New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1889-11-20
SUDDEN STRIKE AND COLLAPSE

The strike on the Brooklyn street railroads
which 60 by the name and are operated uhder
the direction of Deacon Richardson has col
lapsed as suddenly as it began. Neither the
employees nor the public were informed just why
the men whose discharge resulted In TINS briel
Z" tenn, were dismissed from the company
service The president assumed that his prefer
ence was sufficient justification, and refused
To offer any further explanation The sup
noS;tion Is that he had been led to believe that
the men with whose services ne uncerehlom-
ously dispensed were too actively engaged III
what is vaguely known as the labor movement
and this conclusion is based upon the knowl-
edge that Mr.. Richardson has been much an
moved and grieved by the effort to annul the
charters Of the lines which, during the strike
Iast wear. were somewhat ingloriously allowed
% ros+ from their labors. The leaders who
boasted ut the time that they had compelled the
cars to cease running have since taken the
ground. rather inconsistency some persons
have ventured to think, that Mr.. Richardson
made no effort to keep them going, and thereby
voided his charters. He, on the contrary, has
ALWAYS maintained, in answer to this argu-
nont that he could never obtain from the
nrotection. The public, which watched the
performance, has generally taken middle
ground. and suspected that Mr.. Richardson was
not particularly anxious to obtain that assist
ance which the police were not particularly
anxious to render.
Whatever the actual facts Of last years
melancholy exhibition may have been there
cannot be much doubt that this latest ebulll-
tion of Brooklyn street-car men was extremely
sbortSghted and ndefensible. A strike is in
some respects like revolution. If it fails it
was wrong. and for this reason, among others
that the leaders who are remarkably well paid
for watching the conditions of labor and the
signs of the times, have no right to subject the
moor men. in whose behalf they exercise pc
cuIiar powers to desperate chance and tho
hardships which follow failure.
We observe with emotion that Deacon Rich
ardson, whom everybody knows to be truly
good man, gives strictly evangelical expana-
ton of his triumph 81 can say with the
psalmist.D he remarks, "that this poor man
cried unto the Lord, and the Lord heard him
and delivered him out of all his troubles"
There is the highest authority for the belief
that " the effectual, fervent prayer OF right
eous man availeth much" but we are reduced
to the necessity of supposing that in this in
stance MIR. Richardson refers to his prevailing
attitude rather than to any particular supplica-
ton. The employees who called upon him yes
terday did not, in single instance, surprise
him in the act Of calling upon the Lord. 1t
seems to have been a case where Heaven was
on the side of the strongest battallons. The
strike had no plan or discipline or ooherency,
and it was bound to collapse The outcome is
that many industrious men without resources
are now in search Of work. They assumed a
hard task at haphazard and deserved to break
down. If they suffer prvation in consequence
they will receive pity and assistance; but, if
they are really determined to deserve that re-
spect which their fellow-ctizens are always de-
sirous to give them, they will refrain from
strenuous appeals for sympathy over the col
lapse of a strike which ought not to have been
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