The times., 1897-09-12
DENOUNCE It As MURDER
Continued from First Page.

which he will do, of course, we have not
the least Gpubt.
''The miners win be declared mob by
the courts, ana all the satisfaction that
! the poor people win get for their pains is
the right To attend the funeral Of til -r
| associates, who were murdered by the paid
public hrelings OF capital while travers-
ing public high way.
1T is singular that these same coal
conpanes when they had their mines
manned witt American citizens were not
| satisfied, they wanted foreigners, and
they got them, as it was reported at tue
time, the foreigners would be much easier
TO handle and more obedient To their
bosse-. but when tile foreigner learned.
he soon did, that he was being shame
fully treated by the mine boss and the
coal and iron police, he refused longer
20 submit, and combined in organization
TO right his wrongs and demand some Of
the meney in the form OF wages that is
divided among the coal trust barOns." "
Mr.. Milford Spohn, president Of the
Central Labor Union, which IS affiliated
with the American Federation Of Labor.
said:
This affair is part OF the program
- t-AS III hiiAt Ol tue " Ililt sAcsEC II -
the usual roundup OF a big strike. The
strike was maintained too long; the season
las approached when contracts ana de-
iiveries are to made, and it was necessary
that something should be done which
would enable the operators to work tueiI
mines. They have been provoked at the
orderly attitude OF the miners and through
the agency of the courts and the con-
stabuiary, nave done what they could
TO bring about tie conditions which now
prevail in Hazeton.
Troops have been stationed at the
mines aud under their protection d suffi-
cient gang OF half-starveu industrial peuns
viii be put to labor under the lash Of a
master under conditions more degrading
than We're those OF chattel slavery.
This affair demonstrates the fact that
our economic system is failure, and
that SO long as it prevails brutality VIII
intensity, manhood deteriorate and both
civilization and Christianity prove failures
1t doesn't require an alarmist or pessinist
To see in the horoscope 0f this country dire
oalainities II present conditions are long
continued
'-Ire strike in the coal regions is an
object-lesson from which the most obtuse
can learn that many things are wrong
that neither the Injunction Of the Judge,
the club or the policeman or the bayonet
OF the soldier can correct. These means
are rather irritants, which aggravate and
intensity the evils Of a system which is
at war with every principle Of Just and
equitable government.
"Or course, it viii be maintained by
those who favor a system which fosters
hoggish indiyiduaIism that Sheriff Martin
and bis men wers justified in wnat they
did Was it not done under the aecis Of
the law? Was it not done TO protect the
sacred rights or property? What are the
lives OF a score of Hungarians when com.
pared with the profits Of the mine owners
Human life is cheap Oh an occasion suchas
this.
They were only a few ignorant for
eigneTs, who were brought here and sub
stItutei Tor others in the mining regions
They were owned by the barons, and If
by license of the law they could starve
tlIcfn to death, why shouldn't they be per-
HIitted to shoot them tu death in the name
of the law?
These poO., ignorant, halfs starved work
ingmen are not responsible for this whole
sale murder OF the causes that provoked
It, The responsibility rests with tie niue
owners, who, In a greedy race Of compe-
tltion, have made the mining regions "a
veritable hell, where humanity has been
prostitutedr virtue has been crushed and
the worst pa ssions born of ignorance have
been bred and fostered for the profit of
a few.
Alas. that human flesh and blood, vIr-
tue and liberty, should be so cheap, and
the dollar should be so deari"
Mr.. A. NJ Lawson, master workman of
Distriee Assembly, No. sc, Knights OF
Labor, said Sheriff Martin must have lost
his head, as no man In his senses would
have been guilty of such diabolicaI, whole
sale murder. However, after considering
all the circumstances connected with the
affair one must believe that the shooting
vas prerneditated. Anyway, he said, 1T
is the ola story. and ttis is always the end
when the honest toiers OF the country
dare TO oppose the wealthy In the protec-
tioE OF the rights Of the working classes.
The n.ost that the poor miners were guilty
Of was tresspassing upon the land OF the
mines. Even If this were true. and IL
is not, as Sheriff Martin said the miners
were on the public road, tresspass is not a
crime punishable by death'