Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1877-08-24

In this country our strikes have been local and
unimpOrtant, but the great change made In our in
dustries since the war, and the enormous enlarge
ment OF our mining and manufacturing industries
the great increase In the number OF corpora
tions and their extended power and influence
compel us to consider this question, and, II pos
When labor is chiefly confined to the cultivation
OF the soil on separate farms no contest between
capital aud labor can arise, and where, as in
former times, our mechanics were independent
artisans, each working either alone or with rev
others In shops scattered through the country,
| there could be no such trouble. But when great
| corporations or individuals employ large numbers
| Of persons who depend upon their daily labor Tor
their daily bread aud whose wages may be affected
at any time by the will OF the capitalist there has
been, and always will be, an irrepressibe conflict
| between the man who furnishes or directs the
| capital and the laborer who does the work. When
TO this is added the fact that by recent consolida-
tions, great railroad companies have been formed,
each doing IA transportation business larger than
the whole transportation on the Mississippi or on
| the lakes in the North, with the power in the Of
| hcers OF the company to change at pleasure the
rate Of freight and the wages Of employees, 1t was
inevitable that the conflict would some time come
between the corporations and the employees
| Let me illustrate the enormous power that ls
now practically concentrated WITHIN the VIII M Oh
| cry OF the West was that no rebel cannon should
| threaten the commerce Of the Mississippi Valley.
| Our commerce should flow untaXed TO the sea.
| The entire tonnage passing any given point on the
Mississippi River IL now estimated to be 3,OOOIUU
tons. The great lakes on the north have been
| II
the wonderful provision Of nature for the vast in
ternal commerce Of the continent. The whole
tonnage passing at given point on the line Of the
| lakes Ia about 100000 tons. The Erie Canal in
| New York from Buffalo to Albany, has been ex
| tolled as a work of master statesmen, which has
| contributed more to the interior development oI
this country than any other single work, and has
immortalized the names OF De witt Clinton anc
others. The entire tonnage of this canal during
the last year is officially stated at 24lS, i23, and o
all the New York canals, including Erie, at 4,l12,
100 tons.
These three water arteries of commerce, two
natural and one artificial, furnish tonnage of 10,
172, lT9 tons, and few years ago were. practically
the sole means of transit between the East aud The
| West and the North and the South Now, within
| very few years. and mainly since the close of tht
war there have been built up four grand trunk
lines of railways reaching from the Atlantic sea
board far away into the West, with their lines il
all directions like branches OF great trees whos
organization extends to almost every hamlet II
the Mississippi Valley or the Atlantic SLOPE witt
n commerce so vast that, in comparison with II
the great water lines of communication becom
Insignificant.
| Tons.
The Erie Railway carried last year. r.....4, ,922, 81
New York Central Railway carried last
year. O,oU0,Oc
Pennsylvania Railroad carried last year. .9922, 81
Baltimore & Ohio railroad carried last
year (estimated) ed).....,.............. .5.OOO,OO