The Donaldsonville chief. [volume] (Donaldsonville, La.) 1871-current, 1877-08-04
A Drawn Battle.
IN. O. Times.]

Between labor and capital the bat
tie NAV be said to be a drawn one. 1t
is true the strike is practically over
that the trains are again moving and
that the railway companies are gath
ering together and sorting out the
debris of their shattered properties,
but no one can point out where the
riot has been crushed i'll any signal
and conspicuous manner, or show the
least incident calculated to impress
the country with the majesty of the
law or the power of the government.
The cessation Of hostilities on the
part of the strikers has more the air
of a strategic maneuver than of an
enforced submission. 1t is as though
some prudent general, seeing his
front invested with undue peril, had
suspended active operations for the
time being and withdrawn to an in
accessible retreat until more favora-
BILE conditions should invite to renew
the battle. The strikers see that they
can only maintain the struggle now
under serious disadvantages, and
they consequently relinquish 1T but
there is nothing in the fact or circum-
stances to give any prestige to the
authorities or to forbid the idea of Il
revival of the strike on some future
occasion.
AS between labor and capital, it is
well that the battle is drawn. There
should be no decisive victory in the
case. 1t would he as disastrous to all
the common interests of the country
for labor to be subjUgated by capital
as for capital to be ruled by labor.
| Every consideration of general wei
fare and prosperity require that there
| be no absolute supremacy on either
side. But that there should have
been an inconclusive issue between
| lawless violence, rapine and blood
shed on one side, and the law of the
land on the other, is indeed a lamen-
table event. That it should be proven
possible for an irresponsible mob to
arrest the commerce and travel and
intercommunication of the whole
country for more than q week, to
shoot down scores of men acting I'M
der the authority of the law, to de-
stroy millions OF property and gener-
ally to defy the majesty and force OF
the government, is a contamination
to be deplored by all good citizens.
The teaching Of this episode is only
that our institutions are not adapted
to such an outbreak as the None just
now subsiding. The impression left
upon the popular mind is that the au-
thorities have proved conspicuously
feeble and inadequate. The strike is
over, as has been said, but it seems
to have subsidized from exhaustion
rather than from any strong and
mastelful assertion of the law. In the
hour of its fury and in the full tide OF
its increases it cast down and crushed
the law and with wholesale blood and
devastation defied society and gov.
eminent. The lesson taught has not
been one of respect for The authori-
ties and institutions of the land
Neither the Federal nor the State
Government has made itself felt in q
manner calculated to give people a
/ sense of safety and satisfaction
There is perhaps not single one OF
the now disbanded strikers but feels
that it is perfectly practicable to re-
peat the tragedy just terminated, and
next time, profiting by this expert
ence, on Il still larger scale and with
redoubled effect.