The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1900-08-20
AS TO THE AGITATOR.

To the agitator nothing is unfair but the sup.
preston OF his salary. The obligation of an
employe to his employer is a foreign considera.
tion Of which no account is taken His effort,
are to arouse antagonsm to the established
customs and ignore business usagcs The nat.
ural result is to develop the tendencies of the
lawless element toward riot and other breaches
Of the peace, and, as an ultimate result, to
visit upon the heads Of those who have been
unwillingly forced into such uprisings the same
severe punishment which the law OF the land
provides for the really guilty ones
There is a mistaken idea prevalent that work.
men have rights which their employers cannot
claim or exercise. II has, possibly, never &C.
CURED to the miners organization that if, under
the law, it has the right to refuse to allow any
Of its members 10 work in a collery against
which 1t claims grievance, there Is equal jus,
tice il all the owners Of collierios should unite,
organize and refuse TO accept as workmen any
OF their employees organization labor. Indeed
this could be carried further, for these owners
through their connection with many other en-.
tcrprises both industrial and commercial, could
refuse work 10 any man or body Of men II
combination Of men Tor the purpose of refusing
70 work at a given place Is legal, so must be
n combination of places Of work against a given
man or body Of men.
In recent decision in New York state, Judge
Mclaughlin, writing the opinion Of the Appellate
ants an association Of workmcn, struck or
threatened to strike, but used no force and com.
mitted no breach Of the peace lie says:
at cannot he seriously questioned but that
every workman has the right, in the first in.
stance, to say for whom and with whom he will
work This right is guaranteed to every person
Of legal age and competent to contract under
our laws. An employer has the absolute right
to say whom he will employ, and the employe
has the right to say by whom he will be en-
ployed and with whom he will work.
''Tha right is reciprocal, and once that rioht
is destroyed personal liberty is destroyed One
does not lose this right whtn acting with Others
so that employers may combine and say they
will not employ persons who are members Of
labor organizations and laborcrs may combine
and say they will not work for employers WHO
engage any but members Of labor organizations >"
Hitherto, in the Wyoming and Lackawanna
region, when strikers left one collery thev were
usually able TO obtain employment in another
SO that, having the power to provide for them.
selves, they have felt no Obligation for their
employer, hut unhcsitatingly left him in the
lurch and his colliery idle for, possibly, some
trihing prctcXt II, however, and il is possible
that such course may be followed, the various
colliery owners should decide not To take in
their employment any man from a coliery on A
strike, the men would have reason TO carefully
consider the situation before placing them alyes
in position where, through their own act
though work Is before them in plenty, they re.
fuse to accept it, and demand charity on which
TO live, for their own organization has never
furnished support
The conduct Of the miners organization in an.
pointing committees of men to call upon col.
hery owners, has never resulted IN the settle.
ment of any dispute, alleged or real. The on.
orators have taken the very sensible ground that
such committees had nothing whatever to do
with the matter and were simply intruding in a
private affair between the empoye claiming a
grievance and his employer, No operator has
ever refused 20 hear and consider anv reouest
directly from an employe who fesls that his per.
sonal interests are being affected. But TO have
other people, strangers who know nothing what.
ever OF the conditions governing the conduct of
each oolliery prefer such requests is an inner.
tinent interference, without any more right than
q stranger would possess who attempted TO die.
tate to the head OF a family what conduct he
should follow toward his children.