Little Falls weekly transcript., 1894-09-21
THE FINAL LESSON.
WHAT LABOR sHALD LEARN FROM
THE GREAT RAILWAY STRIKE.

The Government Must Be In Fact of. For
and by the People-Laws Construed In
Plutocracy's Interest - The villainous
Course Of the Press and What It Means.
'"The greatest strike ever known. -
such iS the general characterization Of
the strike which grow out of the boycott
levied upon Pullman palace cars by the
American Railway union. 1t depends
upon the point Of view whether, in
measuring the affair and declaring it
greater than any Of it's predecessors, one
has in mind it's extent as to territory
covered and persons involved, the issues
at stake or the prophecy it contained of
the future of the industrial movement.
1t would be waste of time and space
to compare this contest between en-
'ployees and employers with any of the
struggles which have taken place with
in the past 20 years. As matter of
fact, it has been, judged simply as a boy
cott and strike, of no more immediate
Importance than several similar strug-
giles, beginning with that of 1877, when
the relative strength of labor sentiment
and organization, the scope of the pre-
!vailing industrial system and popula-
ition are considered. AS to the questions
at issue, the main contention and the in
cidental matters which were brought
out by the contest, they were undoubt-
edly G. greater Importance than any
ever before involved in strike, for the
plain reason that the aggressions of cap
italism and the extension of it's powers
have multiplied the grievances of the
wage slaves.
The two most startling and impress
i've phases Of this increased power Of
aggregated capital are shown in the ca
igerness of political and military mas
'ters to serve it without questioning the
merits Of it's claims to protection and
in the blind following it receives from
the daily press. The powers that be dis
played unusual and unjustifable haste
i'm employing the military powers Of
the government for the purpose of aid
ing the corporations in their avowed
object Of crushing the American Rail-
way union. The Intelligent man who
calmly reflects upon the events of early
July will find himself puzzled to under
stand how it came about that the inter-
state commerce law, which was passed
at the demands Of an outraged people
for relief from the lawlessness, tyranny
and avarice Of the railway corporations,
was employed by the attorney general
and his associates in government for
the support Of these same corporations
when engaged in tyr&nnical warfare
upon the lawful organization of the
railway employees If the action Of the
peoples officials was dictated and guild
ed by the honest belief that it was in
conformity with the Esprit of our insti-
tutions, then surely it is time to in
quire if we had not better remodel those
institutions, employ new Interpreters or
rewrite and radically amend the Dec
laration Of Independence.
If it be suggested that in crises such
as we have just passed through the
government could not inquire into the
equities or ethics of the controversy,
but must act at once for the mainte-
nance Of law and order, then it is time
we had little craftsmanship at Wash.
ington. Any pudding head could order
out the soldiery to shoot rioters or sup
posed rioters. It may be added that
when the military posses were ordered
to Chicago they were not required to
maintain order; that the governor of
the state, the mayor of the city and
thousands OF it's best citizens testified
to that effect. On the Fourth of July,
while we of the east were reading press
bulletins depicting scenes Of rioting and
big headings stating that ''The Regu-
lars Are Fighting the Mob," the regu-
lar soldiers were engaged in game of
baseball between mines chosen from their
ranks at Grand Crossing. Until the
United States authorities interfered in
the contest between the companies and
their employees there was not the slight
est destruction of property, and not
drop of blood had been shed. The show
OF force made by the corporation side
was like red rag to bull, and the
rabble, which had no connection with
the American Railway union, accepted
the chance offered to show it's contempt
for the government and for ''the rights
of property"
do not pretend that there were no
strikers in the railway yards, nor that
they did not attempt to embarrass the
companies in their efforts to move trains,
but all the evidence goes to show that
they did not destroy property nor COM
NIT acts of personal violence, and the
instructions Of the officers of the union,
given almost hourly, were for members
of the union to refrain from all acts of
violence to person or property. Beyond
its members the authority of the union
did not extend, and it is not fair to
charge the union with the depredations
committed by those not under it's con-
troll 1t would seem that Federal Judges
Wood and Grosscup understood that the
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