Smyrna times., 1882-08-09

The GREAT STRIKES FAILURE
tered upon its third month week ago.
1t is estimated that during their two
months of self-imposed idleness the
laborers in the Pittsburg district alone
have lost 81 100000 in wages, and IL
similar amount has been lost by those
in other parts of the West. Eight mil
lions 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 manufac-
turers to the pockets of the WOrkmen,
which are empty to day for the lack Of
it. Their employers have simply lost
the profit which they would have made
had their capital been employed, which
in the present dull condition of the
iron trade would not have been very
large. 1t is not strange, therefore,
that the manufacturers feel more conf
dent of ultimate success now than they
did at the beginning of the strike They
have been losing comparatively little,
while the laborers have been losing
everything. Many of them feel SO
strong that they are proposing to re-
sume work with nOn-union men, and
some of them have given notice to the
striking employees that unless they
signify their willingness to return to
work at the old wages and as nOn-union
men they may consider themselves dis
charged.
Aside from the purely money aspect
of the situation, there are other evil
dences that 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 Amalgamated Association
made the basis of the 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 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 resumed, and are now running
with non-uniOn men. The striker!
deny this, but the names of the mills
are published, and there is no doub
that all of them are running with dali!
increasing efficiency. The manufac
turers declare that at the end of th'
second month of no previous strikt
were they in anything like so favorable
a position as they are now. The sus
pension of business has been positive
benefit to them, and they are entirel.
willing it should continue till trad
brightens up.
The annual meeting of the Amalga
mated Association of Iron Workers ha
been in session at Chicago for severa
days. Entire secrecy is preserved, an,
nothing is known concerning the senti
ment of the $50 delegates on the sub
iect of the strike. 1t is inevitable tina
their attention must be concentrate
largely upon it. The most obstinate c
them cannot fail to realize that tn
strike was a great mistake. In tn
first place, the time was unfavOrablC
for they struck on a falling marke
In the second place, the wages the
were receiving were fair. One strik
ing evidence of this is the cOmfortabl
position the laborers must have been
at the strike. They have been min
weeks out of employment, have los
$4,000, 600, and we have yet to hear of
single case of suffering from wal
among them. A class of laborers VIII
can sustain losses like these withOI
suffering cannot have been badly trea
: ed. OF course the season has bee
favorable to cheap living. In that r
spect alone the time was wisely chosel
/ But the Summer is slipping away, an
with the cooler weather there is sure
come distress or want unless work
resumed.
The Amalgamated Association
! \ likely to consider these facts. If
deliberations are guided by ordinal
I wisdom, their result will be deere
= = ending the strike. The manufactu
: ers are clearly determined not only
; conquer this time, but to break Il
power of the Association, and tn
T. render future strikes on so large
: scale impossible. The laborers cam
Y complain of this, for they must see
4 this time that an association who
guidance robs them Of $l,000,000
month, all to no purpose, is not Il
! most desirable of friends.-N.
Tribune.