The Columbia herald. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 18??-1935, 1902-10-24
DEMOCRATIC NOMINEES.
THE VITAL QUESTION.

sure to bring. 1t is the right OF
man to unmolested toll, whether he
wears a union badge or not.
You may read that, and hear 1t
spoken, almost any day. And it is
strange how many men do not think to
20 further back than the present to
inquire into the cause of the trouble
that makes SO vital question.
1t is not "the right of a man to
unmolested toll" that the labor
unions deny; but they simply try to
prevent by show of force and num-
bers, what the combines try to do by
strategy; and in their antagonisms to
each other, they both overlook the
rights Of the general public. But
before the trouble can be cured. and
tile rights Of innocent parties protected,
the original cause must be removed.
Who was the first offender9 Long
before Labor ever dreamed of or
ganization, Organized Capital was
already exercising its tyrannical
sway over labor. The coal miners
for instance, even before the days
of the merger and trust and,
while these mines were yet owned by
individuals or small corporations,
established rule and agreement. that
IL laborer in one mine became in
subordinate or "uppish. or in any
way offensive to one of the bosses and
lost his job in one mine, he was
''blacklisted, and could not secure
employment In any Of the mines in
that region of country.
Imagine the terror the black list had
for the laborer. And the capitalists
thought it such smart idea, that 1t
spread like wild fire far and near and
into all the trades driving out hope
from the hearts of the working man.
Capital, pulled up and arrogant, as
it always is, thought it had Labor
down, and proceeded to kick the cul-
prit when and how it chose. Capital
was master, LABOR was servant. A
proud, grinding, soulless master;
bringing, scared, dependent servant.
Capital fixed the price Of Labor, ana
fixed it to suit itself. Capital desig-
mated the hours that Labor should work
and when necessity required they were
compelled to work over time, nolens
volens; and when they demurred,
they were blacklisted.
Under these intolerable conditions,
Labor finally turned upon it's cruel task
master, and organized in self-defense
and then the war was on. And as in
all wars, the rights of the individual
is overlooked, ignored or violated.
Capital is tryannical; Labor is stub
born. Capital is inventive, intrigu-
ing, scheming. Labor is stolid, grim
and defiant. Capital meets behind
closed doors, IN secret, and combines
and conspires against Labor and against
the public good. Labor meets these
conspirators and their midnight ma
out in the full glare OF the
open day, and says to them and their
hired minions 'you shall not. =
Everybody knows what the strikers
do; so few stop to think why they DO
it. Capital whines and talks about
the Fright of man to toll. F." Labor
replies, "never mind about the toilers
you take your foot off of their necks
and they will take care of their own
rights.
In other words Labor has beaten
Capital at It's own game. The "black
list has turned it's hideous face upon
it's makers and hangs like the sword OF
Democles threateningly above them.
Their last appeal is in the name OF
the willing toiler whose right to work
and live they first proposed to shackle.
And that last appeal is to the sympa-
thy and justice Of a general public
whose every right they have ignored
and upon whose every interest they
have trampled. Like whipped spaniels
they have been forced to whine and
crawl and beg to be relieved from the
black death of their black list methods.
But no experience, however drastic
or humiliating, can cure them Of their
insatiate greed. They are conspirators
by night and buzzards by day, who
prey upon the commerce and trade
of the world. They own neither creed
nor country. Gold is their God. and
gluttonous is their appetite. For all
that is rulnous to the home, destruc-
tive to individual liberty and hazardous
to the free commerce and trade be-
tween 'toilers who wish to work,
the Trust stands as synonym. To
draw delicate lines Of nice distinction
in fight with that monster would be
vainglorious and foolish. He and his
antecedents are the cause of all the