New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1870-12-10
CRISPINS And STRIKES.

Certain citizens undertake TO earn an honest
living by making Boots and Shoes-a right
worthy, laudabe effort. Boots and Shoes are
Indispensable especially at this season; and
they who make good ones for just wages de-
serve well Of their country.
Certain other citizens have been accustomed
to supply the cordwainers aforesaid with stock
and pay them promptly for their labor thereon'
expecting TO be recOmpensed by selling the
Boots and Shoes at an advance on Their cost.
These also do good in their generation; ana
should be esteemed accordingly.
But at length there is a hitch. Certain
bosscs-we will suppose them MeSsrs. Shucks,
Wigglesworth, Poldoody, and Tngmutton-say
to their iourneymen "Timcs are hard trade IS
"dull prices are falling; stocks are accumu-
"latiug: we can no longer give you the prices
"hithcrto paid, but must ask you to work Tor
"less."
The iourneyIncn respond: owe III see you
"cauonized first! If you will not pay us the
" old prices, we will no longer work for YOU"
So far, we find nothing to complain Of The
iOurneymen own themselves, and have per-
feet right to iudge for themselves in the prem
ises. Ditto as to the bosses. We blame neither
|
to act upon its own Judgment.
But when we hear that the journeymen
stand idle and look for contributions from
! ether workingmen to support them III per
! siStent dleness, We are impelled to lprotes
| We deny that either the moral obligation or
| the ability of the jOurneymcn tn work depends
| upon their agreeing rs to the worth OF their
services with Messrs Shucks, Wigglesworth,
| Poldoody, and Tugmutton. Suppose these re-
spected fellow citizens had Glanced never 70
! be born, must the cOrdwainers have famished
in idleness, while the rest of us went limping
about unshod Does our supply of foot-gear
depend upon the somewhat prccarious exist
encc of McssIs. Shucks Sc, aforesldY
We maintain that it does not, and that the
appeal of the striking cOrdwainrrS 10 be sub
sisted in idIcness ont of the earnings Of per-
sistent workers is u needless degradation OF
manual labor. 1t is II virtual proclamation
that Boots and Shoes cannot he made and
worn without the intervention of ShEcks n
Co. between makers and wearers. 1t untuiy
athIms that Labor is but puppct, abiectly
responsive to the string whereby Capital sets it
dancing or dooms it to impotence and famine.
The cOrdwainer's art, as practiced i'll this CITY,
is one of the simplest. 1t requires little stock
and less machinery. A man tit to make shoe
for Shuclls s. Co. ought to hc able 10 make n
good one for any one who will buy il.
Suppose the striking cOrtiwainerS to number
one hundred (more or less, as you wil), why
should they not have started a Cooperative
shop the day after they stopped working for
the bosses aforesaid, bought for cash n snail
stock, with tools aud fixtures, resumed work
at their trade. and advised tie public that,
anxious to make an honest living, they were
ready TO sell Boots aud Shoes, or TO make them
to measure as the Yankee queried concerning
Niagara "NNhat Is to bender y If the bosses
exact too much profit, why shOuld Mt the Girls
pins add the whole profit to their wages rs
ioumcymen? Who does not know people who
would prefer TO bay directly of the producers,
if they were proficred the opportunity?
There are vacations like COal-mniBg which
usually require an immense outlay for sinking
shafts, pumping water, raising rock, &c., and
for the requisite machinery, before they can
be prosecuted and remunerative returns real
lied. But ShOc-making, such as is prosecuted
in this City, is a very simple business; and
10 master of it should evermOre stand idle
after he has learned il. Do tell us why these
striking cOrdwaincrs do not persist in making
shocs-not for Shucks & Co., but for the shoe
less able and willing to pay for them!