New-York tribune., 1919-08-19
Quitting Vital Services

me SUBWAY StTlke, tLouSit HaPPiS
placed in the way of settlement, shows
once more how dangerous it is to IN
trust any man or set of men with un
controlled power.
Be they rich or poor, trust magnates
or organized workmen, no minority is
good enough to rule. Setishness extln
guishes the obligations all are under in
modern society. One kind of czarism is
like another Power and righteousness
may some time be united in the same
hands, but human history has seldom
shown such union.
The motormen, headed by the hot
headea>Mr. Connolly, saw a chance to
club the public to their own advantage
and seized it. The rights of others did
not concern them Mr. Connolly bluntly
confessed this Asked if what he pro-
posed was fair, he admitted it was not
When he was asked to respect
pledge to arbitrate he showed the atti-
tude the Kaiser did to the Belgian
agreement.
Motormen, like other men, are bene-
ficiaries of highly complex industrial
organization-a fed and clothed by
system whose essential functions are
confded to widely separated groups.
The line of communication is long, and
at many points can easily be cut but
every man in New York, including mo-
tormen lives because the communica-
ton line is open-because ordinarily
most men are true to their trusts
The followers of Connolly saw fit to
repudiate their part Of the social agree
ment. They asserted the right to do as
they personally pleased. What they may
DO others may obviously do. If by concert
Of action one group may create ntoler-
able conditions, then another may do the
same and bring back savagery.
Some day there may be a rewriting of
the definition of treason. A group which
gets hold of the throat of society and
then squeezes in the spirit Of highway
man outlaws Itself. The public is being
rapidly educated and will find way to
protect itself against internal enemies.
Mankind cannot get along if split into
fighting class-groups. There must be
only one class and all must bear true
allegiance to it.
The day is not far distant when a
logical reply will be returned to all who
repudicate social obligations. A man
who refuses to do his part in the
huge cooperative business of life NAV be
denied the benefit of other mems CO.
operaton-may be shut off from the
food, for example, brought to his neigh
borhood by chain of faith keepers
The public IS an animal of very great
patience But prod it too often and
the public is capable of identifying it's
tormentors The man who takes a lob
in connection with a necessary public
service must understand he may not
quit altogether as he peases If he
seeks to starve others he may be for
hidden to eat
The issue now temporarily deferred
must some day be squarely met. Minori
ties must not be allowed to rule. The
majority must resist powerful minority
organizations by more powerful
organization. The social bond has been
hacked at until it has become frayed.
and 1t is time to repair it. Our civiliza-
ton in its material aspects is based on
the principle that no man lives alone or
can Se permitted so to live. The old
sense of citizenship which is the founda-
tion of the republic and of every demo-
cratic nation must be born again It
grows dangerously weak.
Education along these lines has been
too much neglected. Numbers enter
tain illusions and have had their moral
perceptions blunted. We must see more
clearly what appeals to class really mean
Some doctrines are intolerabe
A truce having been secured, feature
OF any agreement reached should be the