Little Falls weekly transcript., 1894-07-06
UNIONS. AND S r rs.

UNIONS AND s. Z ES.
HOW FAR SHOULD "A STRIKER GO m
ENFORCING HIS DEMANDS?
The Right to Shut or tho Food Supply of
Dependents Carries with It Duties The
Case Only Half Stated BY the Plutocrstio
PressThe Better Way. .
Every SO often the plutocratic news
papers OF the country turn loose their
editorial columns in cond demnation and
abuse OF labor organizations. Capital
istic editors are like sheep ID that they
follow q leader. When there is a big
strike on or one that attracts general
attention, some prominent corporation
organ starts the ball rolling, and within.
a short time all the whipper snapper
editors get to grinding out platitudes
about the rights guaranteed under our
glorious government to every citizen and
the danger to our institutions in the
lawless acts of striking workingmen.
Take the Great Northern strike, for in
stance. While it was pending and as it
became almost a sure thing that the
men would win, the plutocratic hire
lings gave their readers dissertations
upon the great need of some sort Of pow
or to crush the life out Of such combi-
nations as the American Railway union.
! For the purpose Of deceiving their
readers into the belief that they are not
the uncompromising enemies Of organ
lied labor these editorial mouthpieces
cf capitalism stick sentence in some
where which states that 'labor has the
right to organize and to refuse to work
under unsatisfactory conditions. = Here
is the way it is usually put: ''They have
the right to refuse to work If it SO
pleases them, but they. have not the
right to say to others who are willing to
work that they shall not do SO. Such
conduct is perversion Of the principles
Of our government and Of the law.''
This is true, and it is not true. It de-
pends upon how one takes it. / have no
wish to defend the taking of life in pre-
venting men from soabbing. On the con-
trary, think it is an awful thing,
though nothing to cause surprise when
one carefully considers the subject
Your plutocratic editor would have
the dissatisfied men lay down their tools
and go home or to a picnic and wait
until their bosses send for them. Such
a course would be extremely silly, and
there isn't Or should not be anything
silly or funny about a strike. I believe
that strikes should only be resorted to
in extreme cases, after the situation has
been thoughtfully considered, every 9TH
er method Of securing justice exhausted,
and the prospects of success in case Of
strike carefully looked into, and when
a strike is finally ordered that it should
be in dead earnest. Not wheel should
be allowed to turn nor blow struck
which it is possible to prevent. If a
mans s condition is so bad that he is justi-
fed in cutting off supplies from his wife
and children BIZ striking work, it is his
duty to exercise to its fullest extent his
natural right to demand the support Of
every other workingman's refusal to
aid those who have driven him to the
step.
; Take the coal miners, for instance.
1t is not denied by any honest informed
person that their condition for long
time has been scarcely better than star
vation. The strike Of these men was
more than demand for an increase of
wages. It was protest against the
murder by starvation of themselves and
their families. They had to deal with
soulless corporations, which do justice
when compelled to and at no other
time If the mines could be worked
without paying the living wages asked
by the strikers, they would be. If it
became clear that only by conceding the
demands could the property continue to
pay dividends, then and only then
would they be conceded. Remember, it
is a life and death struggle for the min
ers, with hungry wives and children on
one hand and the engines which capi-
talism employs to crush labor on the
other. And where does the scab come
in? He was living somehow, probably
half starving, as the striker was before
the strike IF there had been no strike,
he would not have been sought out by
the coal baron. Is it right that he
should cause the defeat Of his brother
in misery? s
While our wise and just men Of the
plutocratic sanctum are telling us about
what is right and what is wrong for
workingmen to do under certain condi-
tions, let some Of them answer if It's
right for man to furnish the power to
a common enemy wherewith to crush to
death brother. The constitution of the
United States declares such an act to be
treason. If such an act is not right, then
he who would commit it is not worthy
Of respect and should be treated as an
enemy. The Chicago Tribune says:
The foundations Of this free republic
were set upon mems free moral agency.
Labor unions today deny this inaliena-
bic right and teach resistance to It to
the death. They seek the establ blishnent