The Somerset herald. [volume] (Somerset, Pa.) 1870-1936, 1877-08-08
OUR LETTER.
NEW YORK, August |, 1871.
THE STRIKE

4 u u q IhOok
the business of the city, and, coming,
as it does, just as we began to see
glimmers of daylight, is all the more
depressing. 1t is a thousand pities
that the madmen could not let the
roads operate in peace till the enor-
nous crop that covers the entire west,
was gotten to market, and the money
for il distributed in the hands of the
farmers. Ii is q thousand pities that
men haven't sense enough to know
that force never did add a cent to q
mans wages, and that labor is some-
thing that regulates itself, and which
physical force al neither alter or
amend. There was, all the week, o
feverish feeling of apprehension.
There are in the city fifty thousand
honest men cut of employment, fifty
thousand more who wouldn't do q
stroke of work to save their lives, so
so long as anything can be found to
steal; and then there are twenty
thousand men at work, who are in
fected with the terrible dogmas OF
communism, and who are born agita-
tors. The strikers in Baltimore and
Pittsburgh set these classes into a
ferment. The unemployed wanted
work, the communists wanted an op-
portunity to strike for the rights OF
man. and the ruffians and tramps
disorder that they might pillage with
impunity. The excitement culmina-
ted 10 a monster meeting at Temp
kins square Wednesday night, under
the directions of Schwab, Thompson
and Swinton, tie three leaders of the
New York communists. When the
meeting was called, the city was in q
state of alarm 1t was feared that the
fanatical leaders would inlame the
multitude sure to be there, and that
the meeting would eliminate 10 a
riot, which would end no one could
tell when or where. The authorities
acted promptly and with discretion.
The National guard was ordered
under arms, and a very large number
of special police were sworn in. They
gave the Communists permission to
hold their meeting, but gave them to
understand that the place would be
surrounded by police, and that at the
first intimation of disorder the militia,
nv would be brought into requisition,
and that there would be no hallway
work about it. The leaders saw that
the authorities meant business, and
they instructed their followers to
keep the peace, which fortunately for
themselves they. The meeting was
q fzzle, and with the fzzle ended the
hopes CT the rougbs of New York, to
inaugurate o riot here.
The effect upon business has been
terrible. Immense masses of freights
lie in the depots, there is 20 regulari-
ty in mails, and the influx of strangers
into the city has almost ceased.
Trade is almost as entirely at a stand
still, as it is in Pittsburgh. But it
can't last. Men may stand and
swing clubs and yell, q few days, but
they have got TO eat, and food was
never got by swinging clubs and
yelling. The Pennsylvania road is
now open. and the others will be in a
day or two; and the regular flow of
business will begin again.
THE COMMUNE LEADERS.
John Swinton, the ablest of the
lot, has been connected with the press
Of New York, for q quarter a century.
He is a man Of above the average
weight and height. with q good-na-
tured face, surmounted by a bald
crown. He got his notions Of liberty,
fraternity and equality in Paris, and
is as radical o Republican as ever
lived. He is an excellent writer and
an indefatigable worker, and is honest.
He makes no money out of it, nor is
he In these movements because of
any hankering for notoriety. He is
a good speaker, and lisa favorite with
the reds,
Justus II. Sehwab, is a German of
perhaps f~orty-6ye. who processes to
spend oil his time breeding over the
wrongs of the laboring man, which
does not interfere however with his
selling a great deal Of lager-beer to
the oppressed, which bis wife draws.
In times like these Schwab does Q
splendid business, and it is shrewdly
sus pectJ that be is not averse to
popular demonstrations. He holds
that property is robbery, that there
should be an immediate divide, and
that q rich man is q criminal. He is
q tall blonde, very powerful and INNS
cular, and has q wonderful influence
over the long-haired of his race.
Thompson. the other leader is q tall,
dyspeptic Englishman, who was an
sgitator in his native country. He
is q man OF some eloquenee-of the
kind known as CAB. He can talk be
the hour Of the rights of man." any
the oppression of labor" with all thd
rest of thst lap-doodle which such
fellows have gexed the world with
for SC many years. ss
At the beginning, Schwsb and
Thompson intended to precipitate Q
riot, but the police commissioner
gave them to understand that they
would be held responsible for any
trouble that might arise, and they
wisely held their followers in check.
But they will 60 right along and
Organize societies "for the smeliora-l
ton of the condition of the laboringi
man" and collect money and preach
communism, living the while very
comfortably or the contributions of
their dupesL And then when strikes
come they will keep very quiet in the
background out Of range Of shot andi
shell, till the fight is over, when they
will emerge and go through the same
process again. Your professional
labor reformer, like the professional
reformer Of any kind, is q most pesti.
lent fellow. 1t is TO be observed that
he never tries to improve the condi-
ton of the laboring man by the ex-
ercise of the virtues of temperance,