Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1877-09-26
THE LATE ENTERTAINERS.
The American Railway Riots Regar led
in n Very Serious Light By a Leading
French Organ.

The American Railway Riots Kegar LED
in n Very Serious Light By Leading
French Organ.
The late railway strikes in the United
States are considered by the Paris Jour
nal DIES Debats as indicate &c of an extreme
" advanced phase of Reorganization,
and likely 10 produce effects which will
leave their trace for considerable
period The following are some passages
from its article on the subject:
1t is not only the material lpss of capt.
tai which is to be regretted; the New
York Journal Of Commerce, however, cal
culates at $26,O00000 the damage sus-
tanned by five of the principle lines. At
present the companies are suing the
counties and states to recover compen-
sation for the prejudice they have ex-
perienced from riots which the local
powers ought to have repressed. The
county of Allegheny alone, IN which the
town of Pittsburg is situated, Is asked
for 81 100000, us it was already IN an
unfavorable financial position, it Is not
likely to pay 1t turns to the state OF
Pensylvan a, askings he latter to guaran-
tee the debt, but the request is refused.
The material losses are, in such cases,
the smallest part of the injury; what
has n greater and more durable import
ance, is the connection, industrial,
political, and social, which result from
disturbance SO profound as the late
strike in the United States No doubt
that country is undergoing an industrial
crisis, the inten sity and duration OF
which ar unprecedented. The cause
Of it is the wholly premature and exces-
slve development Of the manufacturing
interests of the nation. In those vast
regions, an agricultural population of
two hundred millions might be planted
and they could live at ease; gradually
by the side of the farming operations,
that population would have begun work
ing the mines which are in abundance
on that territory, then to extend their
navigation, favored by the immense ex-
tent of the coasts and the number and
depth of the rivers: finally, little later,
when capital had become more album
dant and the population more dense,
factories would have sprung up of them
selves. The United States possess Il, 514
miles of railways; but more than the
half Of those lines are under sequestra-
ton, and sixty per cent. of the compan-
les do not pay one farthing Of interest.
The population of the towns have be-
come enormous, comparatively TO that
of the country, but the value of property
has diminished lately by % per cent.
A correspondent writing from Ihiladel-
phia states that in that city alone twenty
thousand houses are to be let or sold
The streets, we are told, are encountered
with poor, who being accustomed to
town life, prefer misery to the territorial
property they could SO easily acquire
The half of the workshops and factories
are idle The American mercantile
marine Is IN the greatest decadence; last
year scarcely twenty-one thousand tons
of steamboats, were constructed. I'M
migration is almost wholly suspended,
and, what IS more serious, the Ameri-
cans are beginning to emigrate. The
master n1asons of London, who are Ell
gagged in a struggle with their workmen,
lately deliberated as to whether they
would not do well to procure men from
the United States. The situation is a
very singular one, and absolutely OPP
posed to what was regarded as normal
America sends her emigrants to the old
world, and still greater number to
Australia. Heaven guard us from
imagining that phenomenon so con-
trary to the nature of things could last
for a long series of years! It is due to a
succession oflegislative faults which will
not be eternal. The United States are
still the promised land for agriculturists
If a European artisan would commit an
act of folly to go and seek fortune there,
where only misery awaits him, rural
laborers may go there with almost the
certainty of acquiring ease. The last
railway strike will, however, cause great
detriment to the peopling of the United
States; it will deter and frighten many
Europeans disposed to emigrate; it will
especially stop the introduction of CAPT
tai. A new country has necessity for
money and men; but America has at
present become very dangerous for
European capital. Except the scrip of
the federal debt, no investment ex-
lists on the other side of the Atlantic
which can tempt the most adventurous
Dutch or English.