New-York tribune., 1885-03-12
MOTHER RAILROAD STRIKE

In 1877. when business was exceedingly de-
nresscd. when traffic was small, and seemed to
he growing smaller, and when the prices OF
active securities had reached lower level than
ot apv time for many years before, certain en-
nloves of great railways chose that time of all
others to begin strike. The consequences are
we'll remembered. With vast number OF
working-people out of employment the rail-
roads were able to ill the places OF the strikers
with little difficulty. AS soon as this fact be-
came apparent to the strikers, they undertook
at MANY points to accomplish by threats and
violence what they had failed to accomplish by
combined refusal to work. Riots followed, and
bloodshed at many points, and terrible destruc-
ton of property and yet. as the result OF IL ALL
the strikers gained nothing, but many OF them
lost all they had to lose.
II does seem little strange that the time
chosen for the next great strike OF railway en-
ployes should be coincident with the next
period of extreme depression in the value oil
railway securities, extreme shrinkage in railway
traffic and In rates obtainable by the railways
for the services they render. and extreme embar-
rassment and disorganzation OF labor In other
departments, so that the number OF men unem-
ployed is again remarkably large. Prlces are
low, and the credit of railway companies Is nj
the lowest ebb. and many of them have been
compelled TO pass interest on their bonds, ana
have gone into bankruptcy Their traflc Is
small wars between the companies have re-
duced rates to n minimum, and, on the whole.
there has been no time since 1877 when the
railway service was generally as Improbable,
or its outlook rs unpromising, rs it has been
during the past winter Nor has there been
another time for eight years when the number
of unemployed who stand ready and eager To Mi
the places of any who may stop work has been
IA large as it is now. Yet at this time Of all
Others, the operatives on some OF the largest
railways ut the West have chosen to strike, and
traffic has in consequence been seriously inter-
rupted.
This strike, moreover, has already resulted as
ill-timed and unrcasonng movements OF that
sort usually do in resort to threats and violence
The strikers quickly became aware that their
places could be easily filled, because thousands
of competent men were eager to work at the
wages which they refused, and they therefore
sought to prevent the employ ment OF such men
by unlawful means. The result of their con-
spiracy against the freedom of labor is that
troops have already been called ont, and the
peace of the country is again threatened.
As to the reason for this controversy there Is
little to be said. The wages of some workers
have been reduced, but nowhere one-half ms
much as the earnings of the companies which
employ them. 1t is not unnatural that they
should seek by any legitimate means to escape
as far as possible share of the losses and sac
riiices which general depression of business
involves, but they have no right to seek that
end by threats or by violence nor is it probable
that they will gain anything in the end by their
resort to such means.