Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1882-09-26

C0nclllatlOu duu hiuitlatiOu III uAASA
enees between employers and en-
ployed.
NEW PHASES IN AMERICAN STRIKES.
In the United States there have
been many more or less extensive
strikes; indeed, hardly a month passes
without some such venture in a city or
village. Only in one instance, how
ever, has a strike of laboring men
taken such proportions 81 to demand
the interference Of the national gov
eminent. In this country, where all
voluntary organizations are free, no
laws have SO far been passed to prevent
the action Of societies or individuals
for the protection of their rights.
Frequent attempts have been made in
Congress to pass such laws, but they
seldom get even a hearing. AT present
there are more than a thousand asso
Citations in the country, among the
more important of which are the
International Typographical Union,
dating from 1852; Machinists and
Blaeksmiths, 1859; Iron Molders,
1859; Brotherhood Of Locomotive
Engineers, 1863; Journeymen Tailors,
1865; OOopers, 1870; Cigsrmakers, 1871;
Miners, 1873, and Sons of Vulcan,
1874. These associations have a
membership of about one hundred
and fifty thousand; and there are
myriads of other organizations which
would bring the trade membership up
somewhere near to a million OF men.
All these organizations assert the right
to secure higher wages or to
protect themselves against reductions
by stopping work. Nearly all Of them
70 much further, and assert the right
to accomplish the purposes of a strike
by constraining others than members
Of trades unions to quit work, or at
least to refrain from taking the places
of strikers. In many cases the unions
have held out for weeks, subsisting
upon reduced receipts or aided by
funds subscribed by members and sym
pathizers. As a rule strikes for higher
pay have failed to command the sym
PATTY of the community, aud have had
little support from the press. TIE
better policy Of arbitration rapidly
gains ground, and in consequence
strikes are less frequent.
The late difficulty between the
freight handlers and the railroads ma
~turaily recalls the great railroad riots
of 1877, when millions Of private and
corporate property we're destroyed,
many lives sacrificed and hundreds Of
thousands Of laborers thrown out Of
employment, and all this through an
endeavOr on the part. Of the employees
of a railroad to secure better wages on
a falling market. Widespread and
disastrous as we're the immediate re.
suits of this strike; enormous as was
the public loss and inconvenience:
irightful as were the passions aroused
and astounding as were their effects as
exhibited in the cODhagration Of
buildings, the wreck of trains, tn
stOppags of industries and the havoc,
pillage and murder that broke out al
most simultaneously among the mobs
in so many cities, the whole history
Of the struggle occupied barely two
weeks.
MELANCHOLY "REMINISCENCES.
The riot began at Martinsburg, on
the Baltimore and Ohio railroad, on
the night OF the 10th of July. A ten
per cent reduction in the pay Of men
employed on the road had recently
gone into effect, and the fremen and
engineers complained that they could
not decently support their families at
the reduced rate, while the company
insisted that they could pay no more
and earn even the interest on their
capital. The striking fremen drove
off men who offered to take their
places. Two local militia companies
were called. out, and a slight collision
occurred; but the troops were in sym
patty with the strikers and made no
real effort to restore order. Next day
the strikers numbered, with their
sympathizing friends, more than a
thousand, and babe defiance to civil
or military authority. Trains to the
number Of nearly a nearly a hundred
were blOckaded, the strikers meeting
each as it came, aud, with levelled
pistols, compelling the engineers to
run them on the sidings. Passenger
trains, however, were not interlered
with. Governor Matthews finding
he could not rely upon the State
troops, applied to the President of the
United States for aid, and eight COM
panies Of artillery were sent at once
to Martinsburg. The President issued
a proclamation on the 18th of July.
stating that the laws Of the nation re
qulred all instructions in any State
to be promptly suppressed and warn
Ing all persons engaged in domestic
violence and distractions Of the laws
to disperss within twenty four hours.
This temporarily ended the trouble at
Martlnsburg; but on the day the troops
lett Washington a strike broke out at
keyser, in Maryland, on the same
railroad, and another demonstration
was made at Cumberland. The Gov
ernor called out a Baltimore regiment,
but the rabble in that city was SO
much excited as to attack the soldiers
with stones and other missiles. A
volley fired over their heads only
made the roughs more violent, but
the point blank firing that came r.ext
killed nine or ten Of them, and ended
the trouble,
The day after the Baltimore riot
there was a strike among the railroad
men at Pittsburg, Pa. The strikers
ran out the trains at that city took DO
session OF the main track and STONED
all trains going East or Vest fbe
brotherhood Of Engineers held a
meeting aud resolved to stand by the
strikers. A committee was appointed
to demand from the PennsylvaniaRail II.
road Company that a two per :cent re.
duction 10 wages should be abandoned
ibis was refused. The local militia
we're called out, but,as at Martinsburp.
only to prove that they could not be
relied upon, Troops then came from
Philadelphia and were received at
Plttsburg by a bowling mob armed
with stones or whatever they could get
hold Of. Enraged at the rapid FIRE
6 iyen by the Philadelphia militia, by
which about twenty persons were cut
down, the rioters fed but they almost
instantly r%eassembled in immense
throngs. reinforced bY tramns. miners