Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1882-09-09
rHE LOSSES OF THE STRIKES.


FHE LOSSES OF rHR STRIKES.
The Eastern strikes are nearly all ended,
and they have ended in the complete de.
feat of the strikers, who after wasting a
great capital, and getting in debt, and en-.
during much suffering, have been compelled
to beg to be taken on again at the reduced
rates. The employers have not only not
suffered anything by the strikes, but have
saved money. They have been enabled to
shut their works at period when they
could only have manufactured at a loss.
1t was chesper for them to stop than to GO
on, but in order to benefit their hands thew
were willing to go on at reduced rates.
Instead OF recognizing the pressure of cir
cumstance5 the stupid hands refused this
proposition, and struck. They committed
the fatal blunder of striking on falling
market, and they were warned at tie time
that they would repent their foolish &C.
ton. But the misunderstanding imbeciles
who mismanage the trades organizations
encouraged and ordered the strikes, and so
scores of thousands of men were thrown
out of work, and have passed the entire
summer without earning a dollar. Now
winter ia coming, and they perceive that
they must accept work at the reGuced
rates, or starve. They are in debt heavily
as well, and it will probably take them
several years to clear themselves. This is
what they get from their strikes, The
press generally warned them, but they
trusted to their own idiotic leaders, and
now they must smart for their peryerse.
ness. In order to show what such
strike really does for the strikers we
take from the Chicago Tribune an esti.
mate of the strike at the Harmony
Mills, Cohoes, N. Y: "Whole number of
"employes thrown out of work by the
strike, 1000. The weavers were the
most important, and they secure work
81 at an average of 81 10 per day; their
total loss in wages during the strike was
"sll6, 600. The loss to the overseers, mule
"spinners and spinnins-room hands was
1884, eco. In the carding-rooms 500 en-
"ployes lost s44. 600, while the loss to the
children in the spinning department was
1925, 900. Spoilers and Wrappers lost $751;
1000, and other hands SIG. 500 Total
loss in wages, S267, 240. These are the
Figures at the reduced wages. The
Operatives are now in arrears SIS, 600 Tor
trent alone, not including what they owe
for bread, provisions, clothing, and other
"necessaries of Iife." Thus We have in
black snd white the balance. sheet of a
strike in one mill. Does any workingmsn
believe that it was worth doing? Yet
what has happened was fully predicted at
the beginning of the strikes, and the strik-
ers cannot therefore allsge that they had
no means of obtaining sound and disinter-
ested advice. The trouble with the work
ing classes generally, however, is that they
are absurdly suspicious of advice given
them by those who do not earn their bread
in precisely the same way. They will
listen with perfect confidence to some
ignorant fellow who does not know what
he is talking about, merely because he
happens to be an artisan like themselves {;
but when they are told what is for their
good by men who have given study and
investigation to the matter, they as a rule
reject the counsel on the score that it must
be in the interest of capital. Here,
however, is fair test of that
These strikes were said to be
ill-advised and certain of failure, when
they were first undertaken. They have
proved to be ill-advised, and they have
failed. On the other hand the clever man
ayers of the various trades unions urged
and recognized the strikes; and their judg-
ment and knowledge have been proved to
be utterly worthless. Until the working
classes have sense enough to recognize their
real friends, to accept frank and good ad.
vice whenever it is offered, and to cease
pinning their faith upon fools simply be-
cause they are OF their own class, they
cannot expect to do themselves any real
good by their organizations. This year
their organizations have only done them
harm, and involved them in debt, distress
and difficulty. And this is fair sample
OF the shallow and purblind policy which
their own leaders almost invariably devise
and recommend. It is significant that no
labor organization has as yet had the sa.
gacity to perceive that the tariff is the
deadly enemy of the American working
classes, and that while it is maintained it
will be impossible for American Labor to
secure its rights. In the matter of strikes,
however, there will assuredly have to be a
speedy and radical reform, or the whole
system of labor organizations will be
thrown aside as mere instrumentalities of
mischief and sources of evil to their rlem.
bsrs.
A STARTLING DISCOVERY.