Alpena weekly argus. [volume] (Alpena, Mich.) 1871-1893, 1877-08-29

judges, governors, congressman
and it will be strange if in tn
election of these they do not pu
forth men who recognize thei
! interests and will be bound t
support their damands.
AS workingman, fairly entitle,
to the distinction it implies, W,
have watched with profoundes
interest the progress of this move
ment so lately involved ten States
in turbulence, and look forward
with the deepest solicitude to {
settlement of the issues which
have made capital anu labor
antagonists when they should
travel hand in hand. Those whose
sufTerings drove them to madness,
and whose passions inAamed by
want impelled them to revolt, are
entitled to our sympathies, even
though duty compels us to condemn
their acts. Men whose powers of
physical endurance is taxed by
their pursuits to the utmost, and
whose earnings even then are in
rufiicient to provide for the COM
monest wants of those dependent
upon their toll, may not be expect
ed to reason upon their condition
with the philosophic calmness that
would characterize a well fed phi
lanthrophist, and may not be de-
pended upon to address themselves
to better their condition by the
wisest and surest means. When
large numbers of such sufferers
are brought together, the recital OF
the wrongs of each and the sight
of ever present wretchedness and
misery, tends to aggravate their
burns into the heart and
brain of all, and they are in a con-
dition to receive the boldest and
wickedest suggestions with a sort
of satisfaction. They forget the
rights of others in the contempla-
ton of their own wrongs, and |
plunge into an abyss of greater
ruin, in their efforts to escape from
present evils.
In some cases, at least, the late
strikers had real grievan-
,es. Already insufiiciently paid,
heir wages were further reduced,
while the principal officers OF the
employing them contin-
led to receive princely salaries.
They were justified in refusing to
work longer at starvation rates.
}ut they were not warranted in
preventing others from taking the
wages they refused. They were
lot justified in destroying the
property of others to crafty their
wn just resentments. They were
ot justified in putting at defiance
he legal authorities of State or
alton and resisting the enforce
lent of the law. If they could y
ct better wages than the railroads !
ilered them, they were right in
ccepting them. If they could live !
'ithout employment for a time on >
heir own means, it was proper for
hem to do so rather than to accept
adequate compensation for their
ervices. If the pay offered them
as the best they could get, and b
ley were without the means of p
lpport while waiting for some p
hing better, it was not wise in 3
lem to quit work. A half loaf is Il
etter than no bread. Employment .
half price is better than idleness.
ms
The case of these strikers was a
ard one. The wages offered were i,
ot sufficient to support their fam v
les. Few of them could at once I,
a juster remuneration for y,
leir labor. Few of them had the d,
cans to live even for a time with
1T employment. They must work ST
the wages they could get, on the ,
antiest of the necessaries of life,
quit without the means of OBJ
lining even these nccessaries. In
70 one contingency it was starva-
On; In the other, suffering. Was
any wonder that they listened to
ii advice and were led into acts
at only aggravated their wrongs
the honest workers whose
.cesses were a protest against
e exactions of a power strong
ough to Cypress them, and unfeel-
g enough to exercise that power,
nch must be forgiven. They are
titled to sympathy and to con-
ieration. And it should not be
rgotten that most of the crimes
thn -.