The Labor enquirer. [volume], August 07, 1886, Image 1

About The Labor enquirer. [volume] (Denver, Colo.) 1882-1888

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VOLUME YI.-NO. 32.
TYRANNY.
A Sample of the Cold-Blooded
Brutality of Mon
opoly.
Corporation Outrages That are
Backed Up by “Law
and Order.”
The “Roles and Regulations” of an
Infamous Outfit Which Dis
graces This Country.
From Centerville Morning Journal.
On the sixth of July the Northern Pa
cifie Coal company closed down their
mines because a number of their em
ploves organized an assembly of the
Knights of Labor. Since the lockout a
notice his been posted at the mine that
when work is resumed the price of min
ing coal will be reduced from sl.lO to
90 cents per ton. They also posted a
notice on the tenth giving their em
ployes until the twenty-third to vacate
the company’s houses, and notifying the
locked-out men to call at the company’s
office for their checks, which they are
discounting at 5 per cent. The Knights
of Labor wish the question to be de
cided whether, as American citizens,
they Lave a right to organize for self
protection.
When the lockout occurred the com
pany closed up their store, butcher shop
and saloon, and provisions could not be
purchased at any price. On the second
day the saloon was reopened, and the
men could get all the liquor they wanted,
but they refused to patronize it. There
are no drunken men to be seen. Since
the lockout the men have opened a
butcher shop and grocery store, so are
independent of the company.
Last week a committee from the ex
ecutive board D. A. No. 98, waited on
the great mogul of the coal company,
L M. Bullitt, and that autocrat in
formed them that Knights of Libor
would not be tolerated in Timberline
This nincompoop who "manages” the
affairs of the company is a Philadelphia
dude of about 23 years of age, and
knows aamucti about coal mining, theo
retically and practically, as a baby. His
"pa” is a targe stockholder in the com
pany, which fact accounts for the young
gentleman's premature elevation.
We have been favored with a copy of
the “General Rules for the Governme .t
of Employes” of the Northern Paori:
Coal company. We will call attention
to only a few of them, hoping our readers
will peruse them carefully, to the end
that such monopolies may be wiped out
of existence.
RuLc three says that all employes are
expected to patronize their store,
butcher shop and saloon, to the exclu
si m of other 3imilar establishments and
pedlers. Since the lockout a child of
one of ihe miners died, and the manager
of the store refused to sell the parents a
pair of stockings to cover this dea l
child's feet. A poor widow, who keeps
a few boarders, bad tbe temerity to go
to go to Bozeman to buy her provisions,
thus saving 22 per cent on her pur
chases, and was notified’that she would
have to leave her house on the twenty
third instant.
Rule four says that the employes are
expected to be sober and orderly at all
times. Comment is unnecessary, seeiug
that tbe companv keeps a saloon for
their men to get drunk.
Rule fourteen says that anyone who
joins a secret labor organization will be
immediately discharged. In reply to
this we would say that the secresy of
the K. of L. order was adopted to avoid •
the spying and wra h of employers, and
(3D be discontinued when there is no
longer any such danger. As if free
American citizens had not a right to or
ganize for self-protection.
RuL fifteen requires single men to
pay $1 and married men $1.50 per
month toward the hospital fund. This
fund does not pay for board while sick,
but only furnishes medical attendance
and medicines. There are about 250
men in the employ of the company, of
which number over fifty are married,
netting the company at least $275 per
month for hospital dues. Out of this
amount the company pays a drunken,
worthless physician SIOO per month
In case of a violation of any of these
rules the superintendent may make the
offending party pay a fine ol $5 or be
aid off from his work for one week ;
for the.second offense the employe will
be discharged.
To sum the whole thing up, the com
pany own everything inTimberliue ex
cept the air the men breathe, and they
would own that if they could make the
t reator of the universe a congressman.
15 e have our doubts, however, about the
company having a clear title to the land ,
as in all probability they did not have
t patented, so as to escape just taxation.
