The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1886-05-03

| Never before has the public been brought to
| thorough comprehension OF the theory which I'M
derlies nearly all the strikes which take place in
/ this countryside theory that the striking la
| borer has moral right to be employed on his
own terms in the place he has left 1t is this the
| ory which causes the resort to violence to which
| nearly every large strike of unskied, or only
slightly skilled, labor owes the smallest success.
Not one of the recent railroad strikes would have
| delayed traffic for a day two but for the
forcibe resistance of the strikers to the conduct
of the business by body but themselves This
forcible resistance is due almost wholly to the
belief that when member of a union gets
place in anybody's employment he acquires a
vested interest in it, of which tho employer has
no right to deprive him. 1t is this which makes
! the members of all the unions sympathize either
secretly or openly with the assaults and other
acts of violence which accompany all the large
strikes. They look on them as not wholly He
Ultimate attempts to defend species of property
This delusion has never before been as thorough
ly examined by the public at large as it has been
during the late troubles In fact there has been
for great many years a sort of ignorant or In
different acquiescence in it. But this is at an
end. 1t has been examined, and its absurdlty
made manifest, and manifest absurd1ty does
not live long in this country.
But there is another lesson almost equally I'M
portant, which we trust the strikes may bring
home to railroad managers, both East and west
No matter how mischiovous or how badly man
aged trade organizations may be, or how ABSURD
and growth is certain. The individual iaborer
in any calling u.s. in these days OF great accumu-
lations Of capital. very weak and helpless In MS
relations with the employer He knows that
com bination with his fellows will give him
strength in making his bargains and defending
his rights and therefore combine he will But
the very fact that these combinations are In
tended to make the weak strong makes them
also, to certain degree hostile to all excellence;
They nearly all oppose bitterly any display OF
individual superiority They nearly all see to IL
that superior ingenuity, or skill, or diligence or
ambition, or industry, shall not profit man.
They nearly all try to keep all the members
| down to the level Of the most stupid or slow,
or INDECENT, or contented. In 80 far they are
| hostile to civilization itself, and are drags on
| the wheels of both moral and material progress.
| They cultivate deliberately in spite OF the pro.
| LESSONS of their documents, rather low mental
and moral type of man. But this makes 1t all
| the more important that the corporations anu
| other great employers of labor who suffer from
| them and who refuse to recognize" them,
should in their dealings with their own employees
open up more excellent way. Ii there De any
one inference from the late labor troubles more
palpable than another, it is that the great cor
| porations should do more to raise the character
of their own service, to infuse into their deal
| ings with their employees something better than
| the spirit of contract or patronage merely. In
other words, they should do something TO make
| their men feel that the union is not necessity
| to them; that the employer will not take advan-
| tage or their weakness ana That the corps III
| which they work serves all the purposes of
| trade union, and does secure them kindly and
considerate treatment, the best wages the mar
ket allows, and protection from arbitrary or
hasty dismissal
There is not railroad in this country which
might not by a little effort make its own service
sort of corps delite, which would attract the
most capable and ambitious men, and in which
there would be free play for talent and capacity.
Some Of them have done this, or made very
| near approach to it already, but in large num-
| Der the managers care very little how the en-
ployes feel, as long they do not strike, and do
very little to make the service attractive to
| picked men. We believe that a change of policy
in this respect would soon give large bodies of
laborers in all fields, who would be just as much
ashamed to abandon their work, without know
ing why, on seeing two fingers held up, or TO
pummel people who took their places, or picket
or boycott their employers premises, as clergy
men, or lawyers, doctors would be. Large
numbers now live in slavery to the ODonnells
and Ironses simply because they cannot do bet
ter Large numbers are doing poor work and
keeping their best facilities dorms 1t, under
union compulsion, simply because outside OF the
union there is no sympathy or support or con-
sideration for them to be found-nobody on
whom they can count for help or counsel on
dark and rainy days, and they fear to face the
world absolutely alone with wives and children
dependent on them.