The Topeka state journal., 1899-08-09
A GRAVE CRISIS.
Strikes, LOckouts, BOycOtts,
Disorder, Everywhere.
The Tyranny Of Trusts and
DespOtism Of Labor,
SAYS JOHN j. INGALLS,,
Cannot Go On Much Longer
without a Crash.
If Passions Are Not Appeased,
They VIII Grow
BY That on Which They Feed
Conditions Are Wrong.
SAYS JOHN j. INGALLS,,

II. J. Ingalls, In New York Journal ]
Between the tyranny Of the trusts
and the despotism of the labor unions,
the social and industrial system of the
United States Is approaching a crisis
Of extreme gravity, whose consequences
cannot now be accurately foretold, but
that are certain to be immensely mo-
mentous.
Obviously matters cannot go on in
definitely as they are at present.
Strikes, lockouts, boycotts and disor-
der are ineligible in times Of panic
and distress, Of shrinkage and disaster
when wages fall and multitudes are out
of employment. But we are prosperous
beyond precedent. The treasury IS
congested. Our exports seem fabulous.
All nations are our debtors. Money Is
so abundant and interest so low thal
the occupation of the m1ser and tne
usurer is gone. We have had the early
and the latter rain, and the earth mas
yielded its increase with prodlga1 pro
fusion Plenty has been scattered over
the smiling land. The demand for labor
has been constant and remuneraIIYe'
but the discomfort of the employed IS
more general, more desperate anu
nenacingr than ever before in our his
tory. It has apparently passed from
the acute into the chronic stage, ana
from being casual has become per
manent.
One of the most noteworthy and sig
nificant features of the situation IS that
labor troubles are confined almost eX-
clusiveIy to the north. They seldom
occur in the south. This immunity as
due partly TO the absence of the Tor
eign element. Society is more homogen-
eous-among the whites, also. there IS
less inequality of condition. Great for
tunes are few. The burdens of life are
less. The benefcence of the soil and
the sky depriveS poverty OF Its hard-
ships and diminishes the necessity FOR
oil
social problems nor melted by anbl-
ton Competition is more free, Oppor-
tunity less restricted. Trusts and COM
binationS have not absorbed the re
sources and monOpolized the activities
of the people.
Trusts and labor unions are insepara-
BILE evils. They are twin relics of bar
Employers and employed ought to be
auxiliaries- They are antagonists
They should be friends. Society has
made their enemies The great gulf
between them yaWns wider and more
inexOrably every day. Until conditions
change they can never be reCOnc1led.
One or the other must be subjugated,
or both may be destroyed. This is the
logical consequence of the Declaration
Of Independence up to date This is
the product of Anglo-SaxOn civilization
based on the Golden Rule of doing unto
others as we would that they should do
unto US. 1t is an irOnical cOrOuary to
the brotherhood of man.
From the dispatches recently it ap-
peared that the commerce, industry,
business and public convenience of five
states were interrupted by strikes; in
some cases apparently Capricious and
wanton, without reason for justif1ca-
ton
In Kansas City one Of the great pack
ing houses was compelled to close by
the walking out of men who had Just
signed a contract in which the owners
conceded all that the unions required.
In Buffalo the freight handlers struck,
practically suSpendlng shipments of
grain and merchandise between the
east and the west
In Chicago all building operations
were stopped by a strike of the union
brick makers, entailing immense losses
and causing great Inconvenience to vast
numbers who were in no manner i'm
plicated otherwise in the alteration.
In Indiana Governor Mount had
troops in readiness to disperse riOtous
laborers at the coal mines, who were
not satisfied with the methods and the
prices of the operators.
But Cleveland, Ohio. appeared to be
the storm center For many weeks the
entire street car system Of this opu-
lent and prosperous city of three hun
dred thousand inhabitants was in the
control of heterogeneous and con-
g1omerated mob. The employees struck,
and attacked with violence those who
were hired to take their places. The
property of the company, worth many
millions, was unprotecte DISTINCTIONS
were piled on the tracks. Cars were
blown up with dynamite. One gentle
apostle off reedom, in his solicitude to
redress the wrongs Of labor. stretched
strands of barbed wire across the track
at convenient height to decapitate a
scab mOtQrman on his night run Being
under size the man escaped. and the
and wrecked the car.
Curiously enough, the city council,
the mouthpiece and organ of the peo-
PIE, refused to have anything whatever
n wit aft
of official inquiry or Investigation
Whether they were in sympathy with
the owners, the strikers or the public
does not appear.
Governor Bushnell at length called
out the militia, and General Axline ap-
peared in the beleaguered city with
troops enough to put down the rebellion
ana permit the street cars to run again.
But there were no passengers. The
strikers being overcome by military
force, resorted to the peaceful boycott
Every merchant, baker, grocer and ira
DER who rode on the cars was prOscrib-
ed and placed under the ban So the
shopkeepers rode in their carriages or
hired cabs, and requested their clerks
along on foot
Between the tyranny of a mob and
the tyranny of a monarch, If compelled
to choose, most men would prefer the
Kaiser or the Tycoon.
The expatriation Of Astor may be un-
patriotic, but it is not difficult to uu-
derstano II the battle now raging
goes on. there will be safer places in the
world than New York.
Discomfort may become exasperation
It is no longer ignorant 1t is armed
with the resources of modern science
One hundred desperate men with dyna-
mite, nitTo-glycerine and electricity
could in an hour cut off the water sup
ply of New York and leave the city in
darkness. Paris in the days of the
commune was not worse than Cleveland