Year: 1877

were committing highway robbery on


the largest scale. They were stealing as


truly as if they had taken to picking
pockets and robbing banks, for they took
possession Of the property of the corpo


ration and Of the merchants who Tor


warded the freight. They declared that


the property of the corporation should


be managed as they (the strikers) chose.


or not at all. and that the freight should


not be directed by its owners. but by


them. In the truest sense. their move


ment was an effort tn steal a railroad aud


to confiscate the freight


What was the plea urged by the rail


road strikers for their conduct IL was


that the railroad companies had wronged


them by lowering wages or failing to pay


arrears. But even il this were true. the


owners Of the freight and all the labor.


ing interests that depended upon its sure


and speedy transport, had not wronged


the strikers in any way whatever, and


yet they were made to suffer. For this


no railroad man can offer any tolerable


excuse. IL he can not punish the man


whom he believes to have wronged him,


without shooting INTO a crowd Of inno-


cent peopl, he must seek redress in some


other way. But even if the strikers felt


themselves wronged, do they think that


civilized society can continue TO exist il


those who believe themselves TO be in.
jured are TO retaliate as they choosr2


What is the difference between civiliza-


ton and barbarism, between America


and Central Africa, but law, and the re-


dress OF grievances not by individual


force but 10y prescribed legal mrthods7


1t railroad workman may justly seize


the property OF the company which. in


his Judgment, pays him too little wages.


then another man may justly steal bread


from the baker whose loaves be consid-
ers too small; or, TO bring il home, il a
railroad engineer or fireman or freight


hand may rightiully take the property
OF the company, which is the road and
the rolling stock and the use of both,
then the company may riEhtfully take
the property of each OF those employees,
that is, their labor But what is all this
but anarchy. the right OF the strongest,
the dissolution of civilized society,"


The further plea was that the compa-
nies would pay only starvation wages.
Very we'll; nobody disputes that the men
were the judges OF that. They we're not
bound to t,ke wages on which
they could not live. But il they were
the judges Of that fact for
themselves, what business had they to
interfere with the equal right Of others
TO Judge for themselVes7 Other men had
precisely the same right to say that the
strikers should live on these wages that
the strikers had to say that other men
should not. when the strikers insisted
that others who were willing TO work
should not work, they were u.lty OF the
same greedy tyranny which they charged
81.
striker, singly or together, had the right
TO make his own bargains, so has every
other man in the country. IL the strikers
reply that all workingmen ought to
make common cause. aud, il they will
not, that they ought to be forced TO do
so, they use the argument of every des-
pot aud tyTant in the world, and make
every honest and intelligent American
their relentless enemy. One OF the pan
ders TO the strike said that the strikers
were merely striking back. Doubtless
there are intelligent men among the stri
kers who thought that this was true. But
" hat does il mean? Simply this. that il
a farmer, when times are hard. saws To
his men that he can pay them only TWEEN
ty FIVE dollars a month instead ol thirty
five or forty, and thereupOn the men re
iuse to work and seize his tools and
teams and prevent other men from work
ing Tor hun. they are merely striking
back" PImps and panders are never
friends to those whom they profess to
serve, aud the man who says this to the
farmers men would be the first to betray
them Some OF the strikers offered TO
enroll themselves among the special po-
Ice TO keep order, and made a merit Of
permitting the mails 10 pass But they
must see that they had Ie same right TO
stop the mails tnat Inry had to stop
freight and that they are responsible for
the terrible massacres and losses that
foil, wed their action. Whether the
more intelligent men among them
thought OF il or not, they have now seen,
with all the world, that when they at
tempt iorcibly to coerce other workmen
to follow them, they invoke anarchy TO
settle a question of wages; and while
they have their senses they know that
the fate of such a movement among the
dominant race upon this continent is ab
sure. The moral OF these tire
mendous events-lor they are nothing
less-will not be lost upon either side.
The country has LEARNED the Necessity OF
q thorough aud efficient local armed or
The strikers have learned
the hopeless FOLLY of struggling against
the unconquerable instinct OF a race.
Neither We nor any other reasonable
journal deny that there may be wrongs
that should be righted. That is a mat
ter for investigation and not Tor assump-
tion; and for the consideration of all al
legged we urge the promptest, fullest, and
fairest inquiry. But whatever wrongs
there may be are to be remedied, aud
remedied only, under and not over the
the law, which in this country is the will
OF the people.