New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1885-10-03

ARBITRATION RATHER THAN STRIKES.
Six strikes are reported in single day at
Philadelphia. Only about 800 workers in all
stopped work, hut six important establishments
were for the time disorganized, and these
events in Philadelphia are unhappily but an
illustration Of what is gong on in all parts OF
the country. The controversies between labor
and capital are painfully frequent, and one
cannot avoid a feeling that, where so many
honest and Industrious men and women volun-
tarily face all the suffering which a suspension
of their industry involves, for themselves and
the families dependent on them, there must be
in many cases cause of complaint on the part of
the people employed.
In the Philadelphia cases. the workers
asked an advance of wagcsin four establish
ments, and though the advance asked
was in each case small, the circumstances
indicate that it would not have been de-
manded had not the workers felt that it was
Just and necessary. In another case an at
tempted reduction of wages was resisted. The
times have been hard for all classes, and the
employer should not forget that the burden OF
industrial disaster often falls more heavily
upon the poor, who are dependent upon their
labor for their very subsistence, than upon
those whose profits only are affected The low
prices of products have not always been felt in a
lower cost of living for laborers. 1t is not their
fault that the mddlcmen and distributors tax
the industries of the country too heavily. 1t is
always in the power of employers, if they find
that their workers are unreasonably burdened,
to assist the establishment of cooperative
stores, such as the Wllimantic Thread Com
Il in
ton, where the waSc-earners can get the full
worth of their money. And is it not time for
employers and employed alike TO consider
seriously how many of these controversies can
be prevented by honest and impartial arbitra-
ton
1t cannot often be said that there is no reason
at all in the claims made by workers who
voluntarily propose to discontinue labor unless
their claims can be conceded. Such cases do
exist, it is true, where strikes are wholly UNI
reasonable, but no candid employer will deny
that they are comparatively rare. The lives of
the workers are not easy. Their desire to pro-
vide for their homes in comfort, or for n time
of sickness, or for the winter OF old age is not
unreasonable. Il deserves the hearty sympathy
of all employers, and of all good citizens. Not
less deserving of sympathy is the earnest de-
sire to provide for the education of children, so
that they may be prepared 20 Labor less with
the body and more with the mind, and may
have opportunity to rise above the circum-
stances of their parents Nobcr aims none can
have, and employers ought always TO respect
such motives and TO recognize the right of the
workers To seek for their services something
more than Il bare subsistence In most cases,
uhp
employers have such feelings, and where the
workers themselves are reasonable and intelli-
gent. The effort ought at least to be made, in
thousands of eases where it is not now, to ar
rive at some just conclusion without the suffer-
ing and the prolonged Reorganization of in
dustry which strikes involve.