The Salt Lake tribune. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1890-current, 1907-03-03
LETTERS OF GOLD.

In Utah there has been n happy re-
lation between the labor union. the law
and the financial power of the indus
trial interests. Very little of the intense
antagonism, which exists elsewhere, has
touched the civilization Of this common
wealth. Such situation is to be cher
ished. 1t makes at once for the prosper
ity and dignity Of toll, the happiness
of families, the home making, the COM
Portable maintenance of wives and child
rcn; with the security of invested capi-
tai, the magnificent growth and beauti-
flying of cities and suburbs; and for the
firm establishment of institutions upon
whose assured existence depends the
success of government by the people.
One cannot read of misdirectcd ener-
gies and wasted opportunities for la
Dor and capital in other communities
without consciousness that the suffer
ing entailcd in the present time is but
small item in the great total Of ms
fortunes attendant upon breaches be-
tween employer and employed, Access"
sion of aggravation between tho two
elements leads to a widening of class
distinction. to lack of sympathy in the
needs and rights of each other, and
sometimes to those exercises Of power
which are cruel in themselves and are
provocative of perpetual and vengeful
resentment.
Chicago and Butte-two extremes
are warnings to the rest of the country.
The case of the Montana town is fresh
in the minds of readers, where aggres-
sion on one side was followed by still
moro radical aggression on the other,
and an unbridgeable gulf seems TO have
been opened between employed and em-
ployer in Il wide range of enterprise.
In Chicago the intensities have
reached such pitch that in a recent
trial, man summoned for jury duty
stated TO the court that he was a union
man, and that if another union man
was on trial he would give to his fra
terualist "the best of it, The honesty
of the talesman almost disarms criticism
of his attitude; for surely man Of
such integrity that he would not lie
TO the court, even for the sake of his
union or his personal standing, would
be most likely TO give due weight to
evidence-notwithst his assur-
ance TO the court that he would be
guided by his sympathics. Judge Caya-
naugh, who sat upon the bench ar the
time, appears to have been so impressed i;
but at the same time the learned jurist
could not refrain from statement,
which should be written in letters of
gold and inscribed upon every roster
of every labor union in the land. Judge
Cavanaugh said:
You have no other friend who is as
good friend TO you as the law. II
made provision for you before you were
born: 1t enables YOU TO wear that coat
on your back. those shoes on your feet.
or some one stronger than you would
take them from you The law makes 1t
possible for you TO earn wages; without
it you could not collect your wages even
though you earned them, II Is a guard
over your house. 1t stands guard over
you: your property, your reputation, your
life, and II you are sick and fricndless
il will take care of you and look after
your body, a man may be friendly TO
labor unions-yes. but no labor union
has ever been the friend TO you that the
law has been. There is no "organlZa ton
that has been the friend TO you that the
law has been. You ought to have respect
for the law above any other institution,
Also a paraphrase of the same es-
sential truth might we'll illuminate the
walls of corporate buildings and the
actions of those great emperors of fin.
ance, whose mighty achievements have
been accomplished under the protecting
power of laws of which, in some in
stances, they have taken more than a
due advantage, Instead, therefore, Of
violating the law-these, as we'll as
members of labor unions, should hold it
in their high regard. 1t is an effective
guardianship over their lives and pro-
perty; without it brute strength would
be the power TO which they must look
for their dangers and which they must
invoke for their protection. Quite as
incumbent, as upon juror member of
labor union, is the requirement upon
the masters, of finance and the great
corporations to revere and obey the
law under which their magnificent con-
structions have been a possibility.
And the churches might write their
own version Of the sentiments ex~
pressed by Judge Cavanaugh and de.
liver religious instruction, binding
upon ecclesiastical leaders and follow
ers alike, the sentiment that; "We
have no earthly friend who is as good
friend to us as the law 1t assures
to us our freedom of faith; it deter
mines for us that no majority of re-
ligionists shall trespass upon the equal
rights of all other religionists; and
when we violate the law we outrage that
power which is our best security among
mankind -
BUSINESS AND TRADE.