The representative. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1893-1901, 1895-12-11
AN ABLE ARTICLE.
THE PHILOSOPHY OF THE MAT.
TER,
A Conservative and Moderate View
of a Great Issue.
philadelphia American.)


The position taken by the courts
during the Chicago strike and in sew
erai ms tances since, is that The gov
ernment is bound to conserve the
public veal and protect the interests
Of the community at large, and that
when necessary SO to do, it is just titled
in placing restraints on the liberty of
employees of railroads and other semi
public corporations, and to deny them
the right to stop work, on the ground
that such action will cripple the rail-
road or other corporation in the per-
Torrance Of it's public duties.
For the courts to 60 thus far and no
fu rther is grossly unjust. For the
government to restrain the liberty Of
the wage-earner by depriving him of
the right to combine and unite for
the protection Of his interests, and
work in unison with his fellow work
men for the promotion of their COM
mon good, to deny him the right to
stop work in concert with his fellows,
to strike in defence Of his rights,
without at the same time extending
to the wage-earner compensatory gov
ernmental protection oyer those
rights and interests which he is for
hidden to protect himself, is the
height of injustice. Yet this is what
recent decisions Of the courts lead to.
While admitting the right Of railroad
corpora tions to fix wages, hours of la
Dor and other conditions of employ
ment, they have virtually forbidden
employees to protect themselves by
combinations and strikes. The lib
erty Of the railroad and other corpo-
rations is unrestrained, their right to
conduct their own business as they
see fit, to hire and discharge en-
p!Oyees at pleasure, and to refuse to
submit to arbitration differences be-
tween their employees and them
selves, is tacitly admitted, but the
liberty of their employees has been re-
strained. Employees have been de-
MED the liberty to stop work at pleas
ure, and they have been held bound to
continue at their pos is, to put up with
injustice, and. accept such wages as
the corporal ions may see tit to pay,
until the corporations are able to Sc
cure new men to take their places, all
on the ground that to stop work be-
fore other hands had been secured to
take their places would cripple the
railroads in the performance Of their
duties and thus inflict injuries on the
public.
If Wage-earners are not to be free to
act as they see tit to secure their
rights and fair recompense for their
labor, employers must not be left free
to fix wages and impose other condi-
tions of employment without re-
straint. Either the government must
settle all disputes between wage
earners and the so-called semi public
to it that no injustice is done to
wage-earners at liberty to protect
themselves.
Ifit is conspiracy on the part Of en-
ployees of railroads to combine and
strike in unison in defense Of what
are, or they conceive to be, their
rights. then it is no less conspiracy
on the part of railroad corporations to
combine in their aggressioDS against
labor. II it was conspiracy for the
members OF the American Railway
Union to combine and strike in
unison, the combination OF the rail-
roads under the General Managers As
socia ton. to defeat the purposes of
the strike. was no less conspiracy
against the public. and the officers Of
the General Managers Association
should have been arraigned on the
chage of cons piracy no less than the
officers of the American Railway
Union.