The Wheeling daily register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1864-1878, 1877-08-01
The Great Railroad Strike,
The Only True Remedy.
Washington Sentinel.

Washington Sentinel.
The railroad strikes all over the cOun-
try, excepting the South, have assumed
proportions well calculated to alarm every
patriot in the country. Few seem to I'M
derstand Us yet the full meaning and
bearing of the same thanks to an almost
unanimous and subsidized press.
Those strikes are not the work Of the
CommuneI Those strikers are not Com.
nunists who wish, upon some crazy
theory, to rob others of their property by
so called divisions, etc. Nor is this,
properly speaking, n fight between labor
and capital. The newspaper man vino
calls the strikers Communists
commits an outrageous libel
upon the honor and the fair
reputation of the producing not dIvId
ing or stealing-classes of this country!
Shame, everlasting shame on such miser-
able defamlng mercensriesl
'ShOot, Kill, and centralizo the powers
of the Cove create large armies
and keep the people down by military
}
tor the last SIX days of the National Re
publican, the so-csled organ of the Ad-
ministrats 20! Other papers have follow
ed in the same wake ana very lew have
had independence and courage enough to
assert that the strikers are human beings,
certainly possessed of ut least some slight
privileges, AL d that the monOTOIistiC mil
lonares are not the only beings entitled
to the consideration and protec ion OF Tho
Federal and State Governments:
The fight Is not between capital and
labor in the European Seuse, but between
honest but poor and working citizens
and swlndhng spectators and financial
thieves, 1t is based upon the same
wrong that compels the swindled ard
robbed reservation Indian, rs n last re-
sort To keep himself and family from sc-
tual starvation, to dig up the buried
tomahawk and fall, in his savage lgnOr
ance, upon the white settlers in order To
wreak his vengeance ~ desperation
against the Government officials and
thieves. He, too, is shot down by The
strong arm of u Government that never m
quireS into the true CAUSES OF such @nteutCS
or Furnishes lis raScally officials! But
then ne is only AL ludian!
This struggle is one of the consequent
COS of the era OF shOddydom which broke
upon us soon after the beginning OF the
last war. 1t prolonged the latter unnc-
cessarily and shed oceans OF blood
merely Tor the purpose Of giving OPP
pUrtunties to heartlesS and cruel
rs.,cals to fill their pockets b, swind.
ling contracts and retain political power
Then rs now their motto WAS: "ShOOt
shootW
That shoddydom has ever since man
aged. through Rings and otherwise To
keep itself in power. Its votsrles swind-
led as collectors, and other officials, the
Government out of hundreds oil millions
ot dollars, stole the money in the Freed
mems Bureau and Bank from the ne
Sroes, and defrauded the Government,
through Credit Mobiliers and subsidies,
ana the people through the Nations!
Banks and Boards of Public Works and
other Rings, out OF untold millions
without any one of the great scoundreIs
having been brought u justice, All
that ever was required was u ask the
othcias thief, i. matters became too no,
TO send in his resignation and retire
with his plumber and sometimes with
testimonials OF good character from even
the President OF the United States. II
however, by some such misfortune as the
whisky trial, An official offender was
sent to the pententiary, he hardly be-
came warm there before ne was pardon
ed. Private corporations and individuals
followed the example set them by those
high IN official power. Lille and fire
insurance companies went up ike soap
bubbles with millions Of the money Of
the toihng masses. Railroads were, and
are now, managed to further private IN
terests at the expense Of the company,
and thus the companies became Empower
ished, whilst the managers and directors
of the great railroads interested them
selves in " asst freight lines and other
special enterprises which bed the rail
road companies. The stocks of those
railroads were ''wstered' and run up
sud down as the stock speculstlons OF the
managers required.
OF course, those thieves and rascalS
=
mad been run in the ground. and moth
ing more wss TO be stolen, they lett with
their Their plumber snd-the people had
TO pay the damages.
The consequence has been that our
whole socia! aud business surface Is ike
y rst-eslen cheese The people do not
trust each other, hence the great Stagna-
ton of trade. If retrenChments become
necessary the screws are put to the poor
Isboring men--Lhe rich managers OF
course remaining in full possession OF
their salaries and emoluments. Neither
Tom Scott nor Garrett had their i'm
mense salaries reduced, though both, be-
ing worth together over fifty millions of
dollars. could well afford it.
Nobody regrets violence and bio d
shed more than we do, and no striker
will receive any encouragement from Us
in that direction. But We are not COW
ards nor railroad slaves enough TO join
in the howl OF the press against men
who. whatever their faults otherwise
NAV be, are paid such prices Tor their
rerilous labor on which they and their
families cannot subsist. And none, not
ersn the ,lo,.opoLists Themselves hare thus
fq,. dared to deny that the prices they
no,o pay are StGrrat'on and not tr1tg
'r0geS
The appeal has beer made to to the
Federal Government for protection OF
the railroad companies, ard Federal
troops have been forwarded at great ex-
pense. That gives the next Congress a
right to inquire into the relations be
tween the railroad com psnies and their
wolkmen. Let Congress inquire why
railroads which. like that OF the Bsltl-
more and Ohio Company, pay ten per