Labor Unrest Over Miners’ Arrests
THERE can be no doubt that the sentiment expressed by socialist and labor organizations in this country regarding the arrest of the president and secretary of the Western Federation of Miners, represents a condition of affairs which may lead to very serious trouble. There is a wide-spread and powerful sentiment in favor of rebellion against the authority under which that action was taken. Pres. Samuel Gompers of the American Federation of Labor is quoted as saying:— The entire proceedings in this case thus far have been characterized by such high-handed outrages against the rights and guarantees of statute law, the Constitution, and the Bill of Rights, that no self-respecting citizen who loves his country and its institutions, who loves justice, and has a decent regard for the safeguards in defense of the rights of man, can remain indifferent. The whole procedure is repugnant to the Anglo-Saxon conception of human justice. This view is no doubt indorsed very largely by the powerful labor organization of which Mr. Gompers is the head. The Western Federation of Miners of course regard the arrest of their president and secretary on a charge of murder, in a no more favorable light. The Socialists, if Mr. Debs speaks for them, favor open resistance. The Socialists and labor unions who view the arrest of these officials of the Western Federation of Miners as a high-handed outrage contrary to fundamental provisions of American law, and as done at the dictation of plutocratic power which cares nothing for constitutional provisions or for the rights of the people, constitute a force capable of very seriously disturbing the equilibrium of civil government, even to the extent of civil war. Will future events bring harmony between this force and the government?