The Charleston daily news. [volume] (Charleston, S.C.) 1865-1873, 1869-10-29
The charleston Strike. ,

outcropping Of ''strikes" in Charleston. Tine
longshoremen, the ship carpenters, the house
painters, the tailors, and we know not what
other fractional part Of our toilihg human
ity, have suspended their work and deman-
ded higher wages Without pretending to
enter into the merits Of the controversy, ana
without even calling the attention OF those
whom it concerns to the simple principle
that proper workmans union is defensive
and not offensive, we must say that we think
the present conflict is most unreasonable.
The strike ordinarily is the resort OF the i'm
poverished workman against the thriving
proprietor. In the present instance it has
been precipitated by knavish politicians
1t is an attack by labor upon the proprietor
just when he needs every favorable circum-
stance for the establishment of business
on which, not his support only, but that OF
his hands depends.
So long as the world endures, we suppose
the contest between labor and capital must
20 on, and with the same varying fortunes
as those which attend the competitions OF
the bulls and bears Of New York. The man
of means will naturally endeavor to secure as
large return for his investments and his
risks and his losses as he can; and the man
of muscle will seek to appropriate the larg-
est proportional share of the profits which
be has toiled to secure.
In q normal state of society we should
have no occasion to depreoate such con-
flict. We might trust in the operation Oh
the laws of political economy, as other COM
munities do, for the regulation OF wages
This interest has method ofadjusting itself,
if not in accordance with the highest prin-
ciples, at least in such way as contributes
to the general prosperity and to the wealth oi
the State. The conflict is unequal, for usually
the employer has some means to fall back
upon. while the workman cannot afford to re-
main idle for week or month without incur
ring the danger Of starvation. This is one oi
the safeguards against the interruption oil
those general and useful enterprises in which
the capital of q country is invested. But IL,
as sometimes happens, the laborer triuTnphs
and secures larger proportion OF wages
than would properly and naturally accrue to
bis work, his success invites competition
among his own class. The supply soon be-
comes greater than the demand, and as the
number of workmen increases they under
bid each other to obtain work. Thus capl-
tai recovers its lost ground, the labor-rate is
resumed, and the ringleaders Of the strike
are obliged to leave the country for want OF
employment Such has been the expert
ence of the English operatives. The vari-
Gus combinations, often tumultuous and even
violent, which have sought to fix an arti-
ficial scale of prices, have proved but a
mere eddy upon the broad deep stream OF
the national prosperity. In all the depart
ments of industry an inexorable law, the
law of supply and demand, has prevailed
like decree of fate.
Mr.. Buckle calls attention to the fact that
the Revolution in England which eliminated
and collapsed in the Protectorate Of Crom-
we'll, was more Of an industrial than a po-
litical movement. The like remark may be
made in reference to the French Revolution.
1t is a suggestive circumstance that each OF
these national labor-strikes resulted. in a
personal government, which crippled labor
and exiled liberty itself.
In Charleston strike just now is, as we
have intimated, most unfortunate. AS Adam
Smith has abundantly shown, an increase oil
wages is absolutely dependent upon, and
must be in proportion to, the increase Of
funds from which the payment is to- be
drawn. Where the revenues of business
and the stock invested in it are limited, the
wages Of the labor employed must of neces-
sity be lower than in the wealthy establish
ments Of Hourishing community. To sug-
gest New York prices as a standard for
Charleston is simply preposterous. We are
just beginning to live; capital is not abun-
dant; the profits Of trade are uncertain
men of the highest accomplishment and char
acter are reduced to salaries which satisfy
the necessaries of life, but afford little more.
The season is not auspicious for a strike.
And if it were, might not Captain Stoddard
and his obsequious cohorts of lonsshoremen
prudently and modestly wait-untl their
betters were served?
There were we doubt not, exceptional
cases of grievance represented in the recent
morement--cases where wages were not re-
munerative and where the industry needed
special recognition, because it required the
labor of the brain as we'll as the hand. II
was an unfortunate circumstance, however,
that the most inferior kind of labor was the
most clamorous in it's demands and the
most riotous in its demonstrations; that ii
is Radical League with a Radical leader
and Radical ward who have presumed,
in the name OF the laboring class, to demand
the control Of the wharves and shipping ol
Charleston. 1t will not take long to settle
this business.
THE present population Of Williamsburg
County is: Whites, $500, and blacks, IL, 1856.
Total, I7,476 In 1850 the population was