The workingman's advocate. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1864-1877, 1873-08-09
FROM MlCHlGAM.
Strikes and Their Effect on Working
Men.


WEST CAsco, August 2, 1873.
To the Editor Of the woRKNeNAS's ADVOCATE.
The editors Of New York papers, for
some months past, have been much e1er-
cised on the subject Of strikes. They seem
TO think that working men are under great
misapprehension with regard to the sub
ject, and very much need enlightenment.
So the editors aforesaid dip into the mys-
teries of political economy, and tell US how
impossible it is for working men to gain
anything even if their wages were raised,
or their hours Of labor reduced. Now in
the first place, how happens it that this
was not discovered before Why did not
these sages represent to Congress, and the
different Legislatures which have passed
eight hour laws, that such measures we're
nugatory and Of no avail : Why wait un-
til the demand of the laborer has received
the sanction of legislation, and then, for
the first time, discover, first, that the meas
ure must be a social evil, and second, that
it would be Of no benefit to those who de-
mand it. There are many truths in the
so-called Science Of Political Economy, but
there are more falsehoods, and still more
of the mersst bosh and the rejecting man
who reads the system Of Wayland, the
standard in our seminaries, will never
wonder at the utter ignorance displayed by
our public men on the subject. But, say
our editors, ''The employer, if the strike
is successful, is obliged to raise the price
of his product that he may not lose the
necessary profit, and thus the contribution
is, in part, exacted from the entire CON-
munity Nor il this all. When the men
in one trade have succeeded in dividing up
the cost of their work, their example is
quickly followed, and if successful. the av-
erage of wages is raised in all directions
This increases the price Of all the produc-
ton of labor and adds to the cost Of living.
So when the new level is reached, the
masses are no better OF than before.
Workingmen are, therefore, urged to strike,
not against their employers, who are their
best friends, but against demagogues and
the tyranny Of trades unions, and the new
tangled notions of fanstical men, whose
ideas will merely end in communism or
something dreadful" The argument il,
that raising the wages Of laborers increases
the cost of living, 50 that the laborer il no
better of than before. Let us look into
this matter little. One great expense Of
the laborer, and one which frequently is
the most difficult to meet, is his rent. A
few weeks since, the Government paid half
million Of dollars for q lot cf ground in
Chicago, ON which to build post Office and
custom house. Less than fifty years since
that same lot could have been bought for
less than five dollars. Will the editors
aforesaid tell us how, in which way, or In
what manner, strikes and high wages have
raised the price in this case, to the extor-
Tomato, abominable, damnable rate now de-
manded, for no good under heaven for
no purpose under heaven but that few
families may live in lazy luxury, on the
toll of the laborers, who pay all bills. Re-
collect these cursed rents come out Of the
laborer. Whether paid by the Govern
ment, or paid by the merchant, the toiler
foots the bill, and raising his wages did
not raise the cost of the lot, and had moth
ing to do with it. Again, fuel il another
considerable item of exEense. II is Gus
tomary with coal dealers in case of strike,
to raise the price of coal not because
wages are higher, but because no wages
are paid, and they can command the
market. If anybody has heard of . case
where raising the wages has raised the
price Of coal, they had better "make a
note of it." The price of wood never
raises In Chicago, until navigation does,
and the wages Of those who cut and haul
it, have nothing to do with it. Further,
what has the wages Of the farmer and his
hands to do with the price of his wheat
and corn, his pork and cheese, which forms
the food Of his laborer, and constitutes
another main item Of his expense Moth
ing under heaven his prices are governed
by the Liverpool market, and the privi-
leges and stealings of bankers, railroads,
elevators, middlemen and speculators in
Vulnerable.
No, the strikes and high wages OF the
lsborers have little or nothing TO do with
his expenses, only this IL he has high
wages, he has more for tina knaves he sup
ports, to steal under one pretence or an
other. and they are not slow 10 discover .
mode of getting Mt it. But the time has
passed for lAborers to be silenced by quota
tions from learned numhskulls they
accept no man as authority, they listen
only IN the plain dictations of reason, and
the undomitabls dictates Of common sense
The axiom Of the political economists,
that labor 0rmataa All mxrhanOM waluA thM