The Austin weekly statesman. (Austin, Tex.) 1883-1898, 1886-03-25
THE KNIGHTS MISTAKE.
SUNDAYS EDITORIAL IN THE NEW
YORK TIMES.

ST. LOUIS, March 22-The following editorial ap;,
peared in this mornings New YORK Times, hea eo
''The Knights Mistake:"
S'It must by this time be evident to the more
sensible and cool headed of those in these councils
of the Knights of Lab r, that serious mistake has
been made by the c0ntesti in the southwest anu thaV
it has done, and s doing, great INJURY 10 the or
ganizati0n. No permanent advantage can be gam
ed by palpable disregard of the principles OF com
mon Justice The wrong began in extending the
contest with the Mallory Steamship company, OF
Galveston, to Others who we IN no way respohi'
sible for the action of that company, or in posi-
ton to change it, 1t is plain injustice 10 inter
fere with the business of one man and to force MN
to incur Inconvenience and loss, because there il
grievance against another, tor whose COURSE e i
not resp, nsbe and whose action be cannot contr0l
1t is an injustice which shonld be prohlDlted Oy
law, and for which there should be some redress
The case was precisely analogous to this wheI
the Knights of Labor attempted to bring the NAL
lory company to terms by interfering with the
traffic of railways, which in the course OF tneI
business that they were bound by law TO conullc
without discrimination among their customer
carried some Of the freight handled by that com
pany In this proceeding the knights put them
selves entirely in the wrong, and cannot be de1euq
ed by any plea hat the end justlies the means,beI
They made similar mistake on larger sysS|
when tbey order the strike on the Missouri PaCA'
railway because a man had been discharged by la
receiver of the Texas & Pacific at Marshall. i
man NAV have been unjustly dismissed, and IL /
possible to Justify strike against the comPan
u
and redress denied. But the Ms
souri, Pacific had no responslDllt
in the case and no control whatever over the acto
of the receivers in Texas. Whatever may be sal
now of incidental grievances, the acHnoWledge
cause of the strike was the discharge OF Han
Marshall. Its purpose was to cut on lhe Texas
Pacific road from its most important connecuo
for traffic in order to coerce it into submission
| the demand of the Knights of Labor. NO nouc
was given to the Missouri Pacific of any gr1evanc
| of its own employees, and no demand was mad
| upon it, This was vir ual acknowledgment tna
there was no complaint against its treatment OF IL
workmen, and recognition that there was n
wrong in the case which it could be called upon =
rectfy 1t justified Vice President Hoxie in his re
fusal to confer with the committee of the labor OF
ganiZatiOn in reference to the matter, because IN
| company had no controversy OF its own TO settl
on which the strike depended
The hagrant injustice of this strike lS shown !
the fact that for the alleged wrong doing OF raj
| road in Texas, which was in the charge OF of1cer
| anpointed by the United States court, the businee
| OF another company in different state was sur
iected to a prolonged blockade, involving serlOu
ioss not only to ITSELF but to its thousands of c
toners and to the whole mercantile cemmunlI
which depends upon it for accommodation. Nc
is the wrong confined to the railroads or their IN
mediate customers 1t involves thousands
| WORKING men as we'll. The strike itself was mao
hv only a fraction of the workmen of the railroa
COMPANY. but it prevented the rest from doing the
work ,., /, 4,
The evident injustice of the proceeding and u
injury which it has wrought has already had u
effect of lessening sympathy for the hmgnts
abSr and weakening their holu even upon tne .
leoiance of workingmen The protests which a
multiplying and growing more emphatic every di
show that the organization has no real support
public sentiment and without such support IL cs
never accomplish even its Legitimate purpose