The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1895-01-30
The Price of EOIly.

Inc Price OF Folly.
The collapse of the street car strike
In Brooklyn, now practically admitted
by the strikers themselves, Is another
Of many proofs that no cause can in
these times be won for labor by meth
DDS of public intimidation and violence.
As to the abstract merits of the parent
contention, it was and is the general
opinion that the men We're in the right
anu the street car corporations in the
wrong. The wages earned by the men
We're indecently small; those asked by
them We're certainly not, according to
American standards, exorbtant. So
far, therefore, as this part of the epi-
sode Is concerned, it cannot be justly
asserted that the public, through its
newspaper press and through the COM
ments of eminent spectators, was
prejudiced against the strikers
Had the difference between the troll
ley workers and the trolley owners pro-
ceeded peacably along this line. we be-
lieve that the former would have won,
in spite Of the refusal Of the latter to
submit the merits of the dispute to
impartial arbitration. They would have
won by reason of the sovereign force of
public sentiment, which would have
| risen superior to written law and be.
come an imperious mandate impossible
to be shirked. In their capacity as pub
| lie creations, the trolley companies
would have been readily amenable to
the rod of public discipline and cor
rection; and while there might have
| been some delay, the final outcome
| would assuredly have been the vindica-
ton of justice and the re-establishment
Of the street car business in Brooklyn
upon an approximately honest basis.
Just at this moment, however, the
| toilers on these trolley lines struck
| They struck nominally at their employ
ers, but the blow hit the innocent and
sympathetic public full in the face
| causing intense pain. This, of itself
would have been sufficient to turn the
| tide of favorable public feeling back
into one of hostility. Innocent mer
who are hit by those for whom they
would do good service are not likely
| to remain long in a friendly temper
But this was not all. In the wake OF
the strike, like wolves hot in the chast
of prey. came forth the human wolves
of the vicinity, to jeer at those who
tried to earn a livelihood by taking the
strikers places; to throw stones at fel
! low workmen in equal If not greater
need and, by various similar acts OF
violence and disorder, to breed, during
time of great excitement, new trouble
and foment yet greater disturbance
Riot, thus enkindled, had to be pu
down at any cost; nor can nice deport
ment be invariably expected of those
who, at imminent personal hazard, pro
ceed to put it down. The situation
thus aggravated, becomes primarily
one of war-a war in which an innocen
public resents imposition and abus,
and sturdily defends its own. Senti
ment, demagogism, all these things
that characterize the simmering period
sink into insignlficance before the dir,
and commanding need of manly actor
in defense of law and home.
This, in brief, is the history of tn,
trolley strike. 1t differs from thou
sands of preceding strikes in namt
rather than in essential facts. In tn,
nature of things strikes are all some
what similar. They are all wars, il
which the chief sufferers are the leas
guilty and in which the victors oil
either side lose more than they gain
Latterly, however, this one difference i
noticeable. The innocent third party i
beginning, after prolonged darkness
to perceive its rights. 1t no longe
tamely submits to spoliation at tn
hands of the other two. In proportion
as this fact gains recognition, tn
chances of success FOR the strike as
solution of industrial problems directl
decrease AS the case stands today
strike. under any circumstances, is
foolish piece of business, from whic
intelligent labor should at all time
pray to be delivered