Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1882-06-12
THE STRIKES AT TIE EAST.

have been peculiarly illt,med, Tor instead
Of oDerating against the interests OF the
| employers, and so exerting pressure upon
them. the suspension of production is just
| what thew can stand best. Thus We find
4 Brddstreefs stating that the manufacturers
can as well afford to stand idle and let
"iron advance in price as to continue pro-
duction on the proposed scale !" and the
same journal says that if they remain idle
for three months prices will be enhanced
and demand stimulated, and the evil OF
over-productiOn be temporarily cured az
"least." The mill owners are eonse-
oueutly more firmly united than ever
before. and the cause Of the workmen Is as
| hopeless as possible OF course II the
Trade Unions had been conducted with
| any intelligence aud foresight TINS situa-
| t;on would have been recognized at the
beginning, and the strikes would not have
/ been countenauced. But the Unions have
| gone to work in their usual blind way, and
| the result is that they will in all proba-
bility merely waste their reserve fund, and
NAV be crushed in the struggle. The
workmen have been led to strike at the
worst and most unreasonable moment
which could have been selected, and thus
their families will be exposed to unneces-
sary suffering, and in the end, after vast
ing precious weeks or months, the strikers
will have to 60 to work on the old terms
But the mere money loss is not the whole
nor the worst of the evils involved IN these
strikes. Local disturbances of labor una
voidably lead to more or less drunkenness
violence, and even bloodshed. Already
one riot has occurred in Chicago, and
several men have been injured, and 1t Is
certain that elsewhere, among the many
| thousands of idle workmen, there must be
a great deal of de5auchery and turbulence.
All this reacts upon the wives and children
OF the strikers, wno cannot help them
selves. The Trade Unions, also, while
protesting to be the best friends OF the
workmep, are, in more than one respect,
their worst enemies. 1t is to their narrow,
short. sighted and tyrannical rule that the
dearth of apprentices in American work
shops is attributable. In order to monop-
olize work as much as possible they refuse
to allow more than verysfew apprentices
to be received. The consequences of this
are twofold. Ia the first place the sons of
American artisans are excluded from me-
chanical trades, and thus frequently driven
into idleness and vice. In the second
place foreign artisans are imported in in
creasing numbers, and take the places
which ought to be filed by the sons of the
| American mechanics. Thus the narrow
and foolish policy of the Union defeats its
own ends, and makes the condition of the
members worse instead of better.
It may we'll be questioned whether these
Unions are not transgressing the rights OF
citizenship in undertaking to exclude ap.
prentices. We believe that any combina-
ton having for its object the establishment
of monopoly in the means OF earning a
livelihood is in conflict with the Constitu-
ton OF the United States. We should like
to see where the Unions obtain their
authority thus to shut the doors OF many
trades against the rising generation. The
, subject is one which calls for governmental
action, in fact. No man and no number of
men are entitled to say that any American
boy shall be excluded from any trade. To
allow such right on the part of any COM
bination would be to admit that the free
dom Of the citizen can be set at naught,
and the Constitution and laws be overrid.
den at pleasure, by any handful of men
who choose to arrogate to themselves these
powers. Whenever it can be shown
that Trades Union has prevented Ameri-
can boys from learning trade, the law
ought to stepin and break up the organiza-
ton which has thus abused its opportuni.
ties. Self protection never includes the
right to injure others who are keeping
within their own privileges, and if it has
to be said that in the United States to-day
the assumed privilege of every lad to learn
a trade is dependent upon the autocratic
will of the Trades Unions, we might as
well cease talking about the freedom of
the country.
Norris this all thatthe Uniensdo. Bykesp-
ing out American apprentices they enlarge
the opportunities of foreign workmen. and
the latter do not for the most part join any
labor organizations, but constitute an ele.
ment of unorganized labor which can al
ways be utilized to oppose strikes with.
Thus in Maryland recently large number
of Austrian miners were engaged to take
the place Of strikers, and their presence
enabled the mine owners to go on without
any stoppage, while the strikers found
themselves thrown out of employment,
very probably permanently. The Unions,
however, appear to learn nothing from ex-
perience, but go on in their old needless
fashion, piling up their blunders in every
direction, squandering the money of the
poor fellows who have delivered themselves
over to their incompetent guidance, and
scoring dozen disastrous failures for
every success in their enterprises. They
have not even sense enough to discover
what is most hurting American Labor.
They strike for higher wages on falling
market, and at the same time con.
tinue to approve the Protectionist policy
which is responsible for the enhancement
of the cost of living, and for that over
production which has made it impossible
! for the manufacturer to advance the scale
of wages. With their organizations they
might, if intelligently conducted, compel
Congress in one year to revise the tariff,
and SO remove the worst drawbacks from
| commerce and the manufactures. But 30
long as they close their ears to the advice
of their friends, and follow only deniagogues
and ignorant leaders, they will be punished
by sharp suffering, and they will ind that
the Trades Unions are productive of very
much more harm than benefit to them.
The strikes this year are already destined
TO failure, and this failure was predicted
long before they were begun.
COLONEL WENDELL AND HIS SECRET
ACcUsERs.
The Executive Committee of the Anti
Debris Association, at a meeting in this
city last week, adopted certain mysterious
memorial, asking the Secretary of War to
r.moye Colonel Mendell from his official