Year: 1878

An Appeal to the Herald.


We printed the following communication
yesterday, and give it more prominent
insertion now, because it is a.convenient
text for few remarks which the recent
strike and its failure seem to Justify


New YORK Dec. H. 1878.
To EDITOR HERALp:-


Believing that you and always have been in
sympathy with the working classes. and especially
compensation and who desire only a sub
sistence in these times of depression. confidently
appeal to you to use your powerful influence in be-
half OF the drivers of the Third Avenue Railroad
These poor men. many OF whom have families.
find it impossible to support themselves and those
dependent upon them on the wages proposed by that
company, and therefore conclude, and think every
humane and just will agree with me- that this
strike the part OF the drivers ut least ustihable
know it is not within the scope OF your power to
directly compel that company to do better for their
men. but have not the least doubt that you could
II you see it indirectly compel them, by suggesting
to the public, who largely sympathiZe with these
poor men. to travel by other lines until this dom
nant railroad shall have yielded to just demands.


r. MCCARTNEY. 26 Beach street.


The writer is not in error in thinking that
the HERALD takes deep interest in the well
fare o. the working classes. 1t has always
felt such interest and has never doubted
that on this subject it reflected the senti-
ments of the community, Of which the
laboring classes form, indeed, large ma
jority. Whenever any body Of laborers
has made demonstration against their
employers the HERALD has afforded them
prompt facilities for stating their case
to the public from their own point
of view; reporting their meetings,
printing their letters, interviewing their
leaders, giving them ample opportunities to
make their grievances known, and offering
no comments which were not inspired by
kindness. This uniform fairness entities
US to speak with the sincerity Of honest
have been committed.


There can be no question that an unsuc-
cessful strike is always blunder. Mod
crate wages are better than none, and Ia
borers who have families should think the
matter over very carefully before engaging
in strike at a time when the city is full
of people vainly seeking for employment,
and at a season of the year when it
would be bitter calamity to be desti-
tute Of food and fuel and to run the
risk of being turned into the street for nom
payment OF rent. It is always a hazardous
thing for unskilled laborers to strike, be-
cause their places are so easily filled. A
strike of mechanics has better chances, but
the drivers or conductors of street cars give
place to SUCCESSORS who can perform their
duties without previous training 1t is Of
little use to present this consideration at
the beginning Of o strike or during its
progress, and it is SO sure to occur to the
participants in an unsuccessful strike as an
afterthought without nybody's suggestion,
that we seldom argue against strikes. even
when we think them i'll judged. 1t
must now be apparent to the Third avenue
strikers that it would have been cheaper for
them to have made contributions for the
relief Of the discharged drivers than to have
put it out of their power to help either them
or themselves. We sincerely commiserate
the hard condition of the laboring poor, and
the best advice we can give them is to cling
to the scanty wages they receive and look
forward to better times. Business is likely
to revive next year, and as soon as there is
a brisk demand for labor the working classes
will not be SO helplessly dependent.


There is one point on which it is our
duty to be entirely explicit. Neither the
HERALD nor the community can bestow its
sympathy on any one class of laborers TO
the exclusion Of others who are enduring
equal or greater hardships. If the car
drivers refuse to work they cannot be per-
mitted to force idleness upon others. 1t is
their right to starve, if they choose, but
they must not force others to starve Nor
can they be allowed to resort to violence
against the property Of their employers and
the convenience Of the public. The strong
arm of the law will always be successfully
invoked, with the appreciation of the COM
munity, for the protection Of every mans
right to labor who chooses to labor, and
every mans right to accept any wages, how
ever scanty, which he may prefer to idle
ness and starvation. The suppression of
violence against persons or property and
the maintenance Of the equal rights of all
laborers to work or abstain from work, as
they see fit, is the clear duty of the public
authorities.


Baking Powders.


Pacontlv there has been n constant pur.