The Cry of the Middle Class: Hagop Bogigian, 2 June 1914

Is it not time for our thinking men and women and influential newspapers and magazines to take up the cause of the middle class and work for the interest of those who are the greatest sufferers and the greatest in number? We, who form the middle class, have done no injury to the country. We have used no dynamite to blow up buildings, bridges, and railways. We have not taken up arms against the State and Federal authorities. We have not intimidated the President, Governors, and Legislators, or men in authority. If it were not for ninety-eight percent of the population, what would the union labor do for their living? The present Administration and Congress have gone mad on the labor question, as if that was all that was expected of them.

Prompted by a variety of catalysts, including the monopolization of commercial markets, unethical commercial-pricing strategies, consumer protection, and employee protection, in October 1914, the Clayton Antitrust Act was passed. Its passing restricted the use of the injunction against labor, and it legalized peaceful strikes, picketing, and boycotts. It declared that “the labor of a human being is not a commodity or article of commerce.”

Hagop Bogigian, Boston, Mass., June 2, 1914.

“Those who forget history are destined to repeat it.” George Santayana

Bill Milhomme, Foxboro, MA 02035