p. 5 | Note and Comment

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Washington, D. C. · Jul 21, 1904

Note and Comment

THE Washington Times is of the opinion that the battle that has been fought out between employer and employee in Colorado, will sooner or later be repeated in other States, though it believes the deplorable results seen in Colorado need not follow elsewhere if the right weapon is used to settle the contest. It says:—

No intelligent student of public affairs can question that the conflict waged in Colorado between organized employers and organized employees is a conflict that must be waged in some form or other in all parts of the country. Shutting one's eyes to this fact will not destroy the fact. The great question is: Shall the weapon of the rebellion be the ballot or Colt .45s?

Unfortunately the experience of more than one community affords ample proof that the ballot can not always be relied on as a peaceable means of securing justice. Justice is often defeated by the ballot, and the will of the people registered by the ballot is often defeated by the unscrupulous use of money. This was only recently demonstrated in Colorado, where the union miners, relying upon the power of the ballot, secured the enactment of an eight-hour law, and afterward a constitutional amendment to make the law effective, but still were unable to secure what the popular will, registered by the ballot, had decreed. It is to be feared that the labor unions are coming to distrust the efficacy of the ballot as a means of securing their ends, and may feel driven to resort to less peaceable agencies. A resort to arms will inevitably come when once it is settled in this country that the ballot can not compete with wealth in the control of public affairs.