St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1890-08-16
A STORM CLOUD.


Central is at an end. In reality the
trouble is only begun. The stiff back
bone that Mr.. PowDERLY carried back
with him from the conference of labor
leaders is significant of coming trouble,
and what the result is to be cannot now
be foretold.
Divesting the situation of all its mis-
leading features. we find it simply to be
life and death struggle between the
corporations and the labor unions. The
position taken by the managers Of the
New York Central company is that from
this time forward they will have no
Knights of Labor in their employ. If
they succeed in holding this position
their example will be followed by other
railway corporations, and by the end of
the year there will not be Knight Of
Labor in the railway service. This will
amount virtually to an extinction of the
labor unions.
The labor leaders understand the stu
alton perfectly well, and have girded up
their loins for the approaching struggle.
They realize that an issue has been pre-
cipitated which involves the very life of
the labor cause, and they would hardly
be human beings. much less American
citizens, if they did not accept the issue
with determination to fight it to
finish.
That is the situation plainly stated.
But what a woeful state of affairs is to
follow. Here, at the very season Of the
year when trade is most active, are all
the wheels Of commerce to be locked?
If the labor leaders have resolved to ac-
cept the gage Of battle that Mr.. WEBB
has thrown down, 1t will necessitate the
complete cessation of traffic until the
fight is ended. In the meantime the
new harvest will be left to lie in the
granaries, and at time, too, when the
Western grain growers most need the
money that is to be realized from their
farm products. 1t is Just the season
when the jobbers are making shipments
for their fall and winter trade. 1t is the
time when our supply of winter fuel is
being brought in. A tle-up of the rail-
roads now would mean disaster to all
interests. Are we. the producers and
consumers, to be made the sufferers
while the corporations and their en-
ployes take the time to fight out an old
quarrel?
There is something wrong in any in
duStrial system which will permit such
a chaotic condition of affairs as now
threatens this country. Where to locate
the cause or to find the remedy seems to
be beyond the reach of American states
manship. Congress is too busy with
force bills and unjust tax measures to
give attention to matters of pressing i'm
portance. The administration is too
stupid to observe the signs of the gath
ering storm, or too Indifferent to the
public welfare to profit by the warning.
1t is singular fact that the country is
now solely dependent on the wisdom
and the conservatism of one man to
avert the threatened danger. 1t is the
crucial hour in Mr.. PowDERLY'S leader
ship of the labor movement, and if he
fails now all will be lost. For him the
situation is as embarrassing as it is
critical. If ne surranders to WEBB, the
labor organization will go to pieces. If
he makes fight, disaster will be visited
upon the country, and he will be held
responsible for it. 1t will be an extra
ordinarily wise man who can see his way
clear out of the perplexing difficulties
which beset Master Workman Pow
DERLY's pathway; yet he has never
heretofore failed to rise equal to the
emergency, however perplexing it may
have been. We hope that his good
angel will stay by him.