The representative. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1893-1901, 1899-09-07
AS MICE TO LIONS.

There are inalienable right not record
ed of our Declaration. Or if inferred,
at least by money-managed press, they
are not admitted. Blackstone talks of
the Rights of Persons, and the Right of
Things. To read our New York dailies,
the first seems much omitted to give the
other triple affirmation. Man has inalien-
able rights. He has rights to life, to wife.
to children. Which means-since one
must be civilized, whether one will or
no-that Man has a right to such reward
for his labor as shall found him safe and
broad in all the others. One of our New
York papers-a parasite and toady OF
Money is this sheet-in SNUG and we'll
fed comment on the strikes, related that
MONEY MIGHT EMPLOY OR LABOR
RIGHTS OF EACH WERE EVEN. NO LAW
IN FAIRNESS, IT SAID, MIGHT BE MADE
TO AID THE ONE AGAINST THE OTHER.
This solemn splutter sounds to the casual
ear like sense. 1t is not. however On
the sophist contrary it's the veriest cant
of the hypocrite; the creed Of the crimi
nal; it holds the seeds of misrule and
things. If all were equal there would
be no need of law. OF even strength with
all the rest, none would maraud and each
protect himself. 1t is because enc is
weak while one is strong, and none of us
too honest, that law is made. And II 1t
tie line of existence. that Money Is more
powerful than Labor then Law must re-
enforce the weaker side. to the end that
one preserve that equilibrium through which
public order may only come and upon
which public safety finds its sole depend
ence. Look at Money! It is the talisman-
the genii Of the Lamp. All are to come
at its call. 1t will summon a king from
his throne and set him tasks. 1t is the
Power Absolute. The whole world is its
kingdom, to march or countermarch, come
or go, sleep or wake, rest or work, laugh
or weep, live or die, as 1t shall sway its
scepter That's Money! What's Labor?
And what is daily destiny? 1t must go from
door to door, from employment to en-
ployment, offering itself. It cannot COM
mand like Money. 1t must ask-ay! fairly
beg for countenance. moi" was never
said to Money. That deadly monosyllable
had been dinned into the lungs Of labor
shall one say that Labor and Money are Of
even strength? Why, man! it's mice to
NOns!-The Verdict
How often do we hear the whole cues
ton of the relative rights of capital and
labor brushed aside with the declara-
ton capitalized above.
Men who are at heart reformers. who
are conscious of the hardships of labor
who appreciate the restitution Of the
toilers, will thoughtlessly assent to cap
ital's sophistry.
It would seem strange that a man
could stand opposed to the importation
Of Chinese and other cheap labor, and
at the same time declare that it was
capitals right to employ the man who
would work the cheapest.
We think it would matter little to la
Dor whether the corporations of this
country formed trust and forced 1OO.-
900 travelling men and other employees
out of job, or forced these same men
out of employment by filing their
places with imported contract labor In
either event the home laborer becomes
a victim to capital.
While it is true that labor, like COM
modities, Is subject to the law of sup
ply and demand, 1t is equally true that
when corporations double the supply OF