Martinsburg herald. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1881-1920, 1909-07-10
A TIMELY WARNING,
The Lesson of the French Postal
Strike.

of Government Enterprise--Political
Influence Would Control the Con-
venience and Welfare Of the Country.
The post and telegraph strike In Paris
has collapsed after determined at
tempt by organizations of employees
of the state to prove that they were
superior to their employer, the govern
ment, and to reduce 1t to obedience.
Never has the inherent weakness Of
government ownership been more
clearly revealed. On the one hand,
there are charges, which are virtually
admitted to be true, that favoritism
and other serious abuses have peryad-
ed the French postal and telegraph
service because politics has largely
ly controlled appointments and admin
istration. The conditions are not pc
culiar to the French people. The
further any government extends its
operations in the direction of public
service or industry the greater danger
of corruption 1t creates.
On the other hand, the French postal
employees and telegraph operators
have not only utterly disregarded the
public convenience, but they have
openly defied the governments author
ity. Led by political agitators. they
have undertaken to rule In their own
way and for their own ends.
The strike was political demonstra-
ton intended to intimidate the govern
ment into surrendering on their terms.
II they blockaded the wires and the
mails and brought trade and commu-
nication to a standstill they expected
that M. Clemenceau would meet with
such pressure from other quarters that
he would be forced to yield. To the
chamber of deputies M. Barthou, the
minister of public works, declared:
Among the rights Of government Of
ficials there is not and never can be
the right to strike-that Is to say. the
right to hurt the whole country in or
der to bring about the triumph of
claims which are at least open to de-
bate"
Yet the fact is, right or no right, the
government employees did strike. And
they were in a position to exercise the
greater power precisely because they
were government employees, for there
may be an excuse for private agency
falling to do it's work, but govern
ment must keep it's machinery running
or confess it's unfitness TO exist
Imagine what the situation would be
If our own government were to take
over the railroads of the country.
which in 1907 employed 1,672,000 men.
Under the government these employees
would constitute a privileged class
which every mischievous demagogue
every self seeking politician and every
political party would strive to concili
ate with the promise of greater privi-
leges. Their organizations would not
need to make the first advances. for
their support would be worth any price
INSCRIPTIONS politicians might coElriye
to make the government pay. Very lit
tie encouragement would make them
as hungry for favors as Office seekers
are for votes. The corruption of pol
itics would work both ways.
In recent years we have seen the
postal employees maintaining a paid
lobby at Washington and campaigning
for and against candidates for congress
on the issue of more pay for the car
riers. The women teachers have
swarmed upon Albany, buttonholed
members and intrigued at election time
to have their own salaries raised. The
political activity Of the police of this
city has been an unceasing scandal.
The more the municipal service is ex-
tended and the offices multiplied the
more frequent will be the occasions for
similar abuses and the greater the diff
ficulty of coping with them.
Whether 1t be the city, the state or
the nation that enlarges the field of its
operations, ,he growth of the power of
political influence must help to dimin-
ish personal responsibility until at last
the public's servants turn squarely
against the public, as they have done
in France, and demand a government
Of officeholders, by officeholders, for Of
ficeholders.-New York World.