New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1883-07-30

and peace carry with them fragrant memories
of another kind of living of better manners
aud purer morals, of human sympathy and
goodness There is better chance for the
chlld's body alter the fortnight in the woods
and m ,adows. There is better chance for
the chds soul after the fortnight in the
Christian homo.
STRIKES AND THE hNIGHTS or LABOR.
The workers of this country are neither voice
less nor poweTless. Thu prosperity OF the
country depends so greatly upon their course,
in respect to their relations with employers,
that it III especially important to know what
counsels they are receiving, what their own
IDEAS are about strikes as a means of improv-
ing their condition, and what other means they
have upder consideration for the settlement of
controversies An important arii cle in the June
number of The Journal OF United Labor, the
organ of the association kpown as the " Knights
of Labor" throws much light on this interest
ing subject.
1t is gratifying to find that this Journal argues
with great earuestness and force against strikes
rs means of securing improvement. few
sentences wi II show the ground of its objection:
Does it Jay to go on strike 7 Is there any
q thing in strike that is permanent or lasting
DO they settle for all time the question of
"wages between employer and employed
"Whfn once engaged in them, have we any
certainty that after weeks of hard, stubborn
endurance, the victory. even If won, will be
alastlng or final 7" The article gives vOlum-
nous statistics Of strikes during the ten years
ending with 1879 in England, whore, as 1t says,
organization is vastly superior TO any we can
"boast of in America. There the lines are
smore definite and distinct; the chance Tor
, getting all workers into trades unions is
much custer matter than in this country.
aThere they have not constant stream OF
Immigration pouring in upon them, and con-
astantly watering and weakening their various
trade ORGANIZATIONS" Yet in England, ont of
2.352 strikes only II appear to have been COM
pletely successful, and the cost of these stru2-
giles during ten years was 500, 234. $50 1t is
reasoned, roo, that the actual cost was much
greater; that the losses of the business men
where these strikes occurred will never be
@kuown. Think of rents unpaid, store bills un-
apaid, of neglect to families, general suffering
aani want, that cannot be set aside during
@these prOtracted periods of idleness.
as il not apparent that we have cancer in
sour midst that must be removed before we
can hope TO make any progress ~
The Journal of United Labor, for these rea-
sons, very strongly urges arbitration for the
settlement of disputes, aud cooperation for
the more permanent relief OF labor. IL shows
that in France. prior to the war with Germany,
ms many as $4,000 cases were brought before
arbitrators in single year, and that AS late ms
lo77 over 5000 were heard. In II per cent
Of the cases reconciliation was Effected. In
Belgium between 1861 aud 1878, the cases
heard were over 5000 yearly; the number con-
cilated ranged from 1850 to 2,S66 yearly
the cases taken to general council from 200 to
59l yearly and the cases settled between the
parties amounted to G56 in one year and to
494 in another. but generally averaged about
800. or one tenth of the whole number of con-
trovrrslss arising. OF this system The Journal
of United Labor says: 1--WE stand ready to de-
= fend 1t against all corners. We challenge any
sopposition to discussion of its merits through
the columns OF The Journal" At the sumo
time, It holds that co operation is the ar OF
hope, the haven of security and rest" and that
it means u union for the purpose of obtaining
u the profits of combined action, and the equal
distribution of il among its producers" All
this it will be scrn, looks TO a more Derma-
mont improvement than any strike can effect.
These reasOnings, as is natural, start from
very different standpoint than that Of capital.
They assume apparently that 1t is always the
best thing for the laborer to get the utmost
possible for his labor, which is u fatal mistake.
He has staded industrial history but little. or
10 little purpose, who does not know that an
advance in wages has otlen proved the very
worst thing possible for the lab0rer, because it
has led to the prolonged or permanent prostra-
ticn OF his industry. But the strong and
earnest opposition to strikes as a means Of
ef1ecting any desirable result, even from the
laborers' point of view, ought to have more in
fluence than il seems 10 have in this country
as yet Last year we saw vast sum wasted by
the workers in iron. This year, apparently,
We are to see vast sums wasted by the tole-
graph workers. Yet the iron business was in
such n condition last year that an advance of
wages would have been the height OF folly, and
the current events indicate that the number vt
competent telegraph operators in the country
10 larger than the strikers supposed Why
should not labor organizations, instead of pro-
noting strikes by aiding them, use all their in
fuepce to prevent such wasteful struggles, ana
to promote q more rational mode of settling
disputesf
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MONEY And BUSINESS.
L 10. hnn &c 81 T.,