The Newberry herald. [volume] (Newberry, S.C.) 1865-1884, 1883-07-26
THE TELEGRAPH STRIKE.

luG OuG u1lll GdA.
THE TELEGRAPH STRIKE.
One week ago a strike was made
by the Brotherhood Of Telegraphers,
embracing the thousands of opera
tors in the service of the Western
Union Telegraph Company; and
since that time telegraphic COM
munication has been in great meas
ure cut off. They demand a total
abolition of Sunday work, unless
compensated as extra service that
eight hours shall constitute regular
days work and seven hours a nights
work; that both sexes shall receive
equal pay for equal work; and
fifteen per cent. increase of salaries.
This is the most serious conflict
ever witnessed in our country
between capital and labor. On one
side is the Western Union monop-
oily worth eighty millions of
capital; on the other, are thousands
of laborers holding out with grim
determination. And, in spite OF
the great inconvenience that results
to the country from.the strike, pub
lie sympathy is with the strikers.
They have justice on their side, and
it is to be hoped that they will win.
The New York Times says:
This is no ordinary strike. The
Brotherhood of Telegraphers is not
a rabble of Borkmen misled by
demagogues, but q body Of intelli-I
gent men and women, quite capable
of thinking for themselves, who
know very wei that their employ
ers' business is in condition Of
prosperity out of all keeping with
the miserable scale of. wages paid
them. They have had the public
sympathy from the start, because
the public itself has repeatedly suf-
fered the, grossest wrongs at the
hands of the Western Union Tele-
graph Company. The group Of
reckless and greedy men who con-
troll the company have inflated its
stock enormously, and to still furth-
er increase their gains they have in
similar ratio reduced the wages
of their operators. Men grown
valuable to the company by long
experience are receiving smaller
pay than they received ten years
ago. Their work is extremely ardu-
Gus and exhausting. 1t requires a
high order of skill and more than
average intelligence. Yet the tele-
graph operators Of New York City
are paid smaller wages than masons,
plasterers, carpenters, plumbers,
painters or barkeepers.
Compare the wages paid to Ia
borers in these trades with those of
the telegraphers. Good masons are
| now paid in this city from So so to
| 81 per day; plasterers the same;
| carpenters, 81 so to So so; plum
bers, 81; house-painters, 81; ordi-
| nary workmen in these trades, 81 to
| 81 so; shoemakers, SO to S15 per
| week; cutters of ready-made cloth
ing, S18 to S25 per week; bar
keepers s15 to $40 per week. Now,
the highest salary paid skilled tele-
graph operators in New York is
$50 per month, and the average
| wages paid is s53, or S13 per week,
81 80. ner day. But telegraph op-
orators are not in the category of
ordinary laborers. 1t necessarily
costs them more to live than it costs
a mason or a carpenter. They
must dress better and live in
more expensive manner. It would
be idle to ignore the differences
which separate their occupation
from that Of mechanics.
The Western Union Company, by
virtue of its practical monopoly,
has attempted to force its employ
ees to accept a rate Of wages un-
Justly low. The market has not been
an open one between employer and
employed, for the company, being
master of the field and absolutely
without scruple as to the kind of
service it gave the public, has
been able to discharge men who
were discontented, replacing them
with irfario,. 1S,ooro%orc o,,d hors