St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1894-07-20
PULLMAN STRIKERS AT
WORK.

Pullman have resumed ikeir old posi-
tioEs at the works, and day by day there
are accessions to their ranks. 1t now
seems probable that before ten days
have passed. a majority of the men will
have gone to work. and all cause for
continuance of the industrial chaos that
has marked the past four or five weeks
will have been removed.
With the conduct of the Pullman
strikers no law abiding citizen can find
fault. From the first they have been
manly and seIf-respecting. They pro-
tested against grave injustice done them
by the managers of the corporation,an and.
their protests being unheeded. they quit
work. But at no time did they manifest
a disposition to violate the law in order
to attain their ends. They refraineG
from threats and from acts of violence.
and when the property of the company
was threatened by irresponsible and in
cendiary outsiders, they rendered their
services to the company gratuitously
as watchmen, pledging themselves
that no act of lawlessneSs would be
committed within the limits of the
town during their stewardship. 1t was
not at their solicitation that the Ameri.
can Railway union took cogniZance of
their condition and ordered the general
railway strike that has brought so much
distress upon the country. They were
willing to fight their own battles, and
to stand or fall upon the justice of
their cause. They now find themselves
.Overpowered. Their means have been
exhausted. and they are too independ-
ent to ask for or receive charity. Fur
thermore, they find that their wrongs
have been seized upon as an excuse for
an unjustifiable and cruel warfare
against innocent corporations and
against society as large. And, while
still maintaining that they were justi-
fed in the course they have pursued,
they have decided to submit to the in
eyitable.
There is no heroiSm in maintaining a
losing fight. Self-sacrifice may be a
virtue Oh occasions. but it ceases to be
such when it becomes suicide-when it
brings suffering upon thousands Of in
nocent human beings-women and chill
dren. When bravery becomes bravado,
it ceases to excite admiration or respect.
Under the circumstances the Pullman
people have chosen the better course.
They regret, as do other good citizens,
that their wrongs were seized upon as
All excuse for precipitating the country
into condition bordering upon civil
war. They condemn as freely as do
others the immense destruction of prop
erty that has taken place, and they
sincerely deplore the loss of human life
that has been one of the incidents of
the uprising. In none of the violent
scenes enacted during the past month
have they taken any part, nor have
they by word or deed encouraged or
defended them.
The return of these men to their
workshops will give the last blow to the
strike. Its leaders can have no longer
plea for its continuance. Already
local managers have declared it off in
several districts, and the orders of
the strike managers In all quarters
are being openly disregarded. 1t no
longer possesses vitality, and even If
its opponents should remain passive it
could not possibly survive another
week. But under the heavy blows il is
receiving, both in the federal courts.
through the columns Of the newspaper
press. and from public opinion gener-
orally, its death will be considerably
fastened. 1t may be said to be already
dead.