Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1877-08-03

A workingman writes as follows to thu
New York Star:
The condition of the workingmen O
America cannot be made worse than it is a.
present, and the press would be better EN-
ployed in recommending justice, modera
tion and equity than blOOdshed, more es
pecially the shedding of the blood Of those
whom death would only relieve from a life
of misery Bondholders and monopolists
must take their iron heel off the neck oil
labor, or one CT the other must perish
There is food enough and room enough in
this country to keep all its Inhabitants be.
yond the power of want, and the toiling
masses and the ma jority of all classes are
beginning to see the evil emanating from
the folly or dishonesty OF paying one elias:
of the community too much for doing moth
ing, and another class too little who create
all the wealth.
This, doubtless, expresses the feeling oil
many a man, and plenty Of people can be
found. who, while they disclaim any desire
to encourage lawlessness, look ieniently on
the rioters, ard ask at man can't gel
wages enough tc support his family, what
is he to do ?" The answer is that he should
obey the laws, and that he should not take
q course which will make bis condition
worse instead of better. The workingman
quoted above is wide of the truth in his
statement that the case of the American
workingman cannot be worse than it is A
general strike would make it vastly worse
The New York Herald puts the case sensi-
lily as follows:
Stop a moment and look this question
squarely in the face. There were IA good
many thousand people all over tie country
out OF employment before the strike began
Are any Of them nov employed? Has the
strike brought work to any willing hand, or
week 3 wages to any vile and children :
Is it lot true. on the contrary, that the
strike has added to the general and already
too great mass OF suffering at least nine OF
ten thousand families, nine or ten
thousand women and twenty or thirty
thousand little children. to whom Saturday
night will bring no means to puy for next
weeks fuud and clothing? l. that on the
whole, good thing?
Then. again, every man, even the most
ignorant. knows that the more capital there
is and che safer its employment is the more
there is Tor workingmen to be paid with.
lt is because the times are hard. because the
capital OF the country was largely destroyed
by the war, by Chicago and Boston fires, by
waste 10 city and State governments. by
stealing OF rlngs-it is because these losses
have Impoverished tho country that so many
thousands seek in vain for employment.
And here IL n strike which wantonly and law
lessly stops the whole transpOrtion of the
greater part Of the Union, and by doing so
causes enormous losses, not merely to the
railroads, hut Tar more to the farmers send
ing products to market, to the merchants
who would buy them, to the manufacturers
who would give in exchange their products.
All this loss still further impoyerishes the
cOuntry-already too poor to give employ
ment to all its hands. II the times were
hard before. this week : wild and foolish
work can only make them harder to every
body. and particularly to wOrkingmen and
their families to men who live from wages,
and who can receive wages only from other
men who are able not merely to employ
them but 10 pay them
Nor does the loss stop with the strike. Ii
will take the c0untrya good while to make
it up. Not only will the farmer, the mann
facturer, the merchant, who has lost by the
strike. be less able for some to paw wages
to men anxious to work, but an ac. of de-
structiOn like that at Plttsburg will. BY
making that city poorer and burdening it
more severely with taxes. make the con
ditiOn of its workingmen harder for years to
come. How ? BY raising. necessarily, the
price OF house re.it, OF provisions, or cloth
ing, OF everything that the wOrkingman and
his family mast use. Il this destruction,
then, an advantage to wCrkingmon anv-
where?
But, it msy be said, the strikers had
grievances. They received too little pay;
they had families 10 support Well, they
receive no pay at all now their families
have nothing at all. Surely that does not
improve their unhappy condition. But
this is not all strike il a business trans
action. Before man stops work, as he is
reasoning being, he should be satisfied
either that he can get other and more profit
able employment, OF that his employer can
get no one to fill his place at the price In
the last case, OF course, he commands the
situation, and is able, lawfully, to coerce
his employer But nothing is clearer than
that the strikers have made a miscalcula-
ton. There arc, in fact. plenty of men
ready and willing to take their places at the
price and this the strikers recognize, for
tboy have in the most shameless and lawless
manner prevented such men everywhere
from accepting work and wages Nothing,
as we have repeatedly said. can Justify
wOrkmen In, thus attacking in others the
very right they assume to themselves,