Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1878-06-20
PHILOSOPHY OF STRIKES.
Graduating Grafton by Oscar Lewis. delivered
at Lancaster High School. June I A, 1875

Graduating Grafton by Oscar Lewis. delivered
at Lancaster High School. June IA. 1875.
Nothing has contributed so greatly within
the present century and especially within the
last twenty-five years, to demoralize the Labor
ing classes and prevent them from assuming
in society that position which they deserve to
occupy, as strikes That is, refusal to work
unless they can dictate the price which shall
be. paid for their services, the terms upon
which they shall be governed, who shall, and
who shall not be employed. 1t is the right of
every one, no matter how humble he may be,
to say at what price he will give his services
and the number of hours he will work for
given amount. This right is guaranteed both
by the laws of society and by the State. But
while we have the right to govern our own &C
tions, SO long as they do not conflict with the
usages of society, we have no right TO die
tate a course of action. The same principles
of law and rules of society which govern one
must and do protect the other
In country like ours all are equa, before
the law, the millionaire and the pauper. The
same law which guarantees to the laborer the
right to fix price upon his muscles and skin,
which are his capital must and does give the
capitalist the right to say on what terms he
viii dispense with that price.
The class of people who engage in strikes
are peculiar They have grown up in a par
tial civilization, they are for the most part un-
educated and they are at war with civiliza-
ton which they do not understand.
Strikes have continued since the middle OF
the sixteenth century, when they originated
in England, to the present time, and now have
become the spirit of the age. They have met
with some success, for the losses on large COM
panies by the sudden suspension of work have
compelled them to accept the terms of the
employees as the least of the two evils That
of South Wales and Forest of Dean terminals
ing in the Spring of 1878 in favor of the labor
ers was notable example of this. Yet while
they succeed in one they fail in great many.
1t is not difficult to enumerate examples where
in they have failed. For instance no strike
has occupied the public attention more than
that of the Amalgamated Society of Engineers
which lasted four months and resulted in a
victory for the employers. The strike in tie
cotton trade at Preston lasted seven months
and terminated with the same result.
They may still succeed in those branches of
industry in which skilled labor is employed
but in most cases companies are prepared for
such emergencies and can replace the strikers
with new men.
Strikes therefore, as meaning simply the re-
iuodi w idDoi OCCducC tuO pay ID llOb SdbiSldC~
tory except in certain cases are things Of the
past. But employees have seen fit to take
one more step and not only refuse to labor
themselves but prevent others from working
in their places, and among the barbarisms
which law and morals have refused to Sane
ton the most disgusting surely is, that any
human being should be permitted to consider
himself as having right to the person Of am
other.
Societies thus changed from organizations
into riots and at once lost the sympathies of
the people. They laid themselves open to the
penalties of the law which guarantees first of
all the right of every man to labor for any
wages he may agree to receive.
OF course it is mere truism to say that
strike always involves present loss The
very object of strike is to coerce capitalists
by means of loss or the fear of loss But the
loss attended upon strikes is mutual The
business of the capitalist is arrested in mid
career; his orders are suspended, his contracts
are interrupted and if critical period is chos-
en- by the operatives as is often the case bank
ruptcy and ruin may be the result. But the
workman is equally the sufferer, he ceases to
earn wages, begins to live upon his former
earnings laid up, in short he becomes an I'M
productive consumer.
Look at the events of last years strike
commenced at time when business was dull,
when demand for labor had fallen off and
prices steadily coming down. 1t spread from
the Atlantic to the Pacific, and what was ac-
complished, except feeling Of bitterness be-
tween the employer and the workinen, great
destruction of property, loss of life, and a
worse condition of things than existed before
the strike? The strikers accomplished moth
ing and they were worse of than they were
before. These are the inevitable elements of
strike. As strikes are in themselves an evil,
and attended with loss, it follows that unless
some permanent good is accomplished by them
which otherwise could not be attained, that
they are inexpedient and unwise. But the
only case in which strikes can do good and are
at all justifable is the case in which the CAPT
talists refuse to give the workmen the wages he
can afford to give and ought to give; and even
in this case they are unnecessary because this
injustice will be remedied in time by the ope-
ration of natural laws. If then, this is true,
an attempt by means of strikes to force wages
above their natural level is sinply an attempt
to overcome the laws of nature.
Look back over the histories of strikes and
you will be convinced that the laboring classes
can never gain their ends by violence, by TAX
ing law into their own hands, by stopping
transportation, by attacking the personal
rights of community, and endangering soci-
ETY.. 1t is absurd to say that everything must
come down but labor, for that mustlyield to
the pressure and obey general laws. There
must be certain relation between labor and
the price its products bring in the market.
The cause of strikes as we have seen is
found in the ignorance prevailing among the
| laboring classes, lack of acquaintance with
! the principles underlying social ard political
science; more particularly q failure to cons
prehend the relation existing between capital
and labor, supply and demand. The remedy
is found in the spread of popular intelligence.
The time will come when such panics in BUSH
ness will be avoided, and the elevation of the
masses Intellectually and morally is the only
| means which can secure the desired result.