Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1882-08-18
FAILURE OF STRIKES.
A High Tariff on Goods But Inn
pOrtatiOns Free.
Courier Journal l6.

ranged and apparently more timely
than any in our industrial history, and
yet, after costing the working men
more than $1,000 900, it fails of its
purpose and the men resume work al
old wages.
The Courier Journal certainly has
no sympathy with any movement
looking toward communism or COM
muristic in its character, but for the
laborer it has the profoundest sympa-
thy. Much Of the talk of the dema-
gOgue, of the ranter, Of the office
seeker is sheerest cant, and yet the
condition ofthe laborer in all branches
Of industry calls for our most thought
tul and serious attention.
Capital, organized or unorganized,
has its rights which society must
protect: but labor, whether organized
into unions or into oranges, or whether
unorganized and ignorant, has also q
right to be heard, and the wrongs il
suffers must be remedied, or society in
the near future will pay a penalty
fearful to contemplate. 1t is for the
wise and thoughtful to consider our
industrial situation, to determine the
cause of the very general dissatisfac-
ton and apply the remedies. 1t is
true that many of the complaints
which come from the laborer are
g%roundless or unreasonable, but when
we see men as intelligent as the average
American laborer, in a country as
prosperous as is America to-day, or
ganizing a strike through many States,
and submitting to enormous losses and
much ~privation, it must be admitted
by the candid and dispassionate man
that there is something seriously at
fault in our social and political system.
The American laborer, exempt from
military service, and with homesteads
at his disposal, ought to be the most
contented workingmsn in the world /;
but he is the most dissatisfied.
The New York Tribune argues that
wages cannot be advanced arbitrarily.
that wages are regulated by the laws Of
supply and demand, and that the only
remedy for low wages is to grin and
bear them; but the Tribune does not
think of applying the same law nor
preach the same gospel to capital
employed in manufactures it would
have the government interfere and
protect the capitalist against the evil
effects of the operation of this law of
supply and demand. The Philadel
phia Times, reterring to this matter,
says:
1.-THE present strikes were in every
respect inopportune. Strikes can be
successful only when capital is pros
porous and the demand for laborers is
equal to OF in excess of the supply;
but they can't be successful during
declining demand and markets fer the
products of industry. There was much
to make labor suffer in the early part
of the present season, but the causes
we're exceptional and beyond the
control Of either employer or employed.
An unnatural increase in the cost Of
the necessaries Of life came upon all
at a time when business was depressed
and little prospect of early improve
ment. The unfavorable season, to
gether with foreign demands for meats,
greatly enhanced some of the prime
necessities of all classes; and labor
leaders most unwisely attempted to
remedy the suffering of laborers by
multiplying them in utterly impracti
cable efforts to increse wages just
when manufacturers had little OF
nothing to lose by the suspension Of
their work"
There is no oppertune time for q
strike; it is always an unequal strug-
gle and an inopportune time. But,
in fact. capital was never more pros.
porous than now; our Infant indus.
tries" were never so strong, so pro.
gressive, so clamorous for subsidies
from the government. Labor never
had before a better excuse for revolt.
The increase in the cost of living was
not unnatural" in the least; it wat
the legitimate consequence Of the
drought; what made it $50 oppressive
was that this increase in the cost Of
the necessaries Of life came at q
time when the unnatural increase
in other n~ecessaries of lite
caused by the tariff, was greatest. L
was the last straw which broke The
camel's back. Labor will learn before
long that the only successful way t
strike is to strike at the tariff.
If the excuse for a strike was a GOOD
one, if the time was as opportune as il
ever is, why did it fail? 1t failed be.
cause of the free, untrammeled impor.
tation of labor. Last year 'paupei
labor" Of Europe was imported int
America at the rate of 1000 a day. D
course, the labor market was glutted.
new men stood ready TO take the place.
Of the strikers everywhere. The Law
Of supply and demand, when it works
to cheaper the necessaries OF life, i
suspended by legislative enactment
when it operates to cheaper labor, i
grinds, like the mills Of the gods
exceedingly fine. The laborers mus
ask themselves why, when they wish
to buy cheap wooden shirts in England
the law iorbids and forces them to pa
two prices TO the American manufac
turer, yet when the American manu-
facturer wishes to buy cheap labor h
has the world to choose from, and CA
import it free of charge. When be ha
mastered this perplexing problem h
will understand why his strikes Away
fail and must always fail.
Mr., Ernest Silverton, a rich Wa
street broker living in Hoboken N.
opposite New York city, writes: 9TH
excessive strain of nervous excitemen
resulting from stock speculation an
too high living made quite an invali
of me. Browns Iron Bitters restore
me to perfect health and strength"
= ManoGalI q n w NJ WILL,