The Evansville journal. [volume] (Evansville, Ind.) 1866-1870, 1867-05-09
Editors Journal:

taxes one over quite line OF distance
and gives, just now, very viviC
sense of a change of climate. AL
though our spring at Evansville hal
come with tardy steps and loitered OF
the way. the fields have long since pur
on vesture of thrifty, living green
and the. air, through all its lingering
chill, preserved that genial warmth
and sunshine which remind us of the
season through which we are passing
| enjoyed, especially, the sight o
the woods, already thickly arrayed in
their tender leaves of vernal beauty
interspersed with the blossoming pink
of the persimmon and white of the crab
apple, during the first part of the jour-
ney. As one advances northward, the
temperature grows perceptibly colder
and frequent supplies of fuel to the
stove are indispensable to comfort.
If you have calculated your clothing
by the temperature at starting, it will
not be strange if you upbraid your
self for want Of forethought.
The fields, as yet, present scarcely
more than an equal contest between
the new life of the year and the relics
of former vegetation and the trees,
to the casual glance, seem as bare as
in midwinter.
Chicago is. at present, in an uproar,
the cause of which will reach you
ere this through your kilograms. A
city like this is a great cauldron,
which requires but sudden fame to
set it seething. The particular one
in this instance is the Eight Hour
Labor Bill, which passed the Legis-
lature last Winter. Yesterday. the
first of May, it was to have gone into
effect. The attempt must have been
anything but gratifying to those-who
were its authors and abettors. The
employers, corporations, &C., stand
out, almost unanimously, against it.
The workingmen,e on the other hand,
are as united and determined In its
favor. And so the battle wages.
What the. issue. will be no one pre-
diets. All feel that the event is most
disastrous to the present, if not to
the future business interest of the
city. Hundreds, and thousands, for
what | know, of workmen are idle,
parading the streets All the large
establishments have been deserted.
At the depots, even, men have been
driven from their work, and whole
trains of freight remain filled for
want of help to empty them
In some instances, where persons
have been disposed to work, they have
been waited upon by delegations that
have forced them to desist. Many
have been roughly treated, or at
least badly frightened.
Herbert Spencer, it is, / think, who
tells US Of the tyranny of working
mems unions and popular strikes; /
that their despotism over each other
is often greater than the oppression
of which they complain. 1t is very
evident, be the merits of such an act
of legislation what they may under
other circumstances, that for city
like chicago to adopt such a system
while eighboring ones adhere to the
old one, is impracticable, and must in
every instance provoke such tumults
as we are witnessing. And yet, no
thoughtful person can fail to see in
all such movements tendency in the
direction of a more equitable division
of the profits between capital and la
Dor; tendency toward the elevation
of the latter; the recognition of the |
great fact, which the future shall
more thoroughly comprehend. that
the toll of the hands should be asso-
ciated with the means for knowledge.
intellectual culture and improve
ment.
Accompanying the strike have
been. within the past few
days. several quite destructive
fires, attended with some narrow es-
capes of life and melancholy disasters.
1t was reported this morning, Cros-
by's Opera House was going, but peo-
pie answered, 20! welIi Crosby
owns that, and he will save it." The
fire proved to be in the Merchants
Hotel, the next building adjoining.
1t had recently been fitted up, and |
passed into the. management of new
and was among the best
kept and furnished of the city. A !
Ere at night is especially unfortunate,
1t seems all the more so when |
it is "a building filed, as !
in this instance, with sleeping
inmates. The fire originated in the |
lower part of the house, and rushed |
upward with rapid and increasing fu- !
~, until it had filed the apartments
of those above with heat and smoke, /
before aware of, their danger The |
fright, as may we'll be imagined, must |
have been terrible. Some escaping |
with but their night dresses, were let
down by the aid of ladders and other
devices on the outside. One OF two
were swung, holding on to rope
from the top of a building
from one window to that Of another
in the hnnsa One NOR faIln,u M. ]