Kansas agitator. [volume] (Garnett, Kan.) 1890-1905, 1902-07-11
HOW TO SETTLE THE COAL STRIKE.
Mrs, Helen M. Cougar Suggests Way, in the
Chicago Record.IieraId.

forced to question:: III men arc III ioi SCH
povernment-if they know enough to protect
themselves even when they have all the means
in their hands for such protection?"
What is the congress of the United States
about that it does not take measures, sufficient
" strenuous, to make the existence and repeti-
ton of present conditions impossible7 If the
present congress is so ridden with trusts and
corporations that it will not do it, then let the
people who vote elect one that will
There ale $1,000 laborers in these coal helds
cut Of employment on account Of this strike
There are $4,000 men, women and CHILDREN
deprived Of living income In this single strike
alone.
The entire manufacturing aud business world
is demoralized on account of it.
Every cook stove and Preside is compelled ia
nay tribute or suffer cold and deprivation on
account of It,
This trouble is caused by handful of men
Who are so greedy for profits that they do not
care how much they enslave the people, mol
what they cause the country to suffer.
Congress and the people sit under the scourge
Of these men (not more than one dozen Of
them) like whipped spaniels. Shame on the
male Legislators and male voters Of this boosted
"free" government.
If men cannot settle such affairs, in the In
terest of justice and the people at large, let
them 90 to bed, hide their heads on election
day. and let women do the voting and legis!at'
ing.
TRUSTS ARE SCORED.
Take the official figures and facts so ably
presented by President John Mitchell, of the
United Mine Workers, and we'll may we ask,
"What right, before the laws of God or man,
have corporations to enslave workmen, disturb
business and rob the 6resides of the country as
the anthracite coal companies are doing under
present laws?" That they will continue to dc
this so long as the laws of the land protect
them in it, goes without the saying. So long
as they own these coal beds and railroads pen-
etratinp them, these disturbances will recur.
The situation is grave enough to arouse even
the present worse than good-tor-nothing con-
press. Let President Roosevelt and his cabinet
summon the officers, with books of these cor
porations, at once.
When the statements of President Mitchell
are verified as they will be, let congress make
laws to appraise the coal-beds. at reasonable
figures, and let the government take possession
of them, OF let the men who have so far wrong
ed the people by their sel6shness and oppres
sion suffer what the lquor.dealers and slave
a-,,-. L.,,. dona cou6 ion of the nrOnertx
which they have used to the detriment o.
society.
And to protect more securely he people
squeeze the water out of the railroad stocks ant
let the government take possession OF these
coal roads, and run them in the interest of thu
people whom they ale built to serve. The
gravity of the situation demands this strenuou!
action.
RADICAL REMEDY SUGGESTED.
The people should hold public meetings, thu
press and the pulpit should be enlisted at once
and there should 60 up such demand for per
manent settlement of the coal question tina
the railroad and coal trust would be taught tina
the people of a tree government are miehtie
than handful of trust magnates
1t was the great labor strikes in New Zealant
that produced the reforms in her Legislation
that makes her government the wonder ant
admiration of the world. Strikes are unneces
sary and impossible under her just and Social
istic laws.
A knowledge of how New Zealand protect
her people from the grasping oppression of tn
minority would benefit the members of con
gress and the party ridden voters of the Unite'