Rensselaer Republican, Volume 19, Number 15, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 16 December 1886 — The Freight Conductors' strike [ARTICLE]

The Freight Conductors' strike

“Let every pledge made to the people be withfully -carried out,” should be the motto of the Republican party in this state.

The new state house will be first 'occupied by Republican state offioers. There is nothing too rich for the Republicans who carried the state this year.., r ... The Democratic party of Indiana rises from the ruins to remark that it “is now, as it always has been, opposed in principle to all sumptuary laws and prohibitory legislation.” There is no question at all about Meagher’s ineligibility to a seat in the legislature from Vigo. The constitution declares that a man elected to .a judicial office hold any other office of profit “during the term for which he was elected to the judicial office,” even though he resign. So Meagher cannot even be re-elected, and the Republican will have to serve as representative.

Senator Green Smith and the gang who are backing him ift his attempt to beat Col. Robertson oiit of the Lieutenant Governor’s office, received a decided set back last Monday in the form of an adverse decision from Judge Ayres, of Indianapolis, and a democrat at that. The case will be taken to the Supreme court, for final decision. AVe do not consider that there is any probability at all that Col. Robertson will lose his office.

A Republican victory in 1888 is assured, provided,' always, that none of the promises made to the people by the Republican party during the campaign just ended are broken. Let the Republican party keep faith with the people, and in 1888 the people will see to it that it is restored to the contfbl of the Nation. The way to victory is so clear that there should be neither stumbling nor blundering on the part of the leaders. The contest against the Election of State Senator elect, A. IL Thrayer, of Logansport, was withdrawn, Tuesday. This was one of the six contests against Republican Senators, begun the instigation of the reckless and disreputable Henderson-Coy gang, of Indianapolis. All the others but one have also beqn abandoned. There was no merit in the case, and the adverse sentiment of the respectable democrats has caused it to be withdrawn.

Judge Gresham’s great decision in the Wabash railroad case has attracted so much favorable attention, as to revive bis boom for the presidency. The Judge is not only possessed of a commanding intellect, but he is a man of sternest virtue, the most uncompromising rectitude of character, both in public matters and in private. He lacks personal magnetism, soipeWhat, and perhaps wouldn’t ran ter the office of President before tEe election so well

he would discharge Its duties after the election. ~.

, It was a good thing for the Knights of Labor to be brought into personal contact with the proscription of colored laborers in | Richmond, and thus to be made to understand the law- lefyin-4. hrnti.l i and tyrannic i! spirit.by which the. rights of fr< c citizens arc derived I to colored voters and colored 'a- : borers in southern states. As an j immediate consequence, Democratic candidates in Virginia were beaten in six districts and several of them by the aid of labor votes. It will be a good thing, next, for the Knights to be brought into personal contact with the Democrat habit of stealing elections \vhen they cannot get the votes of the people. After seeing a few of their leaders counted out, and a few more beaten’by Democratic bribery or ballot box stuffing, they will comprehend, a little better than they have done hitherto, why Republicans regard the Democratic party as simply a great conspiracy to defeat the will of the people.

That the Democracy is desper-■ ate there is no doubt. They propose now to make an attempt tcT count out Col. Robertson, whom the people elected Lieutenant-Gov-ernor. Green Smith, president of the Senate pro-tem, declares that he is entitled to the Lieutenant Governorship, and when the vote ; for Lieutenant-Governor is canvassed, Gray’s friends will'attempt to seat Spiith, so as to make it possible .'for Governor Gray to, enter the race for the senatorship. The Democracy care nothing for • the causes that )ed io the election I of a Lieutenant-Governor. A Dem-’ ocratic attorney general gave it as his opinion that a vacancy existed, the Democratic party made a nomination, and if their nominee had been elected there have been no talk of a count out, If thej’ count on Colonel Robertson weakening and allowing the Democracy to kick him out of an office to which the people have called him, they are greatly mistaken in tlieir man. He-is a man of nerve, of undoubted courage, carries the marks of rebel lead on his body, and is not the man‘to stand by and i see hie. rights trampled in the dust. Colonel Robertson will take his seat, and he will be backed by the united Republican party and all fair minded Democrats. Some say the Democracy will weaken at the last moment, and they dare not .carry such a scheme to the extreme/ Do not place too much faith ,in the rotten gang that is leading the Democratic party. The gang is rotten and corrupt. I.t has disgraced Indiana on more, than one occasion, and is qqual to the attempt to throttle the will of the people. It is equal to any revolutionary tactics that may be brought forward, and Colonel Robertson, the brave Union soldier, is also equal to any emergency, when it comes to his rights and the rights of the people.— Terre Haute Express.

On Monday all the freight conalong the whole line of the LT, N. A. & C. railroad resigned their positions and refused to do any more work unless their wages are raised from 2| cents a mile to 3 cents, the price paid by. other roads, or equal to §3 a day, jyid also 25 cents an hour for time they tire laid over, by blockades, waiting for other trains &c. The brakemen, in sympathy with the conductors, refused to go out with new men, nor will they accept con- [ ductorships. A large delegation jof the conductors waited on Supt. | Woodward, some time ago, and J asked for this increase, but he refused it on the grounds that the business of the company would not justify any higher wages for the conductors. On Monday station agents along the road were notified not to receive any perishable freight or live stock until further notice and no freight trains have been over the rdad since that day. It is not likely that the lockout will last more than a day or two longer, as the suspension of business is a great loss to the railroad company, every <iay-