The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1902-12-20


to make stonc- throwing wise. IL labor
has fouIed u good cause by bad deeds, so
has capital
I shall unhesitatingly point out some
positions in which each side encounters
the substantial dsapproval and the re-
sentiment OF the public conscience and
has sharply tested the peoples patience.
Some details must 10 with mere allus-
ion and some things pass uniemarked.
There are many Offsets In kind. The
blacklist is ~ device sufficiently tcharac-
| teristic of both sets of contestants, and 1t
blackens either hand. The boycott also
whoever uses it's as illogical as it is
cruel and unman1y. s-.. '. ...
1 emphasize the peerage of employers
and employed as commercial equals cN-
changing commodities. Either may quit
IL he has fulfilled his agreements up to
date. Either party has a legal and often
q moral right to strike upon decent no
tice. Either in dischnrging the other
abandons all future claim Fhe renewal
of relations is u new deal. No one has "A
| further tenure upon u job he has quit.
or upon workman he has quit. Neither
may. legally or morally, interfere with
one who would take up the discharged
workman or the discharged job. Intirni
dation violence. epithct, obliquy. any or
all. are insults both to free men and to
the law. Up to this point strike or
discharge may be legitimate assertion
Of freedom: beyond this it is, In it's de-
gree, despotism or anarchy.
| The essence of slavery is, it's denial of
anothers free will. To compel another to
| work when he chooses not to. or to com
pei a man not to work when he would
| each is slavery. The American people
| will not finally tolerate this, under either
form.
Can Do Many Things.
One may, ,,nqestionably, II he thinks
It good. marry, become a Mason, enlist,
join a party. or the church. or a labor
union. if his act is acceptable to others
his option. fte has tho Same right not to
do so. Duress stultifes the act, and
would be tyranny. 1mpressment degrades
him who does it and him upon whom it
is done The law must defend the peace
able rights of the 'linonist and the non
unonist. Whoever molestS those rights
or does not discountenance their moles-
tation is either a criminal or coward.
For whatever would obliterate the indi-
vidual choice is monstrous. and in the
long run impossible. Organized, whether
by capital or labor. it would organize
the ruin Of all that true Americans have
sought, and in the defense of which they
have been willing, and yet are willing, to
die. The outsider may not give arbitrary
orders to the insider. nor the insder give
orders TO the outsider Such usurpation
of prerogative is disorder and insolence.
!
nugatory.
| TO his employer and to his employe,
each must stand for all. None can afford
| to forsake /; faithful workman. or "a
faithful employment. and none can afford
to continue with either when good faith
is gone. TO refuse to work with any de-
cent and competent workman because he
is not this or that is a folly that should
dismiss the man making this refusal. just
as a. like refusal to employ Is immoral
and cruel. Such Obdurate unreaSon Will
eventually react on whomsoever practices
it, for it both surrenders and violates
manhood.
The artificial restriction Of production is
uAfair in that it hinderS the best man, or
the best corporation from his or its best
work. Excellence should always be free
10 make it's own market. The other way
rewards mediocrity. bars ambition. cuts
cut men to a length with incapables, and
stunts labor into n peonage against which
free labor should protest and all true men
second the motion. 1t is Puritan, 1t is
| American to resent and resist this doc
trine of n maximum wage for minimum
| work. 1t debases the advancing man to
the dead level of the inefficient. "They
(said Linconl who deny freedom, to
others deserve it not for themselves. and
under the government of a just God can
not long retain ii.
A Lie and Theft.
| The so-called "union-stroke' Is a lie
and theft 1t steals time and writes
degradation upon the very brow OF him
who practices it: for 1t is equally Inn
famous to want another mans work
without paving for ii, and to want anoth-
eT mans pay with out working for it! To
withhold what is earned, or to demand
| what is not earned. is fraud and moral
felony. Either injustice is seized with Il
creeping paralysis. All trusts. whether
vol.- v,,.h
ownership trusts or labor trusts, VIII
have TO bend to that legitimate and leg
islative will of the whole people which
will tolerate the arrogance of neither
plutocracy or mob. in its setting up
tprrvatc and local imperum and pretend
ing TO be q. law 10 itself. They Will bend
or be broken. No concert OF action VIII
excuse contempt of that last court. No
disguise OF verbiaGe will hide from that
court any sinister fallacy whether it
masulerades under the title or the
"workingmen's rights" or under a de
jure divine claim of such a. trusteeship as
win not listen to the worknans wrongs.
| will touch the sore firmly. and, for
one thing. say that TO be excited by the
presence of the officers of the law Is a
confession of Iawlcssness of spirit, IL not
of intent. The law must prevail and ad-
minister or it has abdictated. Person
and the property of persons 1t must stern
Is dsiend. leaving all else TO the judici-
ary. 1t must if necessary come armed to
This defense, and it is low pundeying ami
pettifogging to sneer at the militia As
AN 'outside party" 1t is malicious. The
militia is the executive state doing Its
lsmple duty in protecting itself against the
insurgency that resists the peace and
| safety of its own household, ii is the
people resisting their own disruption.
! If u particular commonwealth fails in
this self-defense then, ito secure Re-
publican form of government" the Unit
ed States must act, It has acted. and 1t
will act: for ii cannot tolerate secession
from statute and writ without the sur
render Of its being. 1t knows no compro-
mise with treason The executive cannot
compel scowllng men 10 smile, 1t cannot
make worimen work, nor make operat-
ors operate; hut it can with an iron hand
refer both of them to the courts whose
decisions il will invncibly enforce. The
people who make the law, will maintain
| tic law. .. ..-. 49,. .......
Is a American.
Not against, or for. any man or set OF
men. | am an American loving liberty
and The law that secures II, and am
against any theory or program,
| whether OF some laborers or OF some COR
porations. that contemns law and seeks
| 10 circumvent H. Firmly | dare to say
thar for any organization 10 deny tho
right and duty nj the members to bear
arms in allegiance to The state is,, recoe-
ni2ed OF unrecogni2ed. a virtual conspir-
acy against that allegiance to society
which only anarchy hates.
| The case in Schenectady. and the ati-
tude in Indiana, are portents OF n foul
ana un-American idea which honest labor
must itself exercise. remembering that
only seditionaries range themselves
against the commonweal, Such contempt
of order Is not general. But IL is for ali