United labor bulletin., 1914-08-08
A Strong Protest Against Tyranny
SAMUEL GOMpERS IN AUGUST FEDERATIONIST

The use of armed men to defeat la
Dor movements is one of the most seri-
Gus tendencies OF the industrial situa-
ton. Ostensibly these men are for the
purpose of keeping the peace. But keep
ing the peace is most elastic term and
has been interpreted to mean securing
to the employer the opportunity to con-
duct his business according to his own
desires, even though that may mean de-
priving his employees of their rights as
human beings.
Not only have state militias, constab-
ularies and federal troops been called
out to protect the interests of employ
ers against striking employees, but en-
ployers have adopted the custom OF
arming men in their own service, thus
maintaining private police or even arm
les. This custom makes large landhold-
ers Independent of government agencies,
at least upon their land.
As the practice has become more
firmly fixed and more generally adopt
ed it has come about that the greater
part of active service of both state
militias and constabularies has been in
the interests of big business corpora
tions. In addition large numbers of men
have adopted strikebreaking as a trade.
Detective agencies undertake the work
of furnishing strikebreakers to employ
ers who are unable to maintain peaceful
relations with their workers. This work
attracts rowing, reckless, adventure
seeking class of ruffians. usually the
social and industrial derelicts and out
laws. The nature of their work is such
as to arouse lawlessness and brutality,
and hence is thoroughly demoralizing.
These men are shipped from state to
state, wherever industrial conflicts ex-
ist. Thus trade and the spirit of that
trade have been established hostile to
the welfare of the workers. These con-
stitute forces that have made industrial
conflicts more militant and more ir-
reconcilable and have enabled employers
to be more ruthless in their greed and
more lawless in their methods.
The spirit of lawlessness has been
further stimulated by grasping after
power. When employers assumed the
power to maintain their own rights in
dependent of governmental agents they
naturally assumed the power to inter
pret their rights. Thus many big en-
ployers have established themselves
above and beyond the law entirely after
the fashion of feudal despots. And like
those feudal despots of old they have
involved communities in private warfare
and anarchy.
Warfare of this kind has been waged
the past year in West Virginia, Michi-
gan and Colorado. where political and
military sovereignty founded upon vast
land holdings has enabled mine opera
tors not only to control their possessions
but to control governmental agents in
the performance of their functions. All
of this has been done for the purpose of
protecting property rights. For these
sacred interests hum2n rights have been
brushed aside and trampled upon.
No one will deny the rights attaching
to the ownership of property. But
every right entails an accompanying
duty. Property is acquired for two pur-
poses: for use and for power. The in
centive to acquire property for use is of
course limited. The incentive to own
property for power is practically un-
limited.
With the development of industry and