Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1888-01-11
Mayor Hewitt ON Strikes

All through the different phases under
which employees have assumed to make
and then adjust difficulties between them.
selves and their employers by strikes,
especially as such unwarrantable and reck-
less proceedings have tended to closing and
hindering the regular service of transporta-
ton lines. Mayor Hewitt, of New York,
has besn bold. fearless, and outspoken
champion Of the rights of the people in con-
demning such action.
At this time the effects of the strike by
the Reading Railroad employees and Coal
miners in Pennsylvania might entail the
greatest suffering upon thousands of people
who draw their supplies of fuel from that
section Of country. Not only in conse-
quence of the strikes, but also from the &C.
ton and hindering efforts of the strikers,
endeavouring to defeat the purposes of the
railroad and coal companies in the employ
ment of other labor to continue their oper-
ations, the hope of whole communities in
midwinter for fuel may be suddenly cut
off.
At the annual meeting of the New York
Board of Trade in that city on the 3Oth
ultimo, Mayor Hewitt was called upon to
respond to the sentiment-"Muui Gov
eminent and Commerce of New York.
His admonitions though uttered before are
again repeated and should be needed. He
spoke as follows
New York is the child of commerce.
Commerce does not exist here because OF
| the great natural advantages which New
York possesses, nor the trade brought by
the Hudson River and along the coast, but
its growth as one of the great centres of the
world is due to the construction of the Erie
Canal with the vast volume of business
| which was poured into our hands. not only
from the interior of the State of New York
but from that magnificent region of the
| Mississippi River. Now, if the city is the
| creation Of commerce it is very proper to
consider for moment what municipal gov
| eminent has to DO with that commerce.
Municipal government does not secure our
| liberties, it does not establish our rights;
| they are secured to us. Municipal govern
ment in the city deals with property with
reference solely to its preservation; with
the ownership of property it has nothing to
| do, but its business is to see that order is
preserved SO that the exchanges may go on
with certainty and regularity without inter
| ference with municipal order and regularity
which govern us. The first duty of NUM-
cipal government is to see that the high
ways of commerce are kept open for public
use and that no private uses are perverted
to that which belongs to the city. Our
first duty is to put the highways in thor
oughly good condition, to keep them free
from membranes so that every citizen
mSy have his share therein, and to contend
as far as possible those distractions by cor
porations and others which claim to erect
them at the expense of commerce. | have
made this statement that a much larger
comprehension will exist in the public
mind From this axiom | wish to draw a
clusion. Transporting agents have
duties to perform; those duties are well de
fined; they are the growth of thu large ex-
penses; they are embodied in the common
statute law; they are your defence against
destruction of your business. The duty of
the common carrier is a right of the citizen
it is the property of the public, and any
attack, therefore, upon the common carrier
is an attack upon property. 1t is an attack
upon the very foundations of social order;
it ia crime worse than burglary or muir,
der; it robs the whole community; it takes
away from the fireside the fuel which is ne
cessary for cooking the dluner of the work
insmap; it takes away from the manufac
turer the power which gives bread to his
workingmen, and it destroys the very fouu-
dation of social order. And yet here to-day
the element exists in this land which has
dared to assume this power. Who are the
men who have done thisP You don't know
their names; they hold no commission from
the people, but sitting in secret eouclave
have agreed to do tnis which means ruin to
every city in the land. This measure is
greater than tariff, greater than surplus; it
must be settled. [Applause.