Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1894-08-04

| LOT NE OF Ueatn OF tne union tney were
| trying to build up We see now that they
| have lost and all the prestige gained in the
| Great Northern strike has been wiped out
shrewdness of Older Leaders.
Like a ray of sunshine through bank
OF heavy black clouds stands out the ac-
| ton Of the older and more conservative
| labor organizations in the recent troubles
| in Chicago. 1 have met President Gompers.
Arthur and Sargent frequently. and 1 held
my breath while they were being charmed
| by the eloquence of Mr.. Debs. These gen.
| tlemen are as full of wisdom and shrewd-
| ness as an egg is of meat, and l knew IL
| they finally determined to join in the strug-
| gle the battles of 1877 would be mere Skin
| mshes in comparison.
"But these leaders easily picked out the
| flaws in the claims of the A. r. u. and
| quickly decided that In case the struggle
of the laboring men proved successful they
| might well shut up chop. as the latter
| organization would naturally reap all the
credit of the undertaking. The Brother
hood of Railroad Engineers, the Brother
| hood OF Firemen, the American F~-eration
Of Labor. the Brotherhood of Trainmen
and the Order Of Railway Conductors look
| ed upon the Debs organization as an up
start, managed with wild disregard of rea-
son and prudence, and, if left alone, des-
tined shortly to smash itself to pieces.
| Chief Arthur plainly showed that the En-
ginoers' Brotherhood had no sympathy with
| the movement, but regarded ii unjusti-
| fled and ruinous. Grand Master Wilkinson
I or he trainmen took practically the same
view of the natter. He told me that he
| considered contracts mao by his orsaniza-
| ton binding in every way and luSt when
the time came that they ignored their OBJ
| legations and good name they would have
| to do it under different leader.
Weakness of the h. of l..
| 1.-The one organization that made n great
| bluff of showing great strength, but really
/ displayed astonishing weakness. was the
| Knights of Labor, and once again the Wis
| dom of great leader was missing. Mr..
| Powderly il but human snd could hardly
have refrained from permitting a sarcastic
smile to fit across his face when he con-
templated the embarras sing position his sue
CcSsOr had gotten into. Only few years
| SINCE. this organization had attained such
numbers and power as to constitute a dam
ger sufficiently serious as to make the pesst-
mists despair of the couEtry's stability and
TO cause alarm even to calmer and more
conservative observers, but the sympathetic
strike demonstrated that it has dwindled to
comparatively small proportions. The
Knights and the A. r. u. are in the same
| class as TO methods Of action, ana In time
| VIII 'dwfndla into insignificance. Using the
strike and the boycott as the chief weapons
| for the accomplishment of their ends, they
] mast necessarily infict frequent and severe
| losses upon their members by compelling
them to go strike and lose their wages
to contribute from their slender savings TO
the support of other strikers or to pay more
n
crease or prices resulting from labor dis
turbances. 1t takes years sometimes for the
workingmen to find out that strikes are
| losing game and that organizations like
those controlled BY Debs and Sovereign are
beneficial chiefly to those who control the
reins that govern teen. When they finally
recognize this fact they forsake the organi-
zatlons and as a result they cease to be a
| factor in the working world.
Those organizations that have stood the
rest and demonstrated their efficiency are
| the ones the workingmeR generally cling To-
" these bodies the locomotive engineers
tne conductors and firemen are good exam
| pies. They have legitimate objects they are
managed with some regard for business
methods, with sense of responsibility to
the public and with a decent respect for In w
and order. That labor unions Of this kinJ
exist and flourish is a distinct benefit TO the
country. They are Of good example. more
! over TO the general mass Of workingmen
anS permit them to demonstrate to I'M
scrupulous employers that the public at
large is with them when in the right ana
tnat this public cannot be ignored or out
rasei. ar. Debs. by this time. fully compre-
d,,as me Lofee OF this opinion and WILL no
uoupt, III ina future endeavor 10 cater to -
Parallel to the Trouble Of At.
"one Of the most curious -. -o''.
nection with this year. -.Iings in con-
the fact that tbe~ labor troubles is
grooves with run in almost parallel
l have the labor troubles Of 1877.
tw-- nept tab on strikes for the past
enty years. and was an old hand in the
Tallroad business when the great strikes Of
1877 were inaugurated. The strikes that
| year came four years after the collapse in
| 1873 and Immediately after the great an
thracite coal strike. The strikes this year
come Tour years after the great Barring
| failure in London in 1890 and succeeded the
| bltuminouS coal strike.
The railroad strikes Of 1877 came the
year AFTER the great centennial exposition,
4 had CT rlnf IL
| country and gave the railroads their biggest
year of earnings. Then followed a wear OF
depression and Of reduction in the railroad
| force and Of wages. The strike in Chicago
was inaugurated under very similar circum-
| stances. the year after the expenditure OF
nearly thirty million dollars had drawn
| 10 chicago an enormous mass of labor
| which was left in idleness after its close
while the railroads centering In the great
western city are having a poor year sue
eeeding good one, though. as In 1876 the
receipts OF 1893 by no means equal the year
previous. though better than this year
| III you remember rightly, the general
| business OF the country in 1877 had
| shrunk. idle money was piled I'D In the
banks. the great strike was sprung en- the
| country when there was not work enough
to go around and rioting destroyed conf
dence at ethe very time when confidence
abroad and the utmost forbearance between
capital and labor was needed il prosperity
| was to be resumed.
The curious thing about this parallel.
| which runs close enough to make II In
structive and startling, is that the strikes
of 1877 left the trade of the country fat
on its back, and prices which We're con-
| sidered exceedingly low in 1877 fell still
| lower In 1878. In short. the great railroad
strikes of 1877. in the month of July, which,
as now. came four years after the previous
panic. year after A great exposition and
| under closely similar circumstances as TO
prices and credits. failures and genera
business were succeeded by dreary months
of dull apathy. of a strain to credit which
| In 1873 broke more firms than ever before In
our history. Let US hope the parallel will
stop with this months labor troubles and
| the line Of 1894 branch OF toward renewed
| activity in the manufacturing and com.
| mercial worlds and the fall months prove
| to be the dawn Of a long period Of prosper
| ity."
She Was Equal to Him.