The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1894-08-21
a Radical suggestion.

n Radical suggestion.
Since the great and disastrous sympa-
thetic railroad strike at Chicago, numer-
Gus means for preventing similar
attacks upon commerce and public
rights have been suggested, but among
them all there has been none so radical,
| and at the same time so stoutly argued
for, as that of the Railway Times.
II is the Times opinion that the laws
governing ships at sea should be made to
apply to railroads, and that any act that
would on shipboard constitute mutiny
should be called mutiny agd punished as
such if ii occurred on a railroad train.
When a seaman engages for service on the
high seas he is specifically forbidden by
law to refuse, individually or collect
lively, TO perform the work contracted for
| If he does refuse the penalty is prompt
and severe. The srringency of the laws
defining and Furnishing mutiny is justified
by the fact that disobedience or neglect
endangers the lives of passengers and i'm
perils the ship and its cargo. The Times
takes the ground that the commerce
which is carried on upon land should be
as well protected as that which is carried
on upon the water. The lives of passen-
| gers on trains, and the trains themselves
and their freights, are imperiled by re-
volt as much as ships and their passen-
gers and freights are imperiled
| by similar conditions Further than
this, the country is not Deepen
dent upon traffic by sea, while it
is absolutely dependent upon the
inland interstate commerce. The bases
of food supplies are far away from the
! sections where the food is consumed; a
| revolt on one railroad may tie up dozen
roads, and meat and bread may be thus
cut OF from thousands of people. A re
volt on shipboard never involves more
| than the one ship, and cannot affect more
| than very limited numbers of persons.
| The habits of the people, created by their
reliance upon the railroads, lead them to
! live in one place and have their business
in another, and to iutrust their families
to the roads for trips of hundreds of miles
for business or pleasure The discomfort
of small body Of employees may result
in general tieup, when thousands of
families might be separated indefinitely
at greatest Inconvenience and expense.
a tie-up, such as was that at
! Chicago, throws 100000 or more men
out Of employment, blocks commerce and
gives the lawless clement occasion aud
excuse for all kinds of violence and de-
struction. Nothing like that could pos
sibly occur in steamship circles. The
seaman signs articles for certain length
! of time, ana is compelled to live up to his
agreement.
The Times argument is skillfully made ;
nevertheless its suggestion will not prove
acceptable. Public-opnion will decline
/ to see so close an analogy between the
/ position OF the railroad man and the sea-
man as would be necessary to the making
of the maritime laws apply to the rail
roads. Railroad men have a right TO quit
work whenever they choose to do so, and
the public recognizes the fact that they
have that right but il does not accord
them the right TO prevent other men
from taking the vacant places.
Previous to the last election there was
( just a bit OF anxiety felt by the democrats
as to what would be the outcome in the
Tenth district. Tom Watson was sup
posed to be in the zenith of his power and
/ glory, and it was not absolutely certain
that he would not carry the district a
second time. This year, however no
! Apprehension is felt with regard to the
! Tenth, and the Fourth and Seventh dis
tricts ara looked upon as the only ones in
whics We populists will be able to make
the fight even interesting And in these
! districts thpro Is NO doubt a t,o,t 1ar,.,