Shepherdstown register. [volume] (Shepherdstown, Va. [W. Va.]) 1849-1955, 1877-08-04
TINE LABOR TROUBLES.

the RESULT Much anxiety, great distress
among hundreds and hundreds of peo-
pie, general commo:ion throughout the
entire length and breadth of the coun-
try, tremendous losses of property, and,
pity to say, the destruction of a large
number of valuable lives. That is about
all. Those who set the trouble in mo-
ton have profted nothing, bnt are pos
sibly worse off than they were before
the strike began. The great corpora
tons, as is nearly always the case, have
come off victorious, and those who are
least able to bear the pressure are forced
to the wall The right and the wrong
of the matter it is hardly nee s'ary now
to consider, but when it is stated that the
Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Company
pays the largest dividends OF any COM
pany in the country, and yet gives the
lowest wages to its employees, the cause
for the late troubles is made apparent
to all. TO the man at the bottom it
was literally and absolutely a battle for
bread. The company may say that the
times are hard, business depressed, com
petition with other roads sharp, and all
that, but the fact remains, notwithstand-
ing, that heavy dividends were declared,
that the stockholders had good thing
of it, while the miserable pittance doled
out to the employee was scarcely suff-
cient to keep body and soul together.
Now, laying all feeling in the matter
aside, is this right? Let one OF the
higher officials of the road put himself
in the shoes of the brakeman for in
stance, and then let him figure cut how
a house can be rented and food and
clothes supplied to an ordinary family
on one dollar per day, Qor that is about
all, counting loss of time, his pay
amounts toy lie will find the problem,
we venture to say, rather hard to solve,
and his experience will be in the high
est degree painful and provoking, and
if his bowels of compassion are not en-
larged we submit that his case is
hopeless one, But while we say this
let it not be understood that we Justify
in any sense the lawlessness and Vlo-
lence which have grown out of the
strike. Far from it. The law is su-
preme and must remain so. There can
be no temporizing with crime. If a
man applies the torch to railroad prop
erty he is no less au incendiary than if
he fired his brothers house. To steal
from corporation is just as much theft
as to rob an individual on the highway,
but corporation should be compelled
to be just with its employees. In these
cases it is crime without degree. The
law makes no distinction and there
should be none. The argument that
corporations should have less respect
paid to, and less protection thrown
around their property than is shown to
the property of individuals, will not
hold good either in ethics or law. The
law must throw its protecting arm over
all alike. Let it be remembered also
that the spirit of the Commune can find
no place here. If man desires wealth
let him work for it like a man. The
road to comfort if not to atfluence is
open to all. The individual who growls
and snifffes because his neighbor sue
ceeds better than he himself does, and
who desires that there shall be gener-
al division of property is either knave,
a fool or thief, and the sooner he di-
vests himself of such notions aud goes
to work to better his fortune in legiti-
mate way, the better for himself and
the public at large. Those persons
who have a competency saved their
earnings little by little. Whiskey, gam
bling, debauchery, useless expenditures,
extravagant living, and following the
accursed fashions of the day, and try
ing to "keep up appearances" are the
evils to a great extent, which have
brought ruin upon our country. We
say again, go to work, labor is honora
bic; deal justly with everybody ;
and pay your honest debts-this
is the great panacea for our country.
The truth is the times are just now q
little out of joint, but it is to be hoped
we shall soon see the end of our troub-
les in general revival of business, but
in the meantime let the great corpora
lions as well individuals not forget that
the Divine Master created stomachs be-
fore bayonets were forged, or Bacon or
Blackstone wrote law.
BE- SpEAKING.-Mr. G. j. Faulkner,