Evening journal., 1922-08-02

| for violating that obligation. Troops
are not on hand because there Is a.
! peaceful strike but TO prevent as
sault on workmen. Hence a strike
| Of the brotherhood members against
military guards would be an act or
sympathy with the sluggers, not
with the strikers, unless the broth
erhood men regard the two groups
as the same. They cannot better .
demonstrate their respect for the
law than by remaining at work. /.
J HARDING OR GoNPERS?
From the New York Commercial.
7 Not against labor. organized or
unorganized; not against the railroad
strikers. but against any element,
and all individuals who defy law and
order or seek TO destroy property
and to terrorize communities was.
President Hardings strike proclama-l
tion directed. Samuel Gompers, evil
IDENTIFY for purposes of diplomacy
within his sphere, distorts the mean
ing of the Presidents pronuncia-
mento.
The labor leaders, opinion that
the Presidents statement is "calcu-
/ lated TO make a fetish of the Trans.
portation Act and of the Railway
Labor Board" is. on It's face, an
utter absurdity. Pit Mr.. Gomper's.
attitude, as expressed in his opinion
of the Presidents proclamation,
against the attitude the President.
takes therein and one discovers at
once that the guif between them is
as wide as that between truth and.
falsehood. The President stands for
the welfare and safety OF tho nation
and all law-abiding individuals.
Gompers stands for purely selfish
Interests. not only In the sense that
the demands OF the strikers shall be
fulfilled willy nilly. but in the sense
that il these demands are not met.
the public will have to abide by the .
consequences.
How pstr.otically Mr.. Gompers
argues for the public veal can be /,
seen also in his criticism OF the
Presidents strike message to the
people when the labor man says: a.,
The one way to operate the rail-
roads in safety is to revive negotia-
tions. to bring justice to the workers
and thus make possible a condition
OF safety OF railroad equipment"
Impliedly or not. Mr. Gompers lays
this deliverance open to the inter-
probation that unless things go his
way in this strike Safety need not
be expected. 1t does seem strange at
times that leaders OF labor in one
breath are mot responsible" for
anything that might happen in the
course Of strike, and that i'm
mediately after property has been
destroyed and people killed or in
jured, they glibly deny that strikers
had a hand in the tragedies. We
are expected to believe that the dis
orders have been precipitated by
schoolboys.
II the rallroaders elect not to work
for the wage awarded by the Rail-
road Labor Board. that is their af-
fair; but when, having gone on :
strike. they take the law into their
own hands. that IS our affair. Then
it becomes our duty 70 put into ac-
tion those forces which in every
properly organizing nation have
been created to protect the people.
These forces are not directed against
the strike, nor. for that matter,
against the strikers. but against
those Of their ranks. or without 4.
their ranks. who menace life and
property, that all of US who would
pursue our daily work might do 80
and without danger.
We are entitled to live in peace and
in the pursuit OF happiness. When
any element in the body polite, by :
speech or conduct, seeks to destroy
that liberay We demand that this
liberty be protected to the utmost .
limit.