The workingman's advocate. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1864-1877, 1869-10-09
PHILADELPHIA, OCT. 9, 1869.
o. BEN T., REPoaFsR

tTBE CRY CAR ENPLOYEs.-To the grievances
Of this class Of workers we have In these col
pms more than once adverted, and we propose
a this time to devote some little sdditions
ctnsidera Ton to the subject We are sadly
aFare, that before we can expect anything like
aFsdical reformation in this, or any other de-
PERTINENT of labor, total change Of our funda-
mental financial system must be effected. In
tl4e interim, we must needs be content to allie
vfte, trusting to time, for that reformation,
which though tardy, is inevitable. We have
lIhg been of the Opt on, that a protective or
gknization, including all employees of city car
ctmpanies, and to the deliberations Of which,
oEeers and stockholders Of companies should
nit be excluded, is a cardinal pre- requisite to
tAe attainment Of The end we aim at. We do
MT mean that the birth Of protective orgsni-
zitiOn, will eff, CO an immediate and entire ces-
sttion of their grievances, but that, until some
SIGH combination is effected, no proposition for
tleir solution can ever receive proper and in
tflligent consideration. The companies are just
nkw being subjected to a cross fire, the riding
Public in search of reduced fares, having at
licked them upon one q .nk and their employees,
III q laudable effort for increased compensation,
TDon the other. The contest being of such an
ibpOrtant nature, has found its way into the
IkIblic prints, and out Of it has emaEated sharp
Een and ink controversy, between prominent
fOck holder and the editor of q spicy little daily,
1hich though partisan, has more than once
ficited well merited compliment at our hands.
The profits of the company is the burden of the
controversy the stOchOlder setting them down
Il certain figure, and his opponent basing his
calculations upon the annual reports Of the bust
tess OF the several companies, Als in the
uditor Generals Office, alleging that they are
9urposely underestimated, and from this assump-
kOn, is adduced an argument ia favor of reduced
ares. Nov, while we might take the same f.
aures, and from them weave an incontrovertible
bray of evidence in support of our belief, that
hallway employees are inequitaby compensated,
he propose to concede that the companies can
To-: without an increase of profits, afford in ino
rease Of ply, and still claim, that a very large
hcreasc or profits would be tie legitimate Sc
uence of UGH an organization as We have indi-
lated. To insure such beneficial result, it is
bf course necessary, that the foundation Of the
organization should be of carefully selected ma
erial and judiciously laid. That it may not
bear the faint Of a trades union, against
which organization much i'll merited prejudice
iseems to exist, let II be beneficial organiza-
zion, vested with the guardianship OF its sick,
bud INDECENT Let the initiatory obligation be 50
,constructed, that a member will be morally
bound to deal eouitsbly BY his employers, with
out proviso Of any kind, and let it be the prima
~ duty Of the organization to see that employ
ers deal equitably by its members. None Others
than those who have witnessed and experienced
the wonderfully benefcent results of we'll d.
rected combination, can form an adequate con-
ception Of them, and we feel free TO say that
the formation of Railway Employers PrOtec-
tive and Beneficial Association, viii be the
herald:ng of an era Of satisfaction to all con
eerneG Initiated manhood, and necessitou!
circumstances, will then cease to be the only
lHNNullNts " dppAtSoSiOh Aoi oNSA PSSANAN'1 ~-~
wien capable and honest men are once iugrati
ated into the mysteries of horse-car conductors
there will be inducement for them to remain
Nultitudinous are the contrivances that have
been devised to prevent the possibility Of Pecu
ating upon city cars, and while none OF then
have availed, it is patent that the better class
of conductors, unable to continue under s0eh
an humiliatng surveillance, nave sought and &C
cepted other situations, even less remunerative,
with the greatest esgerness, giving place to
class who are content to wear the livery OF thu
thief One road compels its conductors to wea
register, resembling a cartridge box, strapped
over that portion of the anatomy supposed e
cover the dernier, IA something by the way tina
il not included in the conductors everyday ex-
perience, cold snscks at unreasonable Intervals
and eaten with baIbarous haste, suficing tc
keen him IN a condition TO labor) The registe
is provided with a dial plate, on which the con
duetUr, on receiving fare, by ringing gong Il
, the contrivarce, registers one. A plac I'd con
tanning the word thief, in The boldest Of letters
could not be more suggestive. The appearance
! pf the iipeds who wear them, is sufficiently IN
\ dicative of the utter absurdity Of employing an
such continuance as safeguards for the face
generally pretty accurate index to the char
\ acter. and the vissges of these men exhibit
callousness to the ignominy of their situations
/ that We venture to assert falls heavily upon th
receipts Of their employer A less Objectionabl
hut perhaps equally unsafe safeguard 81, is tn
svstem Of the employment Of dainty young mel
with a holy horror OF honorable employment, o
elderly virgins in search Of filthy lucre, TO rel
venate their fast decaying forms And feature
a. snies. who ride on the cars, cOur Z the pa
saD0ers. and render reports to hei 'dquarteI
Il Is natural to suppose that these indIvidu'
sunplv passengers from their i'm agination
o,herwise it occurring that the e1pe' use OF the
hire. being greater than the loss 10 ey are e'
Moved to avert, the advisability % their eU
nloyment cease, and they are forced 70 the %
agreeable necessity Of seeking N Velihood
some other quarter, and hard work being
ahomipatiou in the eyes Of these wo' rthies, IN
do not hermit the truth to become apparer
except il be without their power to prove