Evening capital journal. (Salem, Or.) 1888-1893, 1891-03-05
TIE FlPeT STRIKE.
The First We Know OF Was In Egyri
Three Thousand Years Ago.

Three InONNdnu lFhT7 y bps
"There is nothing new under the sun
receives nowhere Il more startling verii-
cation than in this matter Of strife.
/ The way in which orr wOrkingmen Of
! modern Europe try to c)erce their EN-
/ ployers was in substance the way adopt
ed by their dark skinned, meau,y
/ clad, poorlv fell predecessors in the land
Of the Nile before Moses led the Israel
ties ont Of Egypt. NJ. Maspero, who ia
well qualified to speak on all points con
nected with Egyptology, devotes several
| very interesting pages to the subject
in his charming "Historic Readings"
which have just been published. It
seems that the families of the working
| classes were quite as inproyileut IN
Egypt thirty centuries ago as some of
them are in England at the present Cay.
At the beginning Of the month, when
they had just received their months IA
tions, eating and drinking went on with
ont 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 out on strike in order to ex-
tort more from their superiors. A strike
Of 1nasons is described by NJ. Maspero in
detail, and some parts of the description
might almost be mistaken for extracts
from an English or GerAan newspaper
in the Nineteenth century of the Chris
tian era.
On the 10th Of the month the builders
employed at a temple rushed tulnultu-
ously out of the place where they We're
working and sat down behind a 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
when the matter was laid before him or
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
ern0r's palace. Like their European sue
cessOrs, these discontented artisans stub
bornly 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
demands. So we can trace the strike
back for 1900 years, that is, to period
when Rome was not built and even
Greek civilization was still in its in
fancy.
How old the method was at that time
it is at present impossible to say Per
haps the custom is as old as the pyra-
mids. Perhaps the first strike preceded
the most ancient of the existing monu.
ments of civilization.-Pal Mall Gazette.