The weekly examiner., 1901-08-31
HONOR THE couRAGEoUs.
The Brave and Honorable Men Who
 Are Loyal to Unionism.


 Are Loyal to Unionism.
 The great steel strike will be useful, If for no other reason, because it proves the courage of 100000 highly paid American workmen. K These are the men who have given up profitable employment, facing in- definite poverty and hardship for the sake of a principle, because they be- lieve that their duty is to their fellow workmen and to the organization which they have built up together.
 The steel trust rejoices in the fact that some of the workmen have re- fused to quit work and have stood by the trust.
 In every army there are certain number of daserters, and but for the fear of court martial there would be great many more.
 The workmen who disobey the order to strike are simply the soldiers who lack the courage to go under fire.
 They are glad to take the high wages which only unionism can bring. They are glad to share the prosperity and the power of the organization in times of peace.
 But they have not the Aeart to fight. Like the peace loving soldieI, they run away when the fight begins. Tksy are not to be blamed too severely, for with the constitutional coward it is impossible to overcome cowardice.
 Think as kindly as you can of the poor devils who shirk and show the white feather when the battle begins. Hunger is afdif1cult proposition to deal with. Tf
 But don't forget to honor the men who are loyal to their agreement and stick by their fellows.
 And don't forget to honor the wom- en, the wives of these men. For in all labor fights no courage is greater than that displayed by women, although the greatest suffering is endured by them
 The strikers of today may be beaten individually. They may be permanent ly worse off for having stuck together like men.
 But they will at least have earned honorable regulations for themselves and their children. They will have rendered important service to the fu- ture. They are the heroes and bene- factors of the industrial system.
 Do you say:
 "There is nothing in it for themT'
 True.
 But there was nothing in 1t" appar- ently for thousands of men who died at the end of the eighteenth century to make this nation independent and to establish a home where millions of workmen now live comfortably.
 And there was nothing in it'' for the hundreds of thousands of men who died in the war of the rebellion to keep this country united and to prevent the national Union from breaking up.
 But; while there was nothing in it'' in the usual sense there was glory in it.
 When trades unionism was first es- tablished, there were many men exc cnted in England and elsewhere simply because they had dared to go on strike and resist employers. They were the original industrial patriots fighting for modern industrial system based on unionism. They were like the soldiers in our Revolutionary war.
 The men fighting today for the prin- ciple of unionism, to keep alive the union system eStaDLSned, are Ike the men who fought in the sixties for the principle of unionism between states, to keep alive the nation.
 Many mistakes will be made by the soldiers fighting today. Many mistakes were made by soldiers fighting in past times, excited and often violent.
 And the timid of all classes-editors and others-will shiver when a mistake is made and denounce all the generals and all the soldiers because of the mis- takes of few camp followers.
 But the future will overlook the mis- takes and remember with gratitude the results of the fight and the courage of the men who preferred permanent prin- ciple to temporary wages.-New York Evening Journal.