The times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1890-1903, 1902-03-07
FRIDAY. MARCH 8. 1902
raE NORFOLK STRIKE.

s;-hcS situation in NoTfoik dUTlnS LIZ
ms, several days has been disgrace
to good government We shall not 30
INTO any. discussion OF the merits OF G.y
strike. for we are not sufficiently informed
to express a fair and intelligent opinion
on this phase Of the question. But thus
much is quite clear. from the reports
which have been sent ont from Norfolk
md from the reports which ZIG have read
f,i the Norfolk papers: a strike was de-
c,ared and the stVeet-car company was I'M
able to operate its cars. not because it
roi.fd not secure a sufficient NUMBER OF
men who were willing to work for the COM
many upon its own terms. but because the
strikers and their friends had determined
1iIat the cars should not be operateo
& they could prevent it. by fair means or
otherwise Tho wires have been CUT
various distractions have been placed
upon the tracks, at least one attempt
slas ieen made 10 tear up the rails, ana
,notormcn who have brought the cars
out from the barns have been hooted
md ieered and Threatened. The Norfolk
Ledger says that some of the new car
mon who were brought in to take the
place of the strikers were shamcfully
beaten.
IT is claimed that the rio.ing has
-,een for the most part by outsiders and
not by the strikers Themselves. 1t is
slso said that the representatives OF the
uycet-car company nave treated their
men with very little consideration. The
Portsmouth,, Star is authority for the
placement that the strike could have been
avoided il the officers of the company
had but shown proper courtesy to the
men. 1t further says that the company
Is simply reaping what it has sowr.
..For, years ADDS the Star, '.it has been
t,abbltng in, IL not dehauching, local
politics. It has stepped aside from its
legitimate business in order to further its
selfish ends by becoming a factor in mu-
,iicipal politics. IN SO doing it has Great
ed and fostcred the very influences which
nre now arrayed against it. This fact,
together with the coEpany's systematic
disregard of the convenience of the pub
lie, has chilled the sympathy of the very
class which ordinarily would rally to its
support
OF all this we know nothing. We make
3 the statement in order that the strikers
may have full justice. But the fact is
that the company which is operating
under d franchise granted by the city
OF Norfolk and as duly authorized cor
poration of the State of Virginia, was I'M
able TO prosecute lis business, because
persons who had put themselves outside
,1le law refused to let honest men work
ftr the company and refused, as far as
they were able, to premit the cars to be
run. Such breaches of the peace can
never produce the results which are hoped
Tor. The condition which led the strik-
cr:s to make this open and physical pro-
test against the railway company grew
cut of deep sense that an injustice had
been done the men themselves. This
wrong could not be righted by force of
arms. The remedy lay in the moral
Kingdom of personal relationship and mu-
1ual justice and forbearance between
men.
The greatest changes that have been
wrought in the conditions that existed a
century ago between employer and en-
7loye are due solely to the silent moral
Influence that public sentiment created
That sentiment is as strong to-day as
fver it WAS in the history of the world
p,.d it remains for some enlightened labor
header TO avail himself of that irresistible
neral power instead of putting his re-
lance and hazarding his success upon
zach helpless allies as breaches of the
Eeace. The rights of strikers can never
be vindicated by destroying the rights
or others.
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