Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1883-08-20
raE TELEGRAPHBRs' FAILURE-sodE OF
IT'S TEACHINGS,

The failure of the telegraphers TO win
recognition Of their demands at tho
hands of the telegraph companies ia an
nounced. Sincere sympathizsrs with thu
operators viii deeply deplore this result
The strike was one of the few iustifablei
attempts of i'll paid labor to better itself
by methods free from violence. TcI
better pay and lighter labor the operators
were entitled. We supported them in
their protest, their manly behavior and
their exercise of an undeniable right, not
from an animosity to the companies, nor
yet from mere sympathy with the opera
tors, any more than we should entertain
for any similarly situated class OF laboring
men and women similarly acting. The
great mass of the press that pronounced
for the operators did so from conviction
of the Justice of their cause. The failure
of the strike has not in any respect modi-
Ssc The principles involved, nor has the
collapse overthrown solitary legitimate
argument used in support of the move
ment. The telegraphers failure ia due less
to the stubbornnsss of their exacEing and
relentless employers than to the fact that
so many of their own GLASS stood ready to
take their places at the rejected wage and
with all the old burdens. This happens
in nearly all strik, and nearly all of
which fail, snd so few of which are de-
fensible. In the late one it is evident that
the operators acted prior to obtaining re-
liable census of those who might be called
upon to fill their places, and who were out
side the organization. But it is useless TO
speak of mistakes-thsre will be plenty of
wise people to point them ont now. The
operators have been forced to yield, and we
misjudge them greatly if they Go not
meet defeat in the same spirit of bravery
and mauliness with which they made their
now celebrated protest. They know that
they were in the right, but they also know
that the right is not always victorious.
Theirs is an instance where victory does
not establish the victor on the throne of
right, and where defeat does not prove the
vanquished TO have been wrong. Both
parties have suffered-the one by loss of
wages and place, the other by loss Of bust
ness and public confidence.
Historically the strike will take its place
prominently in the annals of the country,
for its significance and for the peculiarities
that marked il. It was one of the most,
If not the most, orderly of which we have
record. Il vas conducted with perfect
propriety Of conduct, and the charges OF
criminality in cutting wires do not appear
to have been fastened upon the operators
by any sufficient testimony. II WAS sig
ni6cant in the history of strikes as having
ample justification, and rs involving an
exceptionally large number Of skilled work
men. The greatest Significance is found in
the all but universal sentiment of the ooun-
try in approval of the course of the operat-
ors. It Is no exagseration to say that fully
seven-tenths of the people of the Union
sympathized with them and wished them
success. OF the remainder not tenth
part made any open expression of sympa-
thy for the employers. The telegraphers
had, therefore. the moral support of the
country. Concerning no commercial &C.
currence do we recall an instance where
the public mind was SO nearly a unit in
sentiment and expression. Such a voicing
of public opinion is fall Of lessons, and the
telegraph companies viii prove nsre short
sighted than it is reasonable TO believe
them to be if they De not heed the teach
ings of these lessons. The people c. this
country have shown how heartily they dis
approve of systems which produce aach
effects az the late strike, and since the peo-
pie rule in our form of government, the
companies must not be surprised if the
sovereign shall seek his revenges. For the
sentiment that approved the strike ia not
of the kind that dies in day. Il viii be
found that the memory of the late event
will not speedily, if ever, be forgotten. Its
results will not cease with the submission
of the operators.
One of the results viii be the renewed
consideration OF The polsico-ecOnomicsl
auestiOn of industrial arbitration, through
which labor may be secured its natural