The labor world. [volume] (Duluth, Minn.) 1896-current, 1904-04-09


even to consider it. J. =: :. - a I
Describes Cause Of a Strike.
THE employers are that business;
and; the mere .presentingEofz the petition:
| Is to dispute their authority The bear
ers:; of the. petition are promptly: dis
| missed from the service. Then follows
| strike--a refusal. to- furnish the Labor
power without which; the great plant
is of no value. Working people far and
near are notified Of the strike and re-:
| quested to keep away, pickets are place
ed to inform those who come and may
have heard nothing, or who may have
been influenced: BY some false setate=:
ment from the agent sent out by the
company to find men,.
| "A vacant lot~near the plant is handy,
the strikers obtain permission to occu-
py it, and they establish a camp, where
they are to either encourage each 9TH
err, watch each other and. the men go
ing into the plant They. do not destroy
| tangible property or assault the men,
but their presence, the hook Of reproach
on their faces and the knowledge of
why thehy are. out Of work quicken the
| consciences of those at work, and they,
too, quit. -.
| IT'S there any law permitting any
judge or is. there any Inherent power
IN any judge to prevent one freeman
from inducing another freeman: to- do
what he has legal right to do, unless
such action would destroy the vested
right Of some third person?
LAS citizens the laborer and his fell
lows are under the protection of 1.-THE
bill Of rights as workmen they are
property-not as individuals, no, but as
class, yes. Is this American?
| I'VE maintain that the equal protec-
ton of the bill Of rights and the laws
to all men regardless Of their station
is the American idea. We claim no inn
munity from any law; we claim the
same right to be considered innocent
until proven guilty, as other citizens;
that we shall be held, as other men,
| to be law-abiding.
Danger Of Injunction.
'Would anybody dream of protecting
the earning power of a small store by
getting out an Injunction against the
department store? Why not serve us
with an injunction forbidding: us to
transfer our patronage from one store
| to another? Is it because they both
have vested right in our patronage
that we may not combine to withhold
it from either?
"Yet these absurdities, these inva-
sions of our right to individual liberty
| this claim Of vested right in our labor
! and our patronage, sare graYely, called
by employers: their property. rights
VIII ich must be protected by injunc-
ton.
| wv roSY ofo%xr t~ fr,JS r.
| place Of the state in enforcing the law
and send their delegates here. to file
an Indictment against the system Of
government, preparatory to, as they
threaten, taking the law into their, own
hands, if the. Congress shall refuse to
sustain their new American claim to
property right in the labor Of the wage
Garner. -
"The employers :!.and. business men
who come here in good faith and make
this claim Of vested right In our labor
and our patronage are. perhaps not
t@|nlllc1It =bes blamed They. find thissidea7
depressing itself @inzthe ca pitalization" Of
Ithe earning power of great enterprises;
they have possibly paid good money for
stocks and bonds, which are nothing
but a mortgage upon the labor Of the
future.
'They urge with apparent. sincerity
the bill be not passed, lest it will put
blot OH the Judiciary, while they, in
the same breath, claim that the whole
| machinery for" the administration Of
| justice and keeping, the peace has bro
ken down.
According to them, the citizen is by
| his occupation as wage Garner Sc
! warped in Judgment and tainted moral
1y that he cannot be: trusted as a juror:
if one Of his own class is to be tried
| AS this unfitness is based on moral
| turpitude. it follows that his testimony
| as a. witness is of no value, and must
therefore be rejected. This is entirely
consistent with the claim that he is
| property.
| I'VE are told that the jurisdiction
| conferred on our court of equity was
such as existed in England at the time
| of the founding Of our republic, and
that it went to the protection Of vested
| rights. IF this be true, then either there
| is vested right Of the laborer going
| with the ownership Of the mine or the
use OF the writ was a gross usurpation.
| If it is the first, we ask you to abolish
| it as inconsistent with the thirteenth
amendment; if the second then: we pray
| that you stop, the usurpation by the
| passage: Of this bill.
LIN either case it is a symptom Of
! that growing industrial absolutisn
| which is gradually depriving us: Of our
| freedom as men and which is digging
| from under our form Of government It's
| very foundation.
Gentlemen, it is time that this grow
ing, grinding power Of industrial abso-
lutisn be checked: If permitted to
grow, it will not only grind: out every
vestige Of personal freedom out of the
wage earners, but It will destroy this
republic, subvert Christian civilization
and build upon the ruins an industrial
feudalism more destructive Of human
liberty and progress than was the old
feudalism in the time Of it's lowest
depths and decadence.
| Only One Remedy.