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Show I DANGER AHEAD, t . - I ' Such is the title of an article by Lyman ! Abbot in the Century for November. We I K ' think the discussion of the causes of the i " danger, ahead superior to the remedies j ;' suggested, although to foresee a danger is ' far easier than to suggest the means for j meeting it. The remedy suggested is j - co-oieration among the working classes, ! ' although the manner in which it is ad- i ; vocated leads to state socialism. Some- j ; thing must lie done ; what to do is the grave question. Labor strikes and riots may be repressed, but as Mr. j ; Abbot says, "'Repression is not remedy." i :' The accounts of the labor troubles in S -i..i.. i : 4i,: : . : i ! - before the public mind, and while strikes I ; lead to many excesses and the violation ) of rights and the destruction of property, j still there is an underbying cause for it j all. The causes are nowhere bet- ter set forth than in the article referred to. Co-operation may avert j manj' dangers, but not all. Take, j ; for instance, the present strike in I . Galveston. The executive committee of the Knights of Labor have made this I , announcement through their organ: I , "You cannot starve in submission. The I whole city is 6tored with groceries, and I the first law of nature is self-preservation, f i Be warned in time" Such an announce- ment is a preliminary to pillage, and I what pillage means, all know. If self-preservation self-preservation is the first law of nature, it 1 is the first law of nature with one class as ' much as with another. It isthe doctrine of brute force applied to the remedy of so- ; cial evils. When the honest workingman . cries aloud in his anguish that "self- - preservation is the first law of nature," I the world feels a sympathy for him ; but I ; ; his cry of despair is taken up by the crimi- S j nal class as a watchword, and herein lies ' , ' the danger. The criminal class in the ; larger cities is very numerous, and seizes : j upon any pretext whereby it may create social disturbances, and in the disturb- ances so created indulge the natural love ; 1 for pillage and crime. Men who are not ' j of the criminal class but upon whom are I depending a wife and children, in times of depression, with work ? scarce and wages low, become 'j desjerate, and their desperation leads I ' them to commit crime, but not with It criminal intent. The criminal class always associates itself with strikes and such things in the hope that an opportunity for the commission of crime will offer it- j f self. ery often, in fact most of the i ; I time, the men who lead' labor organiza- . I tions are of the very class to whom work : J of any kind is most hateful, and who prey upon the . cupidity of the workingmen for their livelihood. The discovery that the dynamite out- !! rages in St. Louis were the work of the i Knights of Labor proves this fact. It I was strenuously denied at first, but finally the men themselves acknowledged . : that it was their work. If such out- : c ! rages receive the sanction of the Knights s of Labor organization, then the organiza tion is for the perpatration of crime, if I crime alone can accomplish the object I sought. These tilings are among the greatest , j dangers ahead; and if secret organiza- tions seek to accomplish any object by j crime, no matter how worthy the object, those who may become dissatisfied with t the organization, will, in all probability, 1 resort to the methods of the organization for .the very purpose -of righting a wrong it may have committed. Once I inculcate the doctrine that social ; j wrongs are to be righted by I the commission of crime, and . commission ol crime will be the ? f ' means used for redressing all wrongs, jffji real or fancied, public or private. Such M a method is the introduction of an- I ij archy. ! Labor and capital are inter-dependent, and capitalists and laborers should real-l real-l ize this fact; and realizing it, they should endeavor to harmonize their rela-. rela-. tions and encourage . mutual confidence and mutual concession. What the remedies for the danger ahead are no one can say, but they are not in j. strikes ; neither are they in the "use of i j, troops. A thorough study of the ques- f ' I tion by all will lead to a better under- ; f standing between what are now hostile I forces; and with a better understanding, j !i the chances for discovering the remedy ' ; will be greatly improved. |