The times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1890-1903, 1892-07-08

III ii 10 DC DOped that the worst Is over at
the Carnegie works and that outsiders can
now take calm view of the whole situation.
That situation presents two leading facts
about which there can be no sort OF doubt.
Upon the one side we have Mr.. Carnegie, who
has built up an enormous fortune under the
operation OF protective tariff legislation. lie
has been further steadily preaching the doc
trines Of protective tariff upon the ground
that 1t was necessary in order that the wages
OF the laboring men may be kept up to point
at which they can live on them.
This is Mr.. Carnegie and this is the doctrine
which he has been steadily putting out to the
world for fifteen years. Upon the other hand
THIS same Mr.. Carnegie has announced to his
men that they must agree to reduction in
thelr wages, which viii bring them down so
low that the men say they cannot live on
them. The strike and the riots have been the
result. These simple facts cannot be wiped
out. reason about them as we may, and there
does not seem TO be much in them 10 CON-
mend protective tariff to a laborlng man.
When the tariff works we'll the laooring
men get living and no more. while
Employer Carnegie. gets enormously rich.
When the tariff works badly the laboring men
fail TO get enough to live on. while the en-
ployer rests content in the enjoyment Of
what he has accumulated. waiting for the
tarih TO bring around another season OF rich
harvests to him. Its always good for the en-
ployer. sometimes very bad for the lsoorng
man. and that seems TO be about all there is
in it so far as the latter is concerned. He
certainly could be no worse off under free
trade.
We are compelled 70 admit that this
line Of reasoning carried our sympathies to
the strikers at the beginning Of this con-
test. We cheerfully accorded them tie
right TO quit work if they chose
TO do so, and we earnestly hoped that a dis
cussion Of the situation would bring them the
rate Of wages that they demanded. But they
put themselves all in the wrong when they
attempted 10 prevent Mr.. Carnegie by force
from doing as he pleased with his own works.
They had the right to say to Mr. Carnegie
that they would not work for less than GER
tain sum. He had the right to refuse 10 pay
that sum and to employ other persons IN Their
places wherever he could find them. When
the laborers undertook 10 interfere with this
latter right and 10 say to MIR. Carnegie
that he should not run his works at all unless
he did it through them at the rates for their
labor which they had fixed. they intertered
with Mr.. Carnegie's rights as a citizen and
with his right 10 manage his own as he saw
fit in a way that cannot be tolerated under
government Of law and in a way that amounts
in fact to the most odious form of tyranny.
So much then for the situation as 1t stands.
So far as the strike alone is concerned that
is a phenomenon that the public is accus-
toned to and that causes but little remark.
II has developed another phenomenon how
ever, that cannot avert the citizens attention
too strongly or call too strongly for his angry
reprobation and condemnation. We refer to
the Pinkerton Detective Agency. What this
may be we do not exactly know. There IS no
such organization known to the laws OF the
land or acknowledged by them. But 1t seems
that some one named Pinkerton has in his
paid employment gang OF adventures
whom he hires out as occasion demands to
perform the part Of murderers and as
sassins whenever these labor riots oc-
cur. This is q most detestabe fungus
excrescence that has grown out on
our body politics that is wholly unknown to
our laws, inconsistent with our Institutions
and that should be stamped out with the
sternest condemnation that we can apply TO
it, Ii is not to be tolerated that any Dugald
Dalgetty shall maintain a hired band Of
armed mercenaries in this land Of liberty
which he is TO let out TO rich men for money
on such occasions as this. Riots Of this sort
must be suppressed. but they must be sup
pressed by the ordinary methods of the civil
law. backed by the military If they grow to
size that makes the civil authorities unable to
deal with them. But it is not to be thought
of that buccaneer shall set up his head
quarters under the very eyes of the laws
abode with a gang of assassins in his pay that
he will hire out to the rich mon0polst TO
murder his misguided employees when they
are foolishly led into absurd positions such
as Mr. Carnegie's workmen have allowed
themselves TO be drawn into