MINING JOURNAL.
FROSTBURG. MD., APRIL 22, 1382.
The oration of Judge Black at the
“Grattan 0 utenory,' held in Balti
more Tuesday evening, was full of
pithy points touch'r.g the rights of
labor. One thought applies with
groat force just now to the proposal
to change our population under cer
tain contingencies—to force the peo
ple to labor at a given price or leav.
and, if necessary, to employ the civil
power to carry out the coercive pro
gramme; this failing, to call the mili
tary arm in requisition. Judge Black
says;
You may say wlwt you will about Hi
■acred right of properly—nobody believes
it more devoutly than I do. Couccdi
that these landlords Imve a title winch
cannot now be questioned. Assume lb
an owner of property may rent it on the
hardest terms hoc ill exact—still the ex
istence of that gigantic monopoly, clothed
with the privilege ol desolating a country
and starring the industry ol a people,
is the saddest fact iu the history ol the
human race.
This is almcst precisely our argu
ment cf last week—concede the
power; but deny the moral right ol
monopolies to use law as an engine ol
coercion.
Judge Blackplid not, however, un
like another speaker at the same
meeting, advocate American inter
ference in Irish troubles. Ho appeal
ed rather to that innatejuslice which
pervades and animates civilized man
kind to condemn oppression of labor
in whatever summary way it is ex
erted.
