Sacramento daily record-union., 1882-05-12
UNssAsoNABLB STRIKES.

than the usual disregard tor the condltlors
under which they are made The common
failure of these movements is caused by the
want OF business sense which pervades
them, and it is anything but creditable to
the intelligence of the men who control the
labor unions that mistakes which have
been committed so often should continue
to be gone over again. The present time
Id particularly unfortunate for strikes.
There is no boom = in manufactures any
where, but on the contrary there is a
manifest stagnation in many important in.
dustries, resulting from that over produc-
tion which must always be expected at
short intervals so long as the protective
system closes the markets OF the world
against American productions. This con-
dition of over production is now upon the
country, and the consequence is that many
manufacturers have shortened their hours
of production, or diminished their working
force, while they cannot dispose freely of
even their limited supply. 1t is at such
a time that it is thought judicious to inau-
gurate strikes. There is no warrant for
any demand for increased wages, and there
is no possibility of getting such demand
recognized. The only result of strikes in
slack period can be to justify manufact-
urers in closing their mills and putting out
their forges, and all the strikers can expect
ia complete loss OF employment. The
fact that these strikes are nowadays all
conducted systematically renders the folly
of them all the greater, for it might be
thought that the leaders of the working
men at least would have taken some pains
to find out whether there was any prospect
of success before they gave the word to
demand an increase of wages.
The unions, however, appear utterly in
capable OF thinking for themselves. They
proceed as blindly as if they really sup
posed that there was no connection what
ever between the state of trade and the
wages question. And they exhibit phe-
nomenal inability to grasp their own In
terests. They are most unbusinesslike in
their methods. They strike precisely when
employers can stand it best, and when
they would just as soon suspend work as
not. OF course it is not possible for such
i'll timed movements to succeed. Every
day spent in idleness by the men weakens
them but when trade is dull, every day
OF suspension may be positive gain to the
employers. The latter can stand this kind
OF strike very much longer than the men
can, and the chances are ninety. nine to one
that the latter will be compelled eventually
to return to work at the old rates, having
simply squaHdered all their earnings in a
useless effort 1t is really pitiful to see
organization and funds together worse than
wasted in this way. While this foolish
policy eudures the unions can only injure
the men who belong to them. They have
right to insist that their leaders shall
understand their business better, and that
they shall possess some practical knowl-
edge of political economy.
Instead of strength lying in union,
when it is employed in this fashion weak.
ness results from it. Union must be di-
rected by intelligence before it can really
serve the cause OF labor. Strikes which
are hopless from the start, because they
are at once unreasonable and i'll. timed, can
merely bring the labor organizations into
discredit. To be successful labor strike
must be properly timed, and it must have
basis of justice. When trade is active
and prices are high and contracts and
orders are showering in, the workmen
possess a leverage upon the employers
which can usually be made to secure their
ends. When trade is fourishing they can
demand an increase of wages with justice,
and then their organization will stand
them in good stead. But what is the use
of trying to make employers pay higher
wages exactly at the moment when they
are least able to do SO? The only effect of
such demand is to force them to con-
slider whether temporary stoppage Of
work would not be good thing. They do
not yield because they have no important
interests at stake. They are Indifferent
whether they go On or suspend, and there.
fore the men have no leverage upon them.
But it appears that Just at this time the
unions have in many cases also undertaken
to exhibit an absurd insistance upon their
rules and regulations. Several strikes have
occurred, not for higher wages, but merely
because employers discharged union men,
or because they would not allow strangers
from the union to interfere with the work.
These are exhibitions of authority which
are so despotic as to be improper under
any circumstances, but specially imprudent
under existing circumstances. For it is
not at time when employers would as
soon discharge all their hands as not, that
the latter can afford to put on airs, and
display the arrogance of authority in their
shops. All such displays are indeed fool
ish, but they are particularly SO in dull
times. They result in alternating sympathy
from the strikers, they weaken the
unions, and they breed bad feeling
between the employers and the
employed. All the strikes of
this spring have been i'll judged, and SO far
as we have observed, none of them have
been or promise to be successful. The
reason of this we have pointed out, and
the only surprising fact about the matter
is that it should not have been obvious to
the men themselves. Nothing indeed
could have blinded them to the truth but
the existence in their mind of a mischiev-
GUS and altogether unwarranted suspicion
that those who would have given them
honest and wholesome advice were not in
sympathy with them. Past experience
however ought to have convinced them
that no strikes can succeed which are
made upon falling market.
THE EGYPTIAN TROUBLE.