The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1883-07-18
The Press and the yershire "War."

THE rings ON +. Dude Ely-Goddard's fingers
would amount to something handsome, IL sold
and it is worth while to remark that II he
had been differently constituted, or il Smith
Ely had attended to business instead Of encour-
aging the grandson in idiocy, the trouble would
probably have been avoided.
Worcester spy.l
THE Vermont militia did their duty prompt
ly aud well. The rioters case was hard, and
it was right that much forbearance should be
shown them. . The public can sympa-
thize with the rioters in their anger, and has
no regret for any loss which the company has
sustained. But even men with a Just griev-
ance cannot be permitted to take the law into
their own hands.
Hartford Post.l
THE riotous proceedings in Ely, Vt, were
hardly worth the trouble of military inter
ference. . Rioters in bed, gently soothed
in slumber, are not dangerous, and the gov
ernor of Vermont was undoubtedly alarmed
too quickly. No harm has been done, how
be the payment of the miners the $4,000 or so
which they have earned but which they have
been unable to obtain.
tBoston Times.l
PERHAPS Governor Barstow of Vermont had
no warrant in law for telling the Ely mine man
ayers to pay their men, at the same time that
he sent a battalion of troops to preserve peace
and property; but the act was creditable to his
heart and is suggestive Of the necessity that
exists in every state of some means of more
speedy justice than the courts afford, and some
means of preventing outbreaks that are caused
by tyranny and disregard of the rights of
others, on the part of either capital or labor.
Such creatures as Ely-Ely God Goddard are
barely tolerated as long as they pay, or as their
grandfathers pay; but when dog-carts and dia-
monds are before the curtain and starving mi
ners behind it, the show no longer amuses.
boston Gobe.l
IT appears also that the ordering out of the
militia was due to the interference of ex-Gov.
ernor Farnham, vice-president and counsel OF
the company, under whose instructions the
sheriff swore to the statement of rioting and
instruction that brought out the troops
There is no apparent motive for such action or
the part of this gentleman and the only infer
ence is that he had been misled by the ex
aggerated reports appearing in the press, and
that these sensational reports, with which some
of our contemporaries adorned their columns
applying all sorts of epithets to the cheated
and wronged miners, were the primary cause
of this portion of the trouble However, thu
miners are now set right, and the sympathy
with them in their pitable condition will be in
creased by the knowledge of their commenda
BILE behavior under such provocation.
New York SUM-
THE chief lesson of these troubles in the Yer
mont copper mines is that the state wher
called upon for troops to quell disturbances
arising out of a labor dispute, usually has
double duty to perform. If it is led to inter
fere, it should be careful to see that its inter
position is not perverted and one-sided In the
great majority Of cases. corporations or Other
large employing bodies call upon the state, OF
induce the sheriff to call upon it, for troop:
with the expectation, which is rarely disap.
pointed, of reaping the benefit of the inter.
ference for their side Of the dispute. Governor
Barstow had the good sense to see that it was
his duty, as the head of the commonwealth
not only to restore peace where it was disturbed
but to find out why the peace had been broken
and to insist on the removal of the cause which
broke it. While the Governor properly under
took to put down lawlessness, he doubles,
comprehended that community which had NJ
money even for food could scarcely resort t
the court for redress, and that, even if an at
torney had taken up their cause without fee
they might have starved before it was decided
Should Governor Barstow's example of com
pelling the company that desired the inter
ference of the troops to do its own duty to il
employees be generally followed, the militit
of the country would not often find itsel
| called ont in labor trOuhlas