Omaha daily bee., 1902-09-18
7HE Union PACIFIC LOCKOUT.


surprised as well as grieved at its general
tenor and tendency. The business commu-
nifty and good citizens usually overlook
one-sided and prejudiced reports and write
ups, but when we find a great papers ed
itor publishing such glaring and u%njusti-
fable ideas as contained in your article
the better element in this country may
we'll begin TO prepare and fear for the
worst.
To tell how the Union Pacific railroad
or any other employer OF labor should run
their business affairs is entirely out Of place
for you or me or any person not interested
financially in the management Of their
plant. II those employees, who were well
treated and better paid, did not like the
change to piecework it was their right and
privilege to quit and do better If they
could, but they have nc right or authority
under the law to arm themselves with
bludgeons, brass knuckles and other
deadly weapons and assault, beat and muir
der those poor laborers who are willing to
work to support themselves and families.
l observe a strong disposition on the
part Of public officers who are elected to
administer impartially justice and protec-
tion to every citizen and also on the part
of newspaper men to represent everything
favorably toward these thugs and law
| DTedheTb anu TbHtCJ as unldNOi hbly as pooN
sible on the business mems corporations
and business world in general. The office
hunters and politicians are also eternally
clamoring for the union vote. 4
You touch very critically the fact that
a young man in the prime Of life who was
willing to work for an honest living was
foully murdered by those ruftians who re-
fused to work, preferring to loaf and guz>
zle bad whisky. You call the preparation
Of this terrible crime "a fray or skirmish'
and say it was by no means an exceptional
incident. The world at large does not
need such a statement, as everyone knows
when these non-responsible bodies go out
on a strike they always mean to intiml-
date, harass, assault and kill. IL you pleasef
other poor. laborers who are willing to
work and fill their places.
What, 1 would ask, is this country fast
approaching answer frankly. anarchy
and revolution. But thank God there is
and always has been good citizenship and
true patriotism enough to put down and
subdue all evildoers, agitators and malcon-
tents. When the business interests OF this
country, the agricultural and manufacturing
interests. are once fully aroused to the ne
cessity OF their own defense the horde Of
mischief's labor leaders, the union combina-
tons and the politicians, will be quickly
brushed to one side and our Declaration Of
independence and glorious institutions will
be strongly sustained, preserved and handed
down to following generations unsullied and
untarnished.
You say Mr.. Burt knew the rules Of the
international union prohibited the piece
work system. I infer from this that you
believe their obligations to their union are
paramount to the service and duties to their
employers. What an anti-republican and
preposterous proposition! Do you permit
your employees to override and disregard
your instructions concerning their duties
toward you? If so, you have my unfeigned
sympathy, for your workmen have you by
the throat.
You intimate the strikers are struggling
for life and subsistence when they quit their
jobs voluntarily that were netting them 50
to 81 per day, and the army of vagabonds
who quit their work five months ago in
Pennsylvania and have been engaged de-
s~troying their employers property and in
timidating and numbering their fellow men,
I presume are also fighting a battle for life
and sustenance while losing $40, 900, 900,
through idleness, in wages, and you and I
help to foot the great loss because the own
ers and employers OF the coal region will
not permit the, workingmen to run their
business. And what free-born American
citizen, I ask, will submit to such un-
reasonable and unbusinesslike conditions?
think you and I and every true lover
! OF his country should discountenance and
frown upon everybody and every movement
calculated to foment strife and disorder in
the community and thus show our good citi-
zenship and true patriotism.
DAVID ANDERSON.
l 1t is the policy of The Bee to give a
: fair hearing to all sides in every con
! troversy involving vital issues, reserv'
ing to itself the right to express its OWL
I views fearlessly from the standpoint II
D believes to be for the public welfare
: Mr.. AndersOn's Indictment of labor
unions in general and the Union Pacific
shopmen locked out by Mr.. Burt in par
ticular is as unreasonable as it is un
I just. We are living in the twentieth
century and cannot meet modern in
: dustrial conditions with eighteenth cen
fury methods.
Every civilized country has recog
o nized the right of workingmen to or
$ ganize for mutual benefit and protec
r ton. Within the past fifty years colos
sal combinations of capital ave monOp
olized every venue to employment
d They control vast armies of wage work
ers, who would be absolutely at thei
e mercy were It not for the trades union
and other associations of wage workers
Organized labor alone can cope with OF
gained capital. Were it for labo
organizations the captains of industr,
would become harder taskmasters tina
were the %pharaohs of Egypt or tn
Is feudal barOns of the middle ages.
IF The union labor trust is essential 70
D. the protection of the middle class, tn
pr farmers and merchants, against the az
10 erosion of the railroad trusts and tn
lie Industrial trusts that ave become
D. menace to American self-governmen
Is PreSdeut Roosevelt has recognized tina
At fact in his recent speeches. And all n
tional people who want to perpetual
81 free American Institutions agree wit
tn him in the declaration that the power {
is the trusts must be curbed and labc
ut must be protected in its right to resii
st the tyranny of corporate monopoly.
Of Mr.. AndersOn's views OF the obligi
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