Omaha daily bee., 1903-03-08

the law can provide. to work against us;
yes, and against the rest Of the great public
as we'll The citizens OF Omaha and OF
Nebraska do not need to be told this by us.
They know It. The best legal talent Of
the city and state is retained against them
and their interests, by the corporations
not because they need it all. but because
they intend that the commonwealth shall
have as little Of it as possible free to de-
fend its rights and interests. what is true
OF Omaha and Nebraska is true in large
measure Of the nation. The corporations
can buy. and are buying, city councils and
state legislatures, and they sit entrenched
in the nations council chamber to in
huence, to bride and to buy legislation
which will forward their control Of every
business and economic interest. Yet. when,
amid the excitement and hot blood Of a
strike which they have provoked, some Of
our number, forgetting cooler, more pru>
dent counsels, are tempted, or provoked. to
violence, the cry Of lawlessness is raised.
and every power Of the state and nation
is invoked against us. They are corrupt
ing the nations life at its very source by
bribery They choose those who make our
laws, giving the people at large the poor
privilege Of ratifying their choice at the
polls, To a very large extent they select
our judges to interpret those laws, lest,
by any means, they might fail in receiving
their proper Interpretation after their
friends in the legislatures have had them
enacted in their interest.
Call Us LawIess."
Yet they call us lawless whenever any
Of our number fail OF self-control amid ex.
citement, and fret and hot blood Of a strike,
There are many other things we might say
in behalf OF our cause, in this our appeal for
a fair judgment on the part Of the public
at large. But we have already transgressed
the limits Of prudent regard for the patience
\ Of the public. We will only say. in closing.
that our interests are Identical with the
interests of the people among whom we
live. We spend all we earn in the cities
and towns in which we work and live.
None Of II goes to New York,
or Boston, or London, or Paris,
or Berlin, or Amsterdam, to swell
the wealth of those already wealthy be-
yCrG their needs, or good. II we earn
much, we spend much. II we earn little, we
spend little, and the merchant and the
tradesman suffer from our poverty. II we
earn much we can Bring up our children
under conditions that will enable them to
become manly, useful citizens of our state
and nation. We can afford to feed and
clothe and house and educate them de-
Gently. II we earn little we can do none
OF these things. Long before we ought 70
do So, we shall be compelled to withdraw
them from school to make them help to
exc out the support which we ought to be
able to give them, until their bodies and
minds are able TO bear the stress of hard
manual labor. We ask not wealth nor
college training for our boys and girls.
But we do seek a fair education and de-
panpy NJ outward conditions for than both
for their own sake and for the sake OF the
land that bore them. That, we are con-
vinced, they cannot have under present and
coming conditions, unless labor can control
itself and be able to say to the trusts and
giant corporations what their only product
shall be worth in the market. 1t cannot
do that unless it is united. II cannot be, or
remain united, under the piece work system.
Struggle to the Death.
The corporations know that, and we know
1t. Hence the Union Pacific strike and
struggle. 1t is a struggle to the death be-
tween the corporation idea and our idea.
We do not care to send out hard words
against Mr.. Burt. He is but a power in
the game of the looming. threatening. giant
power that stands behind him; the cor
poration against the republic; of the dom
inant power and pride Of wealth against
the soul and life of individual manhood
That contest is too stern to justify our
INDUCING in the foolishness Of hard words
against the local agents Of incorporated
power. We are here fighting the battle OF
labor everywhere, the battle also. we be-
lieve, o! the republic. II we lose, labor
loses, the corporation wins. If the cor
p~oration wins this battle 1t will move it's
forces elsewhere to win again, and It will
win. II it wins the whole field of labor will
lie PROSTATE. And II that happens the days
Of the republic will be numbered. The age
Of the barbados, and Of revolution, and
, Of standing armies, will rise on it's ruins
, The piece work system" doubtless seems
very simple and very fair to many fair
minded people, but it's consequences reach
far into the future for evil; for our chill
dren, as well as for the children of those
who so jauntingly write us down in inspired
and purchased editorials. Let the NpubliC
judge our cause. Let 1t remember, too
: that our cause is their cause, even now, but
st,l more so hereafter. The battle is thai
2 of corporate greed and pride Of power
I against the common life of the republic.
STRIKE PRESS COMMITTEE.