The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1894-07-22
TO ORGANIZED LABOR,

mas, on several occasions, warned the
labor unions of the land against two
evils attending their methods of enforc-
ing a raise iii wages or a reduction in
hours Of work. First, the destruction
OF liberty, and second the destruction
of property. Liberty is worth more
than property so we place it first in
Importance. 1t is usually the first to
be attacked in a strike. The strikers
endeavor to prevent other men from
doing the work they will not them
selves perform. When that fails they
frequently commence to attack the pro-
perty of the employers.
Neither of these methods can or will
be tolerated in this country. They are
both contrary to law, and to right
principles apart from legal enactments.
They are bound to produce a conflict
which will result in the defeat of the
weaker party to it. The country is
stronger than the labor unions. Au-
thority backed by capital will triumph
in the END, and the consequence must
be disastrous to the organizations that
precipitated the trouble.
The liberty of every man to dispose
of his labor as best he may, according
to his own choice must be maintained.
Freedom to stand alone if he wishes,
without association with any order,
society, lodge or union, is part of that
liberty And any power or person, COM
bination or organization that attempts
to deprive him of it, is a public enemy
to be crushed if it takes all the forces
Of the state and the nation to stamp it
out.
1t must be the same with assaults
for the destruction of property. When
Infatuated men attempt to take human
life or MAIN and injure other persons,
their diabolism is surely SO repulsive
to decent worlmen that there is no
need to speak of the necessity of enforc-
ing the law in their cases. But there
are people so badly balanced as to
think they are in some sense justified
in blocking business, and destroying the
property of firms or corporations with
which they are in controversy and
against which they consider they have
a just grievance That idea must be
banished. 1t is the duty of the execu-
tive department of the government to
protect property as well as life, and
those who break the law in that respect
must and will be punished.
1t is claimed by some people that
unions are useless unless they can
combine against the employment of
non-union workmen. We do not be-
lieve that, but if it is so, the sooner
they are abolished the better. 1t is
said that a strike is of no benefit if
non-strikers are allowed to go to work.
We do not agree with that but if it is
true, then strikes will have to be re-
garded as threats against liberty and
dealt with accordingly.
Unions are lawful and may be benefi-
cial when they are kept within lawful
bounds and do not intrude upon person
al liberty. Strikes may be the only
means by which labor can duly assert
its claims and rights, but they must be
limited to abstinence from labor on the
part of the strikers and not extend to
interference with the rights and liber-
ties of others. If some men choose to
put themselves under the dictation of
an order or union, thus yielding part of
their individual liberty for the accom-
plishment Of a purpose in which their
fellow members are mutually interested,
or even to submit to the domination of
a master mind or to a dolt like Debs,
that is their liberty. But they must
leave other men who will not thus sub
ject themselves, to take their own
course.
There is no more grinding or sense
less tyranny than that which some
workingmen seek to exercise toward
others. And when they proceed to VIC
lence, there are no greater despots or
more despicable towards than some of
those same workingmen while they are
boasting of bravery and shrieking about
liberty. In a great mob they will bat
ter and bruise some unfortunate nom
striker who falls into their clutches, or
even mutilate and murder him. But
when confronted with force anything
like equal to their own, they will scurry
away like coyotes and crawl into their
holes like rats.
Labor unions ought to make rigid
rules against all forms of Iawlessness
and all exercise Of tyranny. They
should openly denounce such violence
and deviltry as have prevailed during
the recent railroad strike. And they
will have to modify their methods in
many respects if they wish to receive
that liberation which the friends of Ia
Dor desire to see accorded to them. To
combine for the proper remuneration of
workers, to shorten their hours of labor,
to improve their moral, intellectual and
physical condition is a worthy purpose.
Let the unions keep within their legiti-
mate limits and they will be a power in
the land If they go beyond those boun-
daries, as some of them have done, they
will be smashed in pieces and the debris
Will be swept from the earthi