Fergus County argus. [volume] (Lewistown, Mont.) 1886-1946, 1894-07-26
AN UNwARRANTED STRIKE.

have been otherwise. Debs and his
lieutenants sought to s%upplant the
laws OF the land and to compel the
officers " n were elected to carry
those laws into effect to submit to
his d~ictation. In considering the
Debs strike whether or nc the Pull
man strike was a just one We do not
think enters into the question. The
Pullman employees may have been
misused and asked to work at starva-
ton wages but that in 10 way con
cerned the American Railway union.
When the strike WAS first ordered
Debs but contemplated a boycott on
lines carrying Pullman cars, but when
he further extended his strike order
to all lines with but few exceptions)
he stated in defense that the General
Managers association had been
formed to crush out the American
Railway union. This charge has never
been proven. The railroads Joined
hands for mutual protection Of their
iiShlH luSt as iopoiCiS hau doi0
months before. Was it "a crime which
must be put down 10y rebellion?
Publicly Debs deplored the riotous
disturbances and cautioned his fol-
lowers by proclamation and mani
festo to abide by the laws. What
demagogery. He was giving orders
for the obstruction of interstate COM
merce and United States mails in di-
rect violation of statutes and writing
and talking OF Cleveland's crime in in
terfering. Debs' lieutenants and rep
resentatives were going from II town
to another like a fire brand and incit-
ing strikers to riot and offer resistance
to injunctions OF federal courts. In
each list of killed and wounded were a
liberal percentage OF strikers and
among the foremost Of each mob were
strikers.
Debs teIegraphed to Cleveland: "Pre-
ven trains from moving by every
means within your power" and to
Butte. "Save your money and buy a
gun" Testimony in the train wreck
ing Ease near Sacramento shows that
the cost of team hire to carry the four
devils to their fiendish work i'm saving
off the bridge and removing the plates
was paid from A. II. u. headquarters,
and still Debs dIsclaims any response
bility in the crimes which have taken
place.
But a few Of the laborers had not
lost all reason and refused to lose
their wages and positions merely to
sustain Debs in his ill-advised and
wild plans. A committee was sent to
New Orleans to ~inaugurate a SYM
pathetic strike and as a result the
employees of the Queen and Crescent
Co. held a meeting at which the situa-
ton was thoroughly discussed and
the following resolutions adopted:
WHEREAS, We have learned through the
public press and other sources of the strike
now affecting the trunk lines centering in
Chicago and extending throughout the
west, and
WHEREAS, We have been informed that
the strike had it's origin solely in a disagree
ment between the Pullman Palace Car
company and the employees in it's shops
and works at Pullman, H., none Of whom
are trainmen or connected with the railway
train service; and
WHEREAS. We are not informed of any
...- l.aa,ta f. tLa at..la
existing between the trunk lines OF railroads
and their employees; and
WHEREAS, The railroad companies are
bound, under contracts with the Pullman
company, to haul their sleeping cars, and
to be responsible Tor all damages thereto
by accident or casualty; and
WHEREAS, the Pullman will be
fully protected against loss and cannot be
seriously crippled or damaged by said
strike, and the whole burden thereof will
fall on the railway companies; Therefore
he it
RESOLVED. by the engineers. firemen, con-
d~uctors, brakemen, switchmen, operators,
clerks. freight handlers and other railway
employees, in meeting assembled, That we
deplore the strike as one without sufficient
cause or excuse. 30 far as the railroad COM
panies are concerned; that we fear it will
cause suffering and loss to many OF our
fellow trainmen and other employees in the
west, whose wages are sadly needed for the
support Of themselves and their families,
and that the whole burden OF said strike
will be escaped by the Pullman company,
and will nave to be carried by the railroad
companies. Be it further
RESOLVED. That while ia sympathy with
workinsmen engaged in "a strike for just
cause, Ne have no grievance against our
employers requiring such h remedy, and
we hereby pledge to them our loyalty and
hearty supper in their efforts to main
tain unimpaired the train service in all it's
departments.
This is substantially the stand
taken by many other labor unions
and is the only platform on which a
true American can stand.
At all points the men are returning
to work and i'll probably two-ffths of
cases being told that their services are
no longer needed. Men with families
and who had good positions a month
ago will now wander from place to
place looking for work. Their savings
are gone and the union is bankrupt.
What have they gained? Pullman is
not ruined. His cars are running on
rs many roads as ever and will prob
ably continue to do so.
The strike was the hardest blow to
unionism which it could possibly re-