The herald. [microfilm reel] (Los Angeles [Calif.]) 1893-1900, 1894-07-24
A SHAM PHiLANTHRoPIST.


It lie = very agreeable thing to all we'll
constituted Americans that what threat
ened at one time to be national disas-
ter OF great magnitude has Quilted down
to proportions which admit OF the re-
sumption OF transportation, and which
enable the people OF the United States
to hear in all portions of their broad do
main the hum of the again revolving
wheels OF locomotive industry. All per-
sons OF common sense realize the fact
that We shall all be obliged to live to-
gether in this country. and that the
manifold mistakes which have been COM
mitted in many quarters are only to be
noted to be remedied. Strikes, as the
HERALD has always maintained, are al
ways a questionable means OF redressing
the wrongs of labor, and should only be
resorted to whom all other agencies Of
redress have failed, being in that respect
like the supreme remedy Of revolution,
which nations themselves claim and as
sert as one Of their reserved rights, and
which England exempliied in her Mag
ma Charta and which the United States
have embodied in their Declaration of
Independence.
During the late remarkable suspen-
sion OF industries occasioned by the
strike the whole innocent American peo-
pie we're out and injured. Outside of q
few powerful corporations and their
toadies, the American people are in the
humor of exclaiming "a plague o. both
your houses" The United States courts.
after period Of from q week to eight
DAYS, aroused themselvss to the con-
eciousnsss of the fact that the judicial
process ofthe United States was in tended
to be directed - fully against the OBJ
ctructive corporations a. against the
strikers.
After an extensive reading OF the
eastern newspapers, we are struck by
their reputation, without regard to
party, of the despicsb BILE course OF George
M. Pullman. Else where we reproduce
in the HERALD some notes made by
Nellie BLY,, the correspondent of the
New York World, made at Pullman.
and We add few brief comments on
the situation made by some of the lead
ing journals in the east. They are but
asample of the almost universal ex-
preston of intelligent eastern journal
istic opinion. This man Pullman.
under the guise OF philanthropist, is
one who grinds the faces OF the poor.
Some of his petty meannesses look in
credible. but they can all be verified by
irrefragable testimony.
And it is such person, who has been
described by the English journalist
Stead az "a man who desires to coin
dividend out of his philanthropy,
who was allowed to lash tens of thous.
ands of his fellows into q forgetfulness
Of their duty to the innocent people OF
the United States. The HERALD is not
now nor has it ever been a believer in
strikes. 1t has always held to arbitra-
ton az the natural and only resort for
the settlement OF disputes between the
employer and his employees, and it be-
lieves that this principle will ulti-
m ately come to be recognized.
There is not in the whole limits OF
the United States a man who is 80 uni
versally hated as George NJ. Pullman is
today. He has victimized the people in
innumerable instances. His charges
are excessive and his exactions intoler-
able. II . traveller enters one of his
sleepers and is the only occupant OF a
berth, the porter has iron-clad instruc-
tions to lower the upper compartment
over him. 80 that he may be made
to bump his head when he
awakens in the morning, and may be
! half suffocated in the still watches OF the
night. This is still done in every part
OF the United States, although courts
have repeatedly declared that the pro-
cedure is unlawful. This petty
exaction 10 practiced simply be.
cause the traveller is expected
to be too busy or too indifferent to pur-
sue his remedy in the courts. Another
of the unspeakable mesnnesses of the
Pullman company is to give its porters
and other employees a mere pittance oil
a salary, in order to force passengers to
tip them. This characteristic parsimouy
was commented on with great bitterness
BY Senator Sherman, who is a statesman
who is not fond of parting with his cash
without quid pro quo.
1t 10 pretty hard to be obliged to suffer
for such q skintlint as George M. Pull
man. His philanthropy is a sham and
his interest in his employees or in the
people the merest mockery.
SOMETHING IMPOSSIBLE ELSEWHERE,