Year: 1879

Of the Comstock. and the Virginia and
Trt,ckec Railway-for Clark, the recalcitrant
engineer, is only tool in the hand of the
railroad managers in very much
the condition described last week. On one
side is the Union, numbering seven hundred
and fifty, disciplined and organized and lc-
terIniucd to protect themselves in what they
believe to be their rights: on the other, the
railroad corporation, conducting its part of
the contest with the deliberate persistcncy.
the cool disregard Of public opinion, to be
observed only in eases of corporate action
where there is an entire absence of personal,
individual responsibility, before the bar of
the peoples Judgment for the nature and
character of the proceedings instituted. Those
are the principals in the pending difficulty.


Besides the principals there is the general


public in close sympathy will, the L Mon. but
at the lsame time hoping :lat The rights Of
property and person under the law will be
preserved; and then. there is the press. OF
The latter at least one representative, the


Enterprise, is openly and undssuisedly the
organ of the railroad. This journal main-


lains that 1t is llnquestionably the right, the
-ttta4irttstbfc right ,,f rvtTy citizen, Ot every
man however weak or humble, to sell his
labor for such price as he may choose to
accept for it: that no Labor Union has any
right whatever to dictate to him in the prem.
lses, and that the attempt to enforce such


,lictation is an infringement on the citizens
liberty I" be resisted and suppressed by the
State. This IS the doctrine of the Enterprise.
which has at least the merit of meaning
something. OF saying something, the merit OF
letting il, readers know precisely What side
it is ON and What il works for in the issue be-
tveci. the Workmen and the railroad. AS
for sn'n' of the ol,er papers it i, really pain
iul to observe their prsiicanltnI in hndin;,
themselves compelled to discuss So >;elica,e IL
subject s. Every man is rmlitl.h to his Just
rights, and no combination of capital, labor
or anything else must be allowed to ride over
or trample upon those great American rights
set forth and guaranteed to him in the
Declaration Of lndeptnucnr,.' How charm
ingly non commttal. Or again: "I.awless
wrong doing. or srnsc!css detrimental obsti-
macy ON either side, or in any respect, will
not be countenanced or sanctioned BY the
general public What familiar sound
those sentences have, to he sure. On reading
them one can scarcely persuade himself that
they did not originally appear in certain
Montana sheet famous for its skill in the
Journalistic gymnastics of fence riding.


A: this distance the controversy possesses
no local interest whatever, but inasmuci. as
the subject mprehcnsivey described rs the
- relations between capital and labor" forms
one OF the most interesting as we'll as most
Important topics of tho day let us look at
this Comstock strike in one Of its aspects and
see il the declaration SO gibl> made OF, all such
occasions will bear the examination of our
better Judgment when looked at in the light
ct cool reason, free from the bias of local
feeling. Let us take the simplc-looking
statement, " Every man has right to sell
his labor for the price lie may choose to ac-
cept for it let lis take this doctrine and see
it it will bear dissection. In attempting any
such examination the first question to s,,g-
gest itself is apt to he, '' How is it that in the
department OF labor the privileges OF the in
uividla are not subjected to the welfare OF
the community, and to IL certain extent cur
tailed through regar, for the welfare of the
community as IN other departments OF civ
ilized life? ?" That the liberties OF the citizen
are 50 curtailcd and crcunlscribed in any
thing directly affecting the physical we'll
being Of the community is to be seen at
glance. The farmer who tills Il piece OF
ground Oh the bank of Il river subject to
overflow, may protect himself by a levee or
not, rs lie chooses, SO long as he has no
neighbors, but just so soon as he becomes a
member of community whose safety re-
Iuircs the construction Of a levee, then the
law steps in and says he must build it.,
whether he wants to or not. The man who
builds his cabin in some forest glen, remote
from the dwelling place of his nearest neigh
Dor, is at cn,ire liberty to follow lis own
judgment in its construction. Ii he chooses
SO to build that the accident of fire becomes
"a strong probability he is at entire liberty to
do so. He alone is to bc the sufferer in such
a misfortune, and no one is going to interfere
to protect him against the consequences of
his own carelessness. But let this man ,ln-
'lcrtake to build thus calplessly Oh village
street where loss is liable to result to others
AS well as to himself from his carelessncss,
and the officer Of the law comes forwar, at
once to see that the carelessness is rectitied
in time. And SO in n,mberless other rpla- /
tions Of civilized life. Perfect liberty Of ac-
tiOn is enjoyed by the individual who lives
alone in state of nature; but as soon as
this individual becomes u unit OF the assIe-
gate known as the community then very
large proportion Of his privileges and liberties
are necessarily at once surrendered to the
community, which, through the organization
nf government; of some kind, arbitrarily pre- |