The representative. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1893-1901, 1897-08-04
4 STRONG APPEAL
The Cry of the WOrkingmen-It
Touches the Heart,

Fairmont, w. Va, July 23.-M. D.
Ratchford, president of the United Nina
Workers of America, tonight tele-
graphed the following letter to Samuel
Gompers, president of the American
Federation OF Labor, at Washington:
On the fair soil of West Virginia peace
able assemblage has been forbidden and
Tree speech suppressed. i crisis j. upon ia
which must be met if we would escope
total slavery.
The great mining strike row extends
over five states. One hundred and fftv
thousand miners and their families almost
a million souls. are involved Public SEN
| timent is overwhelmingly with us Only
the hollow, heartless sentiment Of corpor-
ate capital, echoed by its vulgar parrot
the subsidized press, is opposed to US.
The acute stage has been raa ,hed. Triis
IS no longer strike for justice hut a
struggle against starvation. Every atom
OF nobility In human nature Impels us to
rise to the emergency. and ny performing
our duty as becomes men, resuHe the
miners OF the country from the cruel
grasp Of bondage and their wives and
children from the totures OF famine.
West Virginia is the field of action, and
here our forces must be converged. The
miners here are eager, anxious to join in
our movement for their emancipation but
are restrained by the fear of discharge and
eviction. They much the property
of their masters as were the black slaves
before the guns of Sumpter thrrdered the
doom OF chattel slavery. Here, on the soil
made sacred by Thomas Jefferson and
Patrick Henry, the slavery of labor has
become universal. The patriotic cry of the
impassioned Henry. Give me liberty or
give me DEATH" is once more in order.
The united hosts of organized labor must
Mo- nf CT
craftsmen of our country must be aroused.
/ therefore call upon you, in behalf or
the struggling miners, to convene All the
chief executive officers of all national Ia
Dor organizations at Wheeling, Va, on
Tuesday, July q, for the purpose of meet
ing this crisis and achieving victory Tor the
cause of labor. No duty which any labor
official may have at this time is to be
compared in importance to this great de-
mand, and it is therefore hoped ana ex-
pected that each and all of them will at
tend in person.
This is not the time to consider differ
ences between organizations, If dlfferanceS
there be- and no man who has our cause
at heart will raise that question. The oaIl
to duty is to all organized labor, ana the
chief executive of each organization Is eA-
pected to give the conference the behent OIL
his personal presence. IL this pat.ie -
won organized labor in every department
will he immeasurably strengthened, but IL
lost the cause will be set back at least ten
years.
Never have the Ameri can people 50 ulaHl-
rnously supported a labor stl1ke. fuily
80 per cent are with us and Will support
our cause to the end This is the supreme
opportunity to strike the blow for INDUS
trial liberty and, if ignored. the doom Oh
labor is sealed and we trust ID leaders must
hear the odium of our cowardly lnacllon.
The very presence of the compia'd leau.i
shin of la bor in this state will WaKen the
ho.tr +o duty The downtrodden miners
will take heart and as If by magic Will
stand erect and assert their rights as 1neh.
The unity of labor is all that is reqWred-.o 10
decide this contest in favor OF the miners
in favor of justice and in iavor O. io'''n-