Labor Unions and the Militia
By L. A. S.
A PROCEEDING of very ominous significance took place at the recent convention of the Illinois State Federation of Labor. By a unanimous vote of the convention, which was greeted with cheers, it was declared that no member of the federation should belong to the State militia. Membership in the latter organization was held to be in violation of the obligations of the labor union. “It was declared in the discussion,” a report says, “that the militia was organized and kept in readiness by capitalists to beat workingmen into submission, that it was used simply for the purposes of capital, and should be shunned by all friends of labor.” Similar action has, according to the New York Times, been taken by President Mulholland, of the International Association of Allied Metal Mechanics. He is reported to have urged the presidents and secretaries of affiliated local unions in Schenectady to require all members of their unions who are members of the State militia to withdraw from the militia, or resign from the union. Mr. Mulholland, in a letter to the Times, admits that he does not favor the connection of union labor with the militia. The local Trades Assembly of Syracuse is also reported as having expressed a similar sentiment. The significance of this new attitude on the part of organized labor is readily perceived. “This is a confession,” declares The Independent (N.Y.), “that these labor men wish violence to be unrestrained in the case of a strike; that they wish by violence to secure the objects of the strike.” “Are we to come to this, or have we already come to this,” the same journal inquires, “that organized labor will secure its purpose peaceably if it can, but violently if it must, by assault, arson, and murder? The declaration that the maintenance of law is hostile to labor, and that workmen must not join an organization that maintains the peace, means nothing less than this. The seriousness of this danger can hardly be exaggerated. It is of the essence of anarchism. We would warn the public against it. . . . Such language as was spoken, and such action as was taken, by the Illinois convention look to nothing less than civil war.” As viewed by The Outlook, another prominent journal, this attitude of the labor unions may result in the formation of a large standing army, and at least must tend to the elimination from the militia of all persons in sympathy with trades unionism. “If organized labor,” it says, “withdraws from the militia because it is summoned to protect persons and property in time of a strike, the militia will be recruited from portions of the community which are not in sympathy with organized labor. If it cannot be recruited by volunteers, men of property who value peace and order will raise the necessary amount of money to secure a paid force for the purpose. If such protection cannot be furnished by a militia, it will be furnished by a standing army. Whatever may happen, it will certainly be furnished. The action of those leaders who are urging members in the trades unions to withdraw from the militia or to refuse to join it in the future, if successful, can have no other effect than to provide the State with a militia which will be wholly out of sympathy with, if not actively hostile to, organized labor.” This action of the labor unions, while doubtless not intended to promote anarchy or to lead to civil war, must necessarily tend strongly in that direction. While the opinions we have quoted may have exaggerated the existing danger to some degree, it is nevertheless certain that this step by the labor unions marks a distinct drawing apart of organized labor from organized capital, and the widening of the gap representing the long-standing conflict between the two. It shows that the tendency is toward strife rather than toward peace; and we are reminded that peace is not the natural outcome of the working of the selfish principles and influences that control in the affairs of the world. Peace is a fruit of the Holy Spirit, and is assured only where the principles of the kingdom of God prevail. Where selfishness prevails, on the other hand, all things tend naturally to war and commotion. Strife is the natural condition of things in this fallen world, and never more so than in these last days, when the love of self has become so well-nigh universal. There is peace in the world, not because the things of the world tend to make peace, but because the winds of strife and commotion are held by the four angels standing in the four quarters of the earth. When these angels let go, as they will ere long, then these winds will blow upon the earth, and peace will be banished from it. To this time we are now pointed by these passing events. It behooves us therefore to use all diligence to improve the time of peace that remains.