Kentucky Irish American. (Louisville, Ky.) 1898-1968, 1898-09-17

| WHICH must nave DCSll SlSdl W cause It.
sorts to violence, and have taught labor
the salutary lesson that only within the
law can we hope for the cooperation of
public opinion. the only autocratic power
/ in this country.
The love of the American people for
their country is only equaled by their re-
spect for its law; and while allowing the
fullest liberty compatible with public
peace and safety, sympathizing ever with
the oppressed, forbearing with the erring,
they will not tolerate lawlessness, but
when the occasion requires, manifest in
a swift and unmstakable way that he who
ignores the law forfeits its protection,
who violates the law incurs its penalties,
and who resists the law will be suppressed
by its force. He who advises the work
men to ignore the law sends them on
FOOLS errand at best; who urges them to
violate the law dooms them to proscrip-
ton and suffering, and who induces them
to resist the law is murderer before the
fact.
1t also demonstrated to capital and
labor that such conflicts were not produc-
tive of benefit to either; that in strikes,
lockouts, boycotts and black lists capital
lost heavily and labor always got the
worst of it. 1t is about twenty years ago
that labor extended the olive branch and
said Lets arbitrate-meet on equal
ground, asking only what is just and
right, and willing to concede as much.
Capital was suspicious, and labor by no
means trustful; but a proposition so fair
appealed to the sense of justice of the
American people. Organized labor has
all but unanimously adopted it, and
every leading labor organization in the
country provides for the settlement of all
differences by conference and arbitration,
reserving the right to strike only as last
and final resort. For years the window
glass workers, iron workers, newspaper
printers and many other organizations
aud their employers have followed this
course, resulting in peaceful adjustment
of differences, improvement in conditions
of the employer, and shorter hours and
better wages for labor, and, best of all, in
friendly relations and cooperation be-
tween employers and workmen. And
this good work is being pushed along. In
the past few weeks the United Typothetae,
composed of publishing printers, organ
lied some fifteen years ago to resist the
aggressiveness of the Typographical
Union, and ever impervious to all friendly
advances aud propositions, though still
declining to yield the demand for nine
hours to the employees in their branch of
printing, have at last consented to take
pointed a committee to confer with the
Typographical Union committee on some
plan of settlement of this question, a
bone of contention for twenty years.
And even the railroad companies, which
four years ago reduced wages and short
ened hours of employment, pledging to
restore both when conditions of trade
permitted, are now doing so, proving that
"soulless" corporations can be trusted by
labor, and proving to them that labor,
which worked faithfully and waited pa
ktiently for four years, can be relied on to
fulfill its part of the agreement, with no
other bond save honor.
OF course, there are and will continue
to be strikes, lockouts and acrimonious
contention between capital and labor, but
it only proves in this, as in every other
sphere of our national life, that all do
not keep up to the advanced order of
things in this Countrywide purely Amer
can policy and method, which in so
short time have enabled the American
people to attain the leading position
among the nations of the world.
One of the most attractive features of
today's parade was the display of the
manufacturers and business men in re-
spouse to the invitation of labor to par
ticipate, but much as we appreciated
their assistance in the parade, of much
more significance and of more benefit to
both commercial, industrial and labor in
terests is the spirit that prompted
this cooperation in our celebration of
Labor Day. If we can unite in celebrat-
ing, why not in efforts to relieve from
burdens and better the conditions of each
which affect more or less the interests of
all9
The city of Louisville, despite its ad-
vantage of location, convenience of trans
portation, nearness to sources of material,
is about the poorest city in the country
for a workman to retain employment
and earn living, and our State is fifty
years behind the times. We are prone to
condemn the business men, employers and
wealthy, because Louisville capital is not
invested in manufactures to give employ
ment to the people instead of being
invested elsewhere, and the Louisville
workmen being compelled to leave here
to obtain employment. The real cause
is the Legislatures of Kentucky have
persistently legislated against every inter-
est of Louisville instead of encouraging
its efforts to develop and increase in
manufactures, commerce and trade, as
the Legislatures of most other States do
for their chief cities; thnt while Kentucky
Legislatures by burdensome taxation
drive capital out of the State, other