Democratic Sentinel, Volume 1, Number 36, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 19 October 1877 — NO GREAT STANDING ARMY. [ARTICLE]

NO GREAT STANDING ARMY.

This Country Will Never be Governed by Military Power. [Judge Black’s Letter to the Editor of the Pittsburgh Post.] James P. Babb, Esq. : My Dear Sir — It is quite out of the question, with my present engagements, to write fully on the labor question, or even to give, as requested, a few thoughts which arise from a superficial look at the situation. I have barely run over the article of Col. Scott, which is characterized by his remarkable ability as a practical man. He means business, no doubt. I should like much to hear from Mr. Gowen. He has all of Scott’s fidelity to the interests of the corporation he leads, is his equal in energy and force of character, while he looks through all human dealings with a more learned spirit. Besides, there are others who ought to enlighten the public mind. Have you read the article entitled “Fair Wages,” by a “Striker,” in the last number of the North American Review ? He makes some suggestions that ought to be considered and thought of before they are altogether rejected. Of course I have no conception who the writer is, but, judging by ins production, I expect to see him a power. It cannot be necessary to tell you or any other sensible man that this country will never consent to be governed by a standing army until the people make up their nunds to abandon republican institutions utterly, and submit without murmuring to an absolute despotism. The enemies of liberty on both sides of the water have offered many excuses for maintaining large armies in time of peace, but never anything so weak as that they set up now. Hundreds of thousands of laborers find themselves unable to protect themselves and their families from starvation, and they become turbulent, as every other people has done under the same circumstances. To maintain a standing army for the purpose of keeping them in order is the worst remedy that could be devised for the evil. This reduces the workingman to a state of mere slavery, where the bullet and the bayonet of the soldier come in place of the overseer’s lash. If they submit they will be fit instruments to make slaves of us all. If they resist, civil war will become the chronic condition of the country. The United States has no right to intermeddle with this business except in certain contingencies, well defined and carefully provided for in the constitution. The old excuse that these limits ought to be disregarded because they confine the powers of certain persons within limits inconveniently narrow, is not one which ought to find acceptance in the judgment of a free people. But if the General Government must settle the controversies between the railroad corporations and their laborers, let its interference take any shape but that of a standing army; for that would be not only cruel and dangerous, but the most expensive that could be adopted. I believe none of these corporations think that less than a hundred thousand men would serve their purpose ; and that is a gross miscalculation, for three times the number would hardly be sufficient. It would be much better, easier, and cheaper to take out of the Federal treasury as much money as will pay the railroad employes fair wages and let the corporations have the fruits of their labor as clear gain. Of course, I don’t say that we ought to be taxed to free the railroad companies from the burden of paying for the labor they employ, so that they may increase their profits or be saved from losses, but we had better do that than worse. Yours truly, J. S. Black.