John Bright's Views

This article from the July 28, 1877 issue of the Pittsburgh Daily Post reveals the opinion of London official John Bright in response to the American railroad strikes and outlines what he believes to be their cause.

JOHN BRIGHT'S VIEWS
Of the Cause of the Tremendous Upheaval in the United States.

LONDON, July 26.-In John Bright's address at the unveiling of the Cobden memorial statue, at Bradford, yesterday, he referred to the disturbances in America as a local insurrection. He said regarding the strike: "It is one of the most deplorable events that have ever happened in the Northern States, so far as my knowledge goes."

Mr. Bright continued by saying that he attributed these disturbances to the evil effects produced by the policy of the United States in locking themselves up from the rest of the commercial world, by onerous duties levied upon the very class of manufactured articles which, if competition were open, would prevent labor from becoming unruly. He declared that the prostration of the great iron industry was owing to the collapse arising from the general impoverishment of capitalists, which of itself would necessitate a great fall in wages.

Mr. Bright concluded by saying that he believed that the excessive system of tariff heretofore levied for the protection of labor in America had received a death blow, and that nothing could avert a change.