Clarksville weekly chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1873-1890, 1877-08-04

ing to their duties are doing so in
good faith, bat there must be even
among them many who submit in
sullen discomfort, and some who
have been discharged will continue
in active hostility to the railroad
companies-trains be wrecked, de-
pots fired, ETC., ETC., unless the re-
pressive measures now in force
should be kept up for some time.
Moreover, the miners riots are not
yet suppressed, and, whatever the
result of them in other respects, it is
certain that during the approaching
fall and winter thousands of miners
will be thrown out of employment
for with diabolical malice the riot
ers, by stopping the work on the
pumping apparatus, and in some
cases by destroying the engines,
have succeeded i'm flooding some of
the greater mines to such an extent
that they cannot be worked for
years. Thus it is now inevitable
that a vast number of men will be
out of work, and the experience of
ten years has shown that they are
among the most desperate Williams
by whom society has ever been ours
ed. During next winter it is GER
tain that "A large proportion of these
will come South, vastly augment
ing our already oppressive tramp
nuisance; and the new tramps will
be to the old as wolves compared
with lambs.
Now in what one respect are we
prepared for this after-swell of the
railroad TEMPEST? Wehere in Ten
nessee, and especially in GAINESVILLE?
The danger is one that will threaten
our wives and children while we
ourselves are occupied in our offices
and stores, our workshops and our
fields; our banks and stores will be
liable to pillage and plumber by the
sudden incursions of armed bands,
our sheep, hogs and cattle will be
slaughtered and our poultry yards
robbed, our barns and farm-houses
infested and, likely enough, burned
over our heads, and what provision
have we to meet all this? Here in
GAINESVILLE what is our reliance?
1t is on three policemen on guard at
time and a City Marshal. Will
not our people look this danger in
the face and provide for it? Our
Vagrant laws are a nudity, for we
have no wOrk-hOuse, we have no
militia, we have no volunteer COM
panies. To our minds the emergen-
cy seems sufficiently urgent to justi
fly the calling of special session of
the General Assembly. We had
great doubts whether the financial
affairs which have made this like
ly would be satisfactorily arranged
by such extra legislation, but here
is a great need for the organization
of society for its own protection, and
the danger is on so large a scale
that we doubt whether it can be
adequately done without legislative
action.
But many will have great doubts
of this. What we can do, therefore,
let us do. One or two volunteer COM
panies could soon be raised among
our active young men, and sufficient
military knOwledgesurvives among
the soldiers and officers of the late
war to drill them. Who will move
in it? 1t has been already shown
by fatal experience that all the ele-
ments of Iawlessness and discOrd are
organized and ready for the first OPP
pOrtunity; society alone is morgan
lied and unprepared. Dangers Of
this sort melt away before steady
front in behalf of order, but are
stimulated into dangerous agrees
iveness by supineness and timidity.
Let us not wait till trouble comes
upon us and then hold up our hands
and cry, who would have thought it.