The labor world. [volume] (Duluth, Minn.) 1896-current, 1899-09-02
is IT IRE EASONl'?
BY S. Goodwin.

BY S. Goodwin.
It was the morning Of Labor Day, and OF
course. something unusual must be done
in the way of celebrating It. Since early
dawn hurrying feet and the rattle ami
din Of battle had resounded in my ears;s
I feared to look out hest I should see
blood flowing down the streets. "a flag
fluttered against the sky in view of the
upper part of my window; I heard Shouts
and could 1t be?-a groan. Tremblinglys i
looked out. The smell of powder was II
the air, but all looked peaceful. Several
small boys were towering over d piece Of
live coal /; a man hurried by on a bicycle: a.
little girl sauntered carelessly along on the
opposite side Of the street. W
& No signs of alarm or excitement we
were still SAFE sS$s las54 81 Sl.f43
Il shall get away from this noise, ~ +
said IL shall seek the Quietest spot can
find and quietly observe this signi ficantj
day. Surely. may consistently comm sm-i
crate 1T. i5 II
boarded train and rode until the
raj 1 got off at water tank and found
among the trees, now In the sunshine,
now in the shade 7 followed 1t; !; SO quiet.
So enticin was the peaceful path that, q
walked amid the birds; and shy. Joyous anil
NAL life, long and dreaanlly, and came sud-
denly upon a pretty grove, prettily 0ccu-3
pied. I f5 & . & 5 III:
n A group Of 1natrons hovering over capa-
cious dinner baskets. and chattering plac-
idly Of the many little things which in
terest them; a: few laboring- looking men,
gathered IN twos and threes. whiting and
discussing labor and politics; throng Of
merry young people laughing and glance
ing at each Other In the vague delight Of
youth and good health. 3sss
Good! These people had evidently come
/ to this quiet spot to celebrate Labor Day
in their own way. An old fashioned
country celebration. I would be simple
and old fashioned too. 3 sfSs 3Sst
An offlctous- Stocking man climbed up on
the stump of a tree near by to read the
Declaration of Independence. First u
song was sung by an amateur quartette;
then the reading proceededj
In loud, sOnOrOus tones the words Gang
out: All men are created free and equal,
with certain lnalienable rights to liberty
and the pursuit of happiness - and more
Of the familiar sentences floated on the
still air. Government should rest on the
consent Of the governed, ( !" and one after
another thrse bold sentences which cree
ated such reverbation round the world
when first they were read aloud.
I A stir amid the little audience gathered
on the plank seats in front Of the stump
where the speaker stood indicated some-S3
thing unusual. A tall, lank man. with
stern face and something of an airiSof
authoraty about him arose to his feet, while
several hands sought to pull him back to
his seat. , i si IS, Sss. Z I 99si8
Mr.. speake & he began in a high
pitched, strident voice, II want to protest
ae:adnst slich words being read here. Un-
DER the circumstances, they sound too
much like treason II know, our fore fath-
,ers wrote them, but that was more than
q hundred years ago; and they succeededs
IN establ!ts hing their declarations That
made big difference. After the surren-
der at Yorktown, they were no longer
rebels, insurgents or rioters, they were
citizens of great nation.
Now, our nation is spending money and
sending the flower of her youth half way
round the globe, to teach a. lot Of half
savage brown-skins that they have no
business to govern themselves in their
own islands. They belong to us, and this
nataon means to civilize 'em IL two-thirds
have to be killed to do 1t. Our soldiers
nave had to wipe out a town In a. single
night-kill all the inhabitants. and burn
the houses, In order to teach Them.
We've had to stab wounded men who were,
trying to crawl away and hide In the
bushes; the strong young mem Of our
country must be sacrificed; those who can
out live poisoned beef, unsanitary condi-
tons fevers, etc, will fight the Eilipinos,
and may be kill more of them than they
kill of ours.
Now, If we want to be truly patriotic.
we won't be reminding our great war
leaders Of words our forefathers said when
they were similarly situated to these ISL
anders. Why do we, loyal citizens of the
United States, want to be talking about
all men being free and equal and gov
ernment resting on the consent of the
governed and all the rest of it when our
worthy admlnistration is having such
time putting down lot of barbarous peo-
pie for saying the same thing? Less said
about such things the better, in times like
these / say" and the old man sat down.
several men arose to speak at once; all
was confusion and noise for few mo-
ments. Then the women folks fearing
trouble, announced loudly that dinner was
ready and the crowd gathered around the
board tables.
l wandered slowly away. unable to de-
eide in my own mind whether the old
man was in earnest or not.
ST. PAUL. Sept. 1.-Late last night at
Anoka, Mimi. Theodore Turgeon was
probably fatally injured In a peculiar
manner by John Hesli. They had quarrel-
ed and separated after rough and tum-
bic fight. AS Turgeor turned away Heslt
assaulted him again, throwing him so that
he struck on his head ad shoulders, dis