The Washington times., 1909-06-09
WHERE THE PUBLIC STOOD IN
THE PHILADELPHIA STRIKE.


That the Philadelphia street car
strike should provoke a library of edi-
torial comment was altogether to be
expected. That much of this comment
should be founded on hurried reading
of hurried news accounts of the strike
is inevitable 1t is important, there
fore, that the facts of the strike should
be emphasized wherever possible.
Thus speaks one of our Washington
contemporaries:
In Philadelphia violence was used
10 deter men from working, and
threats were made against the fami-
is impossible TO credit the charge that
organized labor permitted a member
of the organization to threaten to
dynamite the home Of a wOrkingman
If union member did employ such
a threat, il goes without saying that
organized labor will get rid Of him.
All of which is directed to these con
clusions-
First. The right of every American
citizen TO work for his living.
Second. The fact that the public has
rights in the matter of transportation
which are above those of any individual
or combination of individuals.
The strike in Philadelphia came
nearer to expressing those two conclu-
sions than to denying them. As far as
the workmen were concerned the gues-
ton was rather: Has the American
right to a normal days work and the
public right to efficient service on the
basis of such a schedulel
The motormen and conductors of the
Philadelphia Rapid Transit Company
were being required to put in from
twelve to eighteen hours a day in
order to get pay for ten hours. What
the effect would be upon the public
which depends upon the lines of that
corporation needs not be argued.
The general attitude OF the people
Of Philadelphia went further They
believed that tie service suffered from
the abnormal work-day required of the
men. They believed that the general
policy Of the transit company was OPP
posed to a sufficient service rather than
helpful to it. They recognized in the
recent strike a means to improve the
service as well as to help Philadelphia
wOrkmen to better living conditions
Accordingly they became the chief fac
tor in the strike. They endured its in
willingly and good natur-
eddy. They cheered the men. Thou
sands of them wore 81 Walk Will
Your" signs on their hats. They re-
joiced nearly as much as the men at
the substantial victory achieved in the
name OF the car men by Leader Pratt.
A permanent board of arbitration
might have FASTENED the end. But
more than that is required for the full
protection of the people of Philadel-
Dhia- 1t is needful in that city that
either the old laws for the control Of
4 corporation ike the PHILADELPHIA
Rapid Transit Company be better en-
forced or that vigorous enforcement be /
obtained for new and more gingerly |
avs.
The real offender in this instance
vas corporation, not a labor union.
And the strike leader was mighty |
.areful that the issue should not be 4
as far as the motormen /
md conductors were concerned, by /
single act of lawlessness, a single con
ravention of the theory that the Amer
can has a right to work for his liv- |
ng. There never was any proof of |
my design on the part of anybody to /
blow up any homes. There was a per |
istent and alarming rumOr TO that ef- /
ect, but it was never substantiated in /
my degree. Finally, the very violence
II which our contemporary speaks was
IN evidence not of lawIessness on the
1art of the strikers, but of public
support which exceeded the energies of
he striking wOrllmen themselves.