The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1895-01-11


Well, the needs of the business interests
of the world have for a long time been re-
garded as being in the line OF safety and
progress, and, besides, business enterprise
has and always must precede the employ
ment of labor. Labor is to-day anxiousiy
waiting on business. The two things are
ness of the country tends to State social
ism appears to me very much like an after
dinner sentiment, to be taken cum grano
sails.
All that Colonel Wright has to say about
the attitude to place the railroads under
government patronage for the purpose of
SECURING dividends is without the slightest
foundation. Nobody has ever suggested
such an idea. nor would the proposition be
people.
Again, Colonel Wright declares that the
Chicago strike was "a revolution probably
in the interest of the public welfare" and
then he proceeds to make a sort of apol-
ogy for the strikers Does not Colonel
Wright rrsnt,o per wnicS s Ms, nnow the aeac ann e.
of two-thirds of the area OF TINS country
a larger m than was suspended Dy
the war of the rebellion in 1S61-had its
origin in no complaint on the part of rail-
road employees, and in no act on the part
Of any railroad manager, but that 1t had
its origin solely in the attempt of a certain
bogus labor organization to force railroad
employees and railroad managers and the
general public to actively sympa,nlze
with the employees of a certain car-bu1ld-
ing establishment, who had gone on a
strike while receiving in all about $1,000 a
day. or an average Ol @I.uo a ody, oi tCdas
work, who. at the same time, had s422, SS4
in a savings bank, and who refused to
consider indubitable evidence offered TO
them that the wages they were receiving
exceeded the prices received for the prod
uct of their labor during a terrible PERIOD
of business depression! OR VII aoione.
ordered railroad hands to refuse Nto maui
United States troops and to tie up the
ommerc of more than half the area of
the United states? And will he pretend
to say that Debs and his associates nave
not been Justly sent to prison as Pubic 9
Why. the Colonel suddenly takes a back
ward somersault. He says: 1T is the
vent the interruption of Interstate com
merce and the obstruction of the mails.
That is Just what the goyernment diu; how 1aovW
the public welfare?' And then. after all
and the shippers and the business of the
country and the lawmakers rushing toward
the vortex of state socialism, Wnat nas ne
catastrophe? Why. he proposes that the
government shall ''by its own machinery
that the government shall regulate wage
contracts. and that 1.-The government ought
10 have a voice in making the terms and
adjusting the conditions OF the employ
ment Of railroad employees. and he adds
that this Would os aaa give na the rs ser r empi TSat
Is strange talk for a man who began his
speech BY accusing others of the offense
OF IUSDln2 IlIO Stdtt
Some one has observed that "the hair of
the dog MAY be good for the. bite. but not
the whole dog. Colonel Wright recon-
mends the whole dog. His plan makes the
government responsible for the commercial
welfare of the country. If this is not State
socialism, what in the name of sense is
it? Besides, it is sheer "Popuiisrn, and
Colonel Wrighcs very peculiar notions have
been drawing him steadily in that direc-
ton for some time. His remedy is the
very antithesis of that sturdy Americanism
expressed By Thomas Jefferson in his first
message to Congress in the following noble
words:
agriculture, manufactures, MINER
and navigation, the four pillars Of our pros
perity, are the most thriving when left
most free to individual enterprise"
That In the cardinal doctrine of my polit-
icai faith. If Colonel Wright's expressions
were the utterance OF n citizen in private
life. / would regard them as the idle vapor-
ings of a seeker after public notice. but.
coming, as they do, from the chief of the
important Department of Labor of the
United States, they have a serious aspect.
i would not thus voice my opinion in re-
gard to these utterances but for the fact
that they relate 10 = matter to which /
have devoted almost Il life study. a study
which, from the force of my personal in
clinations, j intend to pursue as long as /
shall live. So 1 have no hesitancy in speak
ing as ] do or in saying that l regard Col.
Wright's statement from beginning to end
as not only ridiculous, but lnischievouS.