The Cairo bulletin. [volume] (Cairo, Ill.) 1872-1878, 1877-07-31
THE BEGINNING AND THE END.

The great labor strike is virtually at an
end, many of its instigatOrs "nd multi
ndes OF thieves, thugs and yagabonds
who avail themselves of its existence TO
burn, plumber and steal, are paying |
the penalties OF their eXcesses and !
crimes, and the social and business re.
lations of the country are rapidly assum-
ing their accustomed tone. And, now,
while we hail with feelings OF thankful |
contemplate the immediate past with a
Shudder of horror-while we feel that
the riot. rapne and bloodshed OF the
past two weeks are disgrace to our
civilization. we are not OF those who
charge the whole responsibility to the
account Of the workIngmen. The strike
furnished the bad element of society the
pretext and opportunity to follow the
bent It's inclination to burn. pillagc
and plumber, and how that element
awaited itself of the opportunity, the
loss OF scores of lives. and OF
more than So, 200, 900 worth OF property,
give a most startling and mourniul an.
swer. But to charge all OF this to the
account OF the workinglnen, as a body,
Tor which they are neither morally nor
legally responsible, with that which the
great body of them labored diligently
10 prevent. and that which they now
deprecate and dcplore as sincerely as any
other law-abiding class OF citizens in the
whole country.
Ordinarily the laboring man who is
dissatisfied with The compensation he is
receiving has no right to resort TO either
force or intimidation to exact more. He
has the ndisputed right, and may at any
time exercise it, to 90 elsewhere, If he
can, and obtain more satisfactory wages.
But where, las is the case OF many rail
road companies powerful organizations
conspirc to deprive labor OF its just and
equitable reward; where the actual crea-
tors Of the labor market form combina-
ton TO put the price of labor at a
tlgure that Is absolutely made
quate to the support of the
laborer, then ''labor" has the unquestion.
able. right to struggle, not by force of
arms or yiols but all moral and law
full means that society may provide or
tolerate, TO assert itself; to redress its
wrongs and yindicate Its rights. 70 say
TO the tens Of thousands OF skilled and
unskilled railroad men in the country:
'h you don't like the wages YOU receive,
20 to farming go at something else
is equivalent to telling them to rtarvc
TO death, or to seek refuge from starva.
ton in our prisons or poor houses. The
man OF family, or even the single man
who labors tor twenty dollars per month,
cannot lay up.a dollar a week, scarcely
that much In a month, to provide for the
sickness or "the rainy day that is,
eventually, certain to overtake him. To
tell such man to buy span OF horses,
wagon, the neediul grain, plows and
other agricultural implements, to pro
vide food for himself and family Tor six
months or more, and 10 ego
farming would De to insult
him on the score of his poverty, or to
cruelty mock a misery that all his life he
may have strven TO overcome. Itwould
be equally reasonable TO tell him to open
bank, to deal in government securities
or TO buy Nevada silver mine, Tor eth,
er or all OF these thing could be done
by an utterly ,penniless man, quite
as easily as he could adopt the vocation
OF farming. The only capital the great
majority Of these men possess lies in the
strength and endurance OF their muscles
and the willingness OF their hands and
to tell them In their present pennicss
state, the glutted condition of the labor
market, ''ii railroading don't pay them
10 90 at something else, sis, to say the
least Of 1t, exasperating in the extreme.
They know and feel, all of US do, that
there are, at this time, over two hundred
and fifty thousand laborng men in this
country skilled and unskiled, who are
in forced jdeness. With knowledge
OF this oyer supply of labor in the land,
they turned, with well conceived dread,
IRON the idea of becoming a division OF
the great army OF idlers, and resorted to
"strke" In the hope ana belief that
they would thereby secure such com.
pensation tor their labor as would, by
economical use, shield themselves and
their dependents from threatened hunger
and nakedness. This they most sol.
emnly protest, was their purpose; and
believing them, the warm heart. of
the people deeply aud sincerity sym.
pathized with them; and although bad
men, criminals and cut-throa,s, by deed.
that would shame the ilcnds OF pcr1,tiop.
placed the honestly and hopefully con.
celved struggle beyond the pale of the
law, thousands and tens Of Thousands of
American men and women, never abon.
doned the hope that the original aim
would be accomplished, that their effort
TO secure living wages Tor their honest
And always perilous toll. would, In the
end, completely triumph.