Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1901-08-20

Peach Souffle, Coffee.
| The Great Peril Of the Great strike.
| To the Editor of The Evening Star:
Had the present industrial complications
| prevailed last fall Mr.. Bryan would now be
President Of the United States. The selfish
| patriotism of the shrewd workingmen of
| the country saved us from Organism In
1896, and again in 1900. Today govern
ment by Injunction is regarded as peril
by thoughtful men of all parties. Judges
of federal courts have enjoned working
| men, stating that there may be eXigencies
when even augmentation is disorderly
| conduct. l have yet to learn that they
have so notified the Industrial magnates
| of the country: Naturally comes up tne
old saying It's a poor rule that won
work both ways" and many a leader OF
the workingmen is saying, with sardonic
smile Il thank thee, Jew, for that word
May it not happen that all our Judges VIII
soon be fully occupied with hearing Appeals
| for injunctions? And they will not be solely
from the capitalistc class. Bases for them
can be had by the attorney generals in all
the states. and also by every district OF
county attorney.
In 1892 the Pinkerton force killed few
workingmen at Homestead, Pa. Ihey were
within the law but they defeated Harrl-
son all the same, and the panic of 1888
1897 followed. And now the steel trust
says to the 10000 citizens of Mckeesport:
1--WE viii strike you telling blow; through
poverty and distress we viii! Kill more than
| the Pinkertons did We will almost oblit-
| crate the value of the homes built and
| adorned by our own workmen. who had
| good grounds for believing in the, abiding
| location of works. Their vacated
homes will reduce the rental value of near
| ly every dwelling and store in Mckees-
| port. We do it because your sympathies
| have gone out to our rebelllous Workmen-
| And what we do to you we can do else
w he % W n
| If an Injunction had been applied for to
| prevent the dismantlng Of the mills at
Mckeesport strange questions of vested
! rights would thrill our people Doubtless
| the cold law would be against the appel
| lants, but a moral agitation never dies, and
! ultimately it makes it's own laws And
everywhere appeals for iniunctions against
| trusts would prevail. sure to be denied, but
| equally sure to place in every political
platform a denunciatiOn of government
| by injunction Nothing gave jefferson such
| uneasiness as the ever-growing power of
| the judiciary.
Bryan was born out of due time. He
made republican success a certainty, and
| out of resulting accompanying repub-
lican prosperity trusts have arisen. They
| are strange things to We fear them
| and yet proud of them. The fear of
Organism made the moneyed classes almost
solidly republican, and justly or unjustly,
we, republicans, will be held RESPONSE
BILE for their actions If they prove bless
| ing to the country the people will forget
that; if they prove to be a curse, woe to
| us, and woe to the country. Some time
| the wave of socialism Will rise, temporarily,
| mountain high.
The present strike has no Justification
| Arrogance of power on both sides has
! brought it upon US Not discussing its
genesis. the popular mind has clarified the
| question, and that question is, Shall trades
| unionism live or die? Ultimately all who
| oppose it will politically die. Future poit-
| ical platforms will be waste or funeral
| In 1hpr do not md N IL
| indorse the propriety and beneflcence of
trades unionism. That is the best residu-
| UNI of the last half of the nineteenth
century, and that despite the violence and
the fooishness that have so often caused
! it's friends to grieVe Next to the Decla-
ration of Independence and the bill of
rights it was the grandest assertion of
| personal liberty on the part of our work
| ingmen-the majority of our nation.
| 1t ought to live, and it will live Trusts
may dominate conventions, adnlnlStra-
tions Congresses and legislatures, but they
| will be chaff before the popular feeling
| which sees in the increasing comfort and
well-being of the American workingman
| the surest basis of national pride.
| Let the steel trust crush out .unioniSm for
| the present and all other trusts will, must,
| combine with it. Our industrial magnates
are great men. Their proud aim is to con-
troll the markets of the world Under a
| protective tariff and the present high rate
| of wages they cannot do so; reduce the
| wages of their employees % per cent and
| they are sure of success That they would
much prefer to any reduction of tariff, for
| a high tariff makes them sure of continued
| possession of the nome market. with its
| larger profits. 1 doubt not that is their
aim. Commence to reduce wages, with
| unionsm dead, who will there be to chal-
| lenge them to return to the living rates
| of 1901? The workingmen'S only refuge
| then will be the field of politics.
The trust can settle the strike in week.
| Let them authoritatively state that they
| mean to have nothing to do with uronism,
| or non unionism, TO recognize neither, no
| more than they 10 the color of the eyes
| of their employees, and the strike is over
| Failing to do this, the strike will linger
| and grow until it's increasing hungry mem
| bers will listen to the pleas of their fam
| ished wives and children and succumb. The
| harvest of bitterness is sad to dwell upon.
| Public sentiment should thunder in the
| ears Of all trusts, You shall not crush
| trades unioniSm-the charter of the liber-
! ties of the American workingmen' And
| be assured, the trusts will hear and heed.
H. T. JOHNS.
Street Names.