The Labor enquirer., 1883-09-22
III 4 WAS NOT LOST.
Says ''Junius1 ofthe Tslesraph
Operators Bsttlc Against
Monopoly.
The Downward Tendsncyof Wages
Stopped and Monopoly
Doomed.
Good Result Of the Strike The Pub
Awakened ---How to Act
Next Time.

Never did strike fail Since the time
whom the producers of all wealth were
absolutely slaves; since the time, later
I'm when wages were fixed by law, and
Nofkingmen's ears clipped off for daring
ftoask moreover since these good old
tines" agitation, resistance, strikes, and
thefear of strikes have been the primal
Gauss of the worlds onward march to-
wartjustice. When man reprobates
strlks you can at once set him down as
knave ass, or ignoramus. Foolish strikes
there ave been, of course, and unjust
ones: but these no more argue against
the necessity of occasional industrial
wars-lo more blot out the good effects
of eternal vigilance and eternal resist
ance to he competitive greed of the en-
ploying class-than did the cruelty, of
Jeffries argue against, or his fragrant
corruption render unnecessary the con-
tinued existence of the courts of justice.
Trade unpns have become indispensable
agencies i, the repressible conflict for
industrial freedom. When we have
well-equip,ed trade organizations in all
back branshes of productive industry,
and employers meet us on even ground
for the purpose of settling grie vances by
peaceable neans-when in a W ord, en-
ployers abaldon the savage warfare Of
starvation-hen, and not till then, can
the wisdom of strikes be reasonably
called in QUESTION; then, and not till
then, will thenewspaper press and the
advanced" reFormers be justified in their
TRADES against strikes and strikers.
l think l promised to prove in the
Workman that the telegraphers had not
lost, and that n the near future triumph
is in store for them. My subject is 80
complex and comprehensive, that Imust
rest content with penciling few stray
thoughts. First, then, as to What has
been accomplished.
Public attention has been aroused as it
never was before, to the iniquity of the
existing telegraph system. The govern
ment control of corporations which iney-
itably become monopolists is most un-
mstakably presaged. Railroads and
telegraphs are of the class indicated.
One man absolutely owns and controls
the means of communicating intelligence
by lightning. Half-a-dozen-prohably
the number might justly be reduced to
two own and control all the railroads.
Conn etition, the prime factor in estab-
lish ing the compensation of impecuni-
GUS millions of workingmen-plays no
part in establishing railway and tele-
graph rates. Supply and demand" our
masters" tell US, should be permitted to
regulate wages; but supply and demand
are not elements in the cost of transport
tation and communication. The general
public sees this now. The farmer, too,
sees that not supply and demand, but
rather the toll which his "poop master
exacts, regulates the price of his products.
Americans, slow to move, but unfalter-
ing when once in harness have awakened
at last to their peril. They see that,
although republican forms are still toler-
ated, banded kings in reality rule with
an iron hand. The daily press would .
speak out boldly for government teleg-
raphy if it dared The editors and
owners of our newspapers are, even
more than the public, in the clutches of
the ruthless Gould. But when the inn
pending storm breaks, public opinion
will compel them to take sides against
the Erie highwaynen. =
The strike caused Bonanza Mackey to
enter the lists against Gould. This may
result in competition for operators and
messages But 1 have small hopes in
this direction. So let us count that for
only what tits worth-and that's little.
Mackey's move should not stay US in our
determination to persist in demanding
la government telegraph system.
| What did the operators lose? About
five weeks time in midsummer They
merely took a short vacation at their
own expense. They needed recreation.
Their tentative struggle with Jay Gould
did them good. 1t rested their weary
bodies, opened their purblind eyes, and
flashed sense into their dull brains.
They are now educated men-in modern
Industrial ethics. Besides, the wages of
operators, before the battle, were gradu-
ally going down down! down!!! That
tendency has been stayed. The company
new makes pretense of giving its men
H better wages and better conditions of
employment. The pretense even shows
II that Seen" Eckert has learnt lesson.
\ What, then, did the operators lose ?
Nothing! And what gain? A liberal
employer in the near future--the United
States somewhat better wages, and in
dustrial wisdom. The down-down-
down cry, too, is stopped; and, besides,
1T will never be repeated. Gould is a
bright scholar. Hereafter he'll have
more respect for--and more fear o-his
human chattels. In every way insist the
operators gained their loss was merely
nominal. s- sss ~ .
concluded on Page Al IL