Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1889-09-02
THE LONDON STRIKE.
Anxiety rs to the Developments of To-
day-A General Strike Expected.

London is awaiting with breathless anxiety
when the turning point is expected 10 b.
reached. Tremendous pressure has beer
brought upon the officers Of the different trades
unions by the leaders Of the men now ont Il
| induce them to bring about general strike Of
the workingmen in London. If anything ap
preaching such general stoppage Of worl
should take place and continue for only q few
days the danger to public safety could scarcely
be over estimated Even in ordinary times the
feeling among the working people of the me.
tropolis that they are being oppressed by their
employers is sufficiently pronounced, but with
this feeling intensified thousand fold by idle.
ness and starvation. and with million workers
whose only occupation would be to meet and
excite one another, with the story of their
grievances, the police and the military force
must be formidable indeed to overawe them
desperate with hunger and conscious Of their
strength of numbers.
1t is difficult to give any reliable esti.
mate of the number Of workingmen who will
join the dock laborers. All the trades have
had their meetings and in all cases a conclu.
sion of some sort has been reached, but their
leaders are close-mouthed and special care has
been taken to prevent any hint of their pro-
posed action leaking out. The men as O rule
nothing will be done, and this is so entirely OPP
posed to the plan usually pursued of loudly
Boosting in advance how much will be done
that the conclusion is naturally drawn that
something like general strike has been de-
cided upon and that the leaders are only anx.
ious not to lose the advantage of a thorough
and complete surprise. However, this appears
to be pure speculation, and the day may pass
without
THE DREADED SUSPENSION OF ALL INDUSTRY.
But even if it does net come about in this
shape matters are certainly drifting toward
such state. Every day during the past week
has seen new additions to the number of strik.
ing traders, and the time is ripe for organized
workmen to discover grievances never before
suspected. without q doubt there will be
isolated strikes involving thousands of work.
ingmen even If the general revolt of labor doe
not take place, and at the rate of progress made
so far it would not take long to involve the
larger part Of Londons working people in the
troubles.
The temper of the men already out, too. il
far different than that they displayed a week
ago. They no longer allow Burns their con-
servatlve leader, to dictate their policy and
already it is apparent that he will be overruled.
The men are growing ugly, threats are frequent
of bloody work. and their passions are further
ln1amed by the slight rise in the price of pro-
visions which has been the unavoidable out
come of their own action.
The strikers held a monster meeting yester-
day on the Thames embankment and at its
close marched in procession, $4,000 strong, to
the afternoon meeting at Hyde park. They
carried great many banners and bands OF
music were interpreted at frequent intervals
The contribution boxes were carried along the
edge OF the procession on last Sunday and were
literally treated as then by the crowds along
the line of march. The strikers maintain an
undaunted front and profess to be confident of
victory and that soon. Three American vessels
arrived in the Thames yesterday and the Amer
lean sailors on board were offered three shil-
ings per hour, or six times the pittance for
which the strikers are contending to unload
their own vessels. As soon as they understood
the situation Of affairs they did not ask for a
moment to make up their minds, but promptly
refused to do the work at any price. Ihey
were received with loud huzzahs by the strikers
at their meeting and were given the place of
honor in the procession