Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1877-07-25

The First Question.
Before there is any talk about whether
the men who have not only engaged in /;
strike but have prevented other men from
going to work, really had any cause fol
complaint the question of the supremacy
of law mist be determined English
manufacturing towns have heretofore been
the places where to look for struggles
where mobs not only exercised the right Of
not working but exceeded that right in for
bidding their fellows to labor In the last
twenty years our country has largely
grown away from its old agricultural
character and the work of the last ten days
will always be memorable not only for its
bloody scenes but because the nation for
the first time is Weakened to the fact of its
changed condition.
From this time onward we must know
that the character of our population has
greatly changed and that isolated rural life
has, so far us the government has to deal
with the people, been in Il great measure
succeeded by the associated life of towns
or the banded life of great labor organiza-
tions. All over the land the larger towns
have manufactures and are connected by
the network of railways.
The thousands of men employed in like
work are very generally united in asso-
Citations formed for their good but oper-
ating, in too many cases, to their hurt.
The perfect right of those engaged in COM
mon labor to band together for their pro-
lection, for better wages, for any good
thing cannot be disputed. Labor has the
same right of combination as capital.
1t is often urged by those who risk their
money in manufacturing and other enter
prises which create demand for labor
that it is all wrong for those who work for
them to act in concert in demanding high
er wages or in ceasing work together.
Such action on the part Of the employees is
of course in many particular instances I'M
just to the employer just as in particular
cases the act of the employer in cutting
down wages is unjust to the workmen
But the right to ask what wages one
pleases, to stop work at any time beyond
which no contract runs, and to pay only
such wages as one pleases all stand on the
same ground and must in the end be ac-
kowledged as well founded.
So in this particular case we have no
complaint to make against the firemen
who began the strike and refused to work
longer. They may have been moved to
this by nsufficiency Of wages or may not;
they had the right to stop selling their
labor at the ruling price. That of course
might put the road to great expense by
stopping traffic for a season but unless
a railroad corporation takes time contracts
for labor there is no good reason TO grum-
bic against u workman who concludes NOT
10 sell any more of his labor at the price the
corporation offers. The strike in fact is
practically never an absolute refusal TO
continue work, but includes an offer to
work for higher pay.
But when strikers go beyond controlling
their own labor and raise finger to inter
fere with men who may be obtained to
take their places, Or to prevent workmen
in other branches of employment to cease
labor until higher wages are paid, they 90
from right to wrong, violate the law and
should be made to learn that this cannot
be done with impunity, They must learn
that the unlawful use of the strong arm
will not be tolerated in the United States.
And in the present case they have been
guilty of such illegal measures that it is al
together unsafe for the teaching of the les
son to be postponed.
The prosperity of the country in coming
years demands that the record of this great
strike be one OF total failure. Its great ex-
tent and tempory success make it necessary
that the full strength of each state as well
as the national government be exerted to
prove that disobedience to law cannot
flourish and attain its object among us.