The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1894-07-07
BOTH SIDES WRONG.

| To the Editor OF the Eagle.
| The man who has honestly acquire
! property has right to the possession and
use of that property so long as he does not.
| in the possession or use of il, interfere with
J the rights of others.
He has q right to sell it, lend it, lease it,
so long as the sale, loan, or rental OF the
property does not interfere with the rights
| OF others.
The man whose property is the ability
| to produce with his hands, has right to
what he produces, so long as its produc-
ton does not interfere with the rights OF
others. He, too. has a right to sell, lend.
or lease that ability, that skill, on the
same terms and for the same reason that
the other man may sell, lend or lease his
house, or other pfoperty-the payment. by
the purchaser, borrower, or lessee of the
price which may be mutually agreed on.
And this right is not the right Of property,
or the right OF labor, but is the same 10
both cases,-the personal right of any man
to do with his own what he will, so long
as he does not interfere with the right OF
another.
have watch. My neighbor offers me
$40 for IT, prefer SO to the watch and
we exchange. Who has any right to for
bid that exchangef Who has any right to
say that / should not take less than $40
for that watchi No one. But the steel
trust, the sugar trust, the railway trust,
presumes to do that very thing. / am able
to work. My nelghbor offers me $50 for a
certain amount of work. l prefer $50 for
the work to nothing for idleness. Who
has any right to forbid that exchange?
Who has any right to say that L shall not
tale less than $40 for that work? No one.
But the Carpenters union, the Brick
layers union, the American Railway
union, presume to do that very thing.
In each case the assumption of control,
direct or indirect, over what belongs to
another is pernicious and destructive of
human liberty, whether that assumption
be made by very nicely dressed, intelligent
gentlemen in private Office, III all agree
ment on paper, or by mob OF ignorant
hoodlums with clubs and stones; Nhethcr
the owner of property be unlawfu4ly re-
strained from the free and lawful use and
disposition of his property, or the la6orer
be unlawfuliy restrained from the free and
lawful use and disposition OF the work Of
his hands.
Today the whole country is in distress
because OF the interference with personal
liberty by irresponsible men, by men who
care nothing for the rights of others or the
welfare OF the annuity so long as they
have soft places; who combine to destroy
the business of others that theirs may pros
per: who infiIct personal injury and loss of
life upon others that few more dollars
may find a way to their pockets; who, in
the midst Of civilization, are governed by
the savage, piretical idea expressed in the
couplet:
They shall take who have the power,
And they shall keep who can"
4 time will come when the American
people will grow weary of this; when the
intelligent, suave gentlemen, with their
arguments to hamper and throttle trade
to the ruin Of other men; and the howiiny
mob, who beat and kill and drive from
their work other men, will alike feel the
clutches of the law and be brought, per-
force, into unpleasant relations with
society, that insists upon peaceful and
lawful settlements of difficulties, and a
respect for the rights of citizens.
WALTER II. GRAVES.