The strike of the railroad workers is taking on the character of a revolution which could easily be called a social war... Chicago is not in a position to tolerate excitement and disturbances.

This city of ours has suffered greatly during the last six years. The great fire of 1871 almost destroyed the whole city; in 1874 again a fire of great destructiveness broke out, and the depression of 1873 combined with the effect of these conflagrations to bring about a very uncertain state of affairs for our capitalists. This is a fact known to every clear-thinking worker. Furthermore, if these conditions are permitted to intensify themselves, they will prove disastrous not only to the capitalist, but to the workers as well, and when factories and other large business establishments cease to operate, thousands of workers will find themselves unemployed without receiving any compensation from the railroad workers with whom they were in sympathy, nor from the communist agitators.