The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1894-05-31
THE NECESSITY OF sELF-PREsER.
VATIO.S.

Those people who may be led to con-
slider the question of the perpetuity Of the
Republic on such days as Memorial day
can but dwell on the aspects which the
pending strikes present to intelligent Amer
lean people. They have been violent be-
yond precedent. The official heads of the
coal miners unions would not have them
so, but these Infatuated men have passed
into the leadership Of desperate local lead
ers. Who are these men? All the reports
refer to them as foreigners who do not I'M
d~erstand English, and who are brutal
cago Times, which cannot be accused of
being "a subsidized press" speaking of the
disturbance in Illinois, says:
Despite every effort of their leaders and
of the English-speaking men among them,
the foreign element of the striking coal
c @insrs R with PPhhe e aafSoriti a D MSieS
has resulted in troops being
by hunger and maddened to desperation by
the infammatory ~harangues of anarchist
cal orators, the ignorant Huns. Slavs and
oAlo4 1hdA QPOl lie lllcS OptIdlcu
by %nonunion men at LaSalle, and. infiamed
by a hard-won victory over the sheriff and
sion Of the town, releasing from jail such
OF their comrades as had been arrested and
generally terrorizing the community.
1t is this class of people who are respon-
sible for the violence. the terrorism and the
bloodshed which have attended the coal
strikes. A few weeks ago there was a dis
orderly demonstration in Cleveland, o.
Mobs went from factory to factory to
drive out men who desired to work-mobs
composed largely of men who have been
supported for months by public contribu-
tons. The Cleveland Plain Dealer, one of
the leading Democratic papers in Ohio.
describes the people who made up the mobs
as follows:
The strikes that took place in this city
were chiefly by the lowest grade of for
eigners who are ignorant of our institutions
and the conditions of business. They are
stop to think of their ignorance and how
they have been crowded down in the coun-
tries from which they came. 1t is sur
prising how quickly peace came when the
power of government was felt in the shape
of the police. Notwithstanding all this, one
cannot help thinking as he looks over the
wretched condition of many of these poor
people that they are in a strange country;
that they are ignorant of our customs. our
Many of them cannot speak the English
language; They can simply work at the
given them to do.
The same paper, commenting upon the
mobs above described. says:
The recent mobs should teach us as
Americans an Important l-esson~the neces-
SltE OF preventing the Immigration of beg
gars and outlaws from the old countries.
There should be no free trade in vagrancy.
1t should also teach us the vs1ue of Amer
lean citizenship and the folly OF comforting
citizenship upon ignorance: Why should
an apprenticeship Of twenty-one years be-
fore they are allowed TO vote, while an ig-
norant. degraded foreigner is permitted to
come to this country and In a few months
become a lawmaker with full power to
vote? 1t is a shame on common decency
saSIty so% o9 pand denss; It tt d eas an Of SPptGS5 e
very worst sort. No wonder that out of
such elements anarchy lifts its bloody hand
and It's red flag.
More timely or more patriotic words have
not appeared I'm an American newspaper
for months than the foregoing. The ig-
norant and vicious men who have been de-
filled towns in Illinois and other States
with terror can be voters in Indiana and
nearly all of the Western States after a
residence of one year. In all of the States,
except Maine and Massachusetts. they can
be naturalfzed and vote after a residence
or a sworn-to residence of five years. In
Maine and Massachusetts an educational
qualification deprives them of the ballot.
If the time has not come for an educational
qualification for citizenship, all States
which have admitted foreigners to suffrage
should revoke such unwise action and an
null the laws or parts of constitutions
| which have conferred it. Moreover, no
person should be naturalized who has ever
been engaged in any armed resistance to
lawful authority. Under present conditions,
with a congested labor market, congress
should give notice that no more com.non
laborers will be permitted to land in this
country. Other nations do this-why not
the United States?