Press and daily Dakotaian. (Yankton, Dakota Territory [S.D.]) 1880-1889, 1888-10-11
RT-c1r OF THE NEBRASKA BOARD
OF TRANSPORTATION.
THE STRIKERS CONDEMNED,
The Laborer should Not Submit to a Power
Other than His Own ,Iuas,nent-The
Power of a Com .nittee to Order "a
strike Wrong and Dangerous

ton strike and the report OF Its Secre-
tary, Hon. o. p. Mason, has been filed
with and adopted by the boar for pre-
s%entation to the forthcoming legislature.
After presenting nm exhaustive array of
decisions from courts of the different
states, common law ana the United
States supreme court, showing the IL
legality of strikes and that they are con-
spirac:es punishable by law, both Grim
inally and civilly, the report says;
seTime and space forbids a discussion
of the civil liability on the equity side of
the court. So far we have expressed
no opinion of our own, but simply
quoted from the decisions of the courts
of last resort of established reputation
and integrity. Tried by the standard
established by these decisions, the evil
derice taken in the matter of the strike
of the Brotherhood of Engineers, and tho
conduct of many OF them since the
strike, it is obnoxious to the principles
of law here laid down.
ssFrom the foregoing citations OF adju.
Dictated cases the crime of conspiracy has
been known and recognized by the En-
glish COMMON law from time imme-
mortal. It's limits nre boundless, and
may be made to cover almost every con
ceivable agreement to do an unlawful or
NiObeIii 1Slt vi IL Niol v Wy LAO
full means.
stChief Justice Cation stated the rule,
and the general spirit of the American
law, as follows: ~'Conspiracies to ac-
complish purposes hiah are not by law
punishable as crimes, but which are I'M
lawful as violations OF the rights of in
dividuals, have in numerous instances
been sustained as common law offences.
The law does not punish criminally every
unlawful act, although IL may be u
g%rievous offense to society, and IN de-
termining what sort of conspiracieS may
or may not be entered into without com
hitting IN offense punishable by law,
regard must be had to the influence
which the act, if done, would actually
have upon society, without combining the
inquiry to the question whether the act
might itself subject the offender to
criminal punishment.
1.-THE question whether in this state 1t is
q crime for employees to conspire to raise
their wages and otherwise better their
condition has never come before our su-
preme court, although the same question
has come before the courts of other states
in a number of nisi prins cases, and in a
few cases before the state courts of last
resort, and has been finally settled In
many Of the states by statute.
tsBut enough has been shownt to clearly
establish the fact that the strike of the
Brotherhood engineers, on the 18th day
OF February last, and their attempt to
dictate who the railroad company should
employ, was clearly Illegal. The evil
dence of one of the striking Brotherhood
engineers at McCook, shows that he went
upon the engine of the Burlington and
Missouri River Railroad in Nebraska,
which was being operated byan engineer
hired to take the place Of a striking en-
gineer, and offered the engineer in charge
when he declined SO to do, threw
him off the engine. That this
was one of the methods adopted
by the striking engineers, and he was
acting for and on behalf of the striking
engineers, and the association known as
the brotherhood of Locomotive En-
gineers'' furnished the money with
which to induce the workmen who took
the places of the striking Brotherhood to
quit the employ OF the company. If this
be 80, then a criminal conspiracy existed
on the part of the Brotherhood engineers,
and they rendered themselves liable for
conspiracy, and liable for the damages
occasioned thereby. 1t would seem that
there was culpable neglect of duty at
McCook on The part of the civil authori-
ties in protecting the property of the
Burlington and Missouri River railroad
in Nebraska and preventing interference
by the strikers with the men hired to
take their places. This was more APP
pareat at McCook han at Red Cloud or
Wymore, although at each of these
points the Brotherhood engineers and
strikers carried matters to extremes, and
oyer-stepped the bounds Of propriety.
SIN reply to the question; Has the
Burlington and Missouri River railroad
in Nebraska employed incompetent engi-
neers to run its trains since the strike of
February 81, 1882 This question must
be answered III the affirmative. The
strike of that date was along the whole
line of the b. and M. system In Nebraska,
including I, 700 miles of railwas, and
without notice to the company or it's
officers. In a single day all the Broth
erhood engineers and firemen left its en-
p1oy and stopped the wheels of COM
merces freight and passenger traffic.
The railroad must either accede to the
demands of the strikers or suspend
business, or make the best effort to
operate its freight and passenger
trains, by employing such men and
lSlp dS tuCg Ouid SGt. pliiC1dic
chose the latter course. and in the
exigency created by the strike. in
many instances, employed men of little
practical knowledge or experience to op
crate its locomotives, or in the manage
nent and control OF trains. These men
were superseded by competent men mt
the earliest moment possible, and at the
present time, May Is, it is believed the
operating force of the Burlington and Mis-
souri, River railroad in Nebraska are as
competent and capable as the force
which struck on the 9th of February
last,
"a strike of large numbers of workmen
who occupy a quasi public position in re.
ispect to their employment, who in fact
serve the public while receiving their
wages from q railway corporation is, to
the public, a calamity. The public at
large suffer most, and the damage and
injury to the people at large is not to be
measured by the damage to the railroad
corporation or the striking workmen.
stopping the wheels of commerce sud.
denly and without notice on a great line
of railway means great damage to the
public at large, and may mean death and
starvation to those who are dependent
upon the movement of the railway trains
for their fuel in mid-winter, or their daily
food, and the idea that such a power is
TO he placed in the hands of a combina
ton of engineers and firemen of a rail
road is not to be tolerated in a free gov
ernment, where each, in a measure, is
dependent upon the other performing
bis social duties to society
.sfhe Injury to the public resulting freui
such conduct canno. be estimated, and il
IS respeetfniiy suhr1jttad thattha nova,