The labor world. [volume] (Duluth, Minn.) 1896-current, 1904-05-07

MAKES STRONG: DEFENSE. FOR;
RIGHT OF PIcKETING.
Says Persuasion Is Best Poiicy.-De.
cIares That Unions Cooperate With
. Employers to Suppress Physieafcon-
aiets.-violenee Always Bad Policy:
>-struggles Often Lost Because Men
Resort to Brute Force.

the famous labor leader, and president
Of the United Mine Workers Of Amer
lea, who has always used, his influence
with the workingmen to prevent strikes
and who is even now active, in arrang-.
ing matters between the striking min
ers of Colorado and their employers,
will say in an article which will be
printed in Saturdays Churchman's:
while the right to strike has now
been conceded, the courts have in many
cases declared illegal various actions
necessary to successful conduct Of
strike. 1t is perfectly just that all
forms Of violence be fitted with condign
and summary punishment, but it Is un-
just that, as frequently happens, peace
full picketing should be castigated.
Right to Picket Essential.
1T is essential to workingmen on
strike that the right to picket be main
tanned, but picketing itself depends
upon abstaining from violence. By
picketing is meant nothing more nor
less than the stationing of a few men
before or in vicinity Of the establish.
ments struck against, In. order to in
form prospective employees or patrons
that strike is in progress and to con-
vince or persuade them not to accept
employment or not to purchase articles
in the particular esta blishment. The
best picket is the man Yho is not viol-
ent, and who does not threaten, but
who relies entirely upon the power Of
persuasion and appeals to the man.
hood of the strike breaker.
Violence Always Bad Policy.
nv eSfo c1,0 a
strike be allowed to degenerate into
violence. There are times when a great
issue is at stake and the struggle to be
lost when the use of brute force ap-
pears for the moment to be desirable.
This, however, is short-sighted policy
and brings with it its own punishment.
1t is better to trust to the; hope Of
snatching victory from defeat than to
put the union and the strikers ire
trevably in, the wrong. by resorting to
force , It should not: be permitted to
plead in defense of law akers that q,
strike is War,sf;J st. g inIS actual WAR
the sconb fof
MT 'ass ggzIB slIle NJ
selves by the princip les of of#internationa1
law prescribing the rights Of combat
ants and Of noncombatants, so the two
parties engaged in strike must abide
scrupulously by the provision of the
law.
Better to Lose.
''It is sometimes claimed that no
strike can be won without the use of
physical force. I do not believe this to
be true; but If it is it were better that
the strike be lost than it succeed
f1v.1y1 y1cI, jo1a
Of Outrages. The struggle Of labor is
not for day, or month, or year,
and the cause of unionism is not lost
through any single strike or through
any number of strikes. If it were true
that all strikes would fall if physical
force could not be resorted to it would
be better to demonstrate that fact and
to seek remedy in other sources than
to permit strikes to degenerate into
conflicts between armed men. If it be
shown. that strikes cannot be won with
out violence, then it will be necessary
to secure reforms for workingmen ex-
clusively through political action
Unions Oppose Violence.
employers are perfectly justified. in
condemning as harshly as they desire
the acts of any zionist or unionists
WHO are guilty OF violence. we wei
come the most sweeping denunc1ation
of such acts and the widest publicity
that may be given them by the press.
In this employers and the newspapers
are simply supplementing the efforts of
the trade unions themselves, incent-
i've to acts of violence.
What the trade unionist does object
TO, however, is the use which is made
of the occurrence of such acts to dis
| credit persons and parties who are in
no wise responsible. The union should
not be held accountable for the deeds
done without its consent, sanction OF
appreciation, and even in direct contra
vention' Of direct and specific orders tc
| maintain peace. A union is no more
| responsible for the violence of individ-
! uals than is a corporation for the un-
warranted actions of it's several stock
| holders, and the theory and justifablt
practices Of trade unionism should moi
be assailed on account of violence OF
other illegal acts committed in it,
| name."