326 ROBERT H. THURSTON 



liberty of the citizen in these respects constitute "a conspiracy 

 at common law/' and should be punished as such. The " boy- 

 cott" is condemned as "tyranny, pure and simple, and, as 

 such, hateful/' The claim that the conditions affecting a 

 strike are those of "war" between the parties to the dispute 

 was made, but this is denied by the commission. "There is 

 only one war making power, and that is the government. 

 War between citizens is not to be tolerated, and cannot, in 

 the proper sense, exist ; it is unlawful, and it is to be put down 

 by the sovereign power of the state and the nation." The 

 "black-list" is condemned with the "boycott." Both are 

 cruel and cowardly. Finally, "it is adjudged and awarded 

 that no person shall be refused employment or in any way dis- 

 criminated against on account of membership or of non-mem- 

 bership in any labor organization." 



The future of labor organizations, during the period of 

 strife and excitement of the Pennsylvania anthracite miners' 

 strike, seemed to many onlookers extremely uncertain. It 

 appeared as at least a possibility that but one of two develop- 

 ments could occur, — either the labor unions would succeed 

 in mastering the whole organization of the industries and 

 would bring about chaos by depriving it of its generalship by 

 talent evolved by experience and proved ability from the 

 midst of the whole body of citizens ; or a worse chaos, anarchy, 

 would be caused by the destruction of the body politic and 

 the provocation of strife without control of law, and with the 

 result of destroying law and order and all safety of property 

 for an indefinite period. On the other hand, should the 

 unions lose in the great contest, it was feared by many good 

 citizens that it would be impossible for the employees to secure 

 even a fair share of the product of their part of the wealth pro- 

 duced by "the triple partnership, labor, capital, and ability," 

 and that, consequently, the country and the world would be 

 checked, if not turned back, in the path of progress. The out- 

 come of this particularly threatening and injurious contest, 

 however, while revealing the fact that such struggles are liable 

 sometimes to cover so large an extent of territory, to affect 

 so large a fraction of the industrial system, and to involve 

 such important industries as to produce most costly and dan- 



