leaders, are as powcrless
as dead leaves in a gale OF wind, when once
they set loose in n strike the underlying and
passionate determination Of the organization to
trample down the rights OF every man who OPP
poses its Will No such lawess spirit will be
tolerated In this free country, and The strikers
of May 1894, have harmed the cause OF organ
lied labor more than their entire lives could
ever have helped II.