As there is no municipal government in
the camp, we would like to know how
thev can fine men for getting intoxi
cated or allowing pigs and dogs to run
loose? We append the rules in full
without further comment:
1. The wages of employes at the
mines shall be set and regulated bv the
V superintendent, and the amount due in
any one month will be paid on the
twenty-fifth of the month following.
2. Orders will be given employes on
the company’s store and butcher shop
THE LABOR ENQUIRER.
for work actually done, for any amonnt
not exceeding the amount actually ow
ing at the time the order is asked for.
Bat no orders will be issued in any
month for wages earned in another
month, nor wiliany orders be issued on
the first three days of any month.
3. As the company has gone to the
expense and trouble of establishing a
store, butcher shop and saloon for the
accommodation and convenience of its
employes, and as its employes derive
their living from the company, all em
ployes will be expected to patroniz«
these places to the exclusion of all
other similar establishments or oedlera.
4. Employes will he expected to be
sober and orderly at all times. No
drunken rows or carousing will be toler
ated.
5. All employes mast be at worx
promptly at the time designated by the
superintendent or foreman, and remain
at work the full allotted time, whether
they are paid by the day or by the ton.
6. Each employe renting a house of
the company will be required to sign a
lease before taking possession of it.
7. No one will be allowed to erect a
house oq the company’s grounds without
first having obtained permission from
the superintendent and signing a lease
therefor.
8. Every householder will be re
quired to keep his house in good order,
and will be charged for any damages
done beyond the ordinary wear and
tear.
9. He will be required to keep his
house neat and clean, both inside and
out.
10. Dirty water, slops, ashes or any
other substance which will tend to bring
about disease or ill health, must be put
in a suitable well, to be made for that
purpose by the householder. It is
strictly forbidden to throw such filth on
the ground around the house or on the
road in front of it.
11. In case any employe who rents a
house is discharged, or of his own accord
leaves the company’s employ,he will be
required to surrender possession of his
house within ten days from the date on
which he ceases to be employed. Settle
ment of his wages or amount due him
will not be made until after he has
moved out of his house.
12. No one will be allowed to keep
pigs without carefully penning them tip.
If allowed to run at large, they will be
putin pound aud a charge made before
they will be given back to the owner.
13. No one will be allowed to keep a
vicious dog.
14. Any employe j lining auy secret
labor organization, or in any way taking
part in any striie, or for any cause re
fusing to perform work assigned to him
at any lime, unless satisfactory excuse
for same is male to the superinteu lent
or foreman, or who shall be under the
influence of intoxicating liquors while
at work, or w.io shall be incapacitated
for work by the use of liquor, will at once
be discharged ; and under no circum
stances will auyone so discharged be re
employed,
15. Single men will be required to
pay $1 per month,’ and mirried men
$1.50 per month, toward the hospital
fund.
16. This amount will procure for sin
gle men and married men and their
families, medical attendance and medi
cines for all ordinary diseases and acci
dents occurring on the property of the
company, or while engaged in working
for them ; but will not include venereal
diseases, child oirth or treatment of an;
chronic disease contracted -previous to
coming into camp, or any accidents
which are clearly due to nsgligence or
carelessness on the part of lhe patient.
17. Fee for child birth shall be sls.
18. Fees for gonorrhiea shatl be sls in
ordinary cases, and, in cases requiring
the use of instruments, the charge sh ill
be according to the work (lone.
19. The charges for visits f>r al. cases
not included as above shall best 50, and
in all such cases there shall be a moder
ate charge for medicines.
20. The hospital fund will not pay
any board or furnish anything except
medical attendance and medicines.
21. The full amount will be collected
from each man each month, whether he
works a full month or only a part of a
month.
22. Employes of the company, who
intend to call the company's physician
incases of child birth, are requested to
notify him a month in advance, so that
he can keep a record of the case and not
be absent from the camp when his ser
vices are required.
23. In case of a violation of any of
these rales by any employe, for the first
offense it w.U be at the option of the
superintendent whether the party
offending shall pay a fine of $5 or be
laid off from his work for one week.
