The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1888-01-01
The Reading Strike.

The refusal of the Knights of Labor en-
ployed on the Reading Railroad to obey the
second order to strike is pretty good evi
dence that they did not think that the first
call was a reasonable one They obeyed the
first call, but were glad of the opportunity
TO resume work They would have obeyed
the second call doubtless if they had be
lieved there was good cause for doing so
The original cause of the trouble was the
refusal Of the Reading Company to allow
the Knights of Labor to dictate to it in a
matter which related to the way it should
conduct its business. The Knights want
ed the company to refuse to handle
the freights of a firm which employed
men who were not knights of Labor, and
who received less wages than the knights
thought the firm ought to pay The Read
ing company said that it was not its bust
ness to dictate to its shippers. 1t simply
proposed to handle all the freight CON
signed TO it. The knights undertook TO
force the company to comply with its de-
mands and failed.
The Reading strike directs attention
strongly to the report of Commissioner Car
roll d. Wright, the head of the Labor
Bureau In this report, synopsis of which
was published in the MORNING NEWS on
Friday, good many matters of general in
terest are touched upon. The conclusion to
be drawn from it is that strikes do not pay,
and that they SHOULD be avoided to as great
an extent as possible.
Nr. Wright, for instance, shows that
xuift l. IL, 1acf CT rlyar
have lost about 500, 100000 in strikes and
lock -outs, and that during the same period
the loss to employers has been about
$35, 100000. The damage suffered by wage
earners, therefore, was very nearly double
that suffered by wagepayers. Theakerage
loss to wage-earners is about $10,0SEo00 a
year, and to strikers it is about $40 each.
1t is apparent from these figures that to
make up this loss strikes must be generally
successful and the increase in wages
secured must be very considerable.
As matter Of fact, however, not one
half of the strikes are successful, and of
those which are classed as such many
are not so to the extent of obtaining every
thing for which the strike was inaugurated.
A careful study of strikes shows that they
are often ill-advised and badly managed
The men who are recognized as leaders are
frequently unfit for the positions they occu-
pv, aud there is disaster where there might
be success
As already stated the Reading men were
called out not on their own account, but on
account of persons not employed by the
Reading Company. Commissioner Wright,
in his report, points out that only about
one-ffth of the strikes that are on record
was the result of grievances or demands of
those engaged in them Fully four fifths
were ordered for the purpose of assisting a
few Knights with whom the
great body of the strikers had
no acquaintance, and about the business of
whose cause they knew absolutely nothing
These figures seem to indicate that the
workinglnen and women of the whole
country cannot be handled in one organiza-
ton so that all can be benefited. The grad
ual disntegration of the knights of Labor
justifies the inference that the members of
that organization are beginning to think
that the proper plan for maintaining the
rights of workingmen has not yet been de-
vised.
The Reading men would have, made
great mistake if they had obeyed the second
order to strike Thousands of competent
men were ready to take their places, and
they and their families would have been left
in midwinter without the necessaries of life,
and with no immediate prospect of earning
the means with which to procure them