Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1883-09-08
A CHAPTER ON STRIKES.
The Benefits and Evils OF COmbina-
lions.

t1OnSs
The failure of the recent strike of the tele.
graph operators in this country, says a Boston
paper, has attracted considerable attention to
| the general question of strikes and strikers.
Upon the result of the telegraphers' movement
probably depended the beginning or postpone
ment of similar events in various other branches
of industry. During the immediate past strikes
have generally been failures, and mainly for the
| reason that the operators or workers were not
organized. The great freight handlers strike
| last year is case in point. AS in the case of
| the telegraph operators no one disputed but
| their demands were just; but money was en-
aoied to hold out the longest. the leaders were
either bought up or became discouraged and
the men. in despair, took what their masters
were pleased to give them. This strike caused
the loss Of millions of dollars worth of business
and money, trade was crippled for months, and
much suffering caused among the families OF
the poor.
The same state of affairs, from the same
cause. has existed time and time again in Fall
River and other American manufacturing cities
The strikes of last summer induced the law
makers to introduce bills into the legislatures
of several states to enact laws making strikes
an offense, and providing, further for the arrest
and imprisonment of the leaders and promoters.
The pressure brought to bear on the legislatures
was very strong. but that of the people at large
was still stronger, and the result was that they
were defeated. In New jersey, in particular,
an act was passed legalizing strike, or rather
| acknowledging the right of workingmen to do
SO if they chose.
THE FIRST RECORDED STRIKES
took place after a great plague, in about the
year 1910. The crops then rotted on the ground
for lack Of reapers which was q great deal
more serious than for kilograms to lay on the
hooks because there were no operators to send
or receive them. Whole flOcks and herds
persisted for want of care; houses were left
unfinished by the builders; even the wOrkmen
employed on the palace of the king of Eng
| land deserted their business, and unless for
wages which were considered outrageous
| labor was not to be had in country or town.
These strikes in the 18th century were encoun-
tered with measures which illustrate the funda-
mental difference between medieval and modern
political economy. statute of labor was
passed. OrdaiHing that every man or woman,
free or bond, within the age of three-score
years, and not having landed property or other
! means Of livelihood should work for any en-
plOyer requiring their labor at the old rate of
wages. This statute was followed by series of
cnactments, royal mandates and municipal reg
0iations, vigorously suppressing combinations
Of wOrkmen, and INJECTING fines, imprisonment
and the Punishment of the stocks on all arti-
fcers, labOrers and servants refusing to serve
for the ancient wages.
In our own age q succession Of strikes in Eng
land and America has been encountered with q
law widely differing in character from the
famous statute OF labor. The law enunciated in
the 18th century was simply an alleged law of
political economy, which was supposed to fix
the price of labor beyond the control of either
the la0Orers or the employers In the place Of
new restraints on the movements and cOmbna-
lions OF workmen. old restrictions have been
repealed, trades unions have been legalized, and
the persons most opposed to strikes have con-
tented themselves with denouncng them at
once as mischievOus and Intellectual. On the
last point the actual results have been conflict
ing. Many strikes have been successful in rails
ing wages or reducing the hours of work. but
on the other hand, many have failed In not q
few cases it has been demonstrated that the
state OF trade. prices and profits left no margin
Tor compliance with the demands of the work.
men, and, in some, it has been demonstrated
That employers are positive gamers by the sus-
pension of business. 1t is urged against strikes
that profits in particular business cannot con-
tlnne above the average rate, and consequently
If the state of trade admits of rise of wages or
other
ADVANTAGES TO THE wORKMEN,
they will come spontaneously from the COMPETE
ton of capitalists, while, if they are brought
about by strike, the value of the labor I'M
employed while it lasts is lost both to the work.
men and the public. Capital, too, is wasted,
and the accumulation discouraged to the detri-
ment of labor.
In several cases strikes have contributed to
cause the transferrence OF a branch of manufac-
tpre to another locality, for trade moves along
the lines of least resistance. and its course is
easily altered. The emigration of capital from
England to the new world proves that profits
are already at a minimum in the former, and
can bear no further reduction. The ignorance
of the real condition OF trade it is added which
is at the bottom of strikes, has repeatedly been
proved by the fact that at the time of their
occurrence 1t was actually an advantage to the
capitalists to close their works. This has more
than once been the case in Fall River. Sad evil
dence, too, is forthcoming in abundance of the
misery which strikes have occasioned to work.
Ing people. and the load of debt and loss of
comfort and respectability under which they
have had to recOmmence life, as it were, with
out furniture and other household articles
which 1t had taken years to accumulate and
which disappeared in a few weeks.
On the other hand It Is cOntended that the
equality OF profits is a theoretical fiction; that
the profits of employers in particular trades are
often enormous, and huge fortunes are amassed
riety Of this fact should at length attract addi-
tional capital and competition, the public may
then derive some benefit through fall in prices.
but the workman may obtain none. The almost
universal failure of strikes. moreover, is no
proof Of their impolicy. Even unsuccessful
strikes may act on the minds of employers so as
to secure rise or prevent fall in wages on a
1uture occasion; and to produce this effect they
must actually take place from time to time,
whether successful or otherwise. What the
course of the Western Union Telegraph COM
pany will be, now that it has come off victo-
rious. is question which the operators have
settled In their own minds unfavorably to them
selves.
AS for the temporary suffering strikes cause
TO the wOrkmen. present sacrifices for future
gain are in accordance with one Of the funda-
mental principles Of the political economy to
which employers are SO fond of appealing; but
IN fact, multitude Of strikes have been crowned
with Immediate success, and have compelled
employers to cOncede terms which at first they
peremptOrily refused. AS for the emigration Of
capital from countries like England, It no more
proves that profits are at minimum there than
new branches Of manufacture and trade, new
railroads and steamships, and new speculations
prove that all earlier investments of capital have
been Improbable. It only proves that the
sources of profit have become more numerous.
Indeed. Mr.. Cairnes, the English economist, who
has laid principal stress on this argument, has
admitted that the
MAJORITY OF RECENT STRIKES
In his own country have been successful. He
argues, indeed, that the explanation Of their
success is to be found in an exceptionally pros
porous condition of trade, which would before
L.