, 1874-04-02
TEE STRIKES,

Scarcely All issuo Of Lille TRIBUNE has appear
cd for aono months past in which our rondorH
haye not found oil account Of o strlso III BONO
part OF tho country. We look upon tho fro
quo,cy Of thoso demonstrations as, OH tho WHOLE
a, OWL ouon. Thoro cai, bo no doubt tint in
certnin instances strIkoH hayo, for Il tmo, raised
tho rato Of wages paid to laborors in Homo ono
brunch Of industry. But thoro havo boon quito
as many i'll which tho strike had not oyen toni
porarily bouotcial oirect iu which, on tho co1I-
trary, they involved totnl loBB both to lubororB
and employers. 6tatisticials find it difficult to
Hay whether thero hayo boen q creator number
Of auccosHful or Of unsuccessful strikes. We
hero mean, Of courso, Immediately my tompo-
rariy uncceBsful ones; for, III tho long run, 1t is
we'll established tllat tI!oy produce ouly owl.
AD long ago AZ 1881, Harriet Mar
tinoau wrote. q work on "Tho Tendency Of
Strikes to Produce Low Wages" Stirling haa
shown that t|loy always produce two effects,
both atyorao to tho labonng class, viz: an i'll
croase In tho n1l,nbor Of labororu mud decrease
Of capital. In tho great IrcRton strike, which
lastod from October to Dcccnber, 1885, tho labor
ors, It las boeu ontmatol lost over S400 900.
while tho employers lost oily 3250.00 III tho
proHtou atrko Of 1s53 tho l.borcrs lost inwageB
S1,850,o00, their masters 9B45,o00. In eight un-
successful English HtrikoB, hetwoon 1850 and
1861, there wore lost 81, $780, 0t0 OF which 90, 7G5-
QUO worc lost by tho laborersiu wages. How tho
wualtl, Of tho country gooa todcstruction during
Btrike these fcw tiguros Hsleo to sllow
Let uB now EGO how 1t comet that tho laboreru
aro bololltcd only tomporariy by tho Htrilos
wholr tlloy uro suecousful. II Inns boc1 ostl-
,liatod that strkors sock, on III average, nll ad
va1lco Of per cout III thoir wages. Ono weol Is
noarly 2 por cont Of tho wholo your. IT
ntriko, NJ Watty calculatoA should laHt a
mouth, tho iuoroased pay must COLI
tinuo ovor eighteen months to compensate tho
laborcrs for thoir lois wl,ilo tho Htriko laBtcd.
Should 1t last twelve months, Nlo advance would
llnyo to DO continued noarly twonty years to
mako up for tho loss to tlom IN wagoH. or tl,ia
tho participants in Htrlkos Seldom or mover
think. Noltllor do they stop to roiloot--nor
would many Of thonl caro- II tAoy did ro!loct
upon it-thas. during tho continuance of u
strike, llnhita Of indolonco are formed by num-
bora Of thoir unons.-habits which, III n,any ill.,
stances, aIe !oyer ngain shaken or. Thoao aro
not tho only mAolliofs brol OF them, however.
From plucoa whero strikes are frequent capital
will omiRrato. Tho Strike OF NorwIch In 1880,
killed tho industry Of the town foreyor.
It laH ofton boon foolislly agtatol whether
Governments should tolerate trades-uniouH and
Btrikcsi mud thIH, uot only in our own day. but in
tho paHt as vol, for strikeB are not q thug
OF yesterday. 1hore were oasoH Of strikoa
III far buck In modern history aa tho fourteenth
century. During tho roignot HouGy VI. Of Eli
gland, 1t was made felony for laborers to combine
to oiltieayor to raiHo tic ratio Of wagov. III tho
raign Ut George ILL.,, tho Hamo ofronso was pull
inl.ed by two months hard labor or by throo
1uontha' imprisonment All modern wrlsors Of any
authority. deapotio ~ vol ~ fsos Governments.