Workmen's advocate., 1889-05-11
COMMUNICATIONS.

NOTICE ID CORRESPONDENTS, Write plain; boil down your letters, make them short Write only on one side of the paper Be as good natured IS you can be under the circum stances.
 THE BIG STRIKE "OFF."
 7G the WOrkmen'S AorOcdte:
 gee that my lest communion ton to the ADVOCATE was dated April l4th, and this is the fifth of May, so that another letter from this part of the field seems to be in order. The past three weeks have not been without events of interest. In the first place may mention the strike of the street railway employ ecs of the twin cities, the commence ment of which ] mentioned in my last. and which has been carried on with great vlgor and has produced a useful agitation of labor questions among all classes of the people. l am glad to say that the Socialists have, for the most part, abstaIned from taking any active part Ill the many public meetings that have been held on behalf of the strikers, and thus have not committed them selves to tactics opposed to o8OclaIIstlc ideas. It should be mentioned that the railway systems of both St. Paul and Minneapolis are under the same personal control, namely, that of one Thomas Lowry, who, from a Condl- tI0n of poverty q few years ago, has become q three or four-milionaire, mainly by virtue of his railway fran Chises in these two cities. The scheme of taking away his franchises by legislative enactment and empow- crlng the cities to purchase his plant and run the road on public account seems to have been dropped on ac- count of lack of backing by the au- thorites. Another scheme has been started with considerable enthusi- asm and many have confidence in it's success, and that Is to establish q cooperative hcrdic line in competi- ton with the railways. A corpora tlon has been formed and several thousand dollars subscribed, and in few days it Is likely that q few her dies will be set running as an exper. iment. It is thought that large proportion of the public will boycott the railways and ride on the hordics, and that the strikers who are now out of employment, will find work without submitting to Tom Lowry $ reduced scale of wages and humili- atlng conditions.
 The street railways are now ail in operation as usual in both cities, and the strike has been declared "otf ' in St. Paul, and the old men are being gradually taken back. In this city not more than One-tilth of the strikers have given m, and the strike, at least nomlnalIy, continues. What the bulk of the men declare they will never submit to Is d new and shameful condition of employ mcnt- namol y, an agreement by all employees not to be members of d labor OrganlutCn.
 To sum up the whole story, it seems to me that the strike has been a complete failure, and this, not withstanding 1t has been extremely well conducted, has been warmly supported by the entire strength of organized labor in the two cities, and has been backed with more pub lie sympathy than l ever knew in d strike, and above all, has had sev- era of the leading daily papers more or less on the side of the strikers. When will onr working classes learn that to organize against the economic laws of capitalism, to try to resist the iron law of wages, to claim the privileges of free men whey they are only slaves, Is like trying to sweep back the ocean-tide with q broom, or to lift themselves from the ground by hanging on to their waist bands? W. q. II. SMART.
 lIN-AMERICAN