The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1894-05-26
UNLAWFUL COMBINATIONS.

1t is very unfortunate for these or
CARNATIONS of laboring men which. keep
within the lines of the law, and which
seek only the welfare of their mem
bers, that other unions encourage law
lessness and trample on the rights of
man. The outrages committed by the
strikers in different places, are such as
arouse the indignation of every free
man. They call for the states in which
they have occurred. to protect working
people in their liberties and punish the
ruff1ans who seek to destroy them.
The Herald has frequently drawn the
line between right and wrong in union
ism. It ought to be made clear to every
member of every labor organization in
the land. Men may lawfully and right
ly unite to secure what they deem to
be fair wages for their work and to
limit the hours of labor, also to ameli-
crate their condition in every legitimate
way. But they have no right to coerce
others into their way Of acting or their
way of thinking. The line of their lib
erty ends where that of other people
begins
If a man does not choose to join a
labor union he must be protected in his
right to refuse, if it takes an army to
! defend that right. If a man chooses
to work on terms that other rnen re-
fuse, the same protection must be af-
forded to the same extent. The right
to strike exists, and neither courts nor
constables may disturb it. But that
does not mean the right to make any
man join in the strike who does not
wish to, nor to destroy or fnjure in the
least the property of the person. firm
or corporation against whom the strike
is directed.
When furious men combine to pre-
vent others from working where they
will not, and proceed to acts of violence
and bloodshed, no matter how Just may
have been their cause in striking, or
how bitter may be the wrongs they have
endured, they place themselves within
the grasp Of the law and will have to
suffer its penalties. They are also sure
to be overcome eventually by the ex-
ercise of the force they invoke. VOL
ence will be met with violence. The
power behind the law is stronger than
that which is in its violation. Lawless-
ness must succumb to the agencies of
the law because they are backed by
THE PEOPLE.
1t is a grave mistake which bands of
men make when organized against le-
climate authority, to call themselves
THE People" They are not the people
but only a remnant of the population,
and they pit themselves against the
people of the United States when they
place themselves in opposition to the
laws of the land.
The right of property. the right of
every man to the disposition of his own
labor, the right to join or stay out of a
society which invites his cooperation,
must be maintained if it takes all the
forces of the country to vindicate them
Combinations like those which have
produced the rioting and bloodshed re-
ported in the east are a public menace,
and such deeds as those perpetrated by
the furious mobs in the mining regions
of Pennsylvania and Illinois will have
to be punished and put an end to.
It is to the interest of all labor organi-
cations, formed for proper purposes, to
protest against the course pursued by
such unions as countenance and pro
mote violence and measures which in
trude upon the liberties of worknen or
employers. And they should also use
every rational means to prevent or dis
suade rash and extreme men from those
deeds which bring unions into disre-
pute. For while full liberty will be ac-
corded to them within legal limits, both
labor and capital, guided by reason and
love of freedom and order will unite
to support the law and its complete en-
forcement against turbulence, moboc-
racy and lawlessness in every shape.
-
THE BRITISH GROWN.
10 L.