Democratic Northwest. [volume] (Napoleon, Ohio) 1869-1894, 1886-05-13
THE NORTHWEST
rne lareat Question ortne Time.
exss rotl san,

If ttta Ao%@ '---V
IA h estimated that fifty thousand
vorkingmen, In various branches Of in
dustry. have struck work In different
parts Of the country, and some or these
strikes, notably those of railroad labor
err. have produced an extensive inter-
.ruption .of business, and have excited
great attention and anxiety II "
, The most remarkable fact about these
strikes Is that they occur at a time
when the wages of labor are very much
better than they have ever been before.
There has been no reduction ofwages,
and the workingman who earns 81. so or
50 a day, rs well as. the skilled work..
man who earns three or four dollars, Is
able TO procure for himself more Of the
,necessaries of life than he has ever been
able to procure for his wages before.
The articles Of food and OF apparel were
never so cheap as they are now, and
they seem to be gradually becoming
cheaper. Thus workingmen are really
better off than they ever have been,
and, as for actual pressure and destitu-
tion, they have never had less apparent
cause to demand higher wages or to
strike work for any other cause than
they have now. t..
In this country, however, the work.
ers are generally intelligent and pru-
dent people, and their acts are Just as
much governed by foresight and judg-
ment as to, what the future has In store
for them as are the acts of capitalists or
of statesmen. The present strikes, ac-
cordingly, aimed not so much at the re-
lief ofany distress which weighs them
down at the moment, as at the preven-
ton of distress which they see ap-
preaching.
The steady contraction of all forms of
industry and business which has been
going on throughout the civilized world
for the last ten years, and which still
continues without a sign of genuine re-
Taxation or revival, has resulted neces-
sarily in great diminution in the
number and variety of Industrial un-
dertakings which offer employment to
skilled and unskilled labor. There is
no kind Of enterprise or manufacture
which is now going on with the same
energy and life as in the booming days
which preceded this general collapse.
On every side there Is reduction. The
old works are. everywhere brought
down to much smaller scale Of opera
tions, and no new, ones are started or
projected. For this reason there is now
In this country considerable body of
men, used to live by work, who have
little work to do or none at all; and we
are apparently on the eve of that con-
dition, most unusual here, an active
competition among workingmen for
the chances of employment in these
diminished and diminishing business
es. The screwof contraction is turning
steadily, and the day is'dot far distant
when it will bring us down to point
where the struggle of many to get the
work for which but few are needed will
tend almost irresistibly to reduce the
rates of wages to much lower figures
than we have ever known In the Unit
ed States.
It, ,is through their provision of this
calamitous state, through the unrest
; carsed by the ever intensifying con-
-striction of all industrial life among us,
that our workingmcn@ are led 70 these
energetic, and, in mary cases, desper-
ate endeavors to guarantee themselves
against the oppressionsof the closer and
harder times that are likely to come
gradually upon this country, as they
will also come upon other countries of
the civilized world. And who can
blame them for trying to guard before
hand against evils which. they have not
caused, and Of which they, like the rest
. of us, are bound TO be the victims?
In this extraordinary situation, the
like of which has not been witnessed
for forty years, it is wonderful to see
how vain is the wisdom of our states
men, and how little our philosophers
and public guides contribute toward
solving the problems that are weaken.
ing and arresting the stronger races OF
men. The malady IS universal, and
equally universal Is the Impotence to
deal with it. In this country we have
the police and the MALTA for the strik-
ers, ard the strong hand Of the law
\ finally comes in to stop and punish acts
4 Of wild and frantic violence, but moth
ing is done, toward curing the funda.
\ mental disease. All kinds Of temporary
palliatives, Congressional Committees
Arbitration Boards, investigations that
reveal only the commonplace and the
familiar, are proposed and tried, but
nobody cOntemplates any remedy thai
will 60 to the root Of the disorder and
give us again the prosperity in which
such disturbances are unknown. Thus
the condition is the reverse of encour.
ageing, and, instead of intelligent re-
lief, we were left to the blind workings
of natural forces; and the best that car
be hoped Is that the principles of law
and order, Of liberty and democratic
government, may be kept safe from al
Z serious harm. 4 a#K
y In 1s4s-'51 the discoveries Of gold in
California and Australia, and the re-
sulting vast and continued additions Of
that metal to the worlds stock, raised
all nations out of similar, though less
profound state of industrial anG
business depression; but where shall W.
look for sources Of new life in 1886?
A Painful Operation.
DIR. Thoman has been suffering for {
year past with a painful growth on Tho
left side Of the forehead, which ha.
been constantly increasing in size. HI