The new North-west., 1892-09-03


wright to handle.
The strike is quite a modern affair.
In the ollen time the workmen were
actually Or virtually slaves. A strike
was an insllrrection, and insnrrection
meant death certainly and torture prob
ably. Nevertheless, though they had no
strikes. they got up some very respecta-
bic mutations, as for instance that Of
Spartacus.
With q motley army Of gladiators and
slaves he held the Romans at bay for
two years, defeated four consular armies
and only failed Of final success because
Of the intractable nature Of his troops
The French revolution first took active
form in a strike. When the worklnen
in paper manufactures in Paris struck,
early in 1850, 4 wealthy capitalist told
them they could live as we'll is they de-
served OIL fifteen cents 4 day. There
upon they mobbel his works and burned
them, and the example was contagious
Labor movements II England are rsu-
ally dated from Wat Tyler's rebellion.
The movements Of Jack Straw. John
Ball and Jack Cade are also counted
ldlUiI tlt}l ttlRS. 1JtIilIl5 tli LIE tS-t's vi
despolism it was tile custom to send
such agitators and conspirators aS were
not executed to labor ill the mines, and
fugitives often Went there for conceal
ment. They continued their planning
and plotting under ground. ana the r.
suit was that the miners We're first and
most thoroughly organized of all la
bOlers.
Thus dill Gustavus Nasa organize the
miners Of Sweden who helped restore
him to power. In England the miners
of Cornwall We're So early and So thor
oughly organized that a Cornish mob
was long 4 national terror. It is be
ievel that some Of these organizations
centuries old continued with only a
change Of name till they became the
Mollie Naguires Of Pennsylvania. In
1850 the British parliament passed the
famous .'Sfatute Of laborers,'-tle first
Of a long series Of acts to prevent a rise
in wages.
After the great plague, all old con-
tracts being at an end and lands calling
per cent. and those Of women 100 per
cent. in a few years. Then d long and
in the end terrible struggle began. The
first rage Of laborers seems to have been
directed against machinery and the first
sawlnil1 set up i'll England was torn
down by the whip sawyers. This move
ment against machines Went to such
lengths after the Napoleonic wars that
it amounted to u rebellion. and $4,000
"Luddltes' We're i'll ranks at one time.
A half Witted lad named Ludd, who
had been teased By some boys, pursued
them into a sllop. where they took refuge
behind a lace mill. III his rage he broke
the machine to pieces, so the proprietor,
i'll order to fill his contracts, had to re-
employ the women who had been dis
placed by the new invention. There's
upon the other women OF the lace dis
trict gathered IN lnObs and smashed the
rest OF the lace mills, the men followed
it up on all machinery which had dis
placed their labor, and the once famous
"Luddite ws.r' was begun. One fact
must be acknowledged the advance
laborers have secured has been the re-
suit Of their combining and resisting.
It is humiliating, but it is a fact.
III 1884 the great strike Of the London
tailors occurred but they We're beaten
The next strike, i'll the Statfordshire pot
teries, was won by the men after a des-
perate struggle. The great Preston
strike of 1858 attracted the attention Of
the world. Forty nine cotton and other
mills We're closed. and before the strike
ended 1872 paupers We're added to the
= lief The IN on wore 1afaata1
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