The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1890-08-12

Of war, which are j~ustifiable in tn
last resort in the assertion Of rights
but, like war. they are only excusabl
when they undertaken with fair pros
poets of success. Only success cal
vindicate them, and, in case of defeat
only o fight which made success a
one time possible can win them an,
public respect. TO cause inconveni
ence, loss, disaster without even
chance of advantage is simply t.
excite the general anger and opposi
ton.
For this reason we condemn thi'
railway strike, even granting thai
there were great grievances which
called for redress. The Knights, we
all now see, had no chance of win
ing, and it was culpable in the last
degree for them to so far mistake the
situation as they did. They should
have had some reasonable knowledge
of their own strength, and to under
take a fight and cause all the result
ing troubles when there was no pos
sibilitv of profiting themselves was q
most serious offence against good
order. From the point of view
of organized labor, the net re-
suit of this fiasco is a clean setback
of ten years in the great fight for the
emancipation of labor from the OPP
preston of corporation monopoly.
Only one thing could make the situa-
ton worse, and that would be an at
tempt to tie up other roads, against
which there is no complaint. Such a
wanton act, if it should be committed,
would completely estrange the SYM
pathy of the public.
So much we are moved to say re-
garding the mems part in the affair.
We say it largely because of our inter
est in the cause of organized labor,
whose errors and defeats we deplore.
But there is also something to be
said regarding the conduct of the
New York Central Company.
Passing by the demagogic stiffness
with which MI. Chauncey NJ. Depew
has kept out of the way, and the
bland indifference with which the
Vanderbilts have treated the situa-
ton, we come to the naughty autoc-
racy of Mr.. Webb, who will not con
descend to explain the policy of the
Company respecting its men, who will
not confer with their representatives,
and who will not brook the interior
ence of the State officials, instituted
to adjust such troubles. Assuredly
all temperate men must condemn the
arrogance of this inflated fellow, who
thus abuses the wealth and the power
which he exercises in virtue of fran
chises granted by the people.
We cannot refrain from condemn
ing, too, the employment in Syracuse
of a horde of Pinkerton m~ercenaries
to club and shoot the citizens of the
State of New York. 1t is a blot upon
the civilization ofthat Commonwealth
that these Hessians of corporate ra-
pacity may be imported within her
borders to exercise their irresponsible
will under color of her laws. With
her splendid machinery of state, her
sheriffs, her police, her citizen sol
diery-with her law abiding and order
loving people, it is a foul disgrace
that this outrage on law and order
should be permitted. Her Legislature
should at once pass a law making a
repetition of the crime impossible.
One more point and we leave the
subject. A morning paper quotes
Superintendent Voorhees, of the Grand
Central depot as follows
The wives and children of some of the strikers
came to us in the Sixty-fifth street yard today
and begged for the reinstatement of their hus.
bands and fathers. We had to refuse, of course.
Why "of course? We should think
that ''of course" the men, being de-
feated, and owning their defeat would
at once be taken back. Not only gen
erosity but policy would seem to indi-
cate such q course. We should think
the faithfullest, the most docile en-
ployes the company could ever hope
for would be the men it had worsted
and forgiven. But no, the same hard
cold heart that finds its u%tterances
through the lips of Mr.. Webb speaks
here again. 1t is the soulless corpora
ton which knows neither generosity
nor mercy. The tears of women are
as little to it as the rights of men. In
the hour of its victory it sees only the
opportunity of establishing a new
despotism.
Perhaps we best see in this n
episode the working of the spirit
which goaded the men into their reck-
less and unfortunate undertaking.
PERSONAL AND NOTABLE.
The Cumberland County Republican Conven-
ton is called for Thursday, August 20. to nomi-