New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1883-08-08
LhBOR CONTESTS IN 1883.

The labor contests this year dllIer eSsentany
from those of 1sS1-'S2 or those of 1877 Dur
ing the first half of last year the high
price of food and other necessaries OF lie
made wages relatively small. The working
people did not generally understand that the
trouble was temporary, or that it was neces-
ssry consequence of the failure OF crops IN
1881. Strikes were numerous, and some
OF them lasted q long time and kept
large number of men in idleness but there
WAS this excuse for them-the times were hard
for those who lived upon wages, because the
cost of living was unusually high. In 1877,
when the great railroad strike took place, there
was similar excuse. General depression IN
business after the panic of 1878 had caused re-
duction Of wages in many departments OF INDUS
try But the retail dealers were still clinglng,
as far as they could, TO the inflated prices OF the
period preceding the panic The working peo-
ole were not able to meet this state OF things
with equanimity and many minor strikes
occurred besides the great strike OF railway
hands.
This year. the case is very different. Prices
are low. The general range Of prices has been
declining quite steadily for two years, and
nearly all the great staples are now selling
much below the average price for fifty years.
The retail dealers did put up the price OF food
more than was necessary or justiilable last
year. but the trade of the latter half Of 1882
was disastrous, and there has been no encou-
ragement this year to make higher charges.
The cost of living on the whole, Is decidedly
low this year. and there has been no such re-
duction in wages, during the past year, as
there has been in the cost OF the necessaries
of life. Yet strikes are reported almost every
day, and in many different branches OF industry.
The disagreement between the telegraph COM
panies aud their operators is only the most
conspicuous of these contests three are now
in progress in the iron business, and Others in
mining in many branches OF manufacturing.
and in railroad building.
This year the difficulty is not with the
hands, but with the employers, and the main
cause is not the cost of living, but the general
depression in business. AS a rule, capital has
had the worst OF it this year. Prices have de.
cIined, and the prospect OF decline was so
clear that purchasers have limited their orders
as far az possible ever since the year began.
Manufacturers and miners who persisted in
keeping their men at work have been pinched
by the fall in the value OF products. The ac-
emulation of unsold stocks has been large.
Unsoundness in several branches of business
has been developed, and heavy failures have
not only inflicted severe Losses upon many,
but shaken commercial confidence so that
credits have shrunk. In addition, the revision
of the tariff, while 1t caused some embarrass-
ment, was regarded with apprehension by
many who have rs yet sustained no loss from
l. ID 20. hot
many employers have been forced to propose
a reduction OF wages, and many Others have
closed their works. This army of workers
thus thrown out of employment have pressed
sharply upon those still at work.
There ought to have been great forbearance
and mutual helpfulness between employers
and employed this year. Unavoidably. it has
been trying year for both. Hepfulness and
n willing division of the burden to be borne
there would have been, 1t is probable, but for
the trades unions. But these organizations
have been unusually active this year, some
times resisting reductions OF pay which en-
ployers proposed, and sometimes even demand
ing an increase of pay, Notwithstanding the
general embarrassment of industry and trade.
1t seems to be a peculiar characteristic and
weakness of these organizations that they are
never able to see that business is stagnant
or that employers are pinched. They strike
for higher wages just when thousands of will
ing workers are unemployed, and eager for
something to do, or when employers are seri-
ousy considering whether they can afford to
keep establishments open at present rates
The blunders made by these organizations this
year will cost the laboring people very large
sum- What is worse, they will subject i'm
portant brapches of business to serious and |
embarrassment, and foster an antag- |
onism of feeling, between employers and en-
ployed, which can hardly fail to do much |
harm hereafter.
IL iha naderata tamnerat OF the last tMa |