New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1881-07-31
RECENT STRIKES.

Nearly all tho recent strikes have reached salts
factory settlement Victory has not rested entirely
on either side. The men have gained ground in
some instances the masters have resisted unreason-
able demands in Others. 1t is matter for consratnla
ton that all questions have been settled without
public disturbance and with just enough success on
both sides to Danish rancor or i'll feeling. Thcre
ara az the moment two powerful agencies az work
whose influence has been paramount in restoring
peace The enormous immigration hos exposed the
men to the danger of having their places filled bv
new comers Just arrived While labor is a close
corporation a combination to secure higher wages
is easily formed, but when every week brings it's
thousands of willing hands it Is no easy task to
persuade a hungry man with six children lust
Landed, that he ought to join labor association,
and starve if necessary for the benefit of his class
But on the othor side somewhat similar force
has been at work. Trade is good. Probably
il never in sounder condition Even
the temporary closing Of large factory is serious
loss. strike in the case Of New York brewery
for instance, will bring thousands of barrels from
country brewers into the market and customers
once lost are not so easy to recover. ring OF en-
poyers in one city may join forces In the face of a
common enemy, but ii is too much to expect an out
slider in another town to miss opportunity of
doing o trade out of general consideration for his
class
The general public is more interested in the salts
factory Adjustment of conflicting questions arising
between capital and labor than at first sight
An enormous demand for labor exists all over
the country. The Commissioner 81 Castle
Garden, for instance, is unable 20 keen
psce with all the correspondents who write
to him for help, skilled and unskilled
America has absorbed and assimilated hundreds of
thousands OF immigrants, and, like Oliver Twist
cries ont for 1t is not merely in its immediate
effect that the influx of labor has been Invaluable TO
the country. We benefit as much by what it has
prevented as by what it has done. With renewed
activity following harvcsts abnormally plentiful.
must have encountered great rise in wages ex-
cep for extra supply OF labor This rise would in
volve general advancein prices and fall in the pur-
chasing power of money Prices might have risen 10
p point at which, Notwithstanding the tariff foreign
goods would have been excessively imported fol-
lowed by large expectations Of gold. 1t is not neces-
sary to show that the price Of all articles depends
their cost of production and labor is the most
Important element in Manufacturer the price of labor
is practically, the governor of prices When the
workman strikes for higher wage tho employer, if
he cannot resist the demand, indemni6es himself by
raising his prices, so that any advance of wages is
in tho long always borne by the general public
No one but the thrifty housekeeper, who has to
make ends meet on limited income, knows how i'm
pOrtant this is. The number Of families who must
live OH moderate means increases every year. To
such rise in prices is bad as diminished income
We fond enough of clarifying ourselves OH the
rapid increase of populations let at the same tino
be thankful for tho evils 10 has averted we'll as
for the blessings it has conferred.