The Washington times., 1901-08-11


utation have expressed opinions regard
ing the great steel strike that will at
tract widespread attention. We refer
to Monsignor Ireland. Roman Catholic
Archbishop of st. Paul, and Represent
alive Livingston of Georgia. mem
Der of the Industrial Commission.
Within few days report has been
circulated to the effect that Arch
bishop Ireland was endeavoring to en-
act the role of mediator between the
Steel Trust and the strikers Yester-
day he declared that he neither had
been asked by anyone to accept such
q mission. nor would he do so if invited.
Concerning the strike at large, among
other things. he said:
while the right to enter upon a strike is and
must be conceded As a right belonging TO the
personal freedom OF wSskingmen, this much
must be defnanded-and in the name of the
same principle of personal freedom under which
act who refuse TO work-that they who cease
to work must in no way interfere with the liberty
of Others who NAV wish 10 work. The personal
freedom Of the individual citizen is the most
sacred and precious inheritance of Americans
The Constitution and the laws authorize it; the
spirit Of the country proclaims it; the prosperity
of the people, the very life of the nation, re-
Quire it.
Whatever the other interests at stake, tnat OF
the personal freedom OF the individual out!anks
them all, and this must be sustained ii those
TO be sacrificed. Neither State fellow
citizen may interfere with my personal liberty.
This is the very of Americanism. This Is
the teaching positive and clear Of natural and
OF Christian ethics. II is not for TO dispute
the benefits that may he believed 10 accrue TO
the workingrnan from labor unions; nor am
prepared to saw from the information that comes
me through newspapers that in the present
strike, unions pretend to shorten personal free
dom OF men that do not join their ranks But
this must be ever emphatically asserted, and
maintained nviolable principle, that how
ever much labor unions may have reason TO
widen their muster rolls, and however much they
have the legal and moral right TO do this through
pacific and persuasive methods, they must not
attempt to wrest from men outside their ranks
the right to work. or to seek 10 coerce them
into inactivity by illegal unjust attacks upon
their civil and moral freedom.
Equity and law superior TO the personal
welfare OF an individual of aggregations of in
dividuals. and equity and law demand that the
personal freedom Of the citizen, whoever he Is,
be made sacred and secure. So long as this free
dom is respected, the questions evoked in the
present strike may be left, in my opinion, to
the men, employers or employees, who are directly
concerned in it. although meanwhile all citizens
have many reasons TO hope and to pray that
brotherly love and calm counsel will prevail both
among employers and employees, and that peace
will soon again reign in the land
There can be no doubt that the
statement of, perhaps, the foremost
Catholic prelate in the United States
as above given reflects the public SEN
timent of the country. Conceding that
the principle for which the Amalga-
mated Association is fighting is correct.
and that their cause is a righteous one,
IL could not and does not follow that,
in order TO obtain. from a single COM
Of al racngpifinD n rights
or privileges asserted by en- organiza-
ton limited in numbers and Importance
compared with the aggregate popula
ton and business interests of the
country, the activities of the whole ma
ton should be demoralized and placed
in danger. Exactly as Archbishop Ire
land puts it, the right to labor Is abso-
Iutely as sacred as the right to strike
and refrain from labor. Interference
with the right of any man to work at
what wages and on what terms he
pleases is anarchy pure and simple, and
so il always has been regarded and
treated by the American people and
their constituted authorities.
In stating this proposition We do not
lose sight of the oppression of labor
which has resulted from the growth of
the great trusts and monopolies. of
which the Steel Trust is most flag
rant example. But when men have had
legitimate remedy open to them. and
deliberately have failed 10 avail them
selves of it, their right afterward to
seek means of redress which must in
volve the whole nation in trouble and
loss, is. TO say the least, very question
able. In 1886, and again in 1900, the
workingmen of America held the politi-
cal balance of power in enough States
TO have saved the country from domi-
nation by the trusts. They chose to
put the trusts in power. and since
March 4, 1897, those combinations have
controlled the executive and legisla-
tive branches of the Government COM
pletely, and as to the rights and inter
ests of the wage-worker, remorselessly.
The iron, steel. and tin workers who
served the Carnegies and their kind
suffer with other divisions of the army
of labor. They are equally responsible
with others for the conditions against
which now they would precipitate an
SCoiloHlAc ItNOluliOH upon lflt country.
President Shaffer, of the Amalgamated
Association. has been, and may be now,
a preacher of Mckinley prosperity"
and has helped to raise the Chinese wall
of prohibitive tariff and robber monop-
oily against which he and his followers
are bu:ting their heads. He and they.
and all the Industrial army, have been
wrong In aiding In the establishment of
q system which all patriotic Americans
have seen from the beginning would
lead TO the enslayement of the masses.
But the class certain to become the
earliest victim of the change in our in
situations from basis of Individual
ism. free competition, and an open
chance for all free men, TO that of the
concentration of all wealth and public
utilities in the hands of few multi
miliionaires, has used its political power
to promote the change Now national
opinion win hold 1t bound to subordi-
nate its immediate interests and griev-
ances TO the good of the whole people.
II the workers of the United States had
done their duty at the polls last No
vember, the Steel Trust would not ex-
list today, and the strike would not have
occurred. On the threshold of what
now promises 10 be the most bitter and
Beplorable struggle between labor and
capital In the history of the Republic,
1t would be well for all parties to the