New-York tribune., 1877-07-26
PUTTING UOWN IHEL4W BREARFpS

Every hour the great inslrIect0n becomes
more clearly COmmuniStic. At Louisville
mob sacked important streets. At Chicago,
thousands of workmen were induced to strike
in manufacturing establishments. AT st. Louis
the Internationals he'd a revolutionary meeting,
and paradcd tho streets shouting the Marsei
eaise New York contributes to the madness
of the hour by public meeting of Communists,
at which speeches were cheeled which should
hsyo sent the speakers to tho luEatic asylum.
The blockade Of commerce remains unbroken.
No man can guess how long it may last, for
no effort thus far has been made with clear
headed purpose to set the railroad free from
insurrectionary violence. except the arrest of
Donahue and some other leaders upon COM
plant by the Erie. Mere dispersion OF mobs
settles nothing. In some quarters there is great
anxiety t. distinguish between the torcIble
stoppage OF trains and the rict and rapine
which have disgraced some cities. The dis
tinction does not exist in morals or in law.
The man who robs a car, fires q depot or
shoots a policeman, ls not more clearly in re-
belioE against all law and all civilized society
thar the man who drags a new fireman from
a train, OF threatens the lie OF an engineer, or
clety anu law, and ought to be captured tried
and convicted or if arrest Is resisted, shot on
the spot The rebellion continues, unabated
and unbroken, because this form Of resistance
the forcible stOppage of trains everywhere
continues. Every man engaged in that work,
otherwise than by quiet and peaceabe refusal
to work himself, is a criminal, who ought to be
hunted down and punished.
Probably it would be good for the coTHtry,
though bad for individuals, If all trails on
roads held by the insurgents could be abso-
lutely stopped for month. Shops would be
closed, work would stop, coal and food would
rise. starvation would teach the terrible
but Necessary lesson that Capital, required for
the mere comforts and conveniences of others,
is necessary to the very existence of the work
ing class War against Capital, for them, is
war against their means Of escaping starva-
ton. The sooner the working people of the
United States learn this lesson, though it be
by much suffering, the better for them and
for the country. The railways have legal
right to stop all operations until the Govern
ment suppresses insuITection and restores or
der. 1t is not their business to enforce The
laws Whenever the Government protects
their property, suppresse5 interference with
their tracks and trains shoots those rioters
who cannot be brought before courts, and
ends tins instruction, it will be the duty of
railroads to bring necessary materials to the
factories, food to the hungry, and life to COM
merce As long as society tOlerates rebel
lion, the railroads held by strikers are not
bound to move single wheel.
For the sake of the poor, who do not know
what calamities are near, and for the sake of
free government among men, our Government
must quickly assert Its power. Can 1t be said
that form of government is fit to exist which
leaves forty-five millions of people at the mercy
of few thousand law-breakersf How long
would Great Britain suffer the railways out of
London to be blocked by forcible stOppage Of
trainsi Not an hour; and, if at all, at a
cost of one hundred coTpses a minute. If
our Government cannot also protect the
peace, order and property Of society, the in
iury 10 Republican institutions all over the world
will be incalculable. To mako it plain that
self government does not mean nO-government,
or mob government, there must.be not only
starting of trains, but punishment of offenders.
The leaders in this insurrection, at every point
and On every railway, ought to be pursued and