St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1883-07-27
TUESDAY.
The Press on the Strike.

Ol lllt corporation ItllJ lUS management
has been too much interested in intiat-
its own stock and too little in looking
after its true business, the transaction
of the telegraph communication of the
country, the perfection of the telegraph
service, the harmonizing, organization
and retention of loyal army of Oper-
atOrs. The Western Union, which fix
es the market rate of this kind of ser
vice in the country. has of late years
lacked philanthrOpic interest in its
force. We believe every employer
owes this to the employee and no less
so, when he takes the impersonal form
of Il corporation. The relation of en-
ployer and hired servant cannot be the
most fruitful of profit, without loyalty
on the part of the latter, and that 10y
atty should be compensated by cor
responding interest on the part of the
employer in his servants welfare. The
Western Union is in the main served
with high fidelity 10y its force. 1t has
repaid this service by reducing wages
and wasting earnings in paying divi-
dends upon stocks which the supreme
court of New York has already pro-
nounced invalid, and which we trust
the court of appeals of the same state
will so characterize. That this course
toward the employees has gone so far rs
to induce the latter to leave their places
and strike, is confession of neglect
upon the part of the company.
1t is easy to say that men can 90 if
they are dissatisfied and seek higher
wages elsewhere. This is the usual and
of course the proper mode of adjusting
differences in nearly all common en-
pigments, because those employments
have Il real market rate of wages. A
carpenter or blacksmith dissatisfied
with his wages can apply ut the next
shop and thus test his market value.
SO can nearly all other artisans escape
the dominance of any one great en-
plOyer. But the Western Union is the
great Geographic interest of the cOun
try. 1t has swallowed all the smaller
ones, and fixes absolutely the standard
of Geographic wages for itself and for
all others i'll America. After Il man has
spent the acquisitive period of his life
i'll mastering one profession and taken
on the responsibilities of family, he
will submit to Il good deal of grinding
rather than take the risk of trying to
! better his condition by changing ser
vice. especially when that change per
haps neceSsitates change of home and
of business. Those are changes which
are pretty certain to entail loss, if not
failure, and the prudent man in middle
! life submits to Il good deal before max
ing them. The Western Union has
taken advantage of this monopoly of
the field and of this natural repugnance
of men to change to deal very much
less literally with its employees than
with its stockholders. 1t should not
have waited till this time before ap-
pointing Il committee of directors to
consider the state of the service and it
might well have afforded to refer the
matter to arbitration [Springtield Re
publican.
1t is certain, and nobody will deny it
to-day, that the Brotherhood repre-
SCENTS Il large majority of the operators,
for IL large majority has obeyed its
command. And it appears equally GER
tain that had the executive committee
of the Western Union shown any dis
position to give the representatives of
the discontinued operators ii consider
ate hearing, Il negotiation for Il COM
promise might have easily been open
! ed, arbitration might have been ac-
copied by both sides, and the strike
with all its evil consequences might
have been avoided New York Even
ing Post.
The company has paid per cent
dividend upon its scores of millions of
watered stock by squeezing both the
public and its employees i'll every way
that it could. We would not have it
inferred from this that we wholly con-
cur i'll the demand put forward by the
operators, which may, for aught we
can say to the contrary, be much more
eXacting than it should be. But what
we do assert is that the party chiefly
responsible for the present embarrass-
ment is the Western Union telegraph
company, whose managers have sySte-
matically cut otf-tO aid their stock OPP
eratiOns-the pay of their employees,
until endurance on their part could not
longer be expected Boston Herald.
Neither party is free from response
bility for the existing state of things.
| Neither will escape condemnation if it
long continues. The companies have
moderated the dimensions of the
movement. They cannot afford to
seem Indifferent to its consequences.
| The demands of the operators claim at
| least respectful consideration and a
distinct reply. The companies must
make some attempt to arrange these
differences. The public interests, and
the interests of the companies no less,
call for fair and conciliatory spirit.
| We have no doubt that the operators
/ ff f.,ir. S.I,a #
bitratiOn, and that they would resume
work until Il settlement was reached
! Boston Journal.
No course was left open to the tele-
graph companies but to refuse to ac-
cede to eXtravagant demands. If Il
committee of strangers, representing
an oath bound secret society, can sud
denly walk into the office of a telegraph
or any other company, and make such
! unreasonable demands and enforce
compliance Herewith, without allow
! ing time for investigation or to arrange
! the business of the company to meet
the new burdens imposed upon it, then
! there will have to be an entire change
i'll the methods of transacting business.
Il New York Tribune.
Had the Western Union company
shown conciliatory spirit toward its
employees it manifested a DISPOSE
ton to meet them halfway, to com
promise with them or to submit to ar
bitration the matters in dispute, the
strike might have been averted, to the
satisfaction and advantage of all par
ties concerned. The company is legal
| ly bound to carry on its business with
out serious interruption, to receive all
messages offered and to transmit them
with reasonable prOmptness. 1t can
not in the way attempted shift the dis
astrOus consequences of the strike from