Daily globe., 1883-08-26

uncneckeo Dy lt. how longr " astute
Edmunds! How longfT o brave and
virtuous congress! How longi O, faith
full commissioners, faithful in drawing
salaries) how long?
TIE strike of the telegraph operators
has ended, as was foreseen from the be-
ginning, in failure, and in damage to the
strikers. The GLOBE in its issue of July
81 said: "There has never been strike
that did not result in ultimate harm to
those taking part in it, and it cannot be
expected, or foreseen by any rational pro-
cess of reasoning, that the present tele-
graph strike will prove an exception to
the universal rule" All men of observa-
ton and experience saw the disastrous end
from the beginning. True. the strike
seemed we'll organized, we'll appointed,
and formidable on the face of it. 1t was
a very gentlemanly, high toned strike! 1t
was law-abiding strike. 1t would not
tamper with, or destroy the property of
the telegraph companies. But presently,
as their hopes began to weaken, strikers
turned out to be very common, criminal
hoodlums, and commenced cutting wires
to an almost unlimited extent. Not only
was the telegraph company injured, but
the general business public as we'll. In the
outset these strikers received more sym.
pathy than they deserved, from large
class of the public, and large portion of
the press. This was short sighted and
unjust, and encouraged the strikers to
cling to their false position. As human
nature is, and as we believe ought to be,
employers will not yield to the arbitrary
dictation of employees. When an employe
is dissatisfied with his position, or his pay,
he should seek another position, and get
larger pay if he can, but when he resorts
to attempted coercion, and especially in
combination with others, to compel exact
ed terms from his employer he resorts to
an unjust and criminal act, and ought not
only to fail, but to be punished for his
wrong doing. Indeed, an employer may
be in the wrong, ne may not allow ade-
quate compensation; but there is nothing
illegal in this act; the employe is not
bound to accept his terms; he may 60 else
where into pastures new, but when he en-
ters into conspiracy to force his employ
er, to grant given terms against his will,
on pain of assault upon his person, or dam
age to his business, or ruin to his property,
the employe becomes a criminal, and his
influence, 30 far as he has any, is damage
and menace to community. 1t is reo-
ognized principle of law, as old as legal
ethics, that man shall 80 use his own as
not to damage his neighbor. A mans la
Dor is his own. He may sell it to the best
possible advantage to himself, but when
he attempts to compel his neighbor to pay
more for his labor than his neighbor is
willing to grant, or in his judgment he
can afford to pay, the laborer transgresses
the very foundation structure of all right
and Just law. The man who resorts to
brute force to obtain his ends, deprives
himself of all just, legal protection, for he
is, himself, an infractor of law, and moth
ing else. Tho impecunious, the improyi-
dent, unthrifty, uneasy spirits, are gener-
ally the ring leaders in strikes; and this
late telegraph strike is not an exception.
These desperate leaders, who have nothing
to lose, influence their fellow employees
against their own wishes and Judgment,
and to their own hurt. In this strike men
and women, to very great extent we're
influenced to leave their work against
their own wishes. The result is, large
number, now that the strike is over, can
not secure their old places. Their places
have been filled by others; or only the
most expert are received back, and huud-
reds have thus thrown themselves out of
good living positions. The poor girls are
to be pitied who have lost their positions,
through the influence of wrong headed,
striking leaders. 1t would be we'll If all
employees could learn wholesome lesson
from this noted failure. The labor unions,
and brotherhood organizations, are all
we'll enough, and may be to an extent ben
efcial, so long as they confne themselves
to aims for mutual benefit, for improve
ment, in mental, social and moral quail
ties, to elevate labor and the laborer, but
when they relapse into illegal combina-
tions, to control capital not of their own
begetting, and to force capitalists and en-
ployers to yield to their prescribed, iron
clad terms, they become dangerous ele-
ments in social, civil, and business life,
and their tendency is to agrarian, COM
munistic, anarchical disruption of all the
securities and bulwarks set for the protec-
ton of individual rights, social we'll being,
and business integrity. He is not wise
citizen or safe adviser who gives eoun-
tenance to strikes, or who encourages
combinations of labor against capital.
When this issue comes to the front land
it may be that even now, the tendency is
in that direction) the result will be civil
commotion, communistic outrage, and
bloodshed. Let wise men be warned in
time against the threatening, unsettling
and ominous signs of the times.
FATHER AND SON.