Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1897-08-21
CALL on UNION LABOR
To Fight Government by IN.
junction" with a Possible
General Strike.
ISSUE OF THE COLUMBUS MEETING,

the PittsburS District Alone-Au the
States Must BE Represented-Gasherin
To Be Held 1t st. Louis That VIII DE-
eide Things Of Great Moment-Gomper.
sDd Sovereign Both in Favor OF the
United Action Of Organized Labor
Against the Injunction.
Columbus, O., Aug. 21.-The national
executive board Of the United Mine
Workers adjourned yesterday after
having issued a call for a conference Of
organized labor to be held in st. Louis
Aug. 30. The board rejected the PROPOSE
ton OF the Pittsburg operators for a
conference to arbitrate the wage dis
pute in that district. claiming that such
action would be prejudicial to the inter-
ests OF the miners at large. The board
is ready to consider overtures for the
arbitration Of the issues of the great
strike only when these overtures come
from all the operators in the COMPETE
tive district which includes Ohio, In
diana. Illinois. West Virginia and Penn
sy!vania. The board has decided not to
deviate from the established policy until
the result Of the st. Louis conference is
known. The aggressive work in the field
will be continued and the efforts to
spread the strike in West Virginia
district will be renewed.
General Strike Is the Proposition.
The success or failure of the strike
hangs upon the st. Louis conference, the
call fer which has been Endorsed by
Gompers and Sovereign. They maintain
that the fight now being waged by the
miners is one of common interest to or
ganized labor throughout the country.
at the st. Louis conference all labor or
CARNATIONS will be asked to Join issues
with the miners. The failure to secure
a general suspension in West Virginia
has greatly interfered with the prospects
of success, as the coal supplied from
that and the few isolated districts is
meeting the limited demand The only
hope of cutting eff this supply appears
to lie in the refusal Of organized labor
in the ordinary channels of traffic and
business to refuse to handle or use the
coal. If the object Of the st. Louis con-
ference is accomplished the strike will
be extended to nearly every branch of
labor in the country.
Government by Injunction"
The call is issued to organized labor,
Its various divisions and subdivisions.
and to all reform, social. educational and
scientific bodies who condemn govern
ment by injunction and the use of force
to coerce the people and deprive them of
their rights as American citizens" 1t
declares that THE great miners strike
has gone beyond a struggle for living
wages. "A crisis in the affairs of the ma
ton has arrived in which all patriotic
people must determine whether they
will accept and consent to live under the
rule of an oligarchy of wealth or wheth-
er the institutions Of free government.
the right of free speech and peaceable
public assemblages are to be suppressed.
The tyrannical and un-Ameri-
can lhJunctions or the federal and state
courts are revolutionary against the
nisl pIihcipies Oh iree government and
oeiosatory 10 tne inherent rights or the
NO eiiuahserins the puphc peace
anu 'he personal security
az" i'iui' Auai Hoef'S VI the common peo-
pe'
""'o"rS Deciareo frostituted.
The judiciary Is prostituted to the
DiddinS OF oppressive capitals
That $4,000 miners should be condemned
TO lives OF drudgery and starvation by
the arbitrary rulings OF the courts is
an insult to beneficent Creator. an out
rage upon free government and dis
grace to the christian civilization under
whicn we I'VE Inc recent injunctions
ana their extreme application against
ulc lawful rights OF the poor; the arrest
ana incarceration OF hundreds Of inno-
cent lhoiensiVe people; the general en-
pioyment OF armed thugs to overawe.
harass' ana coerce the miners, have so
eNaspera.eu the people in localities
where applied That We feel that we can
-, 'r''o'e ioi Tue PUBIC
HPi'e"' 10 inc e'reat ram People,"