The Donaldsonville chief. [volume] (Donaldsonville, La.) 1871-current, 1911-10-21


RIGHT AND WRONG IN STRIKES
Admirable Statement of the Equities
and Legal Responsibilities lnvoi-
we'd in Conflicts Between En-
ployed and Employers.
The views Of The Chief upon a
question that is of particular inter
est and importance at this time, when
a strike of the shop employees on the
/. G. and Southern Pacific railways
is in progress, are 40 clearly and for
cibly expressed in the following edi-
torial from the Manufacturers Record
of October 5, that we. are glad to
quote the article in full. 1t is diff
cult to see how any rlght-minded and
law abiding man can dissent from
these views, whether he be laborer
or capitalist, employer or employee,
striker Or 5strikebreaker.
THE Manufacturers Record has re-
peatcdiy taken the ground that, un-
der the advancing prices and the
employers of labor must recognize the
necessity for advancing wages to .he
limit Of their ability. Tne right Of la
Dor to strike, the right of labor
to refuse to work, the right of la
Dor to stay idle juGt long as it
desires is an unquestioned right in
ethics and in law, provided the exer-.
else Of that right does not assume
proportions that conflict with public
interests; but no to refuse to
work gives a right toa be a murderer
or to be a firebug ader other con
ditions mon guilty ef these crimes.
arese1t to the pspssssspt iary on to- the
IsaIIIoA#s. Tie Ias Ssas 81 str Ike IS i'd
Isegistence does not III the slightest
| degree change the eriminality ct the
| men who do these Things.
ANY attempt on the part of strik-
ars on railroads or in Industrial inter
ests in the south or elsewhere to use
violence to enforce their demands
should be suppressed with the same
Vigor that any other IaWbreaking,
property ty-destroying or murderous mol
would meet. Every man has an alb
solute right to refuse to work for
| wages unsatisfactory to him or under
conditions that maybe offered, but
the moment any man, In order to
enforce his demands on his employ
ars, violates the law by attacking
other men or destroying property he
becomes a criminal Il he attack
other men with physical violence, he
is at heart a murderer. II he seeks,
oy dyEamiting or by fire or In any
other ways, to destroy property, he
is guilty of arson and should pay the
penalty. When strikers are made by
the power of the enforcement OF law
to recognize that the crimes which
they commit as q mob, if committed
under other conditions would send
them to the penitentiary or to the
allows, they will come to a clearer
recognition Of the character Of crime
attempted when they destroy proper
ty or human life in order to win a
victory over their employers.
"The liberty of nlen to refuse to
work when the pay or the conditions
under which they work are not sat
isfactory must not be allowed to de-
generate into the license menacing
civilization and government, when
men banded together for the pur-
9ose of enforcing their demands I'M
| dertake by murder or by fire to say
that other men shall not work or tha1
property shall be destroyed because,
through its destruction, they hope to
enforce their demands. Any man
Who joins in a mob that seeks by the
oluds econ, by dynamite or by the pis.
| tol, or in other ways, to kill men In
order % keep them from working, is
a red-nandcd murdeI Or.
Sin the south at tae. present time
lit is important that officials should
/ raco .nfze the resT onsfbility which
rests upon them They can take ne
1 part for or against strikers SO Ions
as strikers peaceably seek to vii
their demands; but the moment tha,
nsn undertake BY murderous attacks
i dpon other men to prevent then
/ froTa working they should receive th'
j only possible treatment that an hon
lestly-administered government ca
give to a law breaking thug or muT
i derer.
TT is incumbent upon the south t
stand for law and order.
Announcement.