The labor world., 1899-05-20
|Don.''.t: I: Be a Fool
|; Let Us Not Curse Men
I Who Have Broken the Law
, in a Fight for Bread.

| HUE hlOltI1Cc tlIttG HdS Deen uOne our
ing the strike of the street car em-
| p]oyes. And they have been sorry all
the time that tie depredations haven't
been worse SO they could say more
| and howl louder. Thomas Carlyle, in
one of those characteristic apostro-
phes of his, says, ''Dear reader, don't
be fool!' Now, in studying this
phase of the labor question the stu
dent should constantly conjure HIM
self not to be 9, fool. It is so easy to
be a fool at this stage of the inquiry.
The faults of organized labor lie OH
/ the surface. When labor breaks the
law everybody knows it, from one end
of the country to the other, and
knows it at c1lce. Simple, ignorant
men have but open and primitive
ways of lawlessness. When the hard
handed toilers attack good order the
hoarse voice of riot assaults every ear
The glare of conflagration paints the
midnight sky with crimson. The pub
lie arrangements are upset. Tie mail
does not get in. The street cars do
not run. Travel. is interrupted. Bus
mess is impeded. The dear public's
comforts areSsa ainterfered with. 1t
shouts frantically for the police and
the militia. Clubs and bayonets sweep
the streets. Mem die in the cutters.
The strike is over and labor steals
away down, back streets and alleys,
and retires to the contemplation of a
comfortless home and children with
out bread. cts too bad,' says many
a good citizen with Spartan frmness,
''but they must learn to keep the law
and they must respect person and
property" Reader, ''don't be fool"
and don't blame the rioters as the only
or the worst enemies of law. just
sit down and ask yourself how many
laws divine and human the street car
company and every other great COR
poration have violated, and further
more, ask yourself if these violaters
! of law are not essential links in the
chain of cause and effect which leads
up to strikes. If you are going to
condemn organized labor for it's lack
| of respect for law, what are you going
to do to organized capital? How
many laws does a great railroad
| which runs through many states evade
and violate every day of it's existence?
Tt tramples daily OIL rights of person
and rights of roperty. How does the
rioter, who destroys property or
stones the police, compare in respect
for law with the corporation which
buys governors, legislatures, courts
and city councils? These people who
buy and sell law have about the same
respect for it as they have for any
other article of commerce. 1t is
sacred to them when it is theirs.
Again, you sticklers for law, do you
not know that while labor is break
ing the peace only a few days out OF
the year, capital is busy all days and
all hours in secret infringement on
the constitution and the laws?
The fact is that labor's assault on
law and order are made in open day.
We see and hear all about it as it is
done. But capital is silent and secret
as the grave in its nefarious practices.
How smoothly does everything move
when capital is contemplating some
rare stroke of grand larceny or some
felonious assault On public rights!
The deaths head is covered with a
mask. The iron hand is gloved in
velvet. No harsher sound is heard
than the music of soft orchestras, the
popping of champagne corks, or the
ripling laughter of fair women. The
comfort of the public is not immedi-
ately disturbed, and the dread sword
of public opinion rusts in its scabbard,
until the theft is completed, the spoil
snugly slowed away and the thief
safe under cover. If you are going
to write a history of how labor broke
the law, your first chapters must
treat of the crimes of capital.
And because riot is noisy and trou-
blesome the dear, thick-witted public,
impressed only by the evidence of its
senses, is more anxious that riot be
prevented and punished than that the
silent crimes of capital, which are a
thousand times more dangerous,
should be detected and lashed into
submission.
Let us not abandon the cause Of
labor because it has been badgered