New-York tribune., 1877-07-25
ONE or TILE LhNSONS.

ONE or THE LESSONS.
II is not question now of the rights and
wrongs of the companies or their employees;
we must ask ourselves to-day whether we live
under Il genuine government or are ruled by
the caprices and passions OF mob. Inc re-
markabIc dispatch from Pittsburg published III
TIE TRIBUNE yesterday gave sketch OF the
shocking occurrences of Sunday all the more
St1rtling because it vas toll with such straight
forward simplicity 1t showed us the same
picture which hls been presented over ana
over agarn during the plst few days IN many
different towns and IN several of the States
q picture o Ulcers of the law qIailing before
a few hundred inccn'cl laborers, police
afraid to maze arrests, a militia running away
from gunpowdcr, whole population star
ing In idle curiosity while thieves
and ineendarins carried the work OF destruc-
tion along miles o. l0llsl railgy trains and
laid rich districts il asle3. The National
Guard, save in a few exceptional clses, seem
10 have covered themselves with lgnOminy. The
local guardians Of order almost invariably dis
appeared at tle first show OF resistance.
Mayors treated with the rioters as one Gov
crnment might treat with another, or called
ohlic meeting, to dScns3 the situation while
mobs were brlndishng tae torch, batteri1g
tovn barIiratird doors, and killing soldiers.
Al last after the business of the entire
central area Of the railway system OF the
United States has been stopped, many scores
IF lives sacrificed, and pecunlary loss
or uncountcd millions inflicted upon the
country, the more sensible citizens begin
20 band themselves together in order TO put
Il ,wn the instruction. But it Is to be OBJ
served that, as "A general thny, the rioters
have not been checked by the ordinary forces
of the State or City Goverments. The home
guards the special police, the committees OF
safety, which have tardily assumed the duty
Of protecting life and property, are to all in
tents aud purposes mere volunteer bands OF
private citizens attempting to do what the Gov
ernments have failed in.
IL il proper subject for serious inquiry
now among the communities which have been
thrown into confusion by this strike, whether
they are always to fail back in times of
emergency gpon the unoTsanIzed elements OF
soci. ty-aways to wait until the decent and
reasonable men can pail themselves together
ind put down violence with eXtemporzed
arms. If this is the condition OF thng5, then
the affairs of the public are administered and
peace is preserved only b. he sulerance of
that dangerous class of sOri,t ~ which is always
ready for mischief, though under ordinary
circumstances it is inert. Such an adj
ministration is not government ut all
and when the dangerous classes do arise
they are PM down (after perhaps
week of pillagc) by movement that we
might almost define us revolutionary-th sub
iueation of a mob OF rioters by mob OF good
citizens. OF course it il satisfactory to know
fiat The good citizens are IN the majority, and
that sooner or later, they will prevail; but
Pitt,burg, and Pennsylvania generally and
some other sections Of the United States are
in a fair way to realize that the primitive
methods of popular government upon which
they now depend are frighdully expensive
ami mcOnVenicnt.
There must be II thorough examination of
the administrative machinery. Here in New
York we have not been much afraid of riots
Of late years because we have an efficient and
wel-disciplined militia AMI formidable po-
Ice On more than one occasion a few platoons
of New lork constables with their clubs have
put to fight an army of such rioters as the
National Guard of Pennsylvania and West
Virginia found itself unable to face; and we
have no doubt that whenever they are called
upon again they will do their duty rs gallantly
and thoroughly as they have done it heretofore.
What has been accomplished iii the Metropolis,
and in some few other large cities, can he accom-
plished elsewhere. II the people Of Pennsyl-
vania are not hereafter protected by organized
and trainct. forces, ~ efficient in proportion to
their numbers as those of New York the fault
will he entirely their own. They must under
stand by this time that they have not any
thing which deserves the name of IA government,
because the personnel of their administration,
both civil and military, has not yet learned
the meaning Of dnty.