Seattle daily post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, W.T. [Wash.]) 1881-1888, 1883-07-24
DAILY
POST : MTELLIGENCEB
I1E 1ELEcRapmERs sTEIKE.

POSI- ; MIbLLAuASOA
Tav 1yIEcRapmEKs sTHIKE.
The teIeRraphers strike commune
Rnsiness ia irpeded and public needs
are i,isrecarded. Popular sympathy Is
naturally on the side Of The employees
and We believe, with few exceptions, "
gill be found, when business over tue
wires is resumed and eget news ITO"
the press of the East, that the most IN
auential and reliable public journals
will have expressed themselves hopei"i
of the ultimate success Of the str'kelA
A neiehboring contemporary, IN o's-
cussinp this subject, declares tna' 'a's
strike il exactly the thing which snouio
he made leeislativeiy impossible ano
simplicity If not directly lays the blame
mon the men who refused TO worK
longer at starvation wages to graiiiS ''e
o,.ed Of a soulless management ana
allow the payment Of large dividends
rron millions Of watered stock. How
can a strike be made Iegislatiyely impos
sible while the telegraph system OF the
country il the subject Of private owner
sh;p ON the one hand and the Deciafa-
ton Of Independence on the other nAno
comedies to men the right to the confroi
and use of their own labor! The strike
could be ended today by either OF three
different methods: by concession on
the mart of the company to the demands
of the strikers, by withdrawal on the
mart of the operatives Of their ultima
tum and resumption of duty. or by
compromise and mutual CONCESSIONS
This latter is without doubt the mode
in which a final settlement will be
effected. But 1t is idle to allege or init
mate that only the telegraph company
has rights in this matter, or that the
public has legal power to interfere. In
der our system Of laws it has been per-
mitted that a creature Of that system, a
corporation, soulless and understandable,
should gather to itself control OF the
most potent factor in the civilization OF
the age, and under protection OF law
use it for personal, or rather corporate,
Acknowledgement regardless and in spite
OF public needs or wishes. 1t has been
allowed, by means of the various
methods obtaining in such cases, TO
oain control of the most recent devices
of tslegraphic service, to absorb COM
pcting lines, to become in short an alb
soiute monopoly of teleRfaphic news
transmission. Il fixes rates for govern
ment, press and people; rates which
unless accsded to preclude the ose and
benefit of the marvellous invention and
improvements Il controls. 1t also fixes,
as IL has equal legal right to do, the
wages which it will pay its workmen. 30
long as the company acts within and in
conformity to the laws, under and by
virtue Of which 1t came into being and
now exists II is constitutionally em-
powered TO do tn, things We have re-
counted, and the public has no business
10 interfere. II will not. we think, be
claimed that the Western Union Tele-
graph Company can be compelled by
law to pay any fixed sums as salaries to
It's operatives, to employ any more than
Il deems necessary or any person to
whom ii has objection. Those are mat
tiers In which II is, We take 1t, the exolu-
sive Judge.
On the other hand II Ia fixed prin-
ciple Of the government under which
We live. that q citizen owns in fee sim
pie. 80 to speak, himself, !. .. his physi-
cal and. mental powers, subject only
10 the demands the State or ma
ton may have upon him under and by
virtue Of his citizenship and allegiance
thereto. This personal ownership in
wolves the liberty Of disposing Of the
product Of muscle, skill or brain, at such
times and upon such terms a. the owner
himself may deem best. Labor, be It
mental or physical, IL as much q mar
ketable commodity, a. much the subject
Of ownership. ~ it's product, which. az
greeatsd. ID called capital, and the en-
ployee has exactly the same right to re-
fuse TO cell that labor for less than be
desms IL worth that the employer has
TO refuse 10 pay what he may judge ID
an excessive charge. The Government
has no more right 10 compel the laborer
to sell his labor for less than his per.
sonal appraisement thereof, than IL has
TO force the corporation or individual
employer 70 pay more than the market
value Of such services. u Ia not oul
business 10 judge In the oase just nov
before the people, Of the merits Of the
tclegraphers' strike. Our sympathies
are naturally with the employees, DO
causs We have been lod 10 believe from
personal observation and published
facts respecting the wages paid them
and the services required that there h
much merit In their complaints Of
under-pay and over-work, and because
Il ID hardly reasonable 10 presume tina,
$4,000 bright, active, industrious men
many with families, would have volun.
tarily blocked tho wheels OF business
and entailed 20 much public loss and
DISCOMFORT 10 their fellow oitixsns unless
there had been grave and in their judg.
msnt ample reasons for concerted and
summary action. We prefer 10 believe
that these men, with bodies and souls,
wives and littlo ones, are Just - patri-
otto and ~ ready to serve the public a.
those bloodlsss, foshless. soulleas pro-
ducts Of the law, which leap full grown
into the arena of business life from the
womb Of statutory enactment.
The fact h that news transmission,
whether il be postal or tslegraphio,
should be managed bv the General Gov
crnmsnt f,s tho convenience, benefit
and safety Of the people. BY that We
do mot mean 70 b understood TO say