The dangerous feature in this American strike is not the
action of the strikers, but the audacity which the roughs displayed in grasping their opportunity. They have been in great distress for some time, they all carry arms, they have many of them seen service, and they fought in many cases with desperation. Any excuse served them, and in some Cities, as San Francisco, they made no pretence of helping the strikers, but "went for" their own enemies,—in this instance, the Chinese. Strikes which let loose the mobs, though known on the Continent, have scarcely been known here in our worst days. The favourable feature in the American situation is that the rural militia acted with deci- sion, not to say sternness—we note, we fear, at least one unneces- sary volley—and that the citizens, once roused, formed fighting regiments at once, and proved too powerful for the mobs. For- tunately, New York did not move, and in a day or two the Federal authorities will have 5,000 troops available. That, how- ever, is very few, when the Railways are suspended.
