The record-union., 1899-05-05
THE RIGHT AND DUTY OF INTER-
FERENCE.
The "Oregonian" well says:

The "Oregonian" we'll says:
The right to strike is unquestioned-
Men not satisfied with the conditions of
their work have perfect right to quit
singly or in mass. This is a right which
q government pledged to the protection
of its citizens against involuntary
servitude" is bound to sustain On the
other hand, the right to work is as def
mite ard perfect as the right to strike.
1t rests upon the same basis of personal
liberty and privilege; it stands under
the same high guarantees. A govern
lnent unable or unwilling to maintain
these guarantees-a government unable
or unwilling to protect its citizens
against the slavery of Involuntary serv-
1tude or in the right to work for their
livelihood-would be a useless and un-
worthy thing, and unfit to live.
1t is for these reasons, founded upon
ahe eternal principles of justice and I'M
DERIVING the very fabric Of free gov
eminent. that the arm of authority is
extended to prevent and to punish such
Outrages as that perpetrated at Ward
ner. Idaho. A government that cannot
or will not suppress such disorder and
as it protects them in their right to re-
fuse to work, cannot and should not
stand. 1t would inspire no confidence,
since it would awaken no fears. nor
quicken any hopes of justice.
The misery of 1t all is that the striker,
fired by passion and angered by what
he coneeives to be wrongs, and moved
by resentment that very often is
aroused cruelty and uselessly, and by
forces worthy of all scorn and disfavor,
does not see, or will not realize these
truths. nor that they are as essential
for his own cause as for that of the man
Who displaces him.
The government, when driven by the
logic of its being to repress disorder,
nearly always where a strike is in
volved, comes in for the judgment Of
the striker that it has armed against
him, to Cypress him, to kill him, and to
sustain those who have wronged him.
But this is wholly untrue. The govern
ment does not arm against the striker.
1t recognizes the striker and his. right
to strike. But it would be no govern
Tnent worthy the name if it did not re-
sist criminal lawlessness. That the Of
fender is a striker docs not exempt him
from the duty to maintain the law and
human rights erected upon it, and the
justice whose roots run deep below and
take hold upon the eternal foundations
of the mans social organization.
Instead of the government, when it
represses the lawiessness of the striker,
being in league with his enemies, it is
really doing him a high service, for it
is teaching MIN the value of government
40 himself. its necessity to him, since it
Is under the protection of the same gov
eminent that he and his colleagues en-
Joy the right TO organize to lawfully re-
sist what they deem assault upon their
best interests, That the Federal Gov
eminent has the right, and that it is its
DUTY TO interfere in such cases as that
at Wardner is undeniable. If it could
not protect citizens in their rights in
such cases, then a weak or stubborn
and crimlnally plant Governor could
throw q State into anarchy, and pro-
mote instruction in fact under the
guise of State authority.
The Constitution guarantees that no
person shall be deprived of life, liberty
or property without due process of law.
If State, therefore. declines or is I'M
able to give the citizen the guaranteed
protection which the Federal organic
Act assures him is his due, the Federal
Government must interpose. If it has
not this power, then the life, property,
the liberty of every citizen is dependent
upon the whim or the neglect of a Gov
ernor OF State.