The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1877-07-28
The Rail Road Strikes,

another part Of this issue.
Labor is honorable, and there is high
authority for the sentiment that "the la
borer is worthy Of his hire" But there
is no authority anywhere for that other
sentiment, that the laborer is worthy Of
more than his hire. Hire, or the wages
oflabor, is regulated by agreement between
the employer and the employed. There is
no compulsion to work for less wages than
fair living rate Of compensation, If the
employer offers less, there can be no harm
or wrong 10 quitting his employment and
seeking it elsewhere at more remunerative
rates. But the striker does not do this
He not only stops work himself, but en-
deayors to stop others, and if the employer
interferes to protect his own interests, the
strikers combine to destroy his property
and perhaps his life. Such combination,
for such purposes, is against all law, hui
man and divine, and fatal to the most vital
interests Of society, It is monstrous that
anyone can be found anywhere to uphold
such state Of things, and yet there are
those who uphold it in every community.
II is the same spirit that manifested itself
in the rcd republicanism of France; tho
same spirit of communism that wrapped
Paris in flames and drenched its streets in
blood AS it drove the plowshare Of ruin
over the fairest portions Of France, so it
viii work ruin and devastation here, if
unchecked in its course.
Labor is the condition of ALL All men
mustlabor with head or hands, or both
Ifnot, they violate the great law of their
being, and must, in some way, pay the
penalty Labor is the basis Of capital; it
was before capital, and men must labor
before they can have capital. The most
intimate relation exists between labor and
capital There is no antagonism between
them The one is unprodueti, without
the other, and natural affinity makes
them mutually dependent upon each other
Strikes interfere with both andantagonize
both. They interrupt labor and stop its
production and its reward, and, as at Pitts
burg, destroy the joint production of both
capital and labor. Capital can i'll afford
to look down upon labor with supercilious
mien, because, without labor, capital would
perish. Society is upon wrong basis
where capital assumes to itself superiority
over labor, and the man or the woman is
pitiably empty-headed who arrogates to
himself or herself any superiority on ae-
count Of capital Moral and intellectual
worth ought to be the only ground Of dis
linction between men. A man may be
poor in purse but rich in all the attributes
aud excelencies Of true manhood. So far
from labor barring the door of refined so
ciety against him, other things being in
conformity with its requirements, active
h.0or and industry ought to constitute a
passport to its highest circles. To whom
Is society indebted for its comforts and
conveniences but to the laboring man.
Who builds its commodions houses, its
elegant furniture, its fine carriages, its
splendid cars and floating palaces? Who
clothes it in costly apparel, and feeds it
umptuously2 Labor. Capital cOmpen-
safes labor, but capital could not work out
such results of itself 1t is, therefore, of
a secondary, rather than Of d primary i'm
portance, when we discriminate between
the two.
These reflections are only pertinent to
the matter under consideration, in so far
as these strikes are supposed to be the re-
suit Of an antagonism between labor and
capital. Our object has been to show that
there is no antagonism between them, but
rather natural alliance and mutual de-
pendenee which must be violated before
they can be at variance with each other.
All strikes which end in mobs and de.
struction Of life and property, work evil
and only evil to all concerned. The
strikers at Pittsburg are infinitely worse
of than they we're before. To say
nothing Of the obstruction to trade and
the injury and inconvenience inflicted upon
the country at large, their wages have
stopped, and the damage inflicted upon the
Pennsylvania Railroad in the great de-
structiOn Of its property. ctipples that
corporation for the time being and disables
il from aifording them employment to the
extent il did before And this disability
must continue until relief is afforded TO it
by indemnity from the treasury Of the
city where the destruction Of its property
took place. Pittsburg must pay the pen
ally. The laws Of Pennsylvania make the
city or county where such wanton destruc-
ton ofprOperty takes place, responsible for
the loss. The people Of Iittsburg, there
fore, who stood by and allowed whole trains
Of freight.sars to be broken open and plum
dered, may expect TO be compelled to make
good those losses Of private citizens as well
as those Of the railway corporation whose
buildings and stock they suffered In he