Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1894-07-27
A Tyranuical Proposition.

Federation has ordered general boy
cot in support OF the A. r l. The
headquarters -! tins organization ioI
The state, Is at Pullman, Wash.
whence the following order emanates
GENERAL "LrFR, VI. ?.
lesteTa:,ers -'a'" pri' +. + :. +, pg,lmsr
Wash. Juy 10. l-ai
A.,uctal boycott y all members 81 the =. l.
= hereby Ordered IN al towns having m"r'
t.h.i OILS road. HEAH-t any ruAd halG!nE fuA
mai. Oa,te. prov Grd on" 81 -nid rNaGs doc l. d
tai de .AlG coaeAv-. Sad boycott must Ice AT
ric'i OF II pcatra6le mailer and there mu-i b,
Iuis order l. made he, su-e he T. 2 S. F. /.
whniiy in sympathy ~lt9 the a. X. [. III the.i
battle for human liberty H ST. LAWRENCE
General Commanding department "a-h., T. p
-.
Well may the patient, long-sniterine
people exclaim Whittier are we Drift
ing" when an open and deliberate at
tempt is made to cOerce them into
any given line of action. Well may
Freedom hide her face in shame,
when any portion, or class, OF the
tricate system of socialistic machinery
whereby the conscience OF the people
may be restrained or fettered, and the
individual reduced to serfdom, to do
the bidding of his masters.
But this is not all of this infamous
proceeding. In the hope OF making it
effective, supplementary order has
been issued by W. j. Walker, Chief of
the staff of Federation, directing that
committees be appointed in each pre-
cinct, whose duty it shall be to "can-
vass the precinct in which they live
and ascertain if possible where they
are trading-if they patronize mer.
chants patronizing the boycotted road.
Also to notify merchants in their dis
trict of the action and see that it is
enforced"
"it any iobber persists in patroniz-
ing the railroads, the retailers will
boycott him, and from all who refuse
We will withdraw our patronage" de-
clarcd member to a press reporter at
Spokane, which indicates that their
plan of action has already been re-
duced to q system.
This, taken in connection with
Debs' order to the people to boycott
the Pullman cars, by refusing to ride
in them, caps the climax Of impudent
presumption. 1t shows to what
lengths men may be induced to go
when their brains became warped by
constant iteration of the promises OF
partisan demagogues, who prescribe
panacea for all our troubles in untried
theories supported on the fimsiest
foundations.
There is something peculiarly re-
pugnant to American ideas in the
boycott. The object of our govern
ment is to secure to the citizen free
dom OF conscience and liberty to do
such acts as in no manner conflict
with the happiness of others. When
ever this privilege is curtailed. it is
the act of tyrsnt, whether it be from
assumption of autocratic powers by
one individual under the semblance
of Law, or of organized societies, under
the leadership Of men rho subordin-
ate every patriotic impulse to the sell
fish ambition which the need for re-
form has so largely developed.
It seems strange that Debs, or st.
Lawrence. or Sovereign, or any other of
the so-called labor reform leaders,
can have the most remote hope OF
success in systematic boycott, with
the record of the past month before
them. They should know that public
sentiment is not with their methods,
no matter how earnestly many may
sympathize with the needs Of labor.
They should have learned ere this that
forced retreat is better than battle
in which the prospect is an inevitable
defeat.
And when it comes to boycott, plain
and simple, it should be borne in
mind that it is q game in which there
is ample room for retaliation. It
may be quite possible that they who
draw the sword will perish by the
sword, in . conflict which has no
sounder reason for its existence than
that which the monkey had when he
used the cats psw to secure the roasted