Lexington weekly intelligencer. (Lexington, Mo.) 1871-1887, 1877-07-28
THE STRIKE AND ITS MORAL.

United States treasury department. 10
to make it a horn of plenty I" bonaho!u-
ers and Il car of Juggcrnaut to the poo
pie. A conflict between capital and labor
is upon the country. exceeding in Its
magnitude any internecine revolution
of the kind that has ever taken place IN
America. and scarcely surpassed by the
red republican revolts OF France. In
its present condition the trouble Is a
serious one, demanding the caimes
consideration Of every man who so'es
his country or his kind. Railway traffic
/, ~para,yZcd from one end Of the coun-
try to the other. In many OF the large
cities disorder and mol rule reign. the
c~ommunistic oilers and tramps having
taken the honest llb"rlng men : CAUSE
ont OF their hands. and diSgraced them
bv mceudiarism aud rapine Millions
OF dollars worth oi property has been
DESTROYED. many lives have been lost,
and armed aud trcuzied multItudes are
breathing defiance 10 law and order
This unfortunate state OF things Sig
rests tha, the time has arrived III tins
country Tor the solving OF those s"r!a!
questions winch have been agltatIlT
the more drm>rly populated countries
! of Europe tor ~urne wears. and II also
reminds us that the disturbing e%leIuents
OF society are to-day more thoroughly
ORGANIZED thar are the cnnserVatorS oil
the peace and the legal protectors OF
lite and property. Another revocation
that is made is that the railroads OF the
country, those great arteries OF com
merce aud travel which We are wont
to .ook upon a. the great cIvlIlzerS O
! the ace. are also a grand ramitica:!uI
of Quick fuses. leading from n powder
magazine to anOther-thc large cities
which are liable to demolition At any
time that differences INA arise hctwceI
the employer and employed. TheS'
conflicts are to be expected whenever
the rapacity of the capitalist, or tn
striumcnCv OF the times cause him to re
iuce the rewards of labor, especial.
when this reduction is forced below
living rates for the workman. Here tn
laborng man has certain rights. ii
has the right to assert that he will nc
work for IeSs than Il certain price. Hi
labor is his own. it is his capital, and h'
has the right to demand tor it what Ii
p.ra>es. More than this; he has III
right TO combine with his fellow labor
ers to make a collective demand tor be-
ter paw. But he has no right to intel
l tere with the control or disposition q
other peoples property. He has II
right to burn. rob, or murder. Whc
this strike began L majority OF the pee
pie svmpathized with the strikers. Til
, fact that the great monopoiles OF I'll
country. the large railroad corporation:
which in their power and influence hay
themselves become a danger to tn
Liberties OF the people. have reduce
the wages OF employees to rates ;
which they cannot live, has tc
some time been notorious. Ever
. man OF any >~eu>ibilIty must syn
! pathIZe with these meu. who, iollowln
; one OF the most hazardous and e~XacJin
al occupations. are reduced to a stat
ot scmi-pauperism; and a strike upo
= every road in the country which IT cate
Y its men in this way would have been a
proved by the great thinking mind
= the nation, and would have been 81
t ceSstul. When. however, l. strike
e i>tir crowds Of .ncendiarieS. the sy!np
thy elected by the h~ardships of Il
iaborer are frozen III the instinct Of Sc
preservation. which indicates TO eve
" sensible man that anarchy means deaf
The first duty of every true citizen, u
! der such circumstances, j. to entor'
peace and preserve property. lie G;
= not stop to consider individual! -utleriu
I because OF the kuuwleige that order
defiance means greater and more e
= tended hardship Already the Stoppa.
at freight trains has brought ann
,f prices To MANY cities; Hour 1t tilte,
dollars per barrel. and other things
IF proportion. aud the reaction which ISIS
in to ONT after scenes OF violence and
disturbance OF the natural flow OF trad
D. will bring with it only added Sutferil
le for the pOOr. One mora! which I
is strike. apart from the mob, points,
lie that stockholders OF railroads must tai
the control of their property more in
their own hands. and stop the prince
I. salaries OF useless officers, while I
II men who really earn their dividends 4
Y, half starved. Another is that dividcn
re must M longer be expected on water
is stock, but only on the actual prese
Id value Of the roads. Another is II
IL fights for freight should not be made
e. the expense OF the men who run t
as trains; and last, but not least, that it
al useless for railroads to fight wat
IDiItS. anu tHdI IL tcl all iIiSS vi iicIe
!, NAV as well be conceded to the latt
o. for sooner or later they must secure it
:, the natural laws OF trade. TO all .abt
ing men within reach of the Int
n gencer we say, avoid every demagog
who advises violence. Preserve the
spect of the community by respect
ID yourselves and the rights OF others.
swayed by 40 caprices, assert your o.
manhood like intelligent and retlecti
citizens, and il YOU have wrongs to &C
plain OF, do it with that dignity that
taches to honest labor, and sooner OF IA
ch YOUR condition will be ameliorat
+ Coming thus, what you gain will be p
manent victory success gained in i
u other way will be evanescent.
nit About the most impudent thing Il
ne we have seen for some time. consider
ar its source. is this mOrceau from \
ID Garfield, extracted from hun in an
re terview with a Herald reporter "N
to measures must cease some time, Z
ak when so good L time as when the '
he president went out Of Office? The (
he that we conquered those states and II
ere reconstructed them by military po'
,as iamiliarihed us with the idea Of con
er. ued influence in theiI affairs-in in,