The age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1897-1902, 1899-11-09
MIR. rnoMpsoS IN BoYcoTTs

Huntsville, Ala, November I, 1899.
10 the Editor of The Age-Herad.
L have been for more than fifteen years
an interested observer and close student of
matters that pertain to Birmingham's well
fare, and have in days gone by contributed
my share, in both money and energy, in
seeking to bring her to the proud position
of Industrial prominence which she occu-
pies. L therefore feel that l have some
right to say word to her citizens now
when she stands upon the threshold of
still greater career, provided no mistakes
are made in the policy which shall control
all classes within her borders. desire to
be very plain, for this is a time for plain
and honest speaking, for now, as in those
dark days of 1894, when Birmingham was
menaced by a danger that all felt was I'M
minent and formidable, there is another
danger equally formidable, and perhaps
in the end more dangerous, than what con-
fronted her people at that time.
As secretary of the committee of safety
at that time it was my province to learn
something of the temper and spirit which
animated the labor leaders of that memora-
bic period, and had it not been for the
prompt ana eiltclINc HlSeSulS5 tdhSb ~
Governor Jones Birmingham might not to-
day be enjoying the distinction she SO
proudly wears. The same promptness
should be taken now in dealing with the
boycott inaugurated by the Trades Council
against the state fair A boycott is, to put
it mildly, un-American and should be made
a criminal offense. The constitution of this
great nation guarantees to the humblest of
her citizens the right to earn living free
from the dictation or fear of any one, and
1t gives the same right to those who desire
to employ another for any legal purpose.
SO that whoever seeks to hinder or interfere
in either case is guilty of violating that
sacred instrument, and should be dealt with
accordingly.
OF all the states in this union, Alabama
should be the one pre-eminently above even
the possibilities of a general labor strike
or boycott. She is in that stage of growth
and development that is demanding access
sions both from capital and labor, and both
should have here the widest fields for their
employment, with the strongest guarantee
of right, just and proper relationships be-
tween them, free alike from the arts of the
demagogues on one side or the wiles of the
agitator on the other.
Alabama owes it to those great interests
that are already within her keeping to say
nothing of others UNNECESSARILY greater
than are coming, to place the strike" and
the boycott under the ban of both law
and public sentiment, for one is ineffective
without the other. And I say this in a
spirit of absolute friendliness to labor, for
L have spent the best years of my life in
work that had for it's prime object the CIV
ing of employment and greater opportuni-
ties to labor; but in that work knew no
difference between the poor boy, struggling
unaided and alone to gain an honest penny
or the strongest union that controlled
its members and dictated their terms of
employment. And the people and laws of
Alabama should have no other foundation
for their governing policy.
N. f. THOMPSON.