Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1886-11-16

The Origin of the Printers strike Care
fully Considered The Responsibility
The Boycott a. an Agency To Recover
What Has Been Lost by n Foolish strike
Responsibility of the General Public.
To TIE Editor eCUts Register.
SIR:-The personal interest that you
doubtless feel in the war now being made
upon your journal by labor organization,
furnishes no valid reason why should
hesitate To Use your columns to say few
words upon the important subject of labor
organizations; nor should YOU feel any
hesitancy in giving to the discussion Of
this question all the space you can spare,
rs this is the vital question of the day,
not only to Wheeling, but to every I'M
pOrtant manufacturing center IN this
country, and therefore it may be raid to
be the important question To the general
public.
Ii Is not unnatural that there
should be a good deal of sympathy for the
labOring mantle man who depends
upon the earnings of his hands for his dali
IN bread In common with my fellow
citizens, have felt such an interest from
my earliest days. This feeling has been
common among Americans from the
foundation of this Republic. But in re-
cent times, in which, what is known as o.
qaai=eIi labor, has become more and more
aggressive, and more and more unreaSOna.
blein its demands, this sympathy has
received many a rude shock, and there are
to-day many reasons for saying that this
sympathy Is not only in large measure
misplaced, but ever and anon it is rudely
shocked by the course that laboriug men
themselves persist in pursuing.
Let Us consider Tor moment the pres
ent attempt to boycott the Wheeling pa
pers. How did this trouble originate?
Was il because the proprietors attempted
to reduce the wages of their printers?
No, Was it because the employers
proposed TO enforce new and exactinE reg
ulatiOnS upon their employees? No! The
offices were ruu in the same orderly way
in which they had been conducted for
years past; the same scale of wages was
being observed which had obtained
when most of these striking printers were
given their caSeSrin these offices. In some
instances, we doubt not, wages had been
actually advanced.
The fact is that these printers were re-
ceiying living wages; and all among them
who were sober and industrious were not
only getting 4. rate of pay that supported
them in comfort, but in all cases, where
care and economy were prudently exercis-
ed, the pay they received was quite suffi-
cient for them TO lay up something each
year for "a rainy day At the present
cost of living, n Young man who can earn
from Sl2 10 SIS per week, ought To be
able not only 10 live comfortably. but he
ought to be able TO save something every
year out of his earnings. This is clear,
and this fact has IN important bearing
upon this discussion.
Now, why this trouble? The cause for
this must be sought for somewhere else
than with the employers. As there was
no attempt to reduce wages, and no at
tempt to enforce cruel and exacting regu-
lationS, the cause must be looked for
among the printers themselves. The fact is
they were dissatisfied and kicked up row.
But why were they dissatisfied? The plain
and unvarniShed answer is: because they
were Union printers; i. e. because they be-
longed to printers Union. That Union
made them believe that they
were strong enough TO exact
anything from their employers
that they might ask, and as these