The record-union., 1898-09-23

| rolls. There is no alternative. for
things are already so low that there
| is no other source from which a reduc-
! tion can be made up.
When a legislator introduces bill
attacking the earnings of the railway
companies, what he is really doing is
| introducing bill to strike the names
OF railway employees from the payrolls.
| Why do not the railway employees
stop 1t? They can do it if they will.
| There are members enough In every
State Legislature who owe their seats
to railway votes to defeat any measure
In any State. Why do not the en-
ployes bring pressure to bear on those
men and protect themselves against the
spoliation which goes on in the name
OF the people" against "the corpora
tlons? 1t Is not the people against
the corporations! it is personal ayarice
and political corruption against the
| railway employees of the United States.
suppose that a crusade was begun
| against some other industry as bitter
as that now directed against the rail-
ways. suppose that in Congress and
in State Legislatures and all over the
land cry arose against, for instance,
the dry goods merchants, and every
legislative calendar became choked
with bills to curtail the revenues of the
| dry goods trade and to put all manner
of burdens on 1t, until (as happened
with the railways % per cent of all
the dry goods houses in the country
were forced into bankruptcy in a sin
gle year, and those that survived did so
only by reducing their forces and cut
ting wages at every possible point. The
| railways ought to have about 200, 600
more men in their service than they
have to-day. Suppose that the same
conditions were forced upon the dry
goods trade. Tell me, how long would
it be before every employe of every
dry goods house, from floor-walker to
cash girl and teamster, was banded to-
gether in behalf of their employers and
to Withstand the unreasoning persecu-
tion Of the public? Would they not,
every man, woman and girl, stand to-
gether in defense Of their own bread
and butter? Are railway men any less
intelligent or less powerful or have they
fewer rights?
Out of the general discomfort and up
rising Of the 'isms'' and against estab-
lished institutions, there is a growing
cry going up for government owner
ship" Of the railways. Heaven help
the railway service and railway men II
the time ever comes when the rail-
ways are owned and operated by the
Government; when every place on the
payrolls will be political office to be
given only as a political reward for po-
litical service; when every employe will
hold his job only SO long as he keeps
his "pull'' on his friends and his friends
remain in power.
What have the railway men to do
with socialism and anarchism? What
have the Brotherhoods to do with
them? BY the magnificent sums which
the leading orders dispense yearly
through their benefit and insurance de-
partments they rank among the great
financial institutions of the country.
They have as much at stake in the cs-
tablished order as any bank or corpora
ton or building and loan association.
Those railway employees Tor ex-em-
ployes) who are working on the side OF
the discontented would rejoice in the
downfall of the older orders, and all
railway men know 1t. Whether as 1ndl-
viduals or as members Of an order, the
interests of railway men are the in
terests Of the country and of the rail-
ways. What will they gain If misrule
becomes triumphant and their places
are made into spoils and prey for the
men who cannot now hold their jobs?
year and a half ago the railway men
of the country placed themselves on
record. They will do it again when the
time arises; but in the meanwhile,
7vLi1a tha a off tion, and the secret dirty
work is going on, do they realize how
much they can do, not only in behalf
of the country and Of the railways, but
in their own behalf by standing by
what is good and established and ap-
proved in our civilization?
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