Evening capital journal. (Salem, Or.) 1888-1893, 1891-03-03
IAE ElRSI SIRlKE.
The First We Know or Was In Egypt
Three Thousand Years Ago.

The First We Know or Was In Egy pt
Three Thousand Years Ago.
"There is nothing new under the sun
receives nowhere a more startling verifi-
| cation than in this matter of strikes.
/ The way in which our wOrldngmen Of
/ modern Europe try to coerce their en-
ployers was in substance the way adopt.
ed by their dark skinned, meanly
clad, poorly fed predecessors in the land
of the Nile before Moses led the Israel
ties out of Egypt. NJ. Maspero, who il
well qualified to speak on all points con
nected with Egyptology, Gevotes several
very interesting paGes TO the subject
in his charming Historic Readings. "
which have just been published. l..
seems that the families Of the workin:
classes were quite as improy ident III
Egypt thirty centuries ago as some Ci
them are in England at the present day
At the beginning Of the mouth, whru
they had just received their months RI.
tions, eating and drinking went on with
out restraint. BY the middle of the
month the stock began to fail, and fam
inc began to stare the thriftless house
holds in the face. So again and again
they went ont on strike in order to ex-
tort more from their superiors. A strike
of masons is described by NJ. Maspero in
detail, and some parts of the description
might almost be mistaken for extracts
from an English or GerlNan newspaper
in the Nineteenth century of the Chris
tian era.
On the 10th Of the month the builders
employed at a temple rushed tumultu.
ously out of the place where they were
working and sat down behind chapel
in the temple precincts, exclaiming, 1--WE
are hungry and there are eighteen days
before next pay day" They charged the
paymasters with dishonesty, asserting
that the latter gave false measure. The
paymasters, on the other hand, charged
the men with want of foresight, alleging
that they spent their wages as soon as
they touched them. After some further
negotiations with officers of the govern
ment the men resumed work on the un-
derstanding that the king himself should
receive their complaint. Two days later
Pharaoh actually visited the temple, and
dered relief to be given to the woebegone
masons. For a short time there was
quiet, but soon provisions failed, and dis
content broke out again with renewed
violence. On the 10th of the following
month the strike was in full force again.
Not man would work. On the 18th and
18th they still refused to lift tool.
On the 10Th they attempted to leave
the precincts of the temple in order to
carry their grievances into the outer
world, but found that the person who
was placed over them had taken precau- !
tions so effectively that no one could |
leave. So they spent the whole of that |
day in laying their plans. On the fol
lowing day they resorted TO more noisy
methods. After vainly appealing with
loud cries to their manager, they decided
to apply to the governor of the city, and
therefore rushed through the busy streets
to the Inconvenience of pedestrians, not
stopping until they reached the gov
ernor's palace. Like their European sue
cessors, these discontented artisans stub
0ornly refusd to work, spent many hours
IN discussing their position and pros
poets, disturbed the order of the streets
by their impetuous movements, and ul-
obtained part at least of their
so we can trace the strike
back for 5000 years, that is, to a period
when Rome was not built and even
freek civilization was still in its in
ancy.
How old the method was at that time
is at present impossible to say. Per
laps the custom is as old as the pvra. -,
nids. Perhaps the first strike preceded d
he most ancient Of the existing monu-
nents of civilization. Pail Mall Gazette. b