The Bemidji daily pioneer., 1914-05-15
The Labor War.
(By Herbert Quick)

We have read much about the la
bor wars in Colorado, Michigan,
lWest Virginia and elsewhere. We
lhave felt keenly about them. But
there is one thing which we have not
done, and which we must do, not
only now, but in the future. WE
MUST THINK ABOUT THEM. We
must think about the labor wars of
the past and present, and also we
must consider the labor wars of the
future as they break out. FOR
THEY WILL BREAK OUT. That is
the great new thing in American
life. Our laws and our governments
1have so miserably broken down that
labor wars must be reckoned on as
a part of our national life. The la
sbor union man looks at them from
his point of view solely; the mer-
chant and the substantial citizen
from his; and the social theory. He
is just a plain, NO OTHER. But
unless we think of these things more
broadly we can never solve the prob
lem. Along thoughtlines Of PRE-
JUDGE AND NARROWNESS LIES
CIVIL WAR, worse than that of fifty
years ago. Yesterday I talked with
a man who was a non-commissioned
officer of militia in the West Vir-
ginia troubles. He is now a hotel
clerk-and he has no social theory
He is just plain non-commissioned
officer of militia, with a great trust
in martial law. His ideas of the
/strikers, the Baldwin-Feltz mine
guards and the militia were broader
than those of the solid citizen I met
in a law office the same day-,BE-
CAUSE HE HAD MET THE MEN
ENGAGED IN THE WAR. "The
Strikers said he, "were good fell
lows. They were friendly with us
all the time. | liked them, and so
did the oIher militiamen. Almost;
'all of them were Americans
you ought to've seen the guns they
had. Some of them were old-fash-
Toned Springfield rifles with lead bull
lets as big as the end of your thumb
that would tear a mans vitals out
it they hit him. Some were old
guns made in the time when they
had carved stocks; and a lot of them
were up-to- o-the7minute~ '303' Savage
rifles that will kill as far as any
gun made. | sure would have liked
to get one of those Savages. 1T was
like this, he went on, 'the mine own
ers refused to give the men their
own weighers; and the men thought
they were getting skinned on. the
coal they mined. Then the compan-
les would pay only for the big
chunks of coal they dug, and made
them get out the fine coal for moth
ing. It kind Of made the miners
sore to see trainloads of this small
coal hauled off and sold, and to think
they had dug it for nothing g. An
ether thing that they didn't. like
was the scrip they were paid in in
stead of cash. The company gave
them scrip, good only at the COM
rany's store, and sold the goods for
about twice what they could have
got it for at other stores. THEY
SAID THIS MADE THEM SLAVES,
AND 1T LOOKED so TO ME. The
Baldwin -Feltz men were just rough.
recks, gEnmen and plug-uglies> who
were hired to light the miners, and
paid about 500 month for doing,
It. My company had no trouble
with the mine guards, or the miners
either; but | sure did hope we would
get crack at those gunmen! The
miners We're just plain working gmen,
who had got, so worked up that they.
were ready to die with their boots
On. It's a puzzle to me, the whole
business! 1t was no puzzle to the
solid citizen whom i met in the law
office. We spoke of the Colorado
war. "a man has a right to hire
guards for his property" said he
Has he a right to hire an army of
them?" / asked ''The principles
the same" said he, whether it's
one good guard or thousand"
"Well,', he, said, s.I dunno about a
million 'sOr a million?" I asked.
!. think that. he began to see that the
principle is not the same always.