Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1888-05-26
HISTORY OF STRIKES.
BRIEF SKETCH OF THE SUBJECT
Fur CENTURIES PAST.
Legislation in the Fourteenth Cen.
fury Against Increased Wages
Subsequent Changes.


The story is told at New Haven of a
theological Professor who once asked his
class to prepare a "a twenty minutes
dissertation on the matters and things of
this universe, together with supplement
airy treatment of their relation to the mat
tiers and things of universes in general"
The position of the class is in many ways
| analogous to our own. Nevertheless, in
days when an entire newspaper is some
times reproduced upon slip little larger
than stamp, there is no reason why a
miniature photograph of the history of
strikes should not be attempted.
In this country strikes have awakened
alarm only since the organization of the
Trades Unions, and these were insignif-
cant until about generation ago. Yet
strikes are in no sense the outcome of the
unions. They existed long before the
unions, and they are not confined to the
unions to-day. Not only non-union en-
ployes generally join in the strikes, but
men having no affiliations with the strikers
even foreigners Just landed-refuse to
take the strikers places, or, having taken
them, Immediately give them up. The
origin of strikes is not, then, in the unions,
but in the sentiment that laborers have
interests in common which they can ob-
tain by combining. The unions are organ
lied in order that the army of strikers
may be provided with the necessary Off
GERS and discipline and supplies.
This being true, we need not be surprised
| to find that strikes date back almost to the
very beginning of the wage system. In
England the first great strike occurred at
the time of the plague Of the black death,
in the middle of the fourteenth century.
During this plague nearly one-third of the
population persisted, and, as consequence,
it was almost impossible for the landlords
to obtain the hired labor necessary for get
ting in their crops. The price of labor
Immediately doubled, ard the landlords,
in order to secure it at the old terms, had
recourse to Acts of Parliament. Heavy
penalties were laid upon abbots, priors,
barons, crown tenants" etc, if they paid
more than the rates customary before the
plague. Laborers refusing to work at these
rates were thrown into prison. "Never-
theless," says Thorold Rogers, all this Sc
verify proved unavailing."
| The laborers, then as now, resorted to
combinations, subscribed money, and sup
ported each other in resisting the law
| Their agents in effecting these organizations
were the first Protestant preachers in
England-John Wiklif's order of poor
priests The peasants themselves could have
done almost nothing. Any conference
among them would have been forbidden.
But Wiklif's priests had the right to 90
where they would; and these men, bare
foot and clothed in russell, were stirring the
souls of the common people with the doc
trines of equality which they found in
their newly opened Bibles. To use
"honeycombed the minds of the upland
folk with what may be called religious
socialism" They sympathized entirely
with the wrongs and suffering and hopes
of the serfs; and they became the trusted
| leaders in the resistance of the laws. Each
new Parliament imposed penalties more
severe; but the peasants finally indicated
| their claims.
Unfortunately, the new Professionalism,
which came in through the court of Henry
| VIII. was not permeated with the spirit of
| the Lollards. The destruction of the mon
asteries and the confscation of their prop
erty, and the destruction of the medieval
! guilds and the confiscation of their prop
erty, left the working classes in England
vastly worse off than they had been for two
centuries. These acts were followed by
the Statute of Laborers, passed in 1868,
which made any association of workmen.
for the purpose of raising wages, a criminal
| conspiracy. This Act remained in force I'M
til 1924, and during this entire period leg
! islatiou, often heartlessly cruel, was di-
rected toward reducing the working classes
into practical slavery, compelling them to
accept, not what they earned, but what
| barely sufiiced to keep them in existence.
Until the very close of the period this leg
lslation was successful. When, at the end
of the last century, the factory system re-
ceived its remarkable extension, and the
labor of children came in demand, it
seemed as if the entire life of the working
| family had become one of hopeless servi-
| tude. The natural result was something
worse than the EQUALIZATION of the class,
since it was accompanied by It's physical
deterioration. For a considerable period
! this was the real result. Yet in the end,
the same factory system which seemed to
| have accomplished the enslavement of the
laborer brought about his emancipation
! Under the factory system the workmen
were no longer isolated. Secret organiza-
ton became possible Such organizations.
made conspiracies by the law, often be-
came such in fact. The strikes which be-
came prevalent were characterized by the
| mfr Tho
were of improving their condition. the
more bent did they become upon iniuring
| that of their employers. These earlier
strikes were rarely successful; yet they
were characterized by a mad heroism
which more than equaled their mad fury.
\ new spirit had permeated the laboring
class, and its members were willing to
submit to almost any amount of privation,
and even starvation, rather than submit
to what they considered oppression. By
this stubborn spirit they attracted the at
tention Of the country to their condition,
and made their employers anxious to main
| tain peace. In 1924 the Unions won their
| right to exist, and the old law allowing
| the magistrates to fix wages was repealed.
| This regulation was followed in Parlia-
ment by the enactment of the factory laws,
and among the manufacturers ii was fol-
| lowed by an increased willingness to treat
with the Unions. These Unions spread
everywhere. For a considerable period
| strikes became more frequent, but less de-
structive. Gradually the mutual losses
which they inflicted became more and
mole deeply impressed upon both masters
| and men. The masters became willing to
meet with the men and talk over the diff
culties. This led to arbitration and in
England some kind of arbitration is to-
day the rule, and strikes are the exeep-
ton.
IN our own country, for very obvious
reason, strikes were unknown during our
earlier history. The laborers were sepa-
,, rated from each other, and not widely
separated from their employers. The first
strike occurred in 1902, among the sailors
in New York. As described by Professor
Ely, in his History of the Labor Move
ment in America" the striking sailors ex-
temporized band and marched in a BODY
along the docks, telling all the sailors to
drop their work and join them. Their de-
mand was for $14 month instead of SO.
For while they seemed to be carrying
everything before them. But the ship
masters appealed to the constables, who