Mower County transcript. [volume] (Lansing, Minn.) 1868-1915, 1883-08-22
The Strike.

The tclegrAphers strike is ended, and
now comes the humiliating request and
urgent appeal to be reinstatcd, and the
eager scramble for work again.
In Chicago, out Of $50 applications to
sthe Western Union, only 80 were taken
back, and these were required to sign a
pacifc agreement. \ very large proper
ttion will be left out by the Western
Union.
The Baltimore s Ohio Co. have re-
'ceived back all but two Of their old men,
In Milwaukee the strikers are still firm,
aud will not yield until their organiza-
dion is recognized by the Western Union
In New York 100 operators arc seeking
to be re-instated
In St. LeEis only about fifty per cent
OF the strikers will be returned they will
be accepted, not as members of an or gan
ization, but solely as individuals. No
organization. .or brotherhood, or COM
mittee, will be recognized in any way
whatever.
In Cleveland, out of forty-fvc places
left vacant four weeks ago, all but nine
have been filled.
In St. Paul. Manager Wilson of the
Western Union, said committee had
waited upon him, but he had informed
them that any dealings he had with them
would be with individuals, not with the
Association Some of the strikers have
been taken back, but each one has been
required to sign an agreement that he
~would not join any secret or labor oryani-
cation while in the employ Of the Western
Union.
And now that this long strike of four
weeks is over, are there any lessons to be
learned by it?
Strikes are no longer strangers among
US, but are constantly recurring all over
the land in almost every department of
organized labor. Let us see now, what
are some of the results of this, perhaps
the most general or widely spread strike
that has ever been made in this country.
First, it has been great Inconvenience,
delay. and loss to the public, because, for
n time, messages were not received at all
and then. later, when received, could not
he promptly dispatched because the work
ing force was so very small.
If telegraphy be commercial necessity,
the general public have been not only
greatly Inconvenience, but they have
sustained loss.
Second, the telegraph companies have
sustained very great losses directly, be-
cause able to do only part Of their bus
mess. In New York the business of the
Co. fell off the first week 80 per cent, the
second week Is. Perhaps it would be
safe to say that the general business of
the telegraph companies has fallen off Is
or 20 per cent. for the last four weeks
Then. too, this great working force and
che vast system of te]egraphy has been
.disorganiZed, and new men, incxperi-
enced, ,nnacquainted with the different
departments of work, have been en-
ployed, and these will need instruction,
and will require weeks and months Of
experience apd practice before they can
do as correctly and expeditiously the
work done by the old operators. The
telegraph companies then have sustained,
both directly and indirectly, a heavy loss.
Third, how about the strikers! Have
they lost also? In four weeks in the city
of Chicago alone, the brotherhood have
estimated their loss at $4,000.
They have lost four weeks work They
have been to great expense in organizing
the strike, and in the vain endcayor to
keep it on its feet. These four weeks of
jdleness aud excitement have been, il