Millheim Journal. [volume] (Millheim, Pa.) 1876-1984, 1877-08-09
THE PENALTY OF LAWLESSNESS
From the Philadelphia Times.

to the PlttSburg people and would
Call forth much more genial respon-
seS from the Plttsburg press, II
TIE TINES would say that the de-
struction of millions OF property in
that city by lawlessness, and the
consequent spread of anarchy
throughout the land, was the woIk
0 I !, maddened mob; but it is not
the truth, and 1t cannot be said with
out injustice to every community
where order is priced and peace
maintained.
The destruction of some millions
of property, the terrible disorder
that has blotted the history Of that
people, and the dangerous unrest
that yet prevails among all classes in
Pittsburg, are chargeable to the
more Intelligent classes, who have
never dreamed that they were piling
up such day of wrath upon them
selves. The mob was the creation
of the vicious public sentiment of
Pittsburg that has been practically
teaching the doctrine that corpora
tious have no rights which aDyciti-
zen is bound to respect, and when
the railroad men struck for. wages
greatly in excess of what the people
of Pittsburg pay to their laborers,
and precipitated the strike at once
into the lawless detent ion of trains
on the great highway of the State,
there seemed to be Int one express
sion from the commu nifty, and that
was of positive sympathy with an
archy. OF all the PittSburg journals
but one--the EteHiHg Iclcpdph-
had the respect for law and the cour-
age to tell the truth, and no voice
was heard from the citeZins that did
not cheer the mob in the work of
desolation. OF course, it was not
intended by the Pittsburg press and
people that that there should be
scores of killed and wounded, that
several millions of property should
be destroyed for which they must
pay, and that stores and homes
should be gutted; but they gave
every possible expression of encour-
agement to the mob while it was
rushing headlong to gather its logic
al harvest of desolation and death,
and they recoiled only when flame
and spoliation threatened their own
property.
The courts in the administration
of the laws will adjudge the rioters
as the guilty parties, but the enlight-
ened public opinion of the country
and of the world will hold the peo-
pie who, by their intelligence and
position, mould the sentiment of
the community, as the responsible
authors OF the lawlessness that has
made Pittsburg memorable in the
annals of social disorder. Our
great Commonwealth, with four
millions Of law abiding people, can
yield no tolerance, much less APPROX
dl, for the blistering records just
written by the second city OF The
State; and it will be many years be-
fore capital vii. entertain Pittsburg
as among the fields where it can
venture with the hope Of protection
and profit.
Such is the inexorable penalty
for the past; and whether Pittsburg
shall ever recover from the suicidal
blow just inflicted upon herself, de-
pends upon her own people. They
must teach law and order, regardless
of prejudice, instead of sowing the
dragons teeth of the Commune, and
they must have a fearless and law
loving press if they would command
the respect and trust of their fellows.
They have sim ed against law and
light and reason, and now they must
pay and suffer. Its needless to at
tempt to explain or to criminate
others. The plain facts are clear
above all the clouds of dispute and
doubt, that public opinion inspired
and justified the mob; that the local
| military was faithlPss to its duty in
obedience to the higher law enacted
by the overwhelming sentiment of
the people, and that anarchy, desc
latiOn and death came that men
might reap as they had streWn. 1t
is a hard lesson; it has cost Pitts
burg and the country scores Of
millions of dollars, and there can be
no ray of hope visible in the mid
night darkness that overshadows the
Smoke City, until her people resolve
as one man that law and justice shalI
henceforth be enthroned on the pros
trate alter of lawleSsness and shame.