The record-union., 1894-08-07


cause that was not done which could not
be done. unless the railroad companies
themselves reyolted and defied the laws
and the orders the courts would make.
Where men refuse to work for builder
unless he abandons the use of materials
he had contracted to purchase, an Impos-
sibility is not demanded, because the
courts could not enjoin him to use the
material, for the material man would
have his remedy at law for breach Of con-
tract. ''But the case of common carrier
is different from that of a private en-
ployer, and the application of the boycott
to compel railroad to cease doing that
which the courts will compel it to do is a
startling innovation"
Was there instruction in Chicago?
Judge Grosscup charged the Grand Jury
quate to put down resistance to law insur-
rection exists. Reluctance to act consti-
tutes inadequacy. says Mr.. Means. The
police could have preserved the peace had
they been ordered to do so. A small
body of disciplined men in authority can
suppress disorder if it is understood at
the outset that they are to use arms in do
ing so, and if the very first attempts at
riot are promptly met. Where the con-
viction spreads that there is to be no
shooting, then the criminal classes emerge
and join in the rioting. "It is the part of
mercy as we'll as wisdom, if rioting is to
be stopped at all, to stop it at the begin
ming, and not wait until it cannot be
stopped without bloodshed."
Mr.. Means contends that while there is
lack of genuineness in the hysterical
shrieks of the agitators over 'the iron
heel of corporate tyranny. it is true that
workingmen feel that their lot is not all
that it should be, and that it is natural
for them to discuss the means for its i'm
provement. While this is true, it is, we
think, also true that the condition of the
wage earners Is better to-day than that OF
great body of producers, and that the
decline has been in produce prices and
the advance has been in wages for the
last twenty years, the fall in the latter
having been recent and due to the hard
times of the recent past and present.
But returning to the essayisr's review;
he holds that experience is the school in
which people learn practical wisdom, and
hence by the efforts of wage>earners in
well-ordered unions they learn the nature
of law, the powers of government, and
the fundamental principles of political
economy. For instance, they have
learned that such q strike as that of the
American Railway Union must neces-
sarily fail; that when the police and
militia fail to preserve order, the United
States will do so: that while the great
body of the American people have kind
hearts and are glad of the prosperity of
Iaboring men, they do not sympathize in
any attempts to promote this prosperity
by interrupting all industry and destroy
ing property.
While the cost of this education has
been great, the lesson had to be learned
sooner or later. He does not think,
therefore, that rights of action possessed
- osaoo;otiorO Of xuork man oro lilrolv tn
be Immediately exceeded again; there
fore laws tending to limit freedom to
form such unions as wage earners choose
and to utter their complaints and aspira-
tions are questionable.
The result of the exercise of Federal
power has been the increase of confidence
in the stability of our institutions, and
this is a distinct gain, says Professor
Means. But if the Nation had for Presi-
dent such man as Illinois has for Gov
ernor, in that case cause for rejoicing in
the supremacy of the laws might not
have existed.
If, says the essayist, the constitution of
society is wrong, let those who think so
stand with the Railway Union and re-
form our institutions, and let others
show their strength, and let the question
be decided. The incessant snarling and
yelping of demagogues at capitalists and
corporations is tedious and mischievous,
unless capitalists and corporations are to
be done away with.