New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1882-08-07
THE GREAT STRIKES FAILURE.


upon it's third month week ago. 1t is esti-
mated that during their two months of self
imposed idleness the labOrers in the Pittsburg
district alone have lost $4,000,0O0 in wages,
and a similar amount has been lost by those
in other parts of the West. Eight millions OF
dollars is a handsome sum Of money. Had the
laborers been content with fair wages, that
sum would have passed from the hands of the
manufacturers to the pockets of the workmen,
which are empty to-day for the lack OF 1t.
Their employers have simply lost the profit
which they would have made had their capital
been employed, which i'll the present dull con-
dition of the iron trade would not have been
very large. 1t is not strange, therefore, that
the manufacturers feel more confident OF ultl-
mate success now than they did at the begin
ming of the strike. They have been losing
comparatively little while the labOrcrs have
been losing everything. Many of them feel so
strong that they are proposing to resume work
with non union men, and some Of them have
given notice to the striking employees that I'M
less they signify their willingness to return to
work at the old wages and as non-unon men,
they may consider themselves discharged.
Aside from the purely money aspect Of the
manufacturers are steadily gaining strength.
1t is claimed by the strikers that many of the
mills have weakened and signed the scale
which the A nal gamated Association made the
basis of TIE strike. This is not strictly true.
Sixteen mills have indeed signed, but several
of them were iron and steel mills, which were
not affected by the strike, and signed only as
a matter Of form. Other mills only signed
after they had been granted concessions which
made the new scale more advantageous to
them than the old. Only one firm has signed
without receiving concessions. On the other
hand. there are thirteen mills which have re-
sumed. and are now running with nOn-uniOn
men. The strikers deny this, but the names
of the mills are published, and there is no
doubt that all of them are running with daily
increasing efficiency. The manufacturers de-
clare that at the end of the second month OF
no previous strike were they Ill anything like
so favorable a position as they are now The
suspension of business has been positive
benefit to them, and they are entirely willing
it should continue till trade brightens up.
The annual meeting of the Amalgamated As
sociation of Iron Workers has been in session
at Chicago for several days Entire secrecy is
preserved, and nothing is known concerning
the sentiment of the go delegates on the sub
iect of the strike. 1t is inevitable that their
attention must be concentrated largely upon
il. The most obstinate of them cannot fail TO
realize that the strike was "a great mistake.
In the first place the time vas unfavOrabe, for
they struck on falling market In the second
place, the wages they were receiving were fair.
One striking evidence of this is the comfortable
position the laborers must have been i'll at the
time of the strike. They have been nine
weeks out of employment, have lost
SIS, OOO, 900, and we have yet to hear of a sin
gle case of suffering from want among them.
A class of labOrers who can sustain losses like
badly treated. Of course the season has been
favorable to cheap living. In that respect
alone the time was wisely chosen. But the
summer is slipping away, and with the cooler
weather there Is sure to come distress or
want unless work is resumed.
The Amalgamated Association is likely to
consider these facts If its deliberations are
guided by ordinary WISDOM their result will be
a decree ending the strike. The manufac-
turers are clearly determined not only to con-
quer this time, but to break the power of the
Association, and thus render future strikes on
so large a scale impossible. The laborers can
not complain OF this, for they must see by
this time that an association whose guidance
robs them of $1,000,00O month, all to no
purpose, is not the most desirable of friends.