St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1886-03-28

The devil can quote scripture, therefore
1t is not matter of surprise that JAY
GOULD can descant beautifully on the
principles of justice and fair dealing which
should exist between employer and employee.
His letter 10 the Knights of Labor is a
model of discretion and an enunciation of
the principles of equity which should pre-
vail between the railway officials and their
employees that would have done credit to
BLACKSTONE. There is only one draw
back TO the document. JAY GoULD'S
name is signed to it. If il had come
from any other source its plausible
argument would have carried force,
but coming as it does from sly old fox who
has never been suspected of a righteous act
it will be swallowed with many grains of
salt. 1t is an artful evasion of responsible
ity. 1t bears the semblance of courtesy in
order that under the cloak of gentility he
may strike the strikers a few hard blows.
But it is as cOwardly as it is an artful eva
sion Of the issue by transferring the respon-
siblity of adjusting the trouble to the
shoulders of his lieutenant, who had been
previously instructed not to treat with the
rebellious employees of his railway system.
If HOME, the lieutenant, was justified in
the position of stilted dignity he had as
sumed in refusing to confer with the strikers
or to recognize them in any shape or form.
then it was most debasing in GOULD. the
chieftaln, to descend to the plane of a black
guard and handy words with them while he
is too cOwardly to treat with them. If instead
of shifting the responsibility to his stilted
lieutenant, Mr.. GOULD had embraced the
opportunity to tell the Knights of Labor ex-
actly what he was willing to do, or what he
did not want to do, such a manly course
would have given a force to his utteranceS
that would have carried irresistible weight
with them. AS it is Mr.. GoULD'S cowardly
evasion of responsibility rObs his skillfully-
WOrded letter Of the weight it is entitled to
carry. 1t is singularly unfortunate that
any evasion was reSOrted to in this emer-
gency. That this is crisis in the conflict
between labor and capital in this country is
felt by every one. The hope has been that
the present trouble was only one of those
temporary eruptions which must necessarily
occur in permanent adjustment of the re-
lations of the two. Under the guidance of
discreet and honest men good could be
brought out of the apparent evil which now
hangs in 50 dark cloud over the country.
But under the manipulations of bold, bad
men like JAY GOULD there is danger ahead.
1t is not the braggadocio of the bandit
or the craftiness of the fox that
is needed in the adjustment Of the present
conflict The discreet counsel of honest
men who eyade no responsibility must be
relied on to bring order out of the present
chaotic condition of affairs in the labor
world. Whenever capital loses its con-
servatism there is danger ahead. For this
reason it is singularly unfortunate that a
man noted for his cunning and also noted
for an entire absence of those qualities
which qualify man for leadership in a
crisis should be at the head of the railway
system directly affected by the strike The
only hope at the present time is in the
steady conservatism of the mass of the
American people which, after all, is the
sheet anchor of our institutions.