New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1874-05-28

heart it may be worth all it has cost. A story
should always contain its own moral but for
fear any laboriDg man who reads this article
should miss the one conveyed by these facts.
we will set it down in full. 1t is foolish for
any lot of wOrkmen to strike for higher wages
without knowing whether or not they are al
ready receiving all their employers can afford
to give, and whether there are not men enough
without work ready to take the wages they
refuse. ...
Because they may as well make M Their
minds that they cannot prevent other men
from exercising their right to work for what
wages they think fair. The machinery OF the
Unions may be made as stringent as possible,
but they can never be made to embrace every
body. and there will always be men of indie
pendence outside OF them who Will refuse to
be idle and starve at the bidding OF
strikers. Already we have seen how
the few thousand Italians among Us,
by their sturdy assertion of their prefer
ence tor work over starvation, have demon
allied the tyranny of the laborers' unions.
A letter we print to-day bears out orr own
observations, that these people arc siuguiarly
industrious, reasonable, and capable. They
may not be profound political economists, but
thew act on the sound principle that their work
is worth just what they can get for 1t,
and thus far they do not ask any more The
consequence is, that they have been subjected
TO savage persecution ut the hands OF other
nationalites, which cannot but call public at
teI.tion TO their merits and inure to their per-
manent benefit. They are here to stay, and
more are coming, and as long as they do good
work for fair wages they will sc. employment,
and nothing can, in the long run, prevent it,
This is only an incidental question. There
is more serious and profound consideration
to which the laboring men OF this city have
been too much in the habit of shutting their
eyes. for the reason that it is not so agreca-
BILE as the flattcry of demagogucs and profess
sional strikers In season of general dopres-
sion like the present there is something like
insanity in those proceedings of workingmen
which tend to kill or discourage important
branches of industry. Take, for instance, this
matter of building. Every one who has pad
ever so little attention TO the subject knows
that there is less bliding going OF this year
than there was last, that there was less last
wear than the year before. Men of capita!
have become discouraged with these evcTre-
curing strikes and disturbances and prefer
to invest their money in other forms. 1T Is
no secret that Mr. A. L. Stewart proposed to
spend about million dollars in building last
year, and changed his intention merely because
of the disturbed and caprcious state of the
labor market. No man can make satisfac-
tory estimate of the cost OF proposed edilice,
if the prices of labor arc to be subject to the
deliberations of secret council somewhere IN
the Bowery rather than to fair bargaining be-
tween employer and employed. large bust
ness house is carefully planned 1t Is to cost GER
tain amount, and rent for enough to pay fair
interest on the cost. When it is quarter built,
we will say, the wOrkmen ask an increase OF
twenty-five or fifty per cent all around, and
if they carry their point the whole enterprise
will of course cost more than 1T VIII pay.
Fortunately, they cannot generally carry their
point if met with decision and GOODNESS; bat
most men prefer not to be worried or involved
i'm constant battle with the men they employ.
in view of all these facts, would it not be well
for wOrkingmcn to look beyond the limits OF
their own passions and their own club-rooms,
and reflect upon the facts which other men
have to consider? No branch of industry Is
doing so well this year "a for some years past.
There is nothing in the state OF the business
world to stimulate production or to raise the
price of labor. Business men are glad to carry
on their affairs without great profits, to make
both ends meet and to wait for better times.
If in the midst of this general depression
there is here and there firm or a corporation
which is strong or enterprsing enough
to begin work upon structures giving
employment to considerable numbers
of workingmen, is it not in the highest degree
unwise and inexpedient, as well as unjust, for
these labOrers, instead of doing their work
and receiving their honest pay, to try to take
their employers by the throat and exact more
than the market price for their labor2 To
ask this question is to answer it, There are
too many people In want of work to allow
those who are so lucky as to have it to reject
it and say no one else shall touch it. The
fact is, there is not enough work to go round;
and if those who have it are crazy enough to
throw it away, they are not strong enough to
keep the hungry thousands from picking it mp.
The more they try it, the worse it will be for