Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1886-06-06


Crisisn in the Moth American Review,
and takes this queer and erroneous view
OF the great railroad strike;
"Before the strike at the Missouri Pa
cifc Jay Gould was one of the most hated
men in the county. He wes anxious to
have public respect and sympathy. He
had made all the money he wanted, and
was willing TO spend part OF it in gaining
the respect and honor Of the country.
What his money could not do for him,
this strike on the Missouri Pacific has
done. The sympathy and good Will
which previously was with the strikers
has been shifted from them to him. There
is no doubt that the strikers selected the
Missouri Pacific because 1t was proper
ty with which Jay Gould was known to
be most largely identified, and because
they thought that general eIecration
would be poured out on him in any event.
But instead of injGring Mr.. Gould they
have done him an inestimable service"
The strike did not change the feeling OF
Che people Of the country toward jay
IGould. There was change of feeling,
bnt MIR. Clews misconceives its nature
and cause. The excuses Of the strikers
and their lawless conduct In stopping the
traffic of the country, in killing engiaes
and burning bridges, had caused the pub
lie to withdraw from them the sympathy
That otherwise would have been theirs.
But that sympathy never went over to
Jay Gould. he had not changed. lie had
become no better because the strikers
were made worse. Nobody thought any
the more OF him because they dsap-
proved of the lawless destruction of
his property. If 1t had been
purely contest between Jay Gould
and his striking employees, in which the
interests of the public suffered nothing,
few would have given &helr support
to Gould. They would have said that as
he had sowed the wind, 80 let him reap
the whirlwind. But there was another
interest affected that touched the feeling
OF the populace and turned it against the
strikers. They not only struck against
Jay Gould, but they struck against the
law of the land and the rights of others.
When the majesty of the law was deiled,
men who respected the rule of law forgot
that IL YateeelGpt8gt~petween Gay Gould
an" pl!,ss conflict between a body of
the ". y he,iastitutlons Of the state As
they owed their safety to the protection
OF the state, they ranged themselves with
IL and its representatives when It was
asSailed, and they denounced its assail.
ants. Those assailants happened to
be the strikers, Had JAY Gould
done the same thing they would have
condemned him. But in condemnino
the lawlessness of the strikers, jaw Gould
was not raised in public esteem. Men
saw that they must side with the law or
those who stood against the law. In This
case Jay Gould stood on the side of the
law, but his presence there brought no.
body to him, nor did it make him anv
better thought Of
Mr. Clews is not the first man who has
made the mistake of supposlng that jaw
Gould's conduct in the late strike made
tne country think more of him. His firm
ness was admired, but 1t was not firmness
IN oeiense OF principle, but In protec.
ton OF his own interests. Mr.. Gould has
Dad record TO live down, and one little
act cannot blot out the memory of nil
'naV ne has done, Repentance and
reformation may indeed endear him to
me country, but first let some proof
DC given that he has repented and re.
ormed.