The Roanoke daily times. (Roanoke, Va.) 1895-1897, 1896-09-11
LABOR IN THE CAMPAIGN.

In the present political situation the
greatest Importance attaches to that part
of Mr.. Bryan's Labor Day speech which
lays stress upon the coercion adopted by
employers to control the votes of their
working people. 1t is n subject which
might well engross the attention of Il
Labor Day neutrality-suspicious. an au-
dience in Chicago, where, more than any
where else in this country, the consoli-
dated forces of plutocracy seek to bend to
their will the man who works for q living
| wage.
y few questions only need be addressed
to workingmen i'll this campaign. Some
were put specifically by Mr. Bryan. Some
grew inferentially from his speech. One,
and 1t is the ugliest one, has been wills
pered from man to man until the under
tone has grown to he shout; until what
has been whispered has come to be openly
violently, bitterly asserted in public
places and on the hastings. To our mind
this latter question is the one of prime
Importance in this campaign-the one of
prime Importance in all campaigns if the
Government of the United States is to
continue government by and for the
people. Let us state it baldly-for it
must be frankly proffered, repugnant to
American ideas though it be:
Does the man who buys, by weekly
wage, another mans labor, buy his polit-
ical conviction, his rights as a citizen,
and his vote as well?
Probably it would be safe to challenge
every employer of labor from Mark Hanna
down-or up-tO answer this question
All would respond in the negative, but
all who are at all active in McKinley's
behalf are giving it affirmative effect In
Chicago and other towns men who are on
Mark Hannas executive committee are
putting Mckinley buttons in pay envel-
opes, hiring secret service men to mingle
with employees and talk for Mckinley,
holding MONDAY meetings in McKinleys
behalf, paying out, with shallow logic,
Mexican dollars, and even openly threat
ening men who express themselves for
Bryan with dismissal. The degree to
which coercion by employers has been EN-
ployed in this campaign cannot be esti-
mated The men who suffer by it have
too much pride to tell the story
This the Journal thinks one of the
prime issues of this campaign. The econ.
omist and statesman may give first i'm
portance to other issues. They may say,
and we agree with them, that it is essen
tial if the wages of labor and the profits
of farmers are to be maintained, the vol
ume of the circulating medium shall be
increased, and that the increase can come
hest through silver coinage This is true
beyond cavil. It is true, too, that only
by an income tax can the very rich be
made to bear their share of the burden Of
Government expenditures; true that
without extension c f Government author
ity over railroads the railroads will get
what perhaps they now have-authority
over the Government. But in the end
there is a greater issue than all these
Has a man the right to vote according
to his convictions? Who is trying to
deny him this right? Is coercion exerted
in behalf of Bryan or in behalf of McKin
ley? And, at last, if there he coercion,
what under our theory of government,
should be the action of a free American
citizen when he goes To the nolls2