Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1877-08-06

Oniy GLASS WulVu has really UencuCeu W
the instruction and they "wish there
was a strike all the time" No wonder,
poor little chaps. A cent is as big as a
to him, and when they are
making perhaps half dollar day ex-
ira what should the care if it requires
the burning millions of dollars worth
of railroad property to bring them such
a profit?
1t has been the occasion of much
wondering comment that We have had
no violent demonstration here in this
city. 1t is perhaps somewhat remarka-
BILE that there should not have been even
the smallest disturbance in this city
while so much of the country has been
convulsed but the fact only goes to
show that the strikes we're not precon-
certed, but were started without general
generalization and then ran like prai-
RE fire or a contagion. Had the con-
trary been the case, the first and most
erious outbreak would in all probability
occurred in New York where the work.
ing and idle classes are so much more
numerous than anywhere else and where
the necessary preparations would have
l.. Thara
was indeed one effort made to fan into
flame the smouldering discomfort which
unquestionable exists among the lower
classes Of this city as we'll as those of
other sections. This attempt was how
ever instigated wholly by foreign born
Communists and to the credit of our
people it fell fat and pointless. A mon
ster mass meeting was announced to be
held in the largest open square on the
east side of town and serious fears were
felt as to its result. But the attend
ance was small and the assembly seem
ed more ready to laugh at the rawlings
of the revolutionists than to follow their
lead into anarchy and bloodshcd. AT.
ter this fzzle the lunatics who hold that
no property should be permitted. subsi.
ded, and have not since been heard
from.
The damage inflicted upon the coun.
try by this week of unprecedented in.
terruptlon of business with its accompa-
nying destruction of life and property
cannot be measured at present 1t il
safe to say however that the value o
the property violently destroyed, though
amounting to very large figure viii
prove very small fraction of the to
tai loss. Thus l believe that the in
direct loss to New York alone where n,
violence occurred will aggregate nearl.
or quite as much as the direct damag
by fire and breakage at Pittsburg.
After all, however, the suffering en-
tailed by what will pass into history a
"the great strike" will be most sever
among the workinmen themselves. 0
course the original strikers. the railroad
men are losers, but it was their quarrel
and that was to be expected. But thei
sympathiEcrs too will suffer, and ar
suffering equally with them. Take tn
Pennsylvania miners for example. L
hOt-headed sympathy with the freme
and brakemen, this class joined the lat
ter in laying an embargo on the passag
of all freight trains The natural re
suit which they seem not to have fore
seen, was, that as coal was not permit
ted to be moved, work at the mines wa
suspended, and they themselves wer
suddenly left without employment G
wages, to curse their stupidity in fght
ing the railroad company on whom thei
own bread and butter depended. 1t
probable that these men to either wit
the thousands of others who have aide
in bringing about the stagnation whic
is now starving them, will think twiC
before deciding to make common caus
with the next set of aborers who see f
to quarrel with their bread and butter.
But while there. is so much that ca
be truly said In condemnation of I'll
wickedness of strikes, it is very goo
plan to try and look at the case fro
the laborers' standpoint. Every write
and speaker has kept crying, "Sho,
down the rioter, give the striker I
quarter %. That is all very well, b,
what made him striker and rioter
His employers have gambled, mismal
aged, and cut each others threats unit
they were nearly or quite bankrup
The easiest way to save themselves or
increase their profits is by visiting the
, mlsfortunes on their employers, ar
SO, with the specious excuse that a
, prices are falling, they cut off from Il
poor mans pittance by successive r
! auctions much larges proportion the
q he can save on his living expenses {
9 account of the general lowering of pric
L 4 e
do? So long as he silently submits
these reductions, public opinion pr
sumes him to be satisfied with his pa
and pats the employing corporation
the back for its "retrenchment" al
i ''praisewOrthy economy and if, rende
ed desperate by inability to give food
a his family he rises in rebellion, he