St. Paul daily globe., 1888-05-14
A MOST FITTING REBUkE
10 a Clumsy and Villainous Tribune
Editorial.
THE CASE FAIRLY STATED.
The Girls Strike and What 1t Means
to Them and to the Business
Interests.

An editorial in yesterdays Tribune
would merit whitening rebuke were it
not that it is so ineffably silly in its at
tempted logic, so widely wrong in its
statement of fact and so horribly bizarre
in its grammatical eccentricities. Its in
tent is good. 1t purports to de-
fend the position of Shotwell,
Clerihew & Lothman in the matter
of the strike, and to urge upon
the public to accept without question.
the verdict of the jobbers' committee.
This might have been expected of the
Tribune. 1t may always be found ar
rayed upon the side of wealth against
wage-workers; and the greater the
wealth and the more hopeless the
worker, the more urgent the Tribune.
The fact that the workers in this case
are girls stimulates the Tribune to at
tack them, for they are powerless to re-
sent its insults.
If the Tribune is willing to accept,
without question, the verdict of
the jobbers' committee, it is more
than the public will do. That
committee was composed of gentle
men than whom none are more
respected or respectable. They fairly
represent the business honor and i'll
tegrity of the city of Minneapolis, but in
all fairness and candor, they are ineli
gible as jurors in this case. They are
members of the same fratern-
ity with -Shotwell, Clerihew &
LOthman, and member of
that firm is their presiding officer. They
meant to be fair, but were they? Ac-
cording to their own report they got in
formation other than the expert testi-
mony taken beneath the roof of the
firm. They gave the girls no oppor-
tunity to be heard in their own behalf.
They were apparently entirely sat
isfied of the correctness of statements
made by the Objectionable Superintend-
ent himself. Is this fair and impair
tial? Did they ascertain why other
firms in Minneapolis and other firms in
st. Paul pay more for the same work
than Shotwell, Clerihew & Lothman?
Did they pretend to investigate the
charges of insult preferred by helpless
girls against the superintendent?
Did they ask why the books
were not returned the girls-their
time books-so that they might speak
for themselves? And finally, if every
finding of the committee was correct.
did it inquire why the firm refused the
offer of the girls to submit the dispute
to the tribunal of an arbitration?
The GLOBE has no interest in the
matter beyond that of fairness. 1t has
taken no side, but has presented the
facts as they were, giving the jobbers'
committee the same hearing that it did
the girls. But the GLOBE has no pa
tience with the sniveling toadyism
of the Tribune, which bends to
every breeze that blows from
the quarter of the rich. The
GLOBE has urged the submission of the
difficulty to arbitration, and in this it
has. been supported by wholesome
public sentiment and by every minister
who has made the case study. Is this
wrong? Are not the girls honest, and
have they not their living at stake? AS
a mere matter of right and justice, let
their proposition be accepted and let
the firm agree to arbitration and abide
the result.
One statement of the Tribune is the
crowning point of its absurdity. 1t
says the firm can have their goods man
ufactured in the East for from to 10
per cent less than they pay. The in
ference is that the factory is run solely
to give these girls employment.
Without knowing the exact fact,
it is safe to say this is
another Tribune blunder. and is of
piece with the entire article. Shotwell,
Clerihew & Lothman are not fools, no
more are the firms which manufacture
the same class of goods, paying, it is
stated, more per piece. Arbitrate it,
and arbitrate it at once.