The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1894-07-05
The Way II Works.


events down to their first principles,
Henry Wstterson does this to perfec-
ton with reference to the Dsbs strike
when he says: Labor has its rights.
So has capital Neither can prosper
except under the reign of reason and
law. Capital can destroy labor, and
labor can destroy capital. just as two
irreconcilable personal enemies, bent
upon war OF determination, can de-
stroy one another. But such wars Of
determination are never justifiable.
The first law of life is to live and to let
live. He who resorts to violence to
carry his purpose generally fails, but,
even If he succeeds. ne can only main.
tain his success by violence. Aud so
with organized bodies, whether OF cap
Ital or labor; though, in long-drawn
contests. capital has a m lnifsst an |
manifold advantage over labor. Indi-
yidually, the laboriug ma has much
tie worst of it in his contest with the
organized dollar All history has
proven this.
ia Il country like ours. where there
is no primogeniture. or law of entail
under q government like ours. whore
all thing are open to all msn-is is i'm
possible to find reasonable motive in
pslling any citizen, possessing equal
rights with every other citizen, to ad-
Yiss policy, or pursue course, that
can achieve only one Of two results,
either ignominiou3 failure as to its oil =
jective point, or political revolution
ruinous to every aspiration and inter
est Of the lowly and the poor. The agi-
tations and passions which lead up to
the worlds tragedies never advance
the fortunes of honest labor or raise
the wretched. A few crafty dema-
gogues flourish for a time, then sue
cumb to the storm they have invoked
The poor invariably get the butt end
Of it. When it comes to blows they
make food for powder, and over their
dead bodies the military dictator
mounts to command, Anarchy may
last for a while. But it always pre-.
eedes arbitrary power In the long
run order is indispensable and inevita-
BILE. and when the civil process fails,
then martial law. 1t always has been
so, and it always will be so.
I'VE are not writing sophlsms to
mislead the men now on strike. They
are doing the cause of labor vast in
jury. Their leaders are in reality
labor's worst enemies. But they are
also striking at the government They
are undermining the one system of gov
ernment in all the world that gives them
an equal chance with al other men.
Today laborer, tomorrow capitalist.
Today follower, tomorrow leader.
We have had twenty.three presidents
Of the United States. No one Of them
began life very rich man, and most of
them were very poor men. Under what
other systems could Abraham Lincoln,
the poor rail splitter, or AndrewJohnson
the poor tailor, have risen to the head
Of the stale? This strike is delivering
blows, it may be deadly blows, upon
the foundation of that system. No one
Of them will he penny richer by what
is going forward the greater mum Der
Of them very much poorer whilst tho
cause their instigators and masters
pretend to represent is being strangled
TO death. This is the sober truth and
the end win provo it abundantly. To
that end we appeal from the passions
of the hour
1t will not be said by any honest and
thoughtful man that this is not true,
Even those who profit ny strikes lose
by them in the end. Tho vagaboad,
Martin Irons. WAS once supreme like
Eugene v Dsbs. Mr.. Dshs will do
well to profit by Irons example.
Throughout the history Of labor diff
culties those settlements based on
physical force have ever been certain
to break the moment there came re.
Taxation Of the abnormal tension The
phhway to industrial progress is not
through chaos, riot and bloodshed
Capital on the defensive is bound to
be mercilesS. Labor, on the aggressive
is bound to be suicidal.