The Forrest City times., 1897-09-03
LABOR CONVENTION.
pasults of the Gathering of Labor
 Leaders at St. Louis.
rn. Platform Setting Forth the Ideas of the DeIegates-Laborers Asked to Contribute the Earnings of
 Friday, September 8.

AT- ssntion at Masonic hall debated at length report from the committee on rssolutions and plans of action con corning the future course of the miners strike.
 The report set apart Friday, Septem- her 8. a day on which all labor organ izations and their friends shall con tribute to the relief of the miners It further declared that if the strike be not ended by September 20 a mass con- vention be held at Chicago. September o7 to consider the course then to be pursued.
 It inveighed at length against gov ernment by federal injunction" and called attention in threatening man. ner to that provision of the federal constitution, providing that citizens have the right to bear arms.
 During the prolonged discussion, in- which Eugene V. Debs and J. k. Sov- ereign took part, there were evidences of extreme dissatisfaction with the committee's report, most of the speak CTS arguing that it was ''all sound and fury, signifying nothing"
 A number of the orators talked calm ly of shot-guns and violence, but these were not very enthusiastically received, since they failed to make it clear who and what were to be aimed at
 The section of the report providing for collection to support the miners was adopted. Its scope can only be realized when the figures are consid- cred.
 United Mine Workers union, says there are l,5Oo,000 union laborers in the country. One days pay for these laborers will amount to $5, GOO. GOO, MT. Ratchford thinks, but he says the num- Der of laborers may be 2,000, 900, and that will increase the amount to over @, 6,O00, 900.
 The Platform,
 The fears of the more watchful fathers of the republic have been justified. The judiciary has become supreme. We witness a political phe- nomenon absolutely new in the history of the world; republic prostrate at the feet Of the judges appointed to administer the laws They acknowledge no superior.
 Under the cunning form of injunetions courts have assumed to enact criminal laws and, after thus drawing to themselves the power of legis- lation, have repealed the bill of rights and for violations of these court-made laws have denied the accused the right of trial by jury The exer- else of the commonest rights of freemen-the right of assembly, the right of free speech the right of travelling the public highways have by legislation. under injunctions. been made a crime, and armed forces disperse as mobs peo- pie daring in company to exercise these rights. At it's last term the supreme court of the United States decided that the thirteenth amendment, forbidding involuntary servitude, is not vio- lated by arresting a seaman, imprisoned him till his vessel is ready to leave port, and then forcibly putting him on board to serve out the term of his contract decision under which the old fugitive slave laws may yet be revived, and striking laborers besieged and returned to the service of their masters
 Having drawn to themselves all the powers Of the federal government until co ngresses and presidents may act only by judicial permis- sion, the federal judges have begun the subjugauon Of sovereign states so that unless check is soon put upon the progress Of usurpation, in a short time nc government, but the absolute dispotsm of fed eral judges will exist anywhere over any DOT ton of American soil The pending strike of coal miners starved to feebleness by their scant wages for arduous and dangerous toll;
 
 enough to make labor possible, has been pro- llhc Of judicial usurpation, showing the will lngnesS Of judi ial despots to resort to the most shameless defiance of decency as we'll as of law and humanity in order to enable heartless avarice to drive it's hungry serfs back to the mines to faint and die at their drudgery; and there remains to-day not one guaranteed right or American citizens the exercise of which an mum ton has not somewhere made crime. Startled by these subversions of constitu- uonai liberty, we have met as American citi- 1ehs to counsel together, and have come to the following conclusions, that
 WHEREAS The present strike of the coal miners has again demonstrated the fact that our so-called liberty is not freedom but is a stupendous sham, under which millions are de- generating while hundreds of thousands men, women and children-are starving in novels and on the public highways
 WHEREAS This condition has become per manent for large and ever increasing number oi our population, as long as we permit a com paratlvely small class of legalized exploiters tc mohopoIze the means of production and dis uloutlon for their private benetit-a fact agair ooVlous In the case of the miners.
 WHEREAS Appeals to congress and the courts TUT rehet are frultless, since the legislative as "eii as the executive and judicial powers are unuer the control Of the capitalist class, that mas come to pass in this free country" thai "hlte cattle and swine have a right to the pub nc highway Americans, so-ealled free men WHEREAS, Our ca ,itallst class as is again sno"h Tn the pre- ent strike, is arm sd and has Hot only policemen, marshals, sheriifs anu dep uues Out also regular army and militia at 1t oonlmand In order to enforce government b, injunction, uppre sing lawful assemblage, free speech and the riShts to the public high avs nniif on the other hand the laboring men of the country are unarmed and defenseless contrary ~ .he words and the spirit of the constitution t"e united States, therefore be it
 Hesotred, That we hereby set apart Friday september 5, 1897, as Good Friday for tut .euSe e or suffering labor in America, and con- aiouVe the earni ,gs of that day to the supp VI our struggling brothers, the miners, and ap- peai to every friend of labor throughout the country to do likewise
 neso'tsd, That if the str ke of the miner is not settled by Septem CT 20. 1897, an announce uene nude to that eff by the president of ne cui'eu Mine Workers. general convention at Snlcago on Monday, September 2, 1898, be leld SS the repre- entatives of all unions. sections. ,g'anehes, lodges and kindred organizations of "Oorlhg men and friends of their cause, for the purpose or considering further measures Tn the general