The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1892-06-14
The Soldier on Strike.

Nothing can be palmer than that trades
unionism in it's rudimentary forms at least.
has begun to operate in the British army.
Even in these strange times the soldier on
strike is strange and new figure. But he
has already arrived. His approach was
foreshadowed when the Grenadier Guards
refused to parade because they revolted
against their rations. The fighting man.
hired and instructed for the trade OF war.
gets most OF his wages In food and clothing
In the case OF tho Grenadiers the food fell
short OF the terms OF the laborer-militant's
contract. Tho employer refused redress.
So borrowing leaf from the code OF civil
labor. the journeyman fighter struck.
Unluckily for him. another code OF su-
premc authority temporarily interfered
with him. The articles of war left no room
for argument and no chance Of appeal. His
alimentnry demands wero conceded. but.
as a punishment for the manner In which
they were expressed no had to do brief PEN
ance in Bermuda.
The other day the flght-laborer OF Great
Britain went on strike a second time. Two
| bnttalions Of the Enniskillen militia dropped
| their tools and their work because the tents
which had been assigned to them were
damp and unwholesome. Had they been
regulars. the exemplary punishment i'm
posed upon tho Grenadiers would undoubt-
| eddy have been exceeded. But. being
militiamen, 1t is possible that their treat
ment will be much less severe.
| Both these cases are exceptionally Inter-
esting because they show how clearly the
military laborer realizes the identity Of his
cause with that OF the civilian wage worker.
| linz I'D ninnp
as well rs fighting animal. 1t already
dawns upon him that the destructive wing
Of tho Army OF Labor Is an exact equiva-
lent Of its constructive force. and that. Of
the two. his own is incomparably the more
arduous and the worse paid division.
Naturally. he dismisses sentiment, set
ties down to calculation. measures what he
does and what he gets for doing it: and
then II dissatisfied. strikes for his rights
like q blacksmith or a stonemason.
Suppose this common-sense view Of their
business shall DO adopted by the other fight
laborers Of Europe? 1t will not be very
long before the promise Of g rational age OF
peuce shall dawn at last upon the universal
sky. When they turn deaf ear to tradi-
ton and sentiment and begin to bal
ance their wages against their work. the
armies OF the world will take an immense
stride toward meeting the millennium.
For while grave, even capital. obstacles
will be in their way. Feudalism dies hard
Tho mutiny act will for years DO more ef-
fcctive than even that special clause OF the
divine right OF kings which still enables
them to pit their fighting men against each
other as If they wero gamecocks or bull.
dogs. But the century gallops as 1t grows
old. In its early years men were hanged In
England for doing that for which BARON
DEss goes free.
The silence OF IN acquired instinct is en-
tirely vain against discussion and reason
ing. Col. SHEPARD can only starve hli
stage horses so long as they are speechless
The day they utter an Ineligible complaint
, there will be an equine JOHN Brown ready
to demand the liberation OF his race.
For centuries the professional soldier has
been ceaselessly gallOped and trotted and
overdrivon to his work OF unmalicious HON
icide. He has nev0r protested because he
I has never stopped to think as other men
/ think nowadays. Hitherto it has never oc.
Cured to him to consider the nature OF hi s
f. Job or the sufilciency Of his wages.
! But the man whom England hires to be-
drilled and killed for her. has at last been
struck by an idea. He perceives dlmly
that after all he Is only another variety OF
, the laborer who makes the gun which he
5 fires, the barracks in which he dwells. OF
/ the uniform which distinguishes his specific
handicraft. There is. morally. no differ
, once between his own revolt from his task
and the civilian laborers refusal to work.
! As soon as the fight workers have organ
4 lied themselves. the functions OF the mil!
' tary walking delegate will begin and grow
Interesting. That special kind of contract
0 ing which Is undertaken by field marshals
, and imperial strategists will depend largol,
, upon his veto. Commanders-in-chief mus
. also include him in tho calculations O.
, their tactics. for surely nothing more
I embarrassing can be imagined than the
| flight OF Major-General whose troop
: have been called out" on the eve of
. great engagement. The "scab" soldie
G will encounter tho apprehension which nov
t assails the scab" carpenter; and the spec
. tacle OF a host OF non-uniou armed mel
I lodging. as they so to work under polio
: protection. the missiles OF competitor
0 banded and sworn not to kill or 10 kille