The Carbon advocate. [volume] (Lehighton, Pa.) 1872-1924, 1886-05-08


moment we may expect to hear the
rifles of the National Guard in stern
arbitrament of that deadly quarrel which
refuses the appeal of reason.
In Brooklyn thousands of men are on
the strike, and they parade the streets
with the red ribbon of commune on
their coats, the same bloody symbol
which carried such desolatiOn to the
heart of Paris few years ago, and left
such blot on our civilization, that the
world will not recover from it for thou
sand years to come. In this city thou
sands of strikers are massed together in
sullen defiance, and the slightest spark
might fire trair that would strew our
streets with the dying and the dead.
have no fear of the final result. At all
hazard, and at every cost the peace and
the law will be maintained. There is
not the slightest doubt that the authori-
ties of both cities fully appreciate the
danger, and are abundantly able to cope
with it. This being the feast of the Pass
over,w hope and trust that the destroy
ing angel will pass us by.
The heavy hand of want is felt in the
homes of the strikers, and there is no
telling to what extremes their desperate
necessities may drive them. In the city
of Brooklyn are the largest sugar houses
in the United States, one firm alone
ships 10000 barrels of sugar day. At
the time of the strike last week 100000
worth of saccharine was in the course
of treatment in the factories of the
Havemeyers alone. The strikers shrewd-
ly calculated that the loss of this large
sum would bring the firm to instant
terms. IL was a severe test, but the
Havemeyers res olved to lose the whole
of it rather than to submit to have their
business controlled by any outsiders
whom they did not know. By outside
assistance they were saved from great
loss, and they will not start again till
the labor question is settled.
For the last few days committees have
been going the rounds soliciting sub
scrptions for the strikers, and the store
keepers applied to were given to under
stand if they did not respond handsome
ly they might expect the terrible boycott.
This looks to me very much like black
mail. | am working man. / have
had to work all my life, ever since was
a boy ten years old. Every day has had
to earn its daily bread. The only capi-
tai | have is my labor, and now the
question comes, Do | own it, or is it
the property of some other man, and
must | use my little capital as he directs
me? | hate tyranny, hate seryitude, l
don't like being driven to do anything.
don't care whether the tyrant who
drives me to do that which don't want
to do is a Railroad Wrecker, an Iron
Hearted Employer an nti-Monopolist
or Knight of Labor;if he tries to make
ne slave I'll fight. 1t is not the in
dividual l object to so much as the
= principle. am willing that every man
shall use his labor as he himself sees fit,
} and that privilege is all ask for myself,
and in defence of it if needs be | an
r quite willing to die. This striking looks
= to me like terrible mistake. You
Y don't hurt the boss, it is only the striker
l and his family that suffer. You strike
| on western railroad and stops its trains
. from running, and Jay Gould makes
4 more manipulating stocks for a weeh
4 than he could make running railroad.
r for a month. The workmen of Brooklyn
G shut up the sugar houses and up goes
= sugar fifteen per cent, and without
S raising hand the Hayemeyers make
p between forty and fifty thousand dollar,
/ and all the rest of the sugar refner
= large sums If you burn their houses
f over their heads the insurance com
= panies or the city has TO pay them fo
o it, and the consequence is increased
4 taxes and higher rent for the poo
/ striker. All sorts of provisions hav,
Il had a sharp rise, meat has gone up two o
II threecents pound and everything else il
o proportion. This Is deplorable and W,
= await the revelations of the next few da,
!, with anxiety. 1t is no longer question
}, of wages, all the firms are inclined I,
n give an advance of from ten to iifteeI
h per cent. on wages; but the stTuggl,
d now is for the recognition of the labo
e unions. 1t is evident that one party o
# the other must give way before salts
e factory settlement can be arrived at
d There is no objection on the part of tn
If employers here to union men, or to thei
a employees banding themselves tOgethe
# for mutual assistance, but what the
If object to is driving every man out o
1t their employ who does Lot see fit to joil
d their unions.
k The arrest of thirty boycottng tailor
@ has caused a profound sensation an,
e will no doubt be made a test case 70
d the final settlement of this vexed ques
II tiOn. In particular instances numbe
h have been fined small sums, and ther
d is disposition now in the courts t
s. treat all boycotters as conspiratOrs,
being a criminal offence under tn
e statute to intimidate a man or womal
,r in the exercise of his or her business.
e. But, while social revolution thunder
d at our door, hundreds are being marie
4 and given in marriage, and the chin
al of wedding bells and the perfume G
& wedding flowers have enlivened the fe;
rt tivities Of Easter week. One steame
or carried off ten brides TO Europe, and th
al bridal departures on single day reache
le thirty. Many of the weddings hay
s. been among the ton, and the fashion
ID able world has been in a blaze of glor,
r / England alone tOOk ten Of Our mo,