The record-union., 1897-09-13
THE TROUBLE NEAR HAzLETON

The taking of human life by officers
of the law is at all times regrettable
The law does not entertain the senti-
ment of vengeance or cruelty. But it
is the duty of the officers of the law
to take life sometimes that orderly
government may be preserved and hu-
man rights protected, and hence to dis
perse riotous assemblies, and resist un-
lawful assault. The killing of the ri
otous miners near Hazleton, Pa, oc-
Cured after the officers of the law,
the representatives of the people of the
State, had been violently assaulted by
a mob largely outnumbering the Off
GERS, after repeated warnings to dis
perse, and after open defiance of the
officials who were advanced upon.
Two days before another body of du
ly commissioned officers of the same
State had been beaten by the rioters,
driven from their posts, made prison
ers, confined and threatened with the
torch and with death; they were final
ly released, but required to run a
gauntlet and take as they went curses
and blows; they were beaten, sorely
wounded, and in all ways maltreated.
Yet these men, though having full au-
thority to do so, and though having
arms in their hands, fired no shot and
took no life.
1t is said that the Hazleton rioters
were moving peaceably along the pub
lie highway, where they had a right
to be. This is inaccurate. They con-
stituted an unlawful assembly and
were so warned; they were engaged in
a conspiracy in defiance of mandates
to refrain; they were moving forward
to the accomplishment of an unlawful
purpose against which they had been
solemnly warned; they proposed and so
avowed their intention to be, to pre-
vent 1900 miners from going to or
coming from their work, who had
chosen, as was their right, to labor,
and who had the right to move upon
the public highway unmolested.
The rioters had heard the reading Of
the Riot Act; they had received warn
ing from one they knew to be the rep
resentative of the law; but they had
been emboldened by their success of
several weeks in standing off, the
officers, and by the capture and defeat
of the officers two days before; they
were encouraged also by the belief OBJ
tanning among them that the officers
would not and dare not engage with
them in conflict of arms. Under the
circumstances, therefore, the Sheriff
who gave the command to fire
was justified by the law. 1t was either
to fight or fee, and when that choice
is left to a conscientious peace officer
who has given the warning, he is not
likely to choose the towards part.
The miners have great measure of
sympathy for their effort to secure bet
ter wages. No man who has a spark
of human feeling in his composition
wishes these men to be reduced to
starvation. But while this is true,
there are none actuated by right prin-
ciple who can justify them in contin-
uing in a course in defiance of the laws
of the land. If they succeeded in driv-
ing out the officers, in compelling men
willing to work to leave their tasks;
if they triumphed in defying the courts
and in closing down the mines. what
then? Would substitution of mob for
orderly procedure better their condi-
ton? Assuredly not.
The truth is, that there are two sides
to this question of the coal strike, as
to all others of that order. The miners
receive inadequate wages. Thousands
of them are reduced to a most pitiful
extremity. They see before them unre-
mitting toll for a bare pittance, or or
ganized effort to secure fair recon-
pense for their labor. The coal opera
tors are too many, the mines are too
numerous, the competition is so bit
ter that more than half of them have
received no return upon their invest
ment for years. Conditions in the
mines regarding cost of taking out
coal. distance from markets, and the