The Bennington banner. [volume] (Bennington, Vt.) 1858-1894, 1890-09-04
THE ETHICS OF STRIKES.

dient to enforce compliance with hi
demands; and If the situation were re
versed, and employer and employee wer
to change places, the quondam strike
would be just as much averse to such
method of settling disputes, as the EN-
ployer was before such reversal of pO
sitions.
In all fairness it does not seem righ
for body of men, simply because the,
are superior in numbers, to thus ammo,
their employer, spite themselves and in
convenience the public, when the Who'll,
matter could so much more easily be set
tied without all this annoyance, loss anC
injury to men and property, if the EN-
ployes would only be willing to leave the
matter to fair and honest arbitration.
In nearly all great strikes, the sympa
thy of the people, and the press has beer
with the strikers, and yet in almost
every case, after prolonged struggles
they have lost the battle. And in nine
cases out of ten it is always so, Strikes
are the result of an instructive desire
largely developed in animal nature, and
the lower orders of mankind, to gain su.
premacy by brute force. This is the
natural way of settling disputes among
animals and among uneducated, passion
ate and unreasonable men; but when
men become more intelligent, and learn
to subordinate their willful passions, they
find that there is better way to settle
questions, and one that will not injure
them in the rebound, as strikes are sure
to do.
The capitalist, or employer, goes into
business for the purpose of making all
he can out of it. If he is manufactur.
or, he seeks to buy material for his fab.
RIGS at the lowest rates. he tries to keep
all expenses down to a minimum; and,
naturally, he desires to secure labor al
the lowest rates; for these three items,
material, expense and labor, are the
things that go to make up the total cost
of manufacture; and whatever surplus
remains over this cost, when he sells his
wares, represents his profits.
| The labOrer, on the other hand, is in
the position of a man who wishes to Sc
cure the most he can for his services.
Skilled labor commands higher price
than menial employment, and there are
so many grades of labor that is difficult
| to establish fixed rates in all cases. Now,
| if, after the men have agreed to work al
certain amount, for a certain number
of hours work, they strike for a larger
amount, or for fewer hours; it is, clearly,
violation of contract; and if the en-
ployer, under like circumstance, reduces
the amount or increases the number of
hours, it is equally violation of agree
ment on his part.
In ninety-nine cases out of hundred,
strikes are for one or the other of the
above causes, AMI they are never under
taken except i'll cases where superior
numbers seem to warrant them in the be-
lief that they can enforce their demands,
right or wrong, against the inferior
physical force on the part of the en-
ployer.
Now might does not make right. Both
sides can not be wholly wrong, MOI
wholly just. If the question in dispute
could be submitted to board of intelli-
gent arbitrators, who could have no per.
sonal interest on either side, Nth p0ucer
to enforce their decisions, the men need
not lose an hours time, but could rest
satisfied that their demands would be
granted, if they were just; and one OF
the pleasantest features of the case would
be that no acrimonious feelings would be
engendered between them, with a con.
comitant spirit of retaliation, as there is
at present.
Mr.. Powderly, who is the most intelli
gent member of the Knights of Labor,
without doubt, said in an article contrib.
uted by him to the North american Re
riew some time ago:
working men are not, as a rule, edu-
Gated men. When the strike does come,
while they feel that they have been
wronged, yet they are lacking in the
command of language, necessary to state
their case properly to the world"
And, it may be added that it is precise.
| ly because they are uneducated that they
are so easily led by two or three turbu
lent and discontented spirits who take
the lead and incite the others to follow
In point of fact, the great majority OF
workers, if the question were submitted
to them, would rather not strike; but
they are dominated ly few restless and
dissatisfied leaders, at whose beck and
clll they blindly follow, without, in
many instances, even knowing why they
60 ont. They have an indistinct idea
that they are doing it for the general
good of the Order" although they know
that they must suffer individual loss by
this blind submission to the will of the
'dictators' as they, not inappropriately
style themselves.
The Order of the Knights of Labor il
more despotic and tyranical in its gov
ernment than any ether civic organiza
ton i'll the world. The members i'm
plcitely obey the commands of the lead
ers even when they have no grievance Of
their own, and when they are on perfect
ly satisfactory terms with their employ
ers.
Again, in the same article, from which
the preceding is taken, Mr.. Powderly
says:
I'm the management of great or smal
concerns, each grievance, each trouble o.
difference, whether in relation to disci
pline or wages, should be talked over il
a conciliatory spirit and drbitrdted
Joint boards of arbitration should b,
formed between manufacturer and work
men all over the country. Agreement,
of this kind will be the means of settling
differences as they arise, and with thei
inauguration, strikes, lockouts and boy
colts will not be entered upon so readily
and, if ever called into play, then only a
the very last resort"
He might have added that, if tn,
boards of arbitration are empowered t.
lenforce their decisions, strikes, lockout.
and bOycotts will not be necessary at all
and in point of fact they ought to bt
made illegal,
1t is fair to assume that no reasonabl,
laboring man wants more than fair wage
for his work; and if by reason of shrewC
business management, tact, care ant
thrift, his employer makes u fortune ou
of his venture, the laborer will not b,
enviOus of the success that may result il
Ipart, from his own handiwork, becaus
he well knows that such work represent
only part of the product of the manufac
ture-the material and expense of main
tanning the works, constituting the othe
parts.
Mr.. Henry George, in his work entitled
Progress and Poverty" devotes larg
space in an endeavor to prove that wage
are not paid out of capital, apparentl,
for no other purpose than to stir UP dis
content among the laboring classes, AM
to make them believe that they are no
dependent on capital, and that capital i
not necessary in carrying on business
because, he argues, the money out o
which wages are paid is received by th
employers for the sale of the wares pro
duced by the labOrer. In this ingeniou
piece of sophism he ignores the fact tina
the cost of material, and the expenses in
cident to the business form part of tn
manufactured product quite as much a
the wages of the laborer. 1t matters no
by what name the fund out of whicl
wages may be paid is called; and Mr.
George may possibly succeed, by thi
plausible antiphrasis, in inducing SOM
to believe that capital is not capital, o
that wages are not wages, but he neve
can establish the fact that the lahore
who works for the man who has no capi
tai, is liable to go unpaid.
1t would be better for every laborinI
man II he would disabuse his mind of al
the vaporing theories of moon-strucl