The Hillsdale standard. [volume] (Hillsdale, Mich.) 1851-1909, 1877-08-28
NUMBER 1908.

lar from you. This was shown in the
important services rendered by tho
General Government in the recent wide
extended strikes by the employees of
railroads, which reached from Pbila-
delphia TO New Orleans, affected all
the great trunk lines in the country.
and, Tor time, paralyzed several pow
erinl States. For time il threatened
ciVll war and anarchy, aud caused a
large destruction Of life and property.
lhe Administration was called upon
by the Governors Of West Virginia and
Maryland, two Democratic States. To
AID In putting down domestic violence.
Our small army was scattered over the
western country. The last House of
Representatives had refused to appro-
pirate for pay or supplies for the army
lest forsooth IL might be used in a
State 10 put down domestic violence.
These calls were promptly met by Pres
ldent Hayes, and, by judicious use of
the small force at his command. by the
skillful action Of the officers in com
mand, especially Of Gen. Hancock and
Gen. Schofield, the regular army was
the chief means of suppressinR domes-
violence extending to many States. and
which could. almost be classified as
civil war. No Just man will withhold
from the Administration fair praise for
n difficult task well done. These
strikes bring prominently into Ameri-
can politics the contest between capital
and labor that for many years disturb
ed Great Britain, and was the founda-
tiOn OF the scenes of the reign Of terror
during the French Revolution in 1893.
Happily, in this country our strikers
have been local and unimportant. but
the great change made in our indus
tries since the war, and the enormous
enlargement OF our mining and manu-
| featuring industries-the great increase
In the number OF corporations and
their extended power and influence,
compel us to consider this question,
and, II possible, TO find a remedy.
When labor is chiefly confined to the
CULTIVATION OF THE SOIL
on separate farms no contest between
capital and labor can arise, and where,
as IN former times, our mechanics
were independent artisans, each work
! ing either alone or with few others il
shops scattered through the country,
there could be no such trouble. Blu
when great corporations or individuals
employ large numbers of persons who
/ depend on their daily labor for Their
daily bread, and whose wages may be
affected at any time by the will of tn
capitalist, there has been, and Away
will be, an irresponsible conflict be
| tween the man who furnishes or direct
! the capital and the laborer who doe
| the work. When TO this added the
| fact that, by recent consultations
great railroad companies have beel
] formed, each doing a transportation
! business larger than the whole trans
portation on the Mississippi or on th,
lakes in the North, with the power IL
the officers of the company to chang,
at pleasure the rate of freight, and tn
wages Of employees, it was inevitablc
that the conflict would some time COM
between the corporations and the en-
ployes.
THE WILL OF FOUR MEN.
Let me illustrate the enormous pow
er that is now practically concentrated
within the will of four men. When tn
war broke out the common cry of IL
West was that no rebel cannon SHOULD
threaten the commerce OF the Mississi
ppi Valley. Our commerce should flow
untaxed TO the sea.
The entire tonnage passing any Civ
en- point on the Miyissippi River is
now estimated to be 81, 900, 900 tons.
The great lakes on the North have
been spoken of since the discovery o.
America as being the wonderful pro.
vison of nature for the vast internal
commerce Of the continent. The whole
tonnage passage at a given point on
the line of the lakes is about 1900, 900
tons.
The Erie Canal in New York, from
Buffalo TO Albany, has been extolled as
a work Of master statesmen. which has
contributed more to to the interior de-
velopment of this country than any
other single work, and has immoraliz-
ed the name of De Witt Clinton and
others. The entire tonnage of this canal
during the last year is officially stated
ut 2, AIS, 423, and all Of the New York
canals, including Erie, at 4,l73,l79
tons.
These three water arteries OF COM
merce, two natural and one artificial,
furnish a tonnage of 10,172, l79 tons,
and n few years ago were, practically,
the sole means of transit between the
East and the West and the North and
the South. Now, within q few years,
and mainly since the close of the war,
there have been built up four grand
trunk lines of railway reaching from
the Atlantic seaboard far away into the
! West, with their lines in all directions
/ like the branches OF great tires, whose
organization extends TO almost every
hamlet in the Mississippi Valley, or the
Atlantic slope, with a commerce so vast
that, in comparison with it the great
water lines Of communication become
insignificant.
Tons
The Erie Railway carried last year.. 8, ,9l1
New York Central Railway carried last
PENNSYLVANIA Railroad carried last year s,s92,Sii
| Baltimore AMI ohio Railroad carried last
year .(estlmated) )........... .bVp,Vo
an aggregate eof................. 500
Being nearly three times as much as
the entire commerce by water.
THIS IMMENSE COMMERCE,
which touches the business and homo
/ and life of every citizen Of the United
States, East or West, within the reach
/ Of its influence, is controlled in all it's
parts by ultimate will OF four men; tor
I though there are many agents employ
I
directors and intermediate superinten-
nents, yet, practically, the executive
and controlling power OF these vast
corporations rests with their presidents
whose will or pleasure may raise the
freight ON produce and thus affect
every farmer in the land, or may raise
or lower the wages OF every employe,
and thus affect the bread ard life of
every one dependent upon these labor
ing men.
II is just 10 say that gentlemen hold
ing these important positions are
among the ablest and most sagacious
OF the business men Of this country,
bat they must necessarily be governed
in the main by the interests OF the cor
porations they represent, and must
look 10 those interests as the dominat-
ing aud controlling motive that must
guide their acts. A few years ago the
freight on these roads was deemed TO
be unduly high, aud this aroused the
whole farming interests of the West
under thename OF Changers, who we're
able 90 secure hostile legislation in
some Of the States aud so to control
public opinion that the freights in due
time were reduced. But, more potent
than all, the
SUDDEN DEPRESSION or BUSINESS,
caused by the panic Of 1873, led 10 a
rivalry aud competition between these