The labor world. [volume] (Duluth, Minn.) 1896-current, 1901-08-31
Z HONOR THE COURAGEOUS.

HONOR THE COURAGEOUS.
The great steel strike will be useful
if for no other reason, because it proves
the courage Of 10O, 900 highly paid Amer.
lean workmen.
These are the men who have given up
profitable employment. facing indefin-
tie poverty and hardship for the sake
of principle, because they believe that
their duty is to their fellow workmen
and to the organization which they
have built up together.
The steel trust rejoices X the fact
that some of the workmen have re-
fused to quit work and have stood by
the trust. In every army there are a
certain number Of deserters, 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 heart
to fight. Like the peace-loving soldier,
they run away when the fight begins.
They are not to be blamed too severely.
for with the constitutional coward 1t
| is impossible to overcome cowardtce.
Thial< as kindly as you can OF the
poor devils who shirk and show the
white feather when the battle begins.
Hunger is difficult proposition to
deal with.
But don't forget to honor the men
who are loyal to their agreement and
stick by their fellows. And don't for
get to honor the women, the wives Of
these men. For in all labor fights no
courage is greater than that displayed
by women, although the greatest suf-
| fering 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 rem
dered important service to the future.
They are the heroes and benefactors
of the industrial system.
Do you say:
There is nothing in 1t for them?"
True.
But there was nothing in it, ap-
parently for thousands of men who
died at the end of the eighteenth GEN.
fury to make this nation Independent
and to establish 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 ma
tional Union from breaking up.
But while there was nothing in it,
in the usual sense there was glory in it.
tablished, there were many men exc
cuted in England and elsewhere sim
ply because they had dared to go. on
strike and resist employers. They were
the original Industrial patriots fighting
for a modern industrial system based
on unionism. They were like the SOL
ders in our Revolutionary war. q.
The men fighting today for the prin.
ciple Of unionism, to keep alive thu
union system established, are like thu
men who fought in the sixties for the
principle of unionism between state!
to keep alive the nation.
Many mistakes will be made by tn,
soldiers fighting today. Many mistakes
were made by soldiers fighting in pas
times excited and often violent.
And the timid of all classes-editor!
| and others-will shiver when a mistak,
is made and denounce all the general!
and all the soldiers because of the mis-
takes of a 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
principle to temporary wages