The Dalles times-mountaineer. [volume] (The Dalles, Or.) 1882-1904, 1892-08-20
The !imeS-M -MOuntaineer
THE DANGER SIGNAL.

The spirit of unrest is becoming
general throughout the country, and
hardly day passes that the telegraph
does not spread news of some fresh
outbreak of wage-earners against the
authorities or their employers. Within
the past few weeks there have been
strikes at Homestead, in the Ceur
d'Alene mines, on the Lehigh Valley
railroad, at Buffalo on the Erie rail-
road, by the miners at Oliver Springs.
Tenn, and even among the newsboys
In San Francisco and in Portland. If
discomfort ever become epidemic we
should believe that the United States
was suffering from the eontagion to-
day, and perhaps this is the true status
of the matter.
A strange feature in relation to
these conficts--and which distinguishes
them from similar attempts in Europe
on the part of wsge-earners-is, in no
single instance has there been proved
to have been suffering among. the Ia
boring poor, or lack of means to sup
port life in comfortable conditions. At
Homestead the iron.workers were we'll
paid, and SO were the miners in the
Ceur d. Alenes and the railroad en-
ployes in the Lehigh valley and in
Buffalo. This emphasizes the fact that
the recent strikes in this country have
not been impelled by fathers, husbands
or brothers rendered desperate to pro-
vide food for starving families; but
the cause may be narrowed down to
discomfort on the part of laborers
or aptagonism between union and non
nnion men. If there were cries for
bread which could not be ans wered, as
was the case recently in Berlin, The
eympathy of the entire American peo
pie would go out to the sufferers; but
the surrounding circumstances are
such that the occurrences can be dis
passionately discussed without judg-
ment being warped by the urgent ne
cessity of relieving distress and want.
This condition of affairs is very
much to be deplored in this free coun-
try, as each citizen has equal rights
and privileges with all others. and the
permanency of our institutions depend
as largely upon the support of the Ia
borer as of the capitalist. The wage
Garner who furnishes sustenance for
his family by his days labor is as po-
tential part of the government as
the millionaire who lives in his palace,
and in neither case can arbitrary
means be used to enforce the observ-
ance of law and order. In European
countries, if there is the least disturb
ance of the peace, the strong arm of |
the military can be called on immedi- |
atelY; but in this country the civil
must first exhaust every |
means to restore order before the |
militia can be called out, and these in
turn must prove powerless before reg
ular troops can be brought into action.
Aside from the fact that it is more
difficult to resume social equilibrium
here than in monarchies, the patriot
ism of the people IS one of the strong
EST pillars upon which rest the struc-
ture of government by the people, and
f this becomes weakened by unrest in
she public mind every portion of the
sdifce is affected thereby. For this
reason it is the duty of every patri-
otic citizen, not only to uphold the
avs, but, if possible, remove every in
fuence that would tend to their vio-
ation.
The apparent causes of the recent
are not hid in 9 laby-
tinth of intricate conditions that rem
ier it impossible to discover them. No
nation can exist, of such fair and equal
administration of justice, that there will
not be some dlscontented classes. Such
utopias only exist in the minds of
poets, and not in those Of philosophical
statesmen. Although labor is more
rewarded here than in any
nation in the world, yet there are
those who are dissatisfied with their
present condition, and who can easily
be inaamed to riot and bloodshed by
the blatant notes of demagogical
press or the unsafe and untried theo-
ries of visionary reformers. This
presidential year has produced very
many of these, and their wild rawlings
in the country have borne fruit. The
snd is not yet. There has been little
or no suffering yet; but wage-earners
,anrot remain idle and women and
children enjoy plenty. WithAth seeds
If anarchy-brought from foreign
'hores-plsnted in our soil, calamity
lowlers are a menace to the peace and
of every community.
THE WORK OF CONGRESS-.
While it is not possible on such