The Knoxville independent. [volume] (Knoxville, Tenn.) 1894-current, 1917-05-26

/ Pr0of OF the r ACT ! NAT tne OeSire Tor
! Liberty Must Be inherent and Come
! From Within-Proeress Made In
Emancipation of Labor Has Come
Through Self Sacrificing Men.
| History records two striking episodes
/ in American life when a strong indi-
| viduality impressed itself upon the his.
| torical armament OF this nation. The
month of February seems to have been
the chosen vehicle for the advent of
two great personalities, though at diff
ferent periods. Both came at the most
! important and critical periods of the
American nation, Washington and Lin
coin.
1t seems the trainers of the Declare.
ton of Independence, while declaring
that all men are created equal" did
not include the negro, which was partly
responsible for the civil war. Here,
where history records one of the most
instructive leSSonS-that no nation can
become free unless that nation itself
is imbued with the true spirit of free
dom-the colonists were willing enough
to fight against English tyranny"
| but were not willing to concede to
others the same freedom. Colonial his
tory after the colonial war is only the
dawn of a new slavery. With the de-
velopment of industrial activities in
the northern states the free labor sys-
tenn" or to use a modern expression,
''the wage system" developed along
with it, With the expansion of the
cotton industry, where the lowest paid
labor was in demand, the chattel sys-
| TEN flourished in the south-in other
words, struggle between the two sys-
TENS, which was inevitable, came into
existence, the so called "slave labor
being in sharp competition with the
so called free labor"
I Whatever historical critics may say
one thing is certain-that the so called
free labor" was no better off than the
so called "chattel slave" In some In.
stances the chattel slave from the eco
|
If necessaries Of life are to be consid
cred standard of well being and eco
nomic security, then the chatteI slave
had the best of the bargain.
OF all the ills affecting the work
ers of this nation the dread of unem
!. ployment, with it's train of misery and
poverty. is the worst. The Stree
wage iubofer't was free But where
were the terms and what was the price
Of that liberty? Either accept the con
NIT to the indignities which no free
man would submit to, or starve,
Another striking lesson, which /!
Il the most important Of all, is that "free
- DOM" the desire for liberty. must b.
inherent and must be secured by TIL
I class in bondage through it's own eff
forts. 1t does not come from the top
1. "Who would be free, themselves mus
- strike the blow"
Aside from all philosophical argu
ments, the negro himself was no
u ready for emancipation. Moreover
4 even today the negro problem is still
looming high on the horizon of Amer
: can politics in the south and to a YER
= large extent in the north. Every &C
Of segregation in the northern cities i
: ample proof that the negro is still tn
{ football of the dilettante reformer. Be
sides, it demonstrates the fact that tn
Il emancipation Of any race or class
u worthless when given as a gift fro1
without Freedom and emancipatio
Il must be accomplished from within.
Il How many of US are struck wit
e this thought when we go out on miE
g sion to convert the unorganized, tn
nonunion men, to unionism to max
(. them see the necessity of organization
g the necessity of joining us and max
Il common cause with us.
e And after pleading and arguing W
find out that all our pleading was
s vain, that all our arguments someho'
|. or other did not convince. In otht
e words, our efforts were wasted, our a
e guments fell on fat ears, just as fiat 6
o the ears of the chattel slave when tt
"abolitionists'' preached and sacrifice
their all-aye, as John Brown, Low
l. joy, sacrificed their lives for tt
cause of emancipation of the chatt
> slave, Every milepost of liberty
d strewn with the corpses of pioneers {
liberty; every inch of the ground upo
5, which the battles of liberty have bee
Il fought is saturated with the lif
blood of it's martyrs. The labor unio1
n are not exempt from that. Every pri
IS on cell from coast to coast could te
T. the story of the emancipation of labo
d every industrial battle produces it's h
g roes and martyrs.
What would the world be witho,
men that are willing to stake their a
just to gain little more freedom fl
| others. while those in whose behalf IL
: greatest battles of history have bee
: fought are Indifferent to their own il
s terests or so crimiHally selfish the
!. couldn't see the light of true emanc
:. patton?
r. The same with the "chattel slave
q He fought against the northern armiC
n that were shedding their likelihood
h set him free. and the nonunionia
Ia through his ignorance and indifference