The Portland daily press., 1863-11-14
Strikes.

5 There is but little to be gained, in the long
run, by strikes. If, when laborers are scarce
and the demand for certain kind of labor
very urgent an employer is driven to terms
by the concerted action OF those whose labor
he must have at any price when the tide turns
and labor is seeking employment, it will be
natural for the employer then to take advan-
tage of the necessity of those in his employ
and reduce their wages as much below, as he
has been compelled to rise above, the usual
scale. The price of labor is as much under
the control of demand and supply as that of
Corn and flour. When more laborers, in any
department, are offered than are required, the
skilled in the labor he wishes them to perform,
and fix the rate Of wages he will pay them.
But.when laborers are difficult to be obtained he
Is under the necessity of employing the best he
can get, and paying them such prices as they
demand.
ments fix such a rate of wages for all the de-
partments requiring skill aud experience, as
will secure the best men. They may be COM
PEELED to submit to the employment of incom-
petent men when laborers are diverted from
their ordinary employment, as is now the case
In this time of war, but they will only retain
them until their places can be filled by better
men.
The true and only successful policy to be
adopted by mechanic or laboring man, is TO
become thoroughly versed in the department
in which he intends to labor, and by sobriety,
industry, and application to business, secure
the confidence and respect OF his employer.
The opportunity to labor at fair rate of wag-
es he will not then have occasion to seek af-
ter, as a good, faithful mechanic has reputa-
ton that always secures him the best situa-
lions at the highest rate of wages that is being
paid for the kind Of labor to which he has Civ
en- his attention.
If mechanic or laborer is not satisfied with
the wages he is receiving and the employer
insists on his unwillingness to pay him more,
the question for him to decide is whether or
not he can do better elsewhere. If, upon in
quiry, he finds situation that pays better for
the same amount Of labor, he considers him.
self at liberty to leave the former and accept
the latter, and the former employer fills his
place as best he can. 1t is the same policy
precisely as is adopted in the purchase of
barrel Of flour. If the man who has the mon
ey to purchase barrel of -four is not satisfied
with the price set upon it by one dealer he
goes to another, and if he finds the dealers in
-four have entered into combination, or
strike, to secure higher price for flour than
could be done by the ordinary competition in
trade, he looks upon it as an unfair transac-
tion and will endeavor to purchase outside of
such combination, or submit to it with an
III grace Strikes among mechanics are pre-
ciseiy what combinations are among traders
to get higher price tor a given article, or SO
monopolze the market as that the purchaser
must pay the price or do without it. Either
may be resorted to, under certain circumstan-
ces, by the best men with the best motives and
results, but generally it is better for each man.
ufacturer and trader to allow the relative con-
dition Of demand and supply to regulate the
price Of his merchandise, and for the mechan-
ic to be governed by the same principle in his
rate of wages