Staunton vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1860-1896, 1883-07-27
THE TELEGRAPH OPERATORS
STRIKE

employees OF the Western Union, the Bal
timore & Ohio, and the American Rapid
Telegraph companies. The first named is
q giant monopoly, which has, year after
year, bought up opposition companies and
kept up the high tariff of rates on the pub
lie until it is now enabled to declare
handsome dividend on Eighty Million
Dollars of watered stock, which does not
represent more than one half that amount
in real value. The second company, the
B. & o. is one of which much was ex-
pected as an opponent of the Western
Union, and which has pretty closely fol
lowed with its commercial lines the pro-
gress of the great railroad corporation Of
the same name by which it is owned. The
third is new and feeble organization yet
new to the public, and the end Of which is
moro than probable to be. in any case, that
of it's predecessors United States, the
American and others-absorption by the
Western Union. The chief owner at this
day of the Western Union, and the most
determined combatant of the claims OF the
striking operators is Jay Gould the great
monopolist of the day.
The object Of the operators strike 10
three-fold-to obtain fifteen per cent. ad-
vance on their pr esent wages, to have
more reasonable hours for day and night
labor, and to obtain ext "a compensation it
Sabbath labor is enforced. To obtain these
the operators have banded in an Associa-
tion called Brotherhood, the members Of
which are bound in honor to stand by the
official action of the Association. 1t il
hardly necess airy to inform the business
men OF cities what class of workingmen
telegraphers are, for almost every business
men knows by daily contact who and
what they are. To our readers outside of
the cities We may say that the profession
o. telegraphers makes it absolutely neces-
sary that its members should be sober. in
order to attend to the mechanical part Of
their duties; men Of some information, tho
more the better, on all subjects CONNER
cial, mechanical and political; men of
genteel appearance and unvarying courte-
~, that they may commend themselves to
the public with which they are, more or
less, thrown in contact; men of discretion
about repeating the private or public mat
tiers. that must Of necessity pass under
their eye, gossiping about which might
cost their employers heavy damages, and,
finally, men of self-respect. who realize
the Importance OF the relation they hold
to the public. 1t is no exaggeration to say
that the very fact that man is able to re-
tain constant employment in this profes :
sion may be taken as evidence that he pos
sesses in a very considerable degree most :,
if not all, of these qualifications.
These men have received the pr ompt
sympathy of the people throughout the
country, and much sooner than any other
skilled workmen could, from the dmple
factthae +t-s-. e9,nore - to the
yl.o.. BUSINESS community. The worker
in steel, iron, glass and wood strikes. but
il ia weeks. even months before the gener
= s community feels,., but when the work
ara il, electricityests go the key som
brs slieness re = ssonce brood' over every
> t..a.i I ,9elSst of the country. Hold
ers axe re- to sell and buyers are afraid
to NsIe whole machinery is para
lyzed - ia not however the trouble that
thg olic is experiencing that is enlisting
TX sympathy-that might attract their
.Otention but to irritate them; but the con-
sentative, dignified, law-abiding conduct
of the operators, the merits of their cause,
and the widespread and almost universal
fear and distrust of the great monopolies
which are fast getting the country in their
power have secured to the strikers the
good will Of the people. The still but deep
undercurrent Of public dislike to great
monopolies which hes so long been grow
ing in volume is now rising to the surface
with threatening rapidity. The power of
government resides 10 the people and they
are unwilling to uss it IN charterine,
equipping with reserved rights, and pro-
tecting any corporation which shall use it's
powers in depressing any of their number.
1t is a fact that our people are more rapidly
recognizing from this strike-more speedily
than from any strike that has preceded
1t; that every workman is our felloW cork
man and his Welfare is necessary to our
success just as ours is important to his.
This workman may be further off than
that; the strike of the iron moulder may
not reach US as quick as the strike OF the
bread baker or telegrapher with whom we
have daily business; but with all of them
we have an indissoluble interest, and it is
in such strikes as that of the operators
that we promptly inquire into that inter-
est and find on which side the right lies.
The fact that the telegraphers of the
country are overworked and underpaid is
not to be contradicted. Their defeat in
their struggle for q better condition OF
things would not prove that the oppres-
sion did not exist; it would only prove
that the monopolies were stronger than
the oppressed. With this fact in indis-
putable existence, the course Of tho minor
companies in joining the major corpora
tions is piece of short sighted folly
Whatever it might have been for the tele-
graphers, it was their opportunity to safe
ly array themselves on the side Of justice |
and secured pecuniary profit. AS it is
the dwarf is crippled in fighting the giants |
battle. For they are all crippled far more |
than the public is aware. The introduce
ton OF novices into their Offices to Ill the
places Of experts will not deceive the pub
lie whose business these novlces are una
BILE to transact. A frst-class operator is
the product Of years Of experience and a
good modicum of brains with it.
It may become question with our peo-
pie how long they will permit this action
If COMBINATIONS To at and Thu n1hlio hoa