, 1879-06-08
MADNESS OF LABOR STRIKES.


without more delay.
MADNESS OF LABOR STRIKES.
In the last number Of the Nineteenth
Century, Mr. ". R. GREG, an English writer
of much ability, discussed, under the title Of
"Rocks Ahead and Harbors of Rafuge," the
present condition Of labor in England, and
the agency Of trades-unions in bringing
about that condition Of affairs.
The period preceding the present depres-
sion Of trade was one of general prosperity.
The production Of skilled labor was in
creased. Employers were induced by the
ever-increasing sale Of their productions to
duplicate their buildings, their machinery, and
the number Of their operatives. Profits On
the increased volume Of business were enor-
nous. The number Of persons engaged, and
the wages paid to them, were beyond prec-
edent. Times were good. Strikes took
place which carried their point for higher
wages, because so great YVES the
trade that higher wages could be paid
at more profit than to suspend work. Capt.
tai and labor were reaping such q harvest as
had not been previously gathered. Society
felt the magic warmth Of this prosperity.
Personal expenditure grew rapidly. Men
and families Of all classes spent their in
comes freely. AL the warnings Of probable
reaction were rejected, and men and women
enjoyed the present in e1travagant e1pendi-
ture. Everybody was seeking and expecting
to be rich, but no one profted by the abun-
danea to save anything for the future. Earn
ings vera lavishly squandered. All made
hay while the sun was shining, but they con-
sumed the hay as fast as it was harvested,
and none was laid up for winter seasons. At
last the turn in the tide came. Then the
trade began to fall off, Unable to sell,
employers were unable to produce at q
profit. The rising market became falling
one Competition by foreign nations as
sumed alarming proportions The markets
became contracted, and there was general
decline in prices.
At this stage the evil consequences Of
trades-unions as controllers and directors Of
labor became evident Under their advice
and direction the whole laboring population
refused 20 submit to any share in the losses
Of the changed condition Of affairs. They
ignored the fact that their employers could
no longer sell goods except at less than the
cost Of production; they denied that they
were in any way bound to regulate the wages
of their labor by its productive value; they
secuted all suggestions that foreign countries
were producing these lines Of goods in which
British labor had had exclusive possession of
the market, and were undersel1ing British
goods even at the doors OF British mills.
The employers thereupon gave notice Of
reduction Of wages to meet the falling mar
ket. Then there was strike. Mills were
closed, mines stopped, thousands Of work
men were forced into idleness. Orders and
contracts for work and goods we're rendered to
British employers which would have given
half million Of idle men employment but
the men refused to work except at the
wages Of prosperous times, and the orders
were sent to Continental establishments.
Selfshness ruled supreme. Whole CON-
were arbitrarily ordered to discon-
tinue labor. They refused to listen to the
that every order or contract sent
out Of the Kingdom to be filed elsewhere
WAS not only an immediate loss, but WAS
leading the way for permanent transfer of
the trade to other countries. They refused
to take notice that rival countries were al
ready producing at lower cost than England
could, and were already occupying the rich
est and most extended markets which En-
gland had called her own. The ine1orab1e
trades unions insisted On the strike, not in
demanding in addition to the old
rates Of wages an actual advance.
The cost Of this policy has been enor-
nous, not only to the workmen, but to
The country. First, there was the loss Of
wages during the strikes; second, the in
creased expenditures and waste Of means in
,idental to protracted idleness and a season
If e1citement; and, third, the enormous
lrafts On the funds Of the unions for
't strike pay" These funds we're intended
:or beneficiary purposes. These funds are the
product Of weekly contributions Of one shill-
ng per head; tbs strike pay the money
oaid to men on strike-ranges from ten to
fifteen slillings per week. The, masons'
'ttrike in London, which lasted thirty weeks,
expended $3.50, 1000, and then collapsed, leav-
ng 500 men permanently out Of employment.
Never was the suicidal policy Of strikes-on
declining market-so forcibly exhibited as
y those in England in 1877 and 1878.
Strikes were universal, and included nearly
very branch Of industry ,-spinuers and !
oolliers, dock-laborers, iron-found-
rs, builders, shipbuilders, engineers, and a
lost Of less important avocations.: *'Labor-
rs, perhaps, even in want OF meal, will be
die rather than accept % Cd when they have
'een accustomed to earn 3s 3d." is. given as
II Illustration of the madness of the policy
nforced by the trades union despotism- In
he meantime the deposits in the savings
'anks, including those Of all classes of per-.
ons, were small. The excess Of deposits |
Ivar Withdrawals did not equal the intarest. |