The Portland daily press., 1898-10-14

He is bound to preserve the peace and see
that the laws are obeyedi at all hazards,
no matter whether he sympathises
with this complaints out of which
the disturbance has arisen or not.
If quarrel breaks out between employ
ers and employed, he has nothing to do
with it unless one or the other of the par
ties to 1t breaks the law of the State, or
threatens to do SO. The only true course
for him TO pursue is to remain neutral,
watching it to see that no infraction of
the law is committed by either party.
I5 is none of his business how the EN-
ployer undertakes to fill the places made
vacant by the strikers, unless he resorts
to some method that conflicts with the
law. The method may be one he does
NOS approve of as a man, but as long as IL
is not in conflict with the law he has got
nothing to do with it as governor, and
though of course he has right to his
opinion in regard to 1t, he ought to be
very cautious in expressing 1t lest it en-
couargc one party or the other to actlon
in violation of law.
Some time ago quarrel broke out be-
tween certain coal mine operators of ILL
nois and their miners. What the quarrel
was about is of no consequence. 1t may
have been wages, or hours of work, or
something else. The upshot of it was
that the miners withdrew from the mines
and refused to work, as they had clear
right too. Then the operators, not be-
ing able apparently to find men in Illi-
nois willing to take the strikers places,
went into the State of Alabama and en-.
gagged several hundred laborers. Now
there may be question as to the wisdom
of this act on the part of the operators,
but there can be no question OF its legali-
ty. They had just as much right to hire
men hired there when they entered the
State of Illinois were entitled to the pro-
lection of the laws of that State as much
as if they had always lived there. Wheth-
er the Governor of Illinois approved the
employing of Alabama laboring men
and bringing them into the State or not,
the civil authorities of the State were un-
der obligation to see that they were pro-
tected from assault, even to the exent OF
calling out the militia if need be. If the
governor feared the importation of this la
Dor would cause riot he could very prop.
erly have gone to the managers and urged
them to refrain, but If they refused to do
so there was only one thing for him to
tlo, and that was to see to it that no
breach of the peace took place because OF
their coming. 1t was the legal right Of
these managers to import this labor, and
if they insisted upon exercising it, then
it was the duty Of the governor and all
other. of the civil authorities of the State
to see that they were protected in the ex-
ercise of it. But this clear duty the gov
ernor of Illinois publicly announced a
week ago that he should not perform.
When he heard that laborers were to be
brought into the State from Alabama to
take the strikers places, through the me-
dium of newspaper interview he pro.
claimed that he disapproved of their i'm
protection Of the State which he was
clearly bound to do OF course this could
have but one effect upon the strikers, and
that was to stimulate them to attack
these laboring men. Indeed it was prao.
tically direct Indictment to attack them.
The governor had practically said that
they were outside the pale of the
laws protection, thus consigning them
to the category of common enemies,
whom everybody may rightfully attack
and drive away. The moral RESPONSE
bility for the killing at Virden rests
in very large measures upon
the governor of the State of Illinois. 1t
was his words that nerved the arms Of
the men who committed them. Instead
of warning the strikers that resort to
violence would be sternly put down and
the participants punished he practically
told them to go ahead and drive of the
intruders.