Mexico weekly ledger., 1877-09-06
THE CONFLICTS OFLABOR AND
CAPITAL.

| "hosC 1nocIlSeHco anu muscle per
form the practical labor in the ope
rating of a railroad should combin
against the directors and official
thereof, when the latter, in the ex
ercises of arbitrary power, cut dow
the wages of the former, apparentl,
disdaining an inquiry into the justice
of such a measure, and when the as
serted occasion for it, financially disa
biiity, is really due to directoral mis-.
management of official cupidity?
There is certainly some warrant fol
the protest of the engineers, the fire.
men, the brakenaen, whose vocations
are perilous to life and limb, and re.
quire them to face every atmospheric
condition, however inclement when
they see the clerk on official enjoying
q position of leisurely ease in luxu-
riously-appointed office, with salary
so large that it enables him to main
tain a princely domestic establish
ment, while they who bear the burden
and wear of the railway business
must be promptly and regularly at
their places day and night, and be con-
tented with the wages assigned them,
whether adequate or not to the COM
Portable maintenance of their families.
Is 1t at all strange that there should
be uprislngs-or revolts, if you will
on the part of the workingmen, and
menaces which strike terror to the
hearts of them who live in luxury.
and bear themselves superbly on ac-
count of their wealth, when through
newspaper and books, by the DEM
agogue and the patriot, the doctrine
of equal rights is loudly proclaimed,
and the very grandeur of our national
prestige is founded on the declara-
ton. "All men are born free and
equal p
When these workingmen see this
principle practically ignored by the
master-employer in the shop and the
factory on the ship and the railway,
and class strong and imperious, be-
cause of its wealth, contemptuously
the poor artisan and labor
er, their demand for justice can not
be deemed unreasonable.
When capital imposes heavy bur-
lens, grevious to be borne, upon the
broad shoulders of labor, has not la
Dor a right to demonstrate Has not
abor, in this ssolnrio". f-aa-l la.A-l >,
.;oht to quesuon 'i's eor,,.anne- I
y always submit!
The reasonable answer to these
,uestions are obvious enough.
We are not counselors of violence.
We have no sympathy for the disor-
lerly acts of an excited mob. We
believe in the majesty of the law, and
WOULD have it properly and promp ly
asserted in every lawless movement,
or when anarchy prevails, the origi-
lal motive of the rising is lost in the
conduct of reckless
mob, and wholesale violence is COM
nitted.
As American society at large is
constituted, especially at the present
.ime, the workers in no important
branch of industry can organize and
put in operation strike without find
no themselve reinforced and embar-
,assed by an eager throng of the
and idle, who are ever on the
watch for all opportunity to fill their
stomachs and pockets with the pro-
perty of others. The late extensive
revolt of railroad employees is mark
ed exemplification of this; the grave
and terrible disasters
to life and property arose from the
part taken in the strike by thousands
of ruffian vagabonds. This phase of
q labor movement against the exac-
tons of capital attaches special
responsibility to the actors in it, and
should compel the utmost delibera-
ton for the sake of their own best in
terests. They may disclaim atlilia-
ton with the rabble, but law-abiding
citizen, seeing the physical and NOR
al support given by the mob passive
ly accepted by the strikers, feels COM
pelled to treat both classes as making
common cause.
Treating the matter from. the side
of right reason, the conduct Of those
men who demand higher wages is not
altogether above reproach, in that
they ignore the right of other men to
accept the wages which they refuse
They can not plead ignorance ot
duty, or want of intelligence. They
know clearly and certainly that
man can, if he choose, decline to ac
cept the money which provides hin
with bread, and that he sets at naugh
the simplest principles of right ant
| duty when he interferes with other
who are willing to accept that yer.
money for their labor.
A manly, open protest by thos
who deem themselves oppressed W
can not but admire but conduct
the dog-in-the-manger sort is oni
deserving of reprobation. five sto
for few moments to consider I'll
amount of evil wrought in this La
hostile movement of labor, throus
the stoppage of transportation al