24. For the second offense the em
ploye offending will be discharged.
H. E. Graham, Superintendent.
Approved: Logan L. Bullitt, 5 ice
President.
Sample Dialogue Between the Manag
ing Editor and a Reporter of
••Shy loclt’e Own.”
For the Enquirer.
Scene ; capitalistic newspaper editor’s
office. Dramatic personae: editor and
newly-engaged reporter, who is submit
ting his first reportoriai attempt for the
Daily Shylock’s Own. Reportir reads
from manuscript. ‘‘Last evening a
largely attended meeting of Knight of
Labor was held at Blank’shall. Several
A METROPOLITAN JOURNAL..
DENVER, COLORADO, SATURDAY, AUGUST 7, 1886.
sensible speeches were made by men
who were apparently men that toil at
hard word as they used no high flown
laDgnage, hnt confined themselves to
telling their views on the labor question
in a plain, easily understood manner.
They were listened to very attentively
by the crowd of 500 or 600 men who
filled the hall. Th6 interest manifested
by the audience indicates—”
“Step!” cried the editor. “We don’t
have any nae for that style of reporting
on the Shylock’s Own.”
“But the subject is a very common
place one and it is not possible to make
it appear very interesting unless I call
on my imagination and ignore the strict
line of fact,” explained the reporter.
“Facts be d—d !” was the editorial re
ply: “What business have we with the
Mine of fact’ when dealing with these
mudsills ? Have you not sense enough
to know that they will support os any
how, and as Major Bullion says we can’t
afford to take much notice of those cat
tle ; for if we did they" would imagine
themselves of more consequence than
the better classes. If yon desire to re
main on this paper I wonld advise you
to report meetings such as that ia this
manner,” and the editor taking a sheet
of paper wrote, “The Knights of Labor
held a meeting at an obscure uptown
hall last night, and, notwithstanding the
fact that it had been advertised for two
weeks, they succeeded in getting but a
corporal’s guard to the meeting, which
was addressed by several men who never
did a day’s work in their lives. The
crowd was composed of roughs, hood
lums and dynamiters. The police were
on hand as trouble was feared, but the
presence of the guardians of law and
order prevented a serious outbreak.”
“Tnis,” continued the editor, “is the
style best suited to great metropolitan
dailies, and as I hinted to you before, is
the only style we allow. So you will
please, Mr. Faber, guide vourpenin (
this direction in the future.”
“I have here,” said the reporter in a
meek and humble tone, “a quat.er-col
umn report of a permon by Rev. Mr.
Goodwill, on ‘The Tendency to Make ]
the Rich Man Richer and the Poor —”
“It won’t do, Mr. Faber, it won’t do,”
broke in the editor. “We can’t spare
the space and it is, I dare sav, written in
the same vein as that K. of L. meeting (
report of yours, so you will please put
that also in the waste basket.”
■‘l have, according to your instruc
tions, “got a full report of the prize fight
which took place last night between
Slugem and Tuff,’ said the reporter,
"but as space is so limited, as you say, it
will have to lay over as it is a two col-
uran report—”
“Plenty of room, plenty of room,”
broke in the editor. “A great metroprl
itan daily always lias space for reports
of this kind, as they are the kind, as >
Major Bullion says, to keep the people
from the error of this‘rich getting richer
and poor getting poorer’ cry, which
those cranks are getting up. Mr. Faber,
when you have had the experience that
I have had in journalis n you may ap
preciate the great doty devolving upon
the great dailv press, in the way of
forming the opinions of the common
herd, who rely on such as I for an
opinion that is an opinion;” and the ‘
editor smiled the smile of the man who
has a monopoly in ready-made opinions
and a big sale for them.
“And now, Mr. Faber,” said the editor,
“I hope you will develop the proper
style for this paper ; and, by the w iy,
don’t forget the dog fight to night and
the democratic convention to morrow—
a column each.” J. J. C.
Two Workingmen.
For The Enauirer.
No. I.—“ What maxes you work so
hard ?”
