Clarksville weekly chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1873-1890, 1877-08-04
Is 1T WAR.

When the movement of troops is
going on all over the United States,
when artillery is planted and artil-
lery brought to bear against it, when
a whole military command is inten-
thrown off railroad track
and the men fired into while strug-
Cling in the ruins, when vOlleys OF
are heard in the streets of
our great cities, it becomes necessary
to consider where we are; let us put
the question therefore, Are aOe at
peace or at AGAR? The answer is
plain; war has been declared with
the United States government and
every act that constitutes war has
already been put in operation
against it. 1t was not for the
United States government to deter
mine whether it should make war
on the insurgents, but whether it
should accept war as a fat dccODlpf,
and meet it. 1t is not the question
whether the insurgents viii submit
to the laws of the United States, and
those of the State governments, but
whether those laws and those gov
ernments shall be placed in the
hands of the belligerents and run by
them at their discretion.
That we are expressing ourselves
entirely within limits will be man.
ifest to any one who peruses the
letters of the Executive Committee
of Union WOrkingmen to the Gov
ernOr of Missouri and the Mayor of
st. Louis printed in another column.
The terms proposed are that the
Governor shall convene the Legisla-
ture, and induce that body chow it
is not stately to legislate exactly ac-
cOrding to the instructions of this
committee. They are to pass an
eight-hOurlaw with ten-hour wages,
for that is always UNDERSTOOD, and
another against the employment of
children under sixteen in factories
and shops, and peace is offered on
condition of a strict compliance
with these instructions; non-cOm-
pliance is to bring on revolution, and
what they mean by revolution has
been plainly shown, so far as they
were allowed to show it, at Pitts
burgh, st. Louis, Baltimore and
Chicago; it means the sacking of
cities with all its horrors as prac-
tised in the European wars of bye
gone years.
Then follows the demand for sup
plies. 1--WE are ready to concur
with your Honor in taking timely
measures to supply the immediate
wants of the foodless." Let it be re-
membered that the fOOdless are those
who have been rendered so partly
by refusing to earn a subsistence and
partly being prevented from doing
so by this insurgent body which is
now prescribing terms to the State
of Missouri, and the demand is
backed by threat very thinly dis
guised under words of precaution.
1t is to be granted ito avoid plum
der, arson or violence by persons
made desperate by destitution "a
restitution, we repeat, deliberately
inflicted upon them by this very
committee. In making the same
demands upon the mayor it is dis
tinctly put forward that working for
food is not to be considered as a
remedy.
"T0 the Hon. Henry Ouerstolz, Mayor Of 50.
Louis:
Strive, the authorized representatives
of the industrial population of st. Louis,
have called upon you to request your coop
Grafton in deviSing means to procure food
for those actually in a destitute condition.
In order to save useless waste Ofyour time,
ii is necessary that we at once say that all
offers of work during this national strike
not be considered by us as a remedy, under
the present circumstances, for we are fully
determined 10 hold out until the principles
we are cOntending for are carried"
The cOmmitte then which indites
this pOrtentOus manifesto is bel
ligerent power claiming possession
of the State government, and de-
manding supplies while they are en-
forcing their conditions, in which
demand the customary assurance of
invading armies is ludicrOusly carl
catured-
Each member of all organizations will
hold itself individually and collectively re-
sponsible to pay for all food procured by his
order"
1t is to be hoped that the mer-
chants of st. Louis, who are the i'm
mediate subjects of this demand, are
satisfied with the security offered.
Now let us go to Pennsylvania and
see whether the proceedings are less
belligerent. The strikers had in
trenched themselves at the round
house of the Fort Wayne and Chica-
go railroad and were running
the road on their own account. |
Their intrenched camp was defend
cd, among other things, with three |
mounted cannon. Itwas not stated |
how much ammunition they had for |
their artillery, or what supplies the |
garrison had provided, if any; but |
their commanding officer, Robert |
Annum, holds the following high |
flown language
the road they win be treated the same as |
militia. They shall not come in. We will
fight until we are all killed, and the city will
be again given over to confusion. The men
will obey me to the end. We have not as
good wages even rs the employees upon other !
roads get, and we are going to have
such wages. l have received no mott ficatiOn
from the officers Of the road of an accession
To my terms, but the news that a change of
is likely would indicate that
they are weakening. Anyhow, the road will
never he surrendered without a terrible
fight, until what We ask has been done for
us
Now the government are already
i'm possession of this property and
the cars will in all probability be
running on it i'm a short time, and
we only quote the above bombast to
show that the government had no
other alternative but to accept this
and take possession ofthe
in question or to abdicate