THE RIGHT TO WORK

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Aug 10, 1904

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 30, No. 32.

THE RIGHT TO WORK.

[We print the following from the New York World under the above heading, not for its politics, but for its principles, which should be held above all politics].

AFTER recounting that the rights of labor are no less “vested,” no less “sacred,” and no less “unalienable,” than the rights of capital, the Democratic national platform makes this statement of principle:—

Constitutional guarantees are violated whenever any citizen is denied the right to labor, acquire, and enjoy property, or reside where interests or inclination may determine. Any denial thereof by individuals, organizations, or governments should be summarily rebuked and punished.

This is a statement of indisputable fact which is said to have been inserted into the platform as a protest against the outrageous methods of the Colorado militia, and the Citizens’ Alliance, in deporting members of the Miners’ Union.

It applies with no less force, however, to the non-union employees of the packing houses than to the striking miners of Colorado.

The right to work is vested, sacred, and unalienable. Constitutional guarantees are violated whenever this right is denied or restricted.

Both Chicago and New York are governed by Democratic administrations, to whose consideration this plank in the national platform is respectfully commended.

Already the strikers and their sympathizers in Chicago have begun to attack non-union men who are peaceably exercising their constitutional right to labor. Already the cry has been raised, “Lynch the scabs!” Already blood has been shed, and the strikers are preparing to use further force in resisting the employment of non-union men.

Neither Mayor Harrison of Chicago nor Mayor McClellan of New York can render a greater service to his party or to law and order than by protecting the constitutional right to labor. If it is necessary to call out every policeman in two great capitals and every guardsman in two great states, not an instant’s hesitation should be shown in exerting all legal powers to uphold those constitutional guarantees which, in the words of a great political party, are “violated whenever any citizen is denied the right to labor,” whether it be union labor in Colorado or non-union labor elsewhere.