Sacramento daily record-union., 1889-08-29
THE LONDON STRIKE.

1hE LONDON DIhlkE.
From all accounts the strike now on in
London is the largest in the history of
civilization. 1t is improbable that at any
time has there been such systematic and
well arranged plan among laborers directly
connected with the commerce of the great
port of London, for concessions as to time
and wages. What makes the strike all the
more portentious is the fact that trade
Cuionism in England is stronger than any
where else, in fact it is controlling power
IN the fixing of wages in most of the trades,
and this compact body of unions is mani
resting a strong disposition to sustain the
dock strikers and to drag all the working
classes for wages in the country into the
strike. While great many of the en-
ployers Of the dock laborers have acceded
20 the demands of the strikers, they re-
tuSe to return to work until the whole body
of employers is brought to terms The
strike has extended to the coaI-heavers
and cart-men, to the printers and the mail
cart deliverers-the PoStoffice having al
eady granted the increase asked by the
Iatter-and the promise is that nearly all
the trades and employments with COM
plant will be drawn into the proceeding.
As consequence there is CONSERVATION in
4o I'd n. Meat and fruit cargoes are rotting
IN ships holds at the dock, and thousands
of vessels are idle because their masters
cannot secure labor to put their cargoeS on
board. Factories dependent on commerce
have closed down, and before long the cry
of distress from the unemployed will go up.
In this strike there will be some gain to a
large number of workingmen, because the
Trade Unions are of such potency in
England there will be some advance in
wages, and so far as we can ascertain the
demand for the advances are not unreason-
able, for at best labor in England is not
largely rewarded, while as. matter of fact
the commercial employers of London are
In the enjoyment of large margins of profit,
and the commerce and trade of the city is
the safest OF any ON the face of the globe.
But notwithstanding these facts, the strike
is Just IS indefensible as any that have
saken place in this country. Mr.. Arthur,
of the Brotherhood of Locomotive En-
gineers, has said that he will never sane
ton another strike, for after close study of
that remedy in all times and under all
conditions he has been convinced that
in the end the striker is the greater
sufferer, and that all real grievances can
be adjusted and remedies applied without
resort to the strike and boycott. And Mr..
Arthur is right in his conclusion, and
none the less the friend Of labor because of
the Judgment he has pronounced. The
English strikers may gain some advantage,
but in the main it will be temporary and
the employing class viii sooner or later
regain the advantage it now loses. But if
the questions between the two had been
submitted to the calm counsel of protest
and arbitration, to the diplomacy of agita-
tion and reason, and to the invocation of
the sympathies and the moral influence of
Che non-employing class, the workingmen
would have gained more substantial and
Lasting benefits than it is possible for the
strike to yield For one reason, the strike
bears heavily upon the consumers of pro-
ducts and the users OF the necessaries of
life. The commercial man may stubbornly
resist the demand OF his striking employees
and close MS business, but when he does so
he Furnishes large class of people who
were not originally involved, and who are
In no sense responsible for the strike. De-
prived of their conveniences, or comforts,
or necessaries, by reason Of the stoppage of
transportation and the closing of shops
and factories; burdened by an advance in
prices, such as has already taken place IN
London, these people presently turn from
any possible sympathy the demand of the
strikers cause may have awakened, and
are transformed into opponents of the
primal cause of the inconvenience and
losses to which they are subjected. The
great mass Of the public is thus very early
made antagonistic to strikes, and the en-
ployers knowing this fact, generally wait
until the conditions produce this antago.
nisn, when their triumph is assured. For
there Is no question whatever that against
the opposition of public opinion the strike
cannot prevail. There are, of course, fugi-
tive instances where striking workers have
secured permanent advantages, but they
are few, and such results have been at
tained in nearly every case before the
public has felt any great distress in its