The record-union., 1895-12-31
viii have demonstrated our financial
independence of the world"
DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE
Employers Combine Against the
''WaIking DeIegate.''

alhlHS JcIcSdOS.
(From the Los Angeles Times)
Whatever may be the merits or de-
merits of the demands made by the
striking tailors in New York, there can
hardly be two opinions among intelli-
gent and fair-minded men as to the
justice of the rules and regulations
adopted by the employers, a copy of
which has been posted in each shop, as
related in yesterdays dispatches. These
rules and regulations, which are brlef
and to the point, are as follows:
This shop is open for such employees
as will suit our work.
mo shop chairman or walking dele
gate admitted here.
Working hours from a. m to u
m. and from 1 D. m. to 6 p. m. daily.
"All employees must be at their re-
Spective places on time.
ANY one ten minutes late shall not
start work before a quarter of a day.
All hands hired by the day only.
Payday each Monday
THE proprietor is the only boss of
this shop and the management is under
his control.
by ORDER
Can any reasonable objection be
urged against the above rules? Is
there anything oppressive in them? Do
they contain any provision which can
not conscientiously be accepted by any
self-respecting, honest and Industrious
workman?
Those questions admit of but one
honest answer. No reasonable man
can object to the regulations. They
are simply a declaration that the men
who have adopted them propose to
conduct their business as they deem
proper and eXpedient within the linn
itations of law and common sense. If
they have not a right to do this, have
they any rights as American citizens
under the Constitution and the laws?
Men who have money invested in a
business enterprise cannot safely con-
sign to other hands the management of
such business. Surely, there can be no
more fundamental right than the right
of man to manage his property as he
deems best, under the sanction Of law,
prudence and an intelligent self-inter-
est. If he employ other men, the queS-
ton of compensation is matter to be
adjusted between employer and en-
ploye. If the latter does not like the rate
of wages offered, he need not accept
it. If the employer does not feel will
ing to pay the rate of wages demanded
by the workman, it is his right to en-
ploy other men, if he can find them, who
are willing to accept the wages he Of
fers. There should be no compulsion on
either side. There can be none without
injustice on the one side or the other
without a direct invasion of that per-
sonal liberty which is a precious guar
antee to every citizen living under the
protecting aegis of the Constitution and
laws of the American Republic.
If employers of labor throughout the
land would take firm stand upon the
platform above defined, there would be
fewer labor strikes, less discomfort,
more general employment, and far less
suffering among wdge-earners than
now exist.
Not least commendable among the
rules adopted was that excluding
walking delegates" end shop chair
men" from each establishment. These
peripatetic leeches have done more to
embrOil wOrkmen and employees in
causeless contests than any other one
cause. If they were shut out from
every factory and workshop in the
country, incalculable benefit to the
great mass Of wage-earners would ac-
crue. These gentry, who toll not,
neither do they spin," make their living
by preying upon the industry of their
betters. They have been responsible,
probably, for not less than three
fourths of the labor troubles which
have disturbed the country during the
past few years. The New York en-
ployers have acted wisely in shutting
them out.