Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1894-07-18
A DispassiOnate Review.

Now that the most deplorable and
menacing strike in the history of the
country has spent its fury and the heat
of public excitement has cooled down,
it is possible to take a calm, dspas-
sionate view of the causes and lessons
of an outbreak that has stirred the ma
ton as it has not been stirred since the
war between this North and the South.
When its origin and progress are re-
viewed without passion or prejudice,
every fair, intelligent mind must see
that the real cause of the whole trou-
bic is to be traced to three men-George
M. Pullman, John P. Hopkins and John
P. Altgeld-who might and should
have averted it.
Had George M. Pullman acceded to
the reasonable request of his employees
to arbitrate the difference between
them the trouble would have ended
then and there, even though the find
ing of the arbitrator had been against
the men and i'll favor of the master.
But the naughty response of Mr.. Pull
man then was, and which has since
been coolly repeated from castle Rest,
Pullman Isle" amid the summer
breezes of the ST. Lawrence, "There is
nothing to arbitrate, nothing to dis
cuss, nothing to consider but uncondi-
tional surrender"
In our opinion there is always some
thing to arbitrate and something to
discuss when there is all honest differ
ence between employer and intelligent,
well meaning employees which the par
ties themselves are unable to settle. If
the employer is wholly in the right, as
Mr.. Pullman claims to be, he has moth
ing to risk or lose by arbitration, for
the reason that its very purpose is to
uphold the right.
There is nothing to arbitrate" is the
imperious dictum of an autocrat, for
eign to the American spirit of fair deal
ing. 1t was the dictum of Carnegie
and Prick. followed by the bloodshed
of Homestead. Suppose either Eng
land OF the United States had foolish
ly proclaimed in the Behring Sea dis
pute "There is nothing to arbitrate, :"
does anybody doubt that bloody war
would have followed?
When the general strike began in
Chicago it afforded on opening to hood
lums and anarchists to foment lawless-
ness, just as in times past big fire or
a riot was an occasion for burglars and
pickpockets to go for booty. Had there
been in the Mayors place a man of
heroic action instead of an idle on
locker, formerly in the pay of Pullman,
or had there been in the Governors
chair public spirited chief magistrate
instead of a demagogical apologist for
anarchy, the law would have been en-
forced so promptly and vigorously that
turbulence would have been nipped in
the bud, rioting quelled before it could
make any Roadway among desperadoes
cI1 in 1a n1o l. e L.,
and the supremacy of law and order
upheld.
But when the city was menaced with
mob violence in that centre of anarchy
Mayor Hopkins seems to have been
paralyzed or asleep, while Governor
Altgeld only rallied at the action of
President Cleveland, which his own
inaction rendered imperative Does
any New Yorker imagine for moment
that such a state of affairs as existed
for several days in Chicago would have
been possible in this city with Byrnes
at the head of the police and Flower
in command of the militia?
When President Cleveland Or
dercd the federal troops to Chicago the
situation had ceased to be a mere issue
between the strikers and the railways
or controversy between capital and
labor. 1t was a question of the right
and power of the United States to en-
force It's laws for the protection of the
mails and railway travel and traffic
against lawless interference. That was
an issue between law and lawiessness,
between order and disorder, between
the rule of the people and the sway of
the mob-in short, between govern
ment and anarchy. On that issue there
can be but one side, but one opinion
among law abiding citizens, whether
employers or employees, capitalists or
wage earners.
And there has been but one opinion.
The prompt and vigorous action of the
government at Washington to uphold
the national supremacy, maintain
peace and protect the rights of citizen
ship has been sustained by an outburst
of popular sentiment rarely equalled
for unanimity. 1t shows the strength
of the government to cope with any
difficulty that may menace the security
of the people.-N. Y. Herald.
In the above, the Herald strangely
overlooks the fact that the chief re-
sponsibility for the disastrous strike
and its lamentable consequences rests
on Debs, the President of the Ameri-
can Railway Union, who ordered the
strike of that organization that had
nothing to do with the differences be-
tween Pullman and his men, for if he
had not done SO, there would not have
been anything for Hopkins, the Mayor
of Chicago, and Altgeld, the Governor
of Illinois. to do; so that the fact re-
mains that Debs, whom the Herald in
the above fails to censure, is chiefly re-
sponsible. 1t was his act that caused
the disorder which made it the duty of
the Mayor and Governor to act prompt
ly to suppress, and for their failure to
do SO are justly censured.