The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1902-08-27

owners CT property. the operators un-
doubtedly owe a duty to the community,
which is suffering great loss from the
scarcity of fuel. The right of private
property, guaranteed by the constitution,
is always subject to the underlying prin-
ciple that II Is to be used so as not to
damage society
Any claim of the operators, therefore,
that they can do with their own as they
see Mt, does not rest upon sound foun-
dalton. If, however, In the recognition
of their duty to the public they are COM
PEELED to respect other fundamental con-
ditions equally, If not more, important to
the public welfare, they would be false to
their duty If they should yield to clamor
and pressure from those who have not
carefully considered the consequences of
such action. There is a principle more
important than the obligation of private
property to subordinate itself to the gen
eral welfare. The demand of any man or
set of men not occupying public
office. to decide upon the conditions upon
which labor shall seek it's living, and to
make 1t subject to a license from ire
sponsiblc leaders, whether representing
capital or labor. Is in effect, Il claim to
the power of life and death, and can
never be conceded without base sur
render of duty to greed.
I1fU RlGf1 III IAbOR.
The coal operators, therefore, are not
fighting so much for the control Of their
own property as for the right of the citi-
zen to labor where he may find employ
mcnt without interference from organiza-
tions or men who have no right to con-
troll his freedom of action.
Finally, the claim of the United Mine
Workers organization to control the en-
tire coal industry of the country is based
upon an impracticable idea. Very little
knowledge is necessary to show that the
coal regions of the United States differ
so much from each other that the policy
which is adapted to one Is utterly un-
suited to another. Moreover, the various
mines differ from each other in condi-
tions, requiring careful adjustment in the
wages of labor. and in some respects in
the hours necessary to keep them in
working order. All that q national Or
ganization could possibly do would be to
support the claim of workmen who for
any reason are dissatisfied with the con-
dtions which prevail in any particular
locality or mine.
But to call a general instead of a local
strike when a local grievance Is not adj
justed in a satisfactory way is an out
rage of such vast proportions that it cam
not for a moment be tolerated by a free
people Moreover. in this day of free dis
cussion and the publicity of all the facts
through the newspapers. there is no pos
Sibility that any coal operator could or
would resist demands which are founded
upon justice. The coal mines are all un-
der official inspection, generally by Off
GERS who sympathize, and properly so.
with the miners Any real grievance,
therefore. will not only be promptly made
known, but will be as promptly redressed.
when the questions at issue are discussed
with good temper and free from the pas
sions which are excited by a general
strike throwing thousands of men out of
employment.
RESREURENCE OF STRIKES.
The consequences of such strikes are
so disastrous, not merely to the parties
directly concerned but to the whole COM
munity, that every effort should be made
as soon as the existing strike has been
called off and the excitement is abated
to prevent, by appropriate legislation, the
recurrence of such calamitous conflicts,
whereby everybody is injured and no one
is benefited.
The enactment of such legislation will
not be attended with more difficulty than
in the case of other disputes, now regu-
lated by law and subject to the adjudica-
ton of the courts, when the miners shall
realize that they are making war upon
their own rights secured by centuries of
conflicts and sacrifices and that at pres
ent victory will result in depriving them
of all personal freedom. Such disastrous
conflicts will cease to recur and arbitra-
ton may then well be invoked to settle
local disputes.
The hope of the working classes in the
future. as in the past, for better condi-
tions rests upon personal liberty and the
security of property. The English speak
ing miners understand this proposition
perfectly well, but for the time being they
are poNjerless in the presence of bad lead
ership and the state of terror which pre-
walls in the coal region. subjecting them
to obloquy, violence and death, by which
unwilling acquiescenco is enforced.
What is wanted to end this destructive
conflict is not arbitration, but the stern
repression of violence and the assured
protection of the miners who desire to
earn livelihood for themselves and their
families. TO this protection they are en-
titled, and the government which fails
to afford 1t is reproach to republican
institutions.
The demand for arbitration comes with
an ill grace from leader who began the
conflict with an order calling on the en-
gineers. tremen and pumpmen to aban-
don their task, thus exposing the mines
to utter ruin. If this order had been
obcyed the resumption of work would
have been indefinitely postponed and the
helpless victims of this desperate eXpe-
dent reduced to hopeless poverty
''ro rule or ruin is not a policy which
commcnds itself to the American people
who believe in the old fashioned rule,
that he who demands equity must first do
equity.