Frostburg mining journal. [volume] (Frostburg, Md.) 1871-1913, 1886-05-22

point Is doubly weak. -E0rat-Be sure
the next time that all can ana will live
at least a year within themselves.
1t was fatal intelligence which dis
covered a fine point in permitting any
to work for the sake Of ten-cent-per-
ton contribution. The motto should
have bcen--al quit or all work. Even
then the strike would have failed unless
the anthracite region had been in
cluded. Norai-Next time take in also
Nova Scotia and Wales.
1t is about as useless to strike in Il
mine as in q Frostbnrg store, and
almost as mortal.
1t is our fear that over protection
has brought on 'oyer-production, and
the latter means that when the sources
of supply have multiplied faster than
the demands Of consumption it is use
less to fall out with and fight against
conditions Of our own making. lHem-
oyan3aa,-This is u thought which will
not be welcomed by either miners OF
operators, but there is a va@on-load
of truth in it, nevertheless.
The history of strikes in this region
shows almost without exception that
when the companies have surrendered
they laid down their arms ut the first
volley. IF they ''held the fort any
length of time it was the men who
capitulated at the last fire. N0ra7-
Next time don't wait ten weeks to see
whether the companies will haag on.
Ii is hardly the proper thing to pro-
claim that mining questions arc the
only ones Of a public nature in Il free
community that may not be discussed
by anybody when and wheresooyer he
pleases. Under the American system
debate was made free that the truth
may be developed. For context see
St. John viii, 81.
In war it is a part of good general
ship to learn all tlat is possible from
the methods and tactics of an antag-
onist. If one offers praise for loyalty
and punishment for disloyalty. the
other will do something similar So
at the end of a strike. 1t is not strange
that victorious companies should pro-
scribe some and favor others. 1t APP
pears to be human nature. Nora7-
Give the employers a little time to
cool; they never forget when they are
hot, and rarely forgive.
By all means calculate fully the out
come of a strike before you go into it
not what you viii make if you sue
ceed, but, rather, what you will lose il
you fail. In the two last defeats
many men lost not only the time the
strikes lasted, but their employment
IN tate. The companies at the BEGIN
ming discharge by wholesale, but at
the end re-empIoy by retail, This
appears hard, but what will you do
about it? Hjat-If you possibly can,
imagine yourself in the companies
places, and then ask what you, being
still this side Of heaven, would do
under like circumstances
1t is mistake, we believe, to think
that employers enjoy successful ef-
fort to resist advanced wages claims.
All of them know what tie latest at
tempt cost, and will admit that next
to defeat success is the worst outcome
of Il strike. What holds true of
the companies in this respect may be
said also of the men. And it is the
answer of every success or failure to
enact an absolute monarchy with
majority rule as u pretense. Worse
than this is the despotism of !; minor
lty, pretense or no pretense.
Remember, that strike is the
severest blow u man can deliver
against his employer. In many eases it
means to compel him to concessions or
pay wages that his business cannot
stand. So that while some do not see
nuch harm in strike the employer
looks at it from Il totally different stand
point. Hence, nothing in the world
so aggrayates Il man as for his en-
ployes to strike, and when he sees an
arm raised in revolt against all the
wages he may be able to pay, he dis
Germs in that uplifted symbol of
strength a gesture beckoning him to
give 1t final discharge from his service.
He does SO, and ''no power under the
SUM- thinks he, "can or shall compel
me to re-employ it." Norul-Look
at facts as they are and not as you
think they ought to be.
1t is easy to convert even Quaker
into Il bulldog
But it is easier to win, hold, and even
make money out of his good graces
by studying and applying amicable
methods to secure what you conceive
10 be right and just.
If the men Of this region would listen
TO advice we would say-Bcgin now
to cultivate a peaceable policy. It is
plain that declarations Of war and
reigns Of terror are unavailiug. Try
peace. Begin to devise some pacific
plan to treat with yonr pnnlovors co