No. 2.—“l’ve been in America only a
year and mv wages are low. I must
work hard to get pay raised. ’
No. I.—“ Don’t you know that if you
do more than I do, they will not raise
your wages, but cut mine down ? Then
they will go to the next man and cat
him down and so on, until they get
around to you again and sav : “We have
been cutting down wages and cannot
make an exception of you.” In this
free America the man who d >es the
hardest, most unhealthy work gets the
least pay ; the man who does the least
gets most; he who does nothing gets all;
and he who can find nothing to do gets
left—in the police station. It is a get
ting system. Don’t von understand the
law of wages ?
The remedy is government employ
ment for all out of work ; and read The
Enquirer.” A. W. J.
Caicaqo, Illinois.
Not only have the present land ten
ures an indefensible origin but it is im
possible to discover any mode in which
land can become private property.—
Herbert Spencer.
"For indeed I am myself a Communist
of the old school, the reddest of the red.
We Communists of the old scnool think
that onr property belongs to everybody,
and everybody’s property to us.”—John
Raskin.
We may cover the pages of our sta'ute
books with laws regulating strikes and
inflicting severest penalties on those
who organize resistance to the individ
ual liberty whether of employer or
workman; we may drill regimen s and
perfect onr police ; the safety and wel
fare of a state is not m these things, it is
, in the contentment and loyalty of its
people. And these come by a differ
ent road. —Bishop Potter.
“WHO WOULD BE FREE HIMSELF MUST STRIKE THE BLOW 1”
BY XAVEB LEDER.
The week of toll Is o’er. Sabbath Is here.
Hypocrisy with artificial hue
Tinges the tyrant's heart, look yon in prayer
He kneels within the velvet-cushioned
pew.
While yet without the bell’s sad mournful
chime
Tells of the worker’s woe, the tyrant’s crime.
Muflie those church bells?— Nay, nay, let
them toll,
Let them ring ont Into the world below
The sad, sad tale of many a poor, crushed
soul
Swept Into silence by the tide of woe.
Ring on, ring on, awake the host enslaved,
That prostrate host, pierced by oppression's
darts;
Of all—but form—of Godlike man bereit
And fear, the tenant of their trembling
hearts.
Remind the rich man of the worker’s tears,
Remind each tyrant on his glitt'ring throne
That toiling numbers have for long, long
years
Without avail implored their hearts of stone.
So shines the sun on snowy 'mountain
tops;
So falls the gentle shower in great warm
drops
Upon the drear realms of a desert plain;
It falls and falls, and yet, it falls in vain. ,
Ring loud, and count onr heroes o’er again;
Ring for the dead ones, loyal, true and brave
Who forthe cause of truth and justice slain,
Brighten the dark shades of their martyr
grave.
Ring, bell of truth! But not In woeful
song;
Let us not mourn, may the predicting
charms
The wild peal of thy truth-inspired tougue
Call every toller, every slave to arms !
THE SPIRIT OF REVOLT.
[Continued.]
To hang or quarter in effigy was
greatly in vogue during the last century.
It was accordingly one of the most pop
ular means of agitation. Whenever
there was a general excitement a mob
would form and carry a puppet, repre
senting the enetny of the moment, and
they would hang, burn or quarter eich
puppet. “Childishness” the young old
men would say wfip thought themselves
so sensible. Ah, well, tne assault upon
the residence of Reveillon during the
elections of 1789, the execution of Fou
lon and Bertier, which changed com
pletely the character of the Revolution
which followed.—they were only the ac
tual accomplishment of what had been
in preparation long before in the execn
tion of the straw puppets.
Here are a few examples from a thou
sand.
The people of Paris had no love for
Maupeon, one of the favorite ministers
of Louis XVI. Well, they mob him one
day ; voices in the crowd cry out: “De
cree of. parliament, condemning Mr.
Maupon, chancellor of France, to be
burnt alive and his ashes thrown to the
wind;” after which the crowd does ac
tually march to the statue of Henri IV.
with a puppet of the chaucellor, decked
with all his insignia, and the puppet is
burnt with the applause of the mob.
