The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1892-08-08
\ STRIKE UNDER FREE TRADE.

A STRIKE uNDEE FREE TRADE.
There has been q deal Of Democratic
bowling oyer the Homestead strike against
the highest wages in the world, and a
desperate effort to make it an object les
son against protection and in favor Of free
trade. This effort has utterly failed; il
has been advantageous to the Republicans
because it has revealed the very high
wages paid under protection compared
with the wages paid to the same class of
labor in free trade England; and
it has called attention to the fact
that the protective tariff on iron
and steel manufactures is not
tax. since the steel billets today are selling
at far lower price owing to internal COM
petition and overproduction than the
price at which the foreign article could
be imported. If the protective tariff was
tax the steel billets would be selling at
$50 instead of $22, as they are today. The
Homestead strike under protection was
revolt against wages that for skilled labor
ranged from $3.50 to SIS day: or nearly
three times the wages paid in England.
Now let us review the conditions of
skilled labor under English tree trade.
that forced that great revolt of English
coal miners known as the, Durham strike,
which ended q little more than q month
ago. The Durham strike was independent
of the strike of the Miners Federation of
Great Britain. but it was begun at the
same time. One hundred and ninety
thousand miners were affected by the
strike of the federation, and $1,000 by the
strike in Durham county, where ZIG col
lieries were operated by eighty-six firms
or individuals. The strike of the fedora
ton lasted only fortnight, but the
Durham strike lasted eleven weeks. 1t
plunged the strikers and their families
into such terrible misery that many of the
feebler women and children died Of star
walton, and the suffering was 80 shocking
that benevolent persons contributed to
fund for the aid of the sick and of the
starving. The strikers finally had to &C.
cept worse terms than they had refused at
first, and fully 10000 of them were shut
out permanently.
Before the strike the owners asserted
that their position was 10 per cehS worse
than at . corresponding time in the pre-
vious year. They, therefore. felt COM
PEELED to demand reduction in the wages
equal to 10 per cent, and, in case the
miners refused, would be satisfied to leave
the question to arbitration. The men re-
fused to accept any reduction, to submit
to arbitration or to even leave the settle
ment of the difficulty to the committee of
the union. The owners finally offered to
accept ~ per cent reduction, but the
miners refused to accept this compromise
against the advice Of the leaders.
The strike began March IA, and the
miners behaved very much as did the
workmen at Homestead. Not only did
they force the guards and enginemen to
leave the mines, but they attempted by
violence to interfere with all efforts to save
the mines from being flooded and perma-
nently ruined. In other instances the men
refused to allow the engines to DO worked
in the mines. even for the purpose of
pumping out the water, although their
own water supply depended on the pumps.
Men who attempted to enter the mines
were seized and beaten. Houses of persons
who displeased them were wrecked, and
officials were stoned on the highways. A
reporter of newspaper which criticised
the strikers was chased for mile. and the
store in which he took refuge was wrecked,
after which he was terribly beaten. An
electrician who was fixing q telephone at
Castle Eden collieryswas abused until he
fell senseIess. Stables in which the Shet-
land ponies used in the mines were housed
were burned at one place, and at another
an attempt was made to blow up the house
of an official with gunpowder. The owners
did not attempt to resume operations with
other men, and confined their efforts to
keeping the water out of the mines. After
they had submitted to the lawlessness of
the miners for some time they appealed to
the sheriff to enforce order. A force Of
military was sent down, and the mobs
were put down.
The money of the strikers gave out; the
tradesmen refused them credit; the wives
and children were reduced to starvation;
diphtheria became epidemic, and finally
the misery of the strikers became so great
that on June l, eleven weeks after the be-
ginning of the strike. the men accepted
reduction of 10 per cent. or ~ per cent.
more than they had refused when they
struck. Their union had been greatly
weakened, and all their individual and
collective savings had been wiped out.
Nearly every home had tale of death or
sickness. The men and their families had
suffered frightfully. Besides all these
mournful results about 10000 miners were
permanently shut out through the ruin Of
some Of the mines.
This is the tale of the last great strike
under free trade, q strike unjustly forced
by the obstinacy Of the miners, snd per-
sisted in by them to the point of frightful
loss, misery and permanent injury to
their interests.
THE WOOL TARIFF.