The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1871-06-15
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THE LABOR QUESTION AT WASH
INGTON.

From the Cincinnati Gazette.
The main features of the labor disturbance
at the capital are these-The most of the
common labor is done by negroes The So
cial, political, and other Inducements, to-
gether with the liking of the blacks for city
life, have caused an influx of this race to
Washington, which exceeds the demand for
this kind of labor. The blacks struck for
So. Employers can get laborers for 81 80,
but the strikers attack them. Governor
Cooke advised the contractors on the public
works to suspend work, which is the same as
to decide that the government of the district
could not protect their wOrkmen against the
strikers. The Governor has also given his
views on the merits of the dispute on the
wages question. We infer from it that the
contractors aim at reduction to 81 '25.
He saws that 81 '25 is too low, and So is too
high, because it would bring further influx
from the surrounding country, and would
cause decline in the demand for labor;
therefore he and the Board of Public Works,
of which he is President, have decided that
$3.50 per day is fair for both Sides In con-
clusion, he says that while the board will
endeavor to do justice to all, it will net yield
to violence, or countensnce any attempt to
intimidate or interfere with honest laborers.
But up to this writing the intimidation of
laborers and of the district government con-
tinues. The difficulty is, there are more of
this kind of laborers than the demand re-
quires. Should they get their demanded So,
many would be out of employment and yet
this rate would draw in more from the sur
rounding country.
What would be gained to labor by sue
cessful strike which resulted in increasing the
number of the unemployedp It is better for
the laborers themselves that the natural con-
ditions should be left to govern. We think
that in the country at large as good class of
laborers can be hired, for railroad grading
and other common work, at $1'25 per day,
certainly for 81 so, where the peculiar condi-
tions that cause surplus at Washington do
not exist. These are low wages compared
with our general high-priced system; but not
low when compared with the results of farm
ing. We suppose that the conditions are such
in the States adjacent to the district that
wages of 81 will draw more men from the
country. 1t is not for the good of either the
laborers or of the country that this should
result. And inasmuch as the district is over
crowded with laborers, the lower wages, while
it will check the influx and the growing COM
petition of laborers with themselves, will
stimulate building and other work, and thus
increase their employment.
If they should succeed in their demand for
So day, the result would be that only part
would get employment; the rate would check
enterprises that furnish work. while it would
increase the influx from the country, and
would'raise the proportion left to idleness
and pauperism. The blacks cannot see it,
but their situation is peculiar. They are their
own worst competitors, and they are going
against their own true interest when they all
endure the hardships of q strike for a rate OF
wages which only part of them can enjoy il
they succeed. 1t is for the interest of the
colored population of the district, as it is OF
the public, that rate of wages should pre-.
vail that will not disturb the labor system Of
the surrounding country.