Another day they hang to the fanlern
the puppet of the Abbe Terrav in eccles
iastical costume and white gloves. At
Rouen they quarter Maupeon in effigy,
and when the gendarmerie prevents a
mob from forming, they confine them
selves to hanging by the feet an image
of the monopolist, wheat running in a
shower from its nose, its mouth an I its
ears.
There was a whole propaganda in that
puppet! and a propaganda far more ef
ficacious for attracting attention |han
the abstract propaganda which only ap
peals to a small number who are already
convinced.
The essential, for preparing the out
breaks which preceded the great Revo
lution, was tba; the people should get
into the habit of coming oat into the
street, of manifesting its opinions in tne
public square ; that it should get into
the habit of braving the police, the
troops, the cavalry. That is why the
Revolutionists of the period neglected
none of the means at their disposal for
drawing the crowds into the street, for
provoking mobs.
Every public event in Pans and the
provinces was utilized in this manner.
Has public opinion obtained from-the
king the dismissal of a detested minis
ter, there are rejoicings, illuminations
without end. To attract the world by
fire crackers, they send up rockets “in
such quantity that in some places one
walked upon the cardboard.” And if
they want the money to buy them, they
stop the well-dressed passers by and ask
them “poli.elv but firmly,” say the con
temporaries, for —“a few sous to divert
the people.” Then when the mass is
close packed orators start in to explain
and comment tipon wi at is going on,
and clubs are organized in tne open air.
And, if the cavalry or infantry come to
disperse the crowd, they hesitate at em
ploying violence against peaceable men
and women, while the crackers which
go off iu front of the horses and the foot
soldiers, with the appearance and laugh
ter of the public, check the spirit of
those who advance tco far into the midst
of the people.
In the country towns there are from
time to time chimney-sweeps who trav
erse the streets, parodying the king’s
judgment seat. Everyone bursts into
laughter at the sight of a man with his
face all daubed parodying the king and
his wife. Acrobats, jugglers bring thou
sands of spectators together in the public
square, while letting fly, in the midst of
droll recitations, their arrows directed at
the powerful and rich. A crowd forms,
the talk becomes more and more menac
ing, and then, woe be to the powerful or
rich man whose carriage' makes its ap
SABBATH BELLS.
pearance upon the scene—it will cer
tainly be treated roughly by the crowd.
The spirit can work only in this way—
what occasions are there in which intel
ligent men cannot find the means of get
ting together crowds, mere laughter at
first, then men ready to act, above all if
the excitement has been prepared in ad
vance by the situation and by the acts of
men of action.
All that being given: on the one hand
the Revolutionary situation, the general
discontent, and on the other hand, the
placards, the pamphlets, the songs, the
executions in effigy, all emboldened the
populace, and soon the crowds became
more and more menacing. To-day, it is
the archbishop of Paris who is assaulted
at a crossing; to-morrow it is a duke or
a count who is nearly thrown into the
water; another day the crowd amuses
itself with hooting at the members of
parliament as they pass by; the acts of
revolt vary thus infinitely, while await
the day on which a single spark Bhall
suffice to transform the gathering into
an outbreak, and the outbreak into Rev
olution.
“It was the dregs of the people, it was
the scoundrels, the do nothings who
noted”—say to day the Prnd’homme
historians. Well, yes, indeed, it was not
among the well-to-do folk that the Revo
lutionary bourgeoise sought allies.
Since the well-to-do confined them
selves to drawing room recrimination
that they might-grovel on their stom
achs a moment after. Well then, it was
to the saburban cf ill repute that the
Revolutionists went in search of com
rades arme 1 with cudgels, when mon
seigneur the archbishop of Paris was to
be hissed—though it may displease the
Proudhommes who to-day deny these
facts. :
If action had been confided to the at
tack upon the men and the institutions
of the government, without touching the
economic institutions, the great Revolu
tion would it ever have been that which
iu reality it was, that is to say a general
uprising of the mass of the people—
peasants and workingmen—against the
privileged classes? The .Revolution,
would it have lasted four years? would
it have stirred France even to her very
boweli? would it have got that invinc
ible spirit which gave it the power to re
sist the “conspiracy of kings.”
