The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1886-03-16
DEPEW ON LABOR TROUBLES.
Hopes and Apprehensions of the Presi-
dent of the Vanderbilt Lines.
The Situation Serious, and No Territorial or
Social Line Drawn-He Fears iii
Results Of the Strikes.


with apprehension toward the future"
The speaker was Chaurcey IL. Depew, presi-
dent of the New York Central and leased lines
Of railway, and the head OF that business whose
executive control W a. Vanderbilt handed over
to him short time before his DEATH Did you
ever see hima Well. those who haven't have
heard Of him. He was q clever rail
way attorney. He Is q capable railway
managers a bon vivant, a story tel
Ter, An after-dinner speaker and good
fellow, his repute is wide enough spread to sat-
isfy any ambition he may have had In that di-
fection. But nobody ever thought of him as be-
ing ambitious; and he seemed to drift into good
fottune without effort as he certainly has with
out changing in all those genial qualities which
have endeared him to newspaper men. who have,
from time to time, sought him out on every vari-
city of topic; from the plans of President johnson
to use the army for the support of policy which
might have been ruinous to the country, to the
progress of equity pain through the joints Of
w. FL. Vanderbilt's little toe.
1t was, then, no surprise to me to receive d.
rect answer to my question when few hours
ago asked him what was the attitude of his
road toward the knights of Labor and the issues
which their action had created.
He stretched himself into comfortable posi-
ton that indicated talk as indeed, it soon proved
60 be, and continued: Tho situation appears TO
me to be one OF the most serious this country
has had to deal with since the war, and the
worst OF it is that there is definite line OF de-
uarkaton, either territorial or social What lie
Co be urged on both sides can be listened to with
respect, and men only vary their opinions when
their personal interest is touched SO it falls
out thata great many people sympathyze with
the disturbance when 1t is confined to the South
west, who will combat every agent working on
the same principle when it reaches them or their
business, shrough the North and East, SO rs to
become an interference. The facts of 1t are,
here is the greatest degree Of labor agitation
"A the country that has ever been known, and it
purpose. meeting employers upon the ground
Df order and with claim for right
which is most deceptive. Nobody who
thinks at all and reads the teeming newspaper
accounts. can deny that for moment, and the
question 10: how can the matter-the actual con
fitions of the case-be so placed before the peo-
pie that the sophistry Of the arguments OF the
labor people will at once be exposed2 Through
the newspapers you will reply, Ehf That won't
do The newspaper press OF the country, in its
keen competition for news, has made its news
telling feature that overcomes all the infuen-
css Of calm and dispassionate editorial express
ion Ii relates it does not convince; 1t colors
with, sensationalism. it does not expose false
theories it's life is of the day, and it's value as a
historian is incaculable 1t cannot form the opin-
ion of a community, it does reflect it; and re-
fleets it daily as it is. But even il one were to
appeal to this medium, the good effect produced
in one journal would be ounteracted by another
moved by that disputatious spirit which is inter
woven into. journalistic and editorial life No,
sir; Try ii again.
u "There can be no use OF speculating; for If the
newspaper press is helpless Mr.. Depew, the
weight and influence OF corporations unable to
.xsAI~ - nhxrf rpfatn
meetings and al the other things thus suggested
cannot aid"
"Well, ana lot 80 sure Of that The influence
Of combined effort may have effect. You see
we are living not precisely in al age of incompe-
tency, but in one where 80 many competent men
hold Numerically opposed positions on every
question that we are deprived of the eminence of
some central figure from whom to draw inspra-
tion how to act. But as the seriousness of this
labor problem grows more apparent such an one
will appear, as Moses, as Cromwell and Grant
have done, and then there will be made clear that
which is dark enough now to all eyes. But be
Gore he comes-before that man is dscovered-a
world of mistakes may happen. The rights of
property may have lost their sacredness, and
such flow Of dangerous ideas permeate the
country as to make the reorganization of its
social life an impossibility. And the matter We
have to deal with, is the way TO adopt by which
the necessity Of some great leader will De
averted."
But suppose this leader were to come from
the ranks of the working peoplea"
well, If a man arose TO champion their cause
successfully. we who are employers would have
to yield accepting might for right the surface.
but, like the philosopher, saying, under our
breath, but 1t is round Do not disturb your
Belf by any such man coming from them.
They are united as far as 1t is possible for them
to be, except in some spasmodic endeavor like
riots, whose history has always been one of SUI
preme failure"
1.-THE Bastile-"
Eyes. even that which led to the destruction
Of the Bastile. It sowed in France, deeper than
they were planted before, the seeds Of national
fever to which be traced. directly almost.
every outbreak that has so many times deluged
her soil with blood. It and its predecessors were
alike failures in all that the interference with
the the. l progress Of civilization implis;
ter all, as bearing upon the issue In point.
You ask what we are doing to avert trouble.
Nothing What can be donea The relation Of
this company, and all those who have been
merged into il, has since the dominancy Of the
Central road been Of the most pleasant charac-
ter. We have more men employed on the Cen
trail who have been with the company ten years
than all the men who entered its service since
that time and remain or have gone out Of its
employ. Our scale Of wages has been liberal,
and we have maintained 1t at the best possible
point, and we have reason to expect considera
zion from those to whom we have been consider
ate"
'But IL general strike in other parts of the
country were to be started and the other trunk
lines became involved, would you not expect 1t
TO include the systems of which you are the
head7"
"Yes, I expect SO. and that would be one Of
the situations wherein labor would for time be
banded together. The result would be so serious
IS to give the country shock from which she
could not recover for years For a time it would
De rs dangerous as famine or pestilence. Imagine
the train of misery that would fall upon commu
mites of the larger populations of manufactur-
Ing and commercial cities If the lines OF the
movement OF trade were closed for as short a
period as q week. even; If during that week
there was not definite hope of resumption at an
early day, it would be bad enough for those
Egyptians who had stored away corn during the
seven years OF plenty. How much worse for
those who had not been provident"
"But have there not been Josephs enough to
interpret all this In advancep