The Republican., 1922-07-20
SOME FUNDAMENTAL
TRUTHS ASSERTED

Inc DecldfaJlOQ OF 1nQepell-
dence asserts the right of the
individual to life, liberty and
the pursuit of happiness"
This involves fundamentally
the right of the individual to
pursue these ends, without in
reference either from the state,
from individuals or from organ
izationS so long as his quest
does not conflict with the laws
instituted for the protection of
the similar rights Of other indi-
vidualS.
This involves, further, the
right of the individual to dis
pose of his own property or his
own labor to his own best ad-
vantage. The right of individ-
uals in employment to combine
in order that they may match
their collective power against
the collected power of capital is
under our laws unquestioned.
Indeed no fair minded person
will deny that such a practice
is and has been often necessary
to the protection of the rights
of individuals otherwise COM
paratively helpless.
If those who work for wages
deem the necessity sufficient
they may combine with such
unanimity that their power in
establishing contractual rela-
tions with employers would be
almost absolute. The power of
labor organizations to control
the conditions and terms of en-
ployment is limited only by the
extent to which they enroll the
wage earners in a particular line
of employment. In England this
affiliatiOn of wage earners with
labor organizations is so COM
plete that the abs0lutism of la
Dor organizations is noted by
American cOmmentarianS.
The right of an individual to
join a labor organization or re-
frain from joining under our
laws and institutions is clear.
Coercion constitutes an in
fringement of fundamental per-
sonal rights.
Bodies of men united in an
organization may work or re-
frain from work as they may
see fit. They may cease to
labor in a body, no matter with
what Incidental injury to their
employer. There their rights
end, and the rights of other
workers and of the public begin.
Those who strike work have no
legal or moral control over the
jobs they voluntarily relinquish.
They have no right to employ
any weapon but moral suasion
to prevent other men, with
rights in employment equal to
their own, from taking the
places thus abandoned.
Above all, men who cease
work either Individually or in a
body, have no right to resort to
violence to prevent their former
employers from filling their
places. When this is done they
have declared war on the laws
and on society. Public officials
worthy Of the name and regard
full of their oaths of office, will
enforce the law against all COM
ers. They will defend funda-
mental rights of person and
property with courage and decis-
ion. There arises the plain issue
of law and order, and there is
only one side to it.
There has been much false
teaching in this country in re-
cent years by radicals engaged
in appealing to class conscious
ness and class hatred, not in the
interest of labor but for the
furtherance of the socialistic
cause in which they are at heart
most interested. Those men do
not seek a solution of industrial
disputes; they seek to make of
industrial disputes means of
breaking down the existing gov
ernmental and economic order.
1t is time that among the
great masses of the American
people there should be an
awakening of interest in things
fundamental in our form of gov
ernment and in our daily lives.
The rights of the people as a
whole have been unprotected in