Certainly not! Let historians sing as
they may the glories of “the gentlemen
of the Third Estate,” of the constituent
assembly, or of the convention, —we
know what that amounts to. ,We know
that the Revolution would have ended
with hut a microscopic constitutional
limitation of tiie royal power, without
touching the feudal regime, if the
French peasant had not risen from one
end of the cmntry to the other, and
maintained, daring four years, Anarchy
—the spontaneous Revolutionary action
of groups and of individuals, freed from
all governmental guardianship. We
know that the peasant would have re
mained the beast of burden of the seig
neur, if the Jacquerie had not raged
from 1788 to 1798—right up to the date
at which tne convention was forced to
consecrate bv a law what the peasants
had just accomplished in fact: the abo
lition without compensation of all the
feudal dues and the restitution to the
Communes of tne goods which had been
already stolen from them bv the rich
under the ancient regime. Vainly
would one have waited upon the as
semblies for justice, if the naked feet and
the breechless had not thrown the
weight of their clubs and their pikes on
to the parliamentary see-saw.
But it was neither the agitation
against the ministers nor by the stick
ing ud in Paris placards directed against
the queen, that the rising of the small
villages could be brought about. That
rising, the result of the general situation
of the country, was also prepared by the
agitation made in the very hsart of the
people bv the men who went out and
attacked its immediate enemies: the
seigneur, the priest, proprietor, the
wheat monopolist and the big bour
geoise.
This kind of agitation is not so well
known as that which preceded. Tne
history of Paris has been written, that
of the villages has never yet been seri
ously begun : history still ignores the
peasant, notwithstanding which the lit
tle that we know of it is even now
enough to give us an idea of what it
was.
The pamphlet, the flying leaflet, did
not penetrate into the village; t’ e p'as
ant of that period could scarcely ever
read. Well, it was by the printed im
age, often smudged by hand, simple and
comprehen ible, that the propaganda
was carried on. -A few words traced be
side images grotesquely made, and scat
tered broadcast through the villages,—
and quite a romance was conjured up in
the popular imagination, concerning the
king, the queen, tlie Comte d’Artois,
Madame de Lamballe, tbe famine pact,
the seignnears "vampires sacking the
blood of the people;” it raa through the
villages and prepared men’s minds.
In that place it was a placard, made
by hand, pasted upon a tree, which ex
cited to Revolt, promising the approach
of better times, and recounting the out
breaks which hid occurred at the other
end of France.
Unier the name of the “Jacques” se
cret groups were formed in the villages,
whether to set fire to the seigneur’s
grange, or to destroy his crops or game,
or finally to execute him ; and many a
time in the chateau a corpse was dis
covered pierced by a knife wh.ch bore
this inscription: “From the Jacques 1”
A heavy carriage was descending a ra
vined hill, carrying the seigneur to his
estate, but two passers-by, aided by the
postilion, garotted him and rolled him
to the bottom of the ravine, and in his
pocket was fonnd a paper saying:
“From the Jacques!”—and so incase
after case.
Well, one day, at the crossiag of two
roads, a gallows was noticed, bearing
this inscription: “If the seigneur dare
to take the rents, he shall he hanged to
this gallows. Whoever shall dare to pay
them to the seigneur shall meet the
same fate!” And the peasant did not
pay them any more without being com
pelled to bv the “mare’chausee,” happy
in his heart at having found an excuse
for not paying. He felt that there was a
secret force sustaining him ; he accus
tomed himself to the idea of not paying,
of revolting against the seigneur, and
soon, in actual fact, he did not pay any
more, and he wrung from the seigneur,
by menace, the refusal of all rents.
