"You will be ordered out to-morrow or next day, and you say you will
obey the order. You have an undoubted right to do so. A man is not a
slave, to be made to work against his will; but, on the other hand, is
he not a slave if he is forced to quit against his will? Freedom of
action in personal matters is a right which wise men have fought for and
for which wise men will always fight. Do you find it in the union? What
shall I do when you quit work? How long are you going to stay out? What
will become of my interests while you are following the lead of your
bell-wethers? Shall my work stop because you have been called out for a
holiday? Shall the weeds grow over these walls and my lumber rot while
you sit idly by? Not by a long sight! You have a perfect right to quit
work, and I have a perfect right to continue.
"The rights which we claim for ourselves we must grant to others. One
man certainly has as defensible a right to work as another man has to be
idle. In the legitimate exercise of personal freedom there is no effort
at coercion, and in this case there shall be none.
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