United labor bulletin., 1914-06-13
Does Son of Standard Oil King
Possess Diuine Right of Dictator
President Gompers Flags Young Rockefeller His Attitude
in the Colorado Coal Strike, Charging Him ,uith
Reardine Human Progress

been invoked throughout the ages, write.
President Samuel Gompers OF the Ameri-
can Federation of Labor in the June
American Federationist. 1t has been
used to enthrall mems minds and wills.
1t has been used to enforce pure and no.
BILE purposes; it has been used to cloak
unbridled audacity. Under the sanction
ordained by .God,' emperors and kings
were made secular vassals. Under the
same sanction emperors forced popes to
do their bidding. Made arrogant by
their belief in the divine right of kings,
the Stuarts attempted to overawe rebel
lious parliaments and to force whole
nation to do their bidding. But no one
has been able to force acquiescence in
the theory that one individual has the
divine right to arbitrary control over the
lives of others. Free men have ever re-
sisted violation of their freedom. Noi
have all the battles against divine
right" yet been fought. Wherever men
become drunk with power, callous with
ambition, they revive as sanction for
arbitrary disposal OF human wishes some
form of the theory OF divine right.
"Divine Right" Before.
In our own country assertions of di-
vine right have occurred most frequently
in industrial affairs in connection with
efforts to subordinate human rights to
property rights. Formerly slave-holding
was justified by divine sanction, but
that divine right theory was settled by
the Civil war. Men emboldened by the
power of great wealth have asserted the
divine right to control Industries arbi-
trarily, regardless of the welfare and
the desires of the workers associated
with them i'll operating those industries.
They have sought to control mems liv-
ing, their thoughts, their actions, ON the
ground that the right to do business is
property right and is hedged about by
the sanctity of divine right.
One of the most audacious assertions
to right of autocratie control over indus
try was made by George F. Baer. whose
death recently brought to mind the de-
fianee he hurled in the face OF the whole
American nation. 1t was during the an
thracite strike of 1902. Now a miners
strike is a fearsome thing to contem-
plate. Yet George F. Baer felt so sure
OF his divine right" power over the
lives OF his employees that he refused to
acknowledge realities, refused to confer
with the representatives of the miners
and assumed the responsibility OF a
strike that brought suffering to thou
sands and discomfort to millions. To
justify his position Mr.. Baer made the
following statement:
Rockefeller Will Do 1t.
''The rights and d>interests of laboring
men will be protected and cared for, not
by labor agitators, but by Christian men
to whom God in His infinite wisdom mas
given the control of the property inter
ests of the country,
This astounding mixture of religious
cant and cool. calculating, mercenary
greed was as arrogant a declaration of
divine right to rule over men ,as any
made by secular or ecclesias site authority
But whatever special revelation inspired
Mr.. Baer to constitute himself the inter.
prefer of the divine plan for ruling over
workingmen. it was incomplete thenyand
now. 1t has never yet been unfoded to
workingmen by any ambassador who
has proved his right to represent the
will of the Almighty.
With this authoritative" declaration
MIR. Baer refused the request of the min
ers to be heard through their represent
atives who were authorized to make an
agreement fixing terms of all workers.
There was no other way by which an
agreement could be made II is impos-
sible for each miner to make his own
agreement with the employers repre-
sentative. Mr. Baer, though himself a
representative of the employers inter
ests, denied the right of the workers to
representatives. For him there was
nothing to arbitrate." He wished to
decree what should be the terms and
conditions of work. He was willing to
accord the miners the privilege of ac.
cepting his decree or rejecting it il the
pangs of hunger were not sufficiently
compelling.
Baer Changed Before He Died
But Mr.. Baer lived to know better. He
later recognized" miners organizations
and met with their representatives when
necessary to argue upon conditions and
terms of work.
George S. Pullman took the same AFRO.
giant attitude in the Pullman strikes. In
the railway strike of 1894 he decided
that there was nothing to arbitrate He
attempted to enforce the power Of an
industrial despot and to govern his en-
ployes. haughtily-arbitrarily
Now the house of Rockefeller asserts
this claim to do with its property abso.
lutely as it wills. Another claimant to
divine right. new industrial dictator
and imperator, has arisen. For years
the public has been familiar with the
elder John ID. Rockefeller, with his cal
lousness, his indifference to public opin-
ion, his secretiveness, his absolute disre-
gard of the rights of others. whether
public or private, his contempt for lust
ice and his sanctimonious cloak OF re.
ligious vanity. Though the press pic
lures him as hustling his old legs from
Ohio to New York to the all too rapid
tune of Heaven is my home" in order
to dodge payment of his income ta>.
though he smiles at 500 600 900 fines and
reaches out to control the fountain head
Of learning of this country, and even Of
the world, yet he has not by overt act