Placards could be continually seen in
the village announcing that thenceforth
there would be no more rents to pay,
that the chateaus and the “terriers”
(rent-books) must be burned, that the
people’s -council had just issued a decree
to that effect, etc. “Bread! No more
rent or taxes !” There yon have the
watchword that was sent running
through the village. A watchword that
all could understand, that went straight
to the heart ofdhe mother whose chil
dren had not eaten for three days,
that went straight to the breast of the
peasant harrassed by the marechaussee
that wrung from him arrears of taxes.
"Down with the monopolist,” and his
stores were forced, his convoys of wheat
stopped, and outbreak unchained itself
in the province. “Down with the city
toll!” and the barriers were burned, the
clerks kuocked down, and the towns
being in want of money revolted in
their turn against the cf ntral power that
demanded it of them. "To the fire with
the registers, the account books, the mu
nicipal archives!” and the old paper
blazed in July, 1789, the power became
disorganized, the seigneurs emigrated,
and the Revolution extended ever more
and more its circle of fire.
The whole drama that , was played
upon the grand st ige of Paris was but
the reflection of that which was taking
place in the provinces, of the Revolution
which, for four years, growled in each
t jwn, in each hamlet, and in which the
people interested itself far less in its
enemies, the central power, than in
those which were nearest to its hand :
the exploiters, the leeches of the place.
We sum up.—The Revolution of 1788
93, which presents to us on a grand scale
the disorganization of the state by. pop
ular Revolution, (eminently economic
like every true popular Revol iton), is
thus of great instructive value to us.
L ug before 1789 France presented a
Revolutionary situation. But the spirit
of Revolt was not sufficiently ripe for
the Revolution to break out. It is there
fore to the development of this spirit of
insubordination, of boldness, of hatred
against the existing order of society,
that the efforts of Revolutionists should
be directed.
While the Revolutionists of the bour
geoisie were directing their attacks
against the- government, - the popular
Revolutionists—those of whom history
has not preserved for us even the name
—the men of the people were preparing
their uprising, their Revolution by acts
of Revolt directed against the seigneurs,
the fiscal agents, the exploiters of every
stamp.
In 1788, when the approach of the 1
Revolution announced itself bv serious
outbreaks of the masses of the people,
the royalty and the bourgeoisie sought
to master it by a few concessions ; but
could one allay the popular wave by the
states general, by the Jesuitical conces
sions of the fdurth of August, or by the
miserable acts passed by t .e legislature ?
One allays thus a political outbreak, but
one does not get the better of a Revolt
of the people with so small a matter.
And the wave kept ever mounting
higher. But, in attacking property, it
at the same time disorganized the state,
it rendered all government absolutely
impossible, and the Revolt of the people,
directed against the seigneurs and the
rich in general, finished, as one knows,
at the end of four years, by sweeping
away royalty and absolutism.
This course is the coarse of all great
Revolutiops. It will be also the devel
opment and the course of the next Rev
olution, if that is to be —as we are per
suaded it will be—not a mere change of
government, but a true, popular Revolu
tion, a cataclysm which will transform
from top to bottom the regime of prop
erty. [
An Exception.
We learn that tnere is one factory in
America which respects the rights of
labor. It is the boot and shoe fact ory
of E. & A. H. Batchelor, of North Brook
field, Massachusetts. They employ
about 1,500 hands, and their monthly
pay amounts to $60,000. They oppose
convict labor and favor the system pay
ing labor weekly and in cash. They
have posted nntices in the factory pro
hibiting the employment of children
under twelve years old, and under six
teen years old during the schoil term.
They have bnilt a hall and made the
Knights of Labor in their employ a
present of it. They encourage co opera
tion, aud whenever differences arise be
tween them and their employes they
settle it by arbitration. —Morning J us
tice.
PRICE FIVE CENTS.
SUICIDAL.
Such is the Conduct of Those
Claiming to be
D. A. 24.
I 0
Their Duplicity the Result of Ig
norance and Contemptible
Cowardice.
Their Resolutions Not Representative
of ihe Principles and Objects
of the Order.
Editor Labor Enquirer.
