The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1885-08-05
The Remedy for Strikes.

luc hchouy iOT otTlhess
Strikes and labor troubles seem to be
on the increase in several sections of
the country. 1t is undeniable that
strikers sometimes have justification
for their action, when they see employ
ers reaping excessive profits, while the
workmen get only the means of main
tanning an existence that is barely COM
Portable. But this is not the situation
to-day. The employers are not making
large profits, and are fortunate if they
are doing business enough to pay cur
rent expenses and earn small per-
centage of interest on the capital in
vested. In some cases they may find
it necessary to reduce wages in order
to keep their business running. The
workmen should always take all the
circumstances into consideration-the
state of trade, the business outlook, the
reasons given for reducing wages and
their own ability to sustain a strike.
The failure of strikers, in large num-
Der of instances, to recognize that their
employers have rights that they are
bound to respect, has made their move
ments useless and expensive luxuries.
On the other hand, there are some en-
ployers of labor who disregard the just
rights and claims of their workmen.
Differences arise between capital and
labor in which it is difficult to deter
mine which side is most at fault.
These differences cannot be regarded
as irreconcilable, if the parties in inter-
est are disposed to be governed by the
dictates of reason and correct business
principles. In some cases the interests
of workmen are directed by arbitrary
and eXacting trades-unions. OF late
we have seen that anarchists in some
parts of the country have been melting
striking laborers to acts of violence.
Under such circumstances it cannot be
expected that the employers will be CO.
creed into compliance with the demands
of the strikers; and the latter lose much
of the general sympathy they would
have had if they had taken a more Judi
cious course. There ought to be no war
between labor and capital, and each
should respect the rights and interests
of the other. 1t may be said that the
latter commonly has the advantage of
the former, for the futility of labor try
ing to dictate terms to capital has often
been demonstrated.
1t is beginning to be recognized, even
by some of the trades-unions, that strikes
do not afford satisfactory method of
settling disputes between laborers and
their employers. The Knights of Labor
in Pennsylvania have recently taken
this ground. The necessity of some
better remedy for industrial antagon-
isms than is afforded by the policy of
continuing the struggle until one side
or the other is compelled to yield to
terms, must be manifest to every i'm
partial observer All serious differences
between the employers and the en-
ployed should be settled by arbitration
This has proved quite an effectual rem
edy for the prevention of strikes in the
manufacturing districts of England and
France. A judicious system of arbitra-
ton is being given trial in Pennsyl-
vania, and if it is successful in its re-
suits it will probably be adopted in
other states. Arbitration is, without
doubt, the true remedy, because it can
be made legally operative by legislative
enactment. But the moral remedy for
labor troubles is practical application
of the Golden Rule, which is too little re-
garded in the affairs of the business
world.