, 1877-08-12

/ the Aldermen responsible 1Or Ia6 ue1Ay WILL
be held to strict account.
TIE LUMBER SHOWERS PROPOSED STRIKE.
| If the lumber-shovers Of Chicago carry out
the threats they have previously made they
will strike tomorrow morning for higher
wages, and undertake to forcibly prevent
others from taking their places, with the e1-
! pectation Of coercing their employers to accede
| to their demands There are said to be $500
lumber-shovers in this city, mostly Bohemi-
ans, who were originally mostly all agri-
cultural laborc1s, and who have abandoned
| their farm-work in the old country to under
take the harder work Of lu1nber-shoving in
Chicago. It may not be that oil Of them
will strike; but the principles at issue are the
same whether 100 strike or the whole 4. 800.
There are two sides to this question, as to
every other. There is no doubt that the
labor of these men is very hard and toll
some. There is no doubt that their wages
are low. Up to last year they had, we be-
ieve, s1.50 per day. In the present de-
pressed condition of the lumber market they
receive but $1.25. They ought to get more,
if possible, upon the principle that 81 The
laboror is worthy Of his hire )" but, if the
business affords no more, and the market will
furnish men who are willing to work at the
current wages, then these striking Bohemians
have no right to prevent them. They have
the right to quit work. They have the right
to ask what they please and to refuse to work
until they get it; but they have no right to
forcibly prevent other men from working at
LES because they want an increase to
S1.50. Tho settlement of this question. there
fore, depends upon the ability Of the lumber
firms to obtain substitutes. If the market
will not furnish men who are willing to work
for the present wages, then the strikers will
succeed in getting their advance So far as
the mere fact Of striking is concerned, there
is nothing censurah1e in their announcement;
but, when they couple with it the distinct
threat that they will not allow any other
men to take their places, they not only
transcend their rights in the premises, but, if
they carry their threat into operation, i'm
mediately become iable to arrest and pun
ishment under the following section Of the
State law OF Illinois, pissed last winter, afix-
ing penalties for obstructing business:
SEC. 3. If two or more persons shall willfully
and maliciously combine or conspirc together TO
obsfruct or impede, by any act, or bY means Of
Intimidation, the regular operation and conduct OF
the business OF my railroad company, or any other
corporation, firm, indictdudt in Ibis State, orto
impede, hinder, obstruct- except by due process
Of law, the regular running Of any locomotive,
engine, freight or passenger t1nin On any railroad
or the labor or business Of anr such corporation,
firm, or individual. such persons shall, conyic
tion thereof BIZ punished by dne not less than $40
nor more than $780, aud confined in the County
Jail not less than twenty days than ninety
days.
The provisions of this section of the law
are SO explicit that the 1umber-shoyers will
have no difficulty in ascertaining its mean
ing and it may be added that the business
men of this city, after the disastrous expert
ences of the past two or three weeks, are not
in temper to allow interference with their
business, nor are the authorities in temper
to allow any violent proceedings upon tho
part of mob to stop labor. So long as
these proposed strikers refrain from inter
ference with business, no one will interfere
with them, but, the moment they commence
to hinder others by force from working, they
violate the law, and will be dealt with as
mob, and will be prosecuted under the stat
ute cited.
There is still another and even more seri-
GUS aspect Of the case which these lumber
showers would do we'll to consider before
they rush into strike, and that is, whether
they will not cut themselves off from work
altogether. In view Of the very depressed
condition Of the lumber business, the neces-
sity for economy in every direction, the in-
furious effects of the recent strikes, and the |
higher cost OF city labor, insurance, dockage,
and taxes, several OF the larger manufactur-
ers have been contemplating for some time
piling lumber at their mills in Michigan, and |
distributing it dry to their country CUSTOM
ers, instead of piling and drying it in Chicago.
They have been led to this emergency by |
several reasons. It is stated to be more |
economical way of distributing lumber. It
accommodates the country buyers who now
purchase lumber by cargo, and prefer it dry,
instead Of buying by the carload in Chica-
go. Lastly, it gives the manufacturers
an opportunity, they say, to employ larger |
number Of men, who would otherwise lie I
idle about tho saw-mills, and to retain them
as loggers for the winter. A correspondent
Of The TRIBUNE has already shown that
large quantities have been piled at Muske-
gon, Grand Haven, and Oconto, and dried
from those points; that at
Minneapolis all lumber is manipulated by
and sold direct from the yards;
and that the same is done at Clinton, Ia.,
where labor is 25 per cent cheaper than it is
here. As there is disposition on the part
Of all the manufacturers not only to econo-
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