"To say that the situation is alarming is entirely within the bounds of prudent statement. Every good citizen must view the outlook with grave concern.
"Something should, something must be done. The American people are a peace-loving people—they want neither anarchy or revolution. They have faith in their institutions, they believe in law and order, they believe in good government, but they also believe in fair play. Once aroused they will not tolerate arbitrary and dictatorial defiance, even on the part of an alliance of rich and powerful corporations.
"What can be done to dispel the apprehension that now prevails, and restore peace and confidence? The American Railway Union on whose authority and in whose behalf this statement is made, stands ready, has from the beginning stood ready, to do anything in its power, provided it is honorable to end this trouble.
"This, briefly stated, is the position the organization occupies. It simply insists that the Pullman Company shall meet its employes and do them justice. We guarantee that the latter will accept any reasonable proposition.
"The company may act through its officials or otherwise, and the employes through their chosen representatives. Let them agree as far as they can, and where they fail to agree, let the points in dispute be subjected to arbitration. The question of the recognition of the American Railway Union or any other organization is waived. We do not ask, nor have we ever asked for a recognition as an organization. We care nothing about that, and so far as we are concerned it has no part in the controversy. Let the officials deal with the employes without reference to organizations. Let the spirit of conciliation, mutual concession, and compromise animate and govern both sides, and there will be no trouble in reaching a settlement that will be satisfactory to all concerned.
"This done let the railway companies agree to restore all their employes to their situations without prejudice and the trouble will be ended. The crisis will thus be averted, traffic will resume and peace will reign. The railways are not required to recognize the American Railway Union. This has never been asked nor is it asked now.
"If there are those who discover in this statement a 'weakening' on the part of the employes, as has been so often charged when an exposition of the true attitude of our order was attempted, we have only to say that they are welcome to such solace as such a perverted conclusion affords them. We have been deliberately and maliciously misrepresented, but we have borne it all with an unwavering faith that the truth will finally and powerfully prevail. We firmly believe our cause is just, and while we hold that belief, we will not recede. If we are wrong we are ready to be convinced. We are open to reason and to conviction, but we will not be cowed or intimidated. Were we to sacrifice the multiplied thousands of wageworkers who have committed their interests to our hands and yield to the pressure of corporate power, we would be totally unworthy of American citizenship.
"It may be asked what sense is there in sympathetic strikes. Let the corporations answer.
"When one is assailed all go to the rescue. They stand together; they support each other with men, money and equipments. Labor, in unifying its forces, simply follows their example. The corporations established a precedent. If the proceeding is vicious and indefensible let them first abolish it.
"In this contest labor will stand by labor. Other organizations of workingmen have themselves felt the oppressive hand of corporate capital. They will not be called out, but will go out. And the spectacle of Mr. Pullman, fanned by the breezes of the seashore while his employes are starving, is not calculated to prevent their fellow wageworkers from going to their rescue by their only means at their command.