Waterbury Democrat., 1903-02-23

The celebration Of the birthday of
the father OF our country In Water
bury finds us standing firmly together
on the forty-fourth day Of the strike,
standing, as Washington did, for an
dependence and American liberty.
AS we intimated In our last public
statement the city was almost in COM
plete darkness last night, the trimmers
and inspectors having decided to go
out yesterday after an unsatisfactory
conference with the general manager.
Two of the bosses, Meth and Smith,
went out yesterday to take care Of the
lamps, but there were only "a few light
ed last night.
Evidently the company Is trying to
'land" some of our men who run the
union buses tBouncern Farley has
been seen scouting after them In out
of the way places and last night both
Superintendent Wales and Farley fol-
lowed "a bus all the way up from
Naugatuck. They are wasting time,
however, for our men have not in the
past and will not In the future commit
any lawlessness.
We cannot but feel that such acts
! as that perpetIated by Sergeant Blake
ley in Exchange place late Saturday
night tend to encourage disorder how
ever, to say nothing of showing de-
cided partisanship. So great was the
demand upon our Waterville bus line
that we were obliged to take the buses
from the other lines and put them on
to the Watervine line. This took
time, however, and quite crowd, say
L k0 .<ss str At, ~, a ~
tween the walk and car tracks waiting,
4 when Sergeant Blakeley came along
and hustled them out of there. Presi-
dent Barrett protested that they were
passengers of the bus Tine, but 1t was
Of no avail and the people were kept
walking to and fro between Exchange
place and the City hall until they
could secure accommodations. How
about the crowds that used to wait in
! the center on Sundays during the
/ summer, Sergeant Blakeley? Does 1T
make some difference with you wheth-
er or not 1t is the trolley company that
fs involved before you do your duty?
Washington's birthday is a fitting
/ time to speak of the principles that
immortal man stood for. millionaire,
Shareholder and aristocrat that he was,
vet at any time would he have died
for the immortal principles put by the
Puritans in the charter adopted In the
cabin OF the Mayfower and re-enacted
in the Declaration OF Independence,
Of the equality Or all men before the
law, and of the equal opportunity for
all to rise Washington held that
there should always be a time and
place for fair show for grit, pluck,
ambition, honesty and brains. Such
were some OF the principles OF the man
whose soul was the beacon light that
led America on It's way to liberty"
Things have changed somewhat siRce
Washington's time, and now we have
with us men who believe that the la
borer Is entitled out OF his earnings to
just enough food and clothing to keep
the machine of his body In working
order, and when that machine becomes
disarranged or worn. out, he must go
to the almshouse.
The position we were in the time we
were obliged to go out on strike re-
minds us Of story we heard OF an
Irshman A friend began to attack
his employer as a mean man and urged
him to leave his employ. The Irish
!. mans reply was that his employer
was fine, decent, easy-going man,
and, "Begorra gave his men fifteen
hours In which to do ten hours work. Z
Friday evening a car went to Wa
terville by mistake. The crew Of the
last car but one told the crew of the
! last car that 1t would be unsafe for
, them to go to Waterville, and that,
! anyway, they had received orders to
stop them from going up, as 1t was I'M
necessary they should go. BY mistake
therefore, they went. When they had
changed the pole In Waterville crowd
of men jumped from ambush and took
possession of the car. Out went the
lights and both men were at the mercy
: of the crowd. One of them escaped
I fairly well. He got punching. and
i the other was hurt In the groin and laid
up. Both men were so sorry for going
to Waterville that they have thrown
up their jobs and left town.
The lights in the north end were nc
] credit to the Connecticut Railway ant
+ Lighting Go last night. Unless they
: turn out better very soon there ough
) to be some hesitation on the part o.
! the city In paying for such light. A
II | the COTH6T Ol hNlduiS ullu La w iAllii
r street the light danced Jig the whole
/ night long. 1t may, however, hav'
= been hornpipe or q breakdown. A
q all events 1t made walking more diff
cult than IL 1t had not been lighted a
!, all. 1t confused and blinded the pedes
!, trian. The light at the foot Of Bishol
|, street on North square was not as bril-
!, liant as 1t ought to be, nor was 1t tn
: night before. and the one at the cor
I ner of North square and North Elm
! street might as well have been out. Ap
= parently the company does not care
! never has cared, in fact, how the light
# may be on Bishop street. That street
4 the company evidently believes, ca
! procure sufficient light from the larg
' number Of shade trees that make tn
= sidewalks dark. One had to look twic
q before he could see the lights las
q night They looked like stars.
s Some very good people are findin
ii fault about the conduct of some Of tn
= strike breakers, especially those on til
IA t.. sal