Wheeling Sunday register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1882-1934, 1883-08-12
Eyery NORTHUMBERLAND Concerned.

Every wOrkingman in the United
States has a vital interest in the econo-
mic struggle between the Western I'm
ion Telegraph Company and the strik-
ing operators and linemen.
1t is not a mere dispute as to the
amount of compensation to be paid.
The company frankly admit their
Willingness to pay the wages demanded
upon,the sole condition that each man
will make q separate application and
upon his own merits. This the men
refused to do, declaring that they will
not make application except through
their union-the Brotherhood.
The Western Union positively de-
clinsd to recognize the organization,
and this is the point of interest to all
workiDgmen.I 1t is pitched battle between
Corporate Capital and Corporate La
Dor.
Monopoly forsees that the only dan
ger it has to fear from public indigna-
ton at its excuses and its extOrtiOns
is in the combined action ofthe work.
ingmen of the country.
That combination, it feels, must be
broken at all hazards.
As an individual the wOrkingman is
powerless; under defeat he will be dis
pirited; and if a crushing blow can now
be administered to the growing spirit
of unity of purpose among the people
it may be many years before it will
muster up courage and reassemble its
scattered forces.
Jay Gould, prince Of mOnOpolists,
leads his army Of milliOns-Of money;
the knights of Labor are fighting on
behalf of milliOns-Of men.
1t is useless, WOrkingmen, to pit
your sympathy against Gould's deter
minatiOn; it is vain TO fit out your
army with the javelins Of public Opin-
ion against the breecE-loaders of
wealth.
The battle calls for q display of the
sinews of war; q sense of duty may in
spire heroes, but alone it will not sus-
tain them.
In plain, blunt Saxon, the strikers
need money. Not Immediately; they
are not weakening for want of it, nor
will they starve by holding out a few
d~ayslOnger. But money they must have
soon, unless Monopoly is to get its fangs
into your throat as well As theirs.
\ waiting fight Is a weary one. Every
day takes them nearer victory If they
are assured of material support, but
every day bears them nearer to defeat
unless the necessary encouragement is
forthcoming.
Many of these men have, like you,
wives and children, and when the fare
is stinted at home, when the wlfe's
color begins to fade and the children's
heads begin to droop, when the heart is
chilled by weary waiting, the vision Of
work and plenty, of a sure situation
and at least living wages, comes as q
sore temptation.
If this strike fails, dependent sorely
as it is upon the workingmen of the
country for success, a more serious and
staggering blow will have been receiv-
ed by Labor than it has V had in the
history of the Republic. ,
There is no wOrkiDgman employed
who Is so poor that he cannot afford to
put his hand in his pocket and con-
tribute a dime. Not for the strikers, but
in support of the principle that if capt.
| talists nay pool their interests, so may
workingmen combine to protect their
interests.
If the victory is won by Labor in this
instance, a tremendous advantage will
be gained. Jay Gould, with his mo-
nopoly and its eighty millions of dol
| lars, has thrown down the gauntle 70 the
most powerful labor organization in
the world.
1t is a royal fight. The issue involy-
ed is so ~stupendous that capital will
bend every muscle to be successful /;
twill strain every nerve to maintain
its prestige; and spend money like
water to teach workingmen that they
! are too weak to command and must be
contend to obey. ,
On the other hand, fifteen thousand
| men are striving to sustain the right OF
| their fellow men to meet force by
| force, to turn against the employers
their Oft. repeated cry. "The law of sup.
ply and demand governors the rate OF
| wages" and to hold aloft again the
long downtrodden right Of men whose
bread is earned with honest sweat to
ioin their hands IN unity against the