The Columbia herald. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 18??-1935, 1904-06-24

acute and awful is upon the country.
The trouble they are having out il
Colorado is the trouble we viii hay,
all over this country in a few years,
IL something Is not done TO reconcile
these differences, to stay the wrath Of
these two powerful contending forces.
For half century thOughttul-peOpls
saw that slavery would end in wal.
and il did. What a pity they did not
end il without wal. when they could.
And Just as certain as slavery ended
in wal. just so certain will. this con
fiict between organized capital and
organized labor end in war. if the con-
sentative people of the middle classes
do not take a hand in time TO stop it.
The fight in Colorado is not betwet n
the mine owners and the miners. 1t
is a fight between Labor and Capital.
There can be no doubt. we think. br t
that Capital is forcing the fight. al d
for the purpose OF breaking down labor
union. 1t is not a mere local condi-
tion or question. 1t is the attack OF
one powerful. organized class against
another: and they have each set their
coulteIs deep. and it is fight to the
finish. 1t is war to the knife. and
the knife to the hilt. 1t is in remot
country, isolated to a degree. and
the reading public has little idea of
what is going on. The newspapers
merely glimpse it. If it was : in one
of the centres of trade. 1T would at
tract more attention than the Russian
Japanese war. 1t IS charged that the
plutocratic press does not want to give
all the newsstand we believe it. Mill
tary rule is not popular with the
people. To search poor mans hut, |
which should be as sacred to the law |
as the rich mans castle, and take all !
firearms from 1t because its occupants |
are Union men. and present the guns
to 'scabs' and call them militia men
or deputy sheriffs-that is not very
good reading for the public eye. To
show that the military is in sense
hired to the corporations, in that the
State refused to pay their expenses,
and the same are paid by the CAPT
talists, does not make favorable
impression on the public mind. The
militia is supposed to be used by the
State to protect the public peace. not
70 be hired out to rich corporations to
protect their private property.
But these are mere matters of detail,
md too many for us to go into. The
fundamental question is. does the
government intend to use its army for
me class against another? Is it to that
We are drifting? And shall Capital
orce Labor to revolt and throw the
country into a bloody internecine war.
md no voice be raised in time to .
top the carnage? Is the country so
ar adrift from the rule of the people
haiti is already impossible to
'shackle the cunning of the rich,"
nd must their avariciousness be :
rowned in blood? Is the mad idea of !,
nion against union. and organiza- :
ion against organization, and force
gainst force, to obtain, and are we :.
0 turn back again to the barbarous
dea that might makes right and that :
he weak may with IMMUNITY be
upon by the strong?
The union of Labor and the COM
Inc of Capital IS wrong theory. and :,
rejects dangerous elements into .
,ciety. The country was better off :
efore their day. They should be out a
.wed, both of them. since they can n
OF be controlled. But if they ever |,
re-. public opinion must do it; the :.
oliticians are too afraid. y