The Farmington times. (Farmington, St. Francois County, Mo.) 1905-1926, 1917-08-10
THIS is OUR SHAME

The following, under the ABOVE
heading, is from the st. Louis Chris.
tian Advocate of last week, which is
as its name implies, a church paper
and a good one, fortunately having for
It's editor that splendid old patriarch
Dr. C. c. Woods, than whom there are
no better Christian gentlemen, in oul
opinion:
"Thc fires that marked the riot,
the burning and murders in
East St. Louis were hardly eX-
tinguished,-the wounded were
yet groaning and dying, when the
tidings came of another social
outrage, shameful in its horror
and cruelty, and this in our own
State! Alas, in Missouri, and
while we were yet piously thank
ing God that we were not as
Others
"The driving out of the peace
able, unoffending foreigners from
the Lead Belt, looting their homes
and otherwise maltreating them,
for no other reason than that they
were foreigners, was an outrage
not to be condoned or easily par
doned. 1t was cruel and alto
gether without justification, and
the fact that the perpetrators of
this crime claim to be Americans
adds to the enormity of their Of
tense. Americans-real Ameri-
cans are not criminals and do not
prosecute or Cypress the helpless,
as was done in this case.
of these had been alien enc
mics, or even suspected of hos
tility to our government, the con-
duct of these Americans might
be viewed with more Of leniency,
if not condoned, but the fact that
they belong to a friendly govern
ment and were guilty Of nothing
except a willingness to make an
honest living by hard work, does
away with any possibility of OK
cuse. OF course, the loss to these
people will have to be compensat-
ed by the State and those who
have brought this shame upon US
should be punished in property
and person by the laws which
they have violated"
All that is necessary for one who i
really familiar with the proceeding
in the Lead Belt, during the recen
trace riot, is to read the above quo
tation in order to see and to realiz
the base "inhumanity Of man to man.
1t is not in our heart to criticise tn
Christian Advocate, nor any other pa
per that has made similar errors il
speaking of the recent trouble in tn
Lead Belt, when all they had to de
pend on for their information was tn
dailies. We would sug
gest to the Advocate and all othe
weekly publications, however, that i
would be wise, even Christ-like, TO
hem to be exceedingly chary of an,
information" from the Lead Belt o.
which they must rely entirely on tn
papers for its authen
lefty. The Times feels that the AID
Vocate desired to do exact justice j
It's comment, and is sorry that its in
was so incomplete,
Do you ask what is our reason 70
such a statement? It is this
The Times management is confden
hat there was not an account of tn
recent Lead Belt trouble, sent fror
hat district for publication in tn
press throughout tn
but had the appearance o
having passed q strict censor of tn
great mining corporations who ar
in that field. Every sue
article was absolutely one-sided, an
tfeated the apparent disturbers a
amenities, wholly unworthy of con
3ideration. In fact, that is the man
Ter in which American miners in gen
eral have long been treated by th
nine operators. We say "apparen
listurbers" adviscdly; that is actuall
he case. 1t was the prolonged an
nsistent ignoring and rebuffs wit
which American miners have had t
put up with, if they remained in tn
that finally brought them t
he breaking point, and caused the re
cent uprising against the foreigners.
1t is true that some Of the foreign
srs who were driven out were "peace
able" and "unoffending"; some 0
hem, perhaps, were not enemies 0
his country, while some were. w
will admit that these foreigners wer
rot the principal offenders agains
he American miners, but they wer
he only offenders that could b
The directors and heads o
hese great mining companies live il
New York City, and care absoIutel.
lot one jot or title for their Americas
less than they do 70.
foreigners. Even now, we are in
ormed, they have instructed under
ings, in control of their Lead Bel
often to reject the ser
ices of American miners. If this il
he case, then The Times would ad
Use them, in all friendliness, tt
head in" They will never be able tt
get by" with that "stuff." We are
orry that Bro. Woods did not visit
he Lead Belt before writing the above
rticle, as it would then have beer
lodifed considerably, out of right
ustice and sympathy for poor, suf-
erinp humanity.