The action tiken by District Assem
bly No. 24 with respect to the Anarch
ists on trial in Chicago smacks too mnch
of capitalistic sweetmeats, the already
pronounced judgment of the satanic
press and the one-sided decisions of the
judge who presides at the farce of try
ing them. Who gave District Assembly
-No. 24 the right to sit in judgment upon
men who are guilty of no other crime
than that of being honest in their con
victions and able to express them, far
seeing as to the consequences that will
surely befall us if we do not call a halt
in the downward marchiof destruction,
and who are fearless in uttering their
warnings.
It is downright folly, and shows la
mentable ignorance and a supercilious
sycophancy on the part of District As
sembly No. 24, to want to suppress ide.s.
Can ideas be suppressed 7 Can living,
burning questions be brushed away with
denunciatory resolutions ? Is District
Assembly No. 24 so stupid as not to
comprehend that the Anarchists are ad
vocating the rights of man, so blind as
not to see that they have been clearing
the way for the eyeless Samson, so big
oted as to not accord to others the same
right that they themselves enjoy ? Does
District Assembly No 24 want to place
itself on record as advocating the abol
ishment of free speech and a free press ?
It were better to leave the fild to its
own enemies, who are traversing it with
rapid strides. I suppose that next we
shall hear that Patrick Henry, Thomas
Paine, Jefferson, Franklin and the other
Revolutionary worthies, John Quincy
Adams, Wendell Phillips and others
were all a lot of fanatics and traitors.
Whose favor is District Assembly No.
24 currying? Whose wrath does it wish
to placate? Whose corns ia it afraid to
tread upon? Why does it not denounce
the men who advertised for “men of
grit” to kill innocent people in East St.
Louis? Why does it not demand that
those “men of grit” be put on trial?
Whv does it not demand that the mur
derers of Charles Stewart be broug ht to
justice? Why does it not condemn the
infamous order to “shoot low” given, I
believe, in Milwaukee? Why does it
not demand, in thunder tones, that jus
tice be dealt out to all those guilty of
shedding innocent blood? Why does It
not demand that the mask be torn off of
all those who are guilty of subverting
the remnant of our free institutions?
Wake up, District Assembly No. 24!
You are toadying to the enemy that ia
holding the fuse that will start a vol
cano going under your very feet. Do
you know the aims and objects of the
organization of which yon are a part?
The ultimate object of the Knights of
Labor is the abolishment of the wage
slavery. This is the sum and substance,
boiled down and condensed, of all their
declarations and principles. This plat
form affords the greatest latitude for dis
cussion as to the best ways and means
of accomplishing it possible. As high as
the canopy of heaven, and as broad as
the boundless sea, there is no question
bearing on this subject that may not be
broached, there is absolutely no limit to
the endings and turnings of the discus
sion that mav come up, as long as they
relate to the advancement of humanity.
Our cause is just and glorious. It is
the same for which our forefathers
fought 110 years ago when they pro
claimed to a corrupt and overhearing
government that even they, and not
only they, but all the human race, had
rights as well as '.heir oppressors.
While their degenerate offspring have
been glorifying the deeds of their ances
tors and neglecting the stern realities
and the pressing needs of their own
times, a few self-devoted and humanity
loving individuals have been sounding
the tocsin of alarm, and we are ruth
lessly awakened to the fact that while
we have been asleep another and more
monstrous, more powerful and more
dangerous, because mor3 insidious, tyr
anny has been forging the Chains with
which to enslave us; has created un
natural and unrighteous statutes and
enactments, under the guise of law, that
do not respect the rights of any man If
he is poor and a wageworker.
To-day, in too many instances, if the
laborer asserts any manhood, he is dis
charged, a black mark put opposite his
name, the news sent to every capitalistic
camp, and that man may tramp from
Maine to California and from Washing
ton territory to Florida, looking in vain
for employment; that is, if he is not ar
rested on the way and put on the chain
gang for the awful crime of looking for
| work whereby to earn enough to keep
the dame of life smouldering in his
body. If a man refuses the pittance of
fered him as wages, he is left to die of
j starvation. If a man doesn’t forswear
[Continued on fourth page.