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Show TH BROOKLYN STRIKE. The Brooklyn strike is upon no better and possibly no worse basis than other great upheavals of the unemployed poor I of the country. The men had a perfect right to resign their positions, quit work and to idle away their time if they eo desired to do, but they had no right whatever to prevent tho. new men from working or to prevent the company from operating their roads if the company desired so to do. When will the striking element among our laboring masses learn this great truth? They must learn it sooner or later. How matiy strikes is it necessary to have before the men will learn that others have rights which they must respect ' even if they happen to be 'on strike?" A few bitter lessons of blood appears to be nececsary ere the men learn that the government and the people are not outcasts by reason of the fact that the one does not sympathize and the other insists that the public highways must be kept open for their use and behoof, even if the roads and their managements manage-ments treat their men unfairly and dishonorably. dis-honorably. It was hoped that the vast ruin last summer in Chlcago.had taught this severe but salutary lesson perfectly. per-fectly. It seems the blood and mil-liona mil-liona of property de stroyed have been wasted, and now in Brooklyn the battle is to be again fought out at tended by the same loss of life, of precious time, and the employment without which the men and their families Btarve. Nor are the eastern railroaders any wiser than are their western brethren. Last summer when Utah was full of the marching columns of common-wealers common-wealers it waa determined to find out just how far the regular officers might go to determine the rights of the three parties affected by the movement. IS is true that men may travel how, and when, and wber9 they please as individuals indi-viduals or in scores, providing their missions are peaceful, they pay their way and encroach not upon the rights of their fellow-men and citizens on the way, or affected by their movements. The rights of others must be respected re-spected and the laws of the land be respected also and obeyed. It seems this lesson was not regarded by the Brooklyn men, or if regarded then it is forgotten now. There are in thiB free and happy republic, courts where the rights of even the humblest in the land are upheld, defended and protected. pro-tected. If the Brooklyn men had stopped work and appealed to these courts, not one word could have been urged against them. Ab it is now they etand in the attitude of law-breakers defying the civil powers of the government gov-ernment and defying its military power, when lawfully in pursuit only of their duty. It eeems monstrous that these things are done in a christian country having laws and all the paraphernalia of civilized and regularly organized government. The degeneracy of the people is plainly exhibited in this, v or else they have been befooled and defrauded so often that they have no faith in the power or disposition of the law to protect them and their rights, and ref uBe, in consequence, conse-quence, to invoke law for their own protection. If this is the case, the situation sit-uation is far worse than we apprehend and th'e dismal end is fast approaching Are not both the people and the government gov-ernment to blame for this terrible situation? situ-ation? Is not the permanency of the government and the happiness" of the people put in jeopardy by the means used by the strikers to right their real or supposed wrongs? Are they justifi- able in precipitating revolution with a 1 of its terrible consequences to affect eixiy millions of people, only that two or three hundred men may have ten or even twenty cents a day more compensation compen-sation for their labor? If the honest laborers, honest car-drivers, will ask themselves these and similar questions and they will answer them honestly, the difficuitv will soon be solved, and the strike remedy will eoon be abandoned aban-doned for something infinitely better and immeasurably more effective. |