Herald and tribune. [volume] (Jonesborough, Tenn.) 1869-current, 1894-09-05
IT Is DIVES ANDLAZARUS
John j. Ingalls, on Existing Labor
Trouble
lie Says the Americans Are Not An.
archiStS by Nature.

The present situation is one phase of
a controversery which is as old as the
human race, says John j. Ingalls, in
the Chicago Record. In some form or
other it will continue rs long as hu-
manity endures. Some have too much
and others have too little The rich
are covCtous and the poor are discon-
tented. Dives is clad in purple and
fine linen and fares sumptuously every
day. Lazarus eats the crumbs that
fall from the table and the dogs lick
his sores. One man is named Eli and
another Dennis. The burdens and the
benefits of society are unequally dis
tributed. They always have been and
they always will be. To him that hath
shall be given, and from him that hath
not shall be take away even that which
he seemeth to have, is the inculcation
of holy writ. The strong succeed and
the weak fall. Brains were put on top
to stay there.
Other nations, however, offer us no
precedents, because the conditions are
not the same. We have no govern
ment except the will Of the majority
and the majority are becoming dissat-
isfied. The industrial situation is much
the same in Europe as here, but with
US every man has the ballot, and the
vote of an angry, malignant an ignor-
ant elector is more dangerous weap.
on in free government than the bomb
of the dynamite. One destroys life and
property, but the other destroys laws
and institutions and threatens society.
We have multiplied the danger by
admitting to our suffrage elements that
should have been excluded-degraded,
vicious, desperate aliens, who have no
idea of government but force, who obey
nothing but the bayonet, and who re-
dress wrongs and settle disputes with
the poignard and stiletto.
Recent disturbances, with their vio-
lence, riot, lawlessness, brutality and
disorder, are largely due to the pres.
ence of this class, to whom agitators
and demagogues can appeal, The
American is not by instinct or instruct
ion an assassin or an anarchist. He
respects law and does not resort to the
torch and knife as remedies for injus-
tice.
The present condition in several
States of the Union is civil war. Con-
stitutional self government is on trial.
Its right to exist is challenged. A
large and formidable and an increas-
ing fraction in our population openly
declares that all government is tyr
amy and should be overthrown; that
all law is an invasion of the equality
and the inalienable rights of man, and
should, therefore, be disobeyed and ab-
rogated. This is anarchy. 1t is the
same spirit that drove the dagger into
the body of Carnot; that hurled the
bomb at the Gear; that fired the fatal
shot at Carter Harrison; that shattered
the Parliament House in London with
dynamite; that threatens the peace,
order and society everywhere; that re-
CARDS success as crime; that considers
failure the true test of merit, that
holds every man with a dollar in bank
an outlaw, and every public official an
enemy.
The Pullman incident was merely a
pretext for the existing insurrecton.
The animus is the hatred of the poor
for rich. 1t is agrarianism which is
seeking to take from those who have
and give it to those who have not, end
reduce all fortunes and conditions to
the level of the lowest.
There is an obvious purpose on the
part of the implacable malcontents
who control the machinery of organ
lied labor to destroy capital, to de-
range and hopelessly difable its opera
tioDs. 1t is distinctively malignant
and destructive.
Labor has just cause of complaint.
1t has the same right to com bine that
capital has to centralize But capital
is more vulnerable than labor, and if
present conditions are to continue, if
employers and employed are to be ar.
rayed like contendiDg armies in hostile
camps; fiat a word of command from
President Mcbride all the coal mines
of the country are to be shut down; il
at u signal from President Debs all the
railroad trains are to stop running; il
by an edict from some other president
all shops, factories and foundries car
be closed until they accept conditions
that will bankrupt their owners, ther
the axioms of the Declaration of Inde
pendence are ironies, the guarantees
of the constitution are nullities. Thil
is no longer Government of just ant
equal laws, but a Government of IRE
sponsible men. 1t is not democracy
but despotism.
A man or any number of men may
legally refuse to work for wages OF
compensation that another man is will
ling to pay. But when any man ol
any number of men declare that II
other man shall accept these wages OF
that compensation under penalty o.
contumely, mutilation or death, it il
tyranny as detestable and intolerabl,
as that of Russia or Turkey.
No rasDoncihla rular No cornorotion