, 1870-01-07
FRIDAY, JANUARY I, Z 1870.


We desire to do justice to the telegraph
operators who hare recently thrown them
selves out Of employment N 8 quixotic .at.
tempt to right the supposed wrongs t,f two
Of their number in California, in advance Of
ii full bearing Of the case. To charge The
press with being subsidized or controlled
l;y the telegraph company, as some Of the
operators do, will not help the public to an
understanding Of the real facts Of the con.
tro4e1sy. We Lnve published heir side OF
tie case as fully as the other, and shall con-
ttnue to do SO. The telegraph company, if
they re wise, will not seek to exercise any
influence over the press in th.s matter.
Our seven full columns of teleeraphic
Hews published yesterday, and brought to
US irora all paris Of the country, over tho
wires of the Western Union COMPANY.
n'7st impress the operators with the con-
v'ctlon thAt th=ir services are not indispen-
satle to their recent employers. II the
n'eht dispatches to the press come through
thus fully ind accurately, there will prob
1bIy he little obstruction to the CONNER
c'al nnd personal messages which are sent
mainly during the business hours of the
Gay. As this work is done mainly with the
Few nen. after the strike of the Operators
Protective League has spent It's force. It is
hardly doubtful that the strike will ba
Esther help thnn tinirauce to the COM
pany. It enables them to redace their
force, End, if they desire, the salaries paid,
without the charge Of harshress, at a time
when the general depression in business.
SID the Increasing value OF the currency,
would have rendered such changes 6esira
ble+ Ihe Superintendent in San Francisco
feeus to have deemed 1t proper to reduce
the salaries Of two Of his employees by S.
each PEI month, making their pay 51l5
ench instead Of $40; at tho same time
raisirg tue salary Of another from 500 to
S12o. TIE change increased instead Of di-
1uinishinR ths aggregate payroll of the
company. TEe1euFon the San francisco
operators nat, sgreed upon scale Of sala-
RIGS, end united in n petition TO the Super
lnsendent to employ them on those salaries,
all of which, 70 fer IS any changes we're
made, were higher than those previous
" paid. The Superintendent rs-
ceded from one Of his proposed
reductions, ac:eded to eeveral
OF The advances proposed By the operators,
but discharged two Of them to reduce his
force, which wns larger than was needed.
He also discharged one who refused to 20
to work, notwithstanding his salary had
bsen advanced, though not to the point he
0hsd It is against these three discharges, |
0f4knly juHhdable, that thirty-five hun
drcd young men and q few young women |
IN various parts If the country, at the bid
ding Ct certain Secretary, have voluntarily !
thrown themselves out OF employment. No
instance could more forcibly illustrate how
much more despotic and disastrous the
control Of trades-union over labor usy
be than that Of IN employer possibly can
be- The San Francisco Superintendent
lid BIT, discharge three persons, all for a
cause which seemed justifable. But the
Protective League, II it is called, discharged
}, 500 for no cause. AL whom it had the
power to control it has injured. For there
s no injury more palpabls aud perfect
thsn that which either creates unjustiiatle
nsubordination in employ ment or deprives
II employment altogether. The Telegraph
.rs' League has done hoib. SupposinR tAa
average wages Of ths eatire 4, 800 discharged
'perators to squs1 those of the three
discharged in San Francisco, say $3.50 per
month, and the lofs to the strikers is at the
nte oi $i20. 600 per month until they find
,ther employment. The decentralization
md danger Of being both ont Of employ
nent and ont Of money, arc Of more mo-
nent than the mere mousy lost Many
# these oprsatora, after learning one pro-
ession, will find themselves forced into
ome other, and yesrs OF valuable life will
'e lost in the chnnge. The talk
bout loyalty to the Protective League,
hat car Of Jugeernaut which is riding over
seir necks and crushing them, and their
mutual e1hortations to 'stand firm" are
'eEy sad to hear. The gist Of the matter
8. that for their Interference in matter Of
Fhich they really knew nothing, or knew
'r'y iuperfectly, and for attempting to
control tie policy Of company whose
took they did not OWL, and in whose
they had no Official position,
hey have thrown away their mems Of iv-
ng, and turned themselves ont Of work in
LID winter. Their 1iyht to strike nobody
xill doubt or question. They have right
o s'riko with cause, or without cause.
But, when they appeal to public opinion,
hey must trresent case TINT will command
public respect and sympathy. They have
apt presented such q case yet.