Wheeling majority. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1907-192?, 1911-11-02
Respecting
Property :
A Cry That is Raised Whenever the
Worklnsmen Try to Got a Little
More Property for Them
ny John c. carroIl)

(8y John c. carroID
When trust sees some effort being
made to curb its greed, it cries out
that the widows and orphans who
have invested their scant savings in
its gilt-edged securities must not be
robbed.
A similar plant is raised when the
employees of a trust seek higher
wages.
1t is the hypocritieal way of saying:
Dividends are sacred.
Naturally the larger dividends the
greater the scanctity they enjoy.
With the same purity of intention
with which the trust hides behind
the widows and orphans" when it
wishes to be undisturbed in it's career
of plumber, the railroad, in time OF
strike, scours the slums of the great
cities for thugs and gunner to PRO
tect property"
The strikers want better chance
to gain homes for themselves. They
want form of labor organization
which will protect them against wage
reductions and arbitrary treatment.
Therefore, in the logic of the railroad,
they are the natural "destroyers OF
property" destroyers of the most
sacred kind. of property-high divi-
dends.
It must be made known that these
strikers are dangerous persons. and
that thugs are gentle creatures inter
ested only in the upbuilding of society
and the maintenance of property.
A few facts will prove this:
A trainload of strike breakers,
guarded by armed men, passed
through McComb, Miss. Incidental to
their duties in the protection OF
railroad property, they insulted some
women who were on the railroad sta
ton platform watching the train pass
This action on their part did not
make any appreciate hit with the peo-
ple on the platform, who were be-
nighted enough to resent it.
The strike breakers and guards
then opened fire on the crowd.
One man, Lee Haley, who had a
wife and two children at home,
dropped dead, two bullets having
pierced him from behind.
1t then became expedient for the
trainload of protectors" of property
to leave town. The citizens showed
marked sgns of losing respect for the
noble and gentle character OF the
men in the special train.
Undoubtedly the widow of Lee
Haley cannot agree with the. railroads
methods of protecting property.
From the railway point OF view
Mrs. Haley must be wrong for her
husband was striker.
Haley was one of those extremists
who thought more Of his wife ane
children than of high dividends fol
the railroad company. From the rail
road point of view, it is regrettable
that there are such unenlightened
persons.
Haley. had mates in the shops
the Illinois Central railroad at Nc
Combs who also thought more of then
wives and children than of high divi-
dends.
Many of these men were engaged
in making installment payments on
their homes, small cottages, the fruits
of life of toll, skilled, useful toll, the
kind Of toll that makes it possible for
the Illinois Central to earn an equival-
emit Of 10 per cent on its stock.
It must be clear to anyone, who will
seriously listen to railroad arguments,
that men who will work lifetime to
get a home for their families are
Eighty and irresponsible persons.
1t follows then that when such men
strike to protect themselves ana their
wives and children from the growing
power OF organized caplIaI tney ACT
without knowledge Of how dearly the
railroad loves them.
Can there be anyone now who
doubts the sincerity of a railroad
which hires thugs to protect" itself
against men so fanatical as to think
their wives and children to be superior
to dividends?
obligingly the federal courts in
several of the states have taken the
railroad view of protecting" prop
erty.
If workingmen dislike the railroad
view of protecting property, they
may grow to dislike corporation