New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1892-07-15
.STRTKERS MISTAKES.

A very common mistake made by men who
20 on strike is that because they are laborng
men endeavoring to maintain the rights OF
laborinp men as against their capitalist employ
crs. and because the laboring men constitute
nm overwhelming majority and the capitalist
employers are only a minority OF the voting
people of the country, they, the stiiKerS' are
not merely the representatives, ana spoResmch
of the majority, but that they are the actual
majority. and as such endowed with powers
and privileges which have never been con-
ferrcd. the exercise of which would simply be
destructive of all order and all government.
This mistake is the result of a confusion OF
ideas. Popular government. democracy, is, true
enough government by majority, but 1t Is
only so in the sense that the majority make
the laws by which tho government Is const-
tuted and the framework of society held TO-
gether. The strength Of popular government
lies in the wise provisions. in organic acts ana
statutory enactments by which the very ma
jorities that adopted them put limitations upon
themselves which are recognized as an eiiectual
restraint upon hasty action and the sudden
changes 20 which society would be subjected
if left to the mercy of the tickle popular will.
III 10 government TN any ihhJ''i'I'
large, overturn the social order or violate It's
own laws. That makes an end OF all govern
ment and all law. II is anarchy, pure ana SIM
pie The. first consideration, in all cases, Is not
what are our rights and our privileges, but
what are our obligations and duties And tho
first duty of every citizen is to obey law That
is the essential condition precedent TO his en-
ioymcnt of any right whatever, even the right
Of personal liberty.
1t il a mistake, accordingly, for men en-
gagged in n strike 10 assume that. as repre-
sentatives Of the majority or the majority IT.
self they arc above and beyond law There
is still another mistake in the assumption that
they are the majority, or even its accredited
and authorized representatives. II l. easy
enough to say We are the people but tho
saving so does not either make il So or make
il 20. The reasoning that the majority are IN
fact tho people that workinemcn are the
majority and we are workngmcn, cOnsc-
oucntly 1--WE are the people, is a tIille fall
lacious. II should he remembered that the
individuals who constitute the government, and
enforce the laws the police, the cOnstabuary
and the sodiery, are worliingmcn, and 1t may
not be amiss to observe that the men against
whose employment the strikers protest, the
unemployed seeking employment, arc also
worllingmen, and that they too have some
rights under the law. When the strikers As
sumo 10 speak for tho entire body of working
mon In the country they leave entirely ont OF
the account the large number Of men who are
dependent upon their labor for subsistence, and
who being willing TO labor. are debarrcd tho
opportunity because other workers in organ
ICED associations claim a monopoly OF the labor
market When ii comes 20 rights, which. IA
already said, come after the duty Of obedience
10 law, the unemployed certainly have some.
This would hardly be free country If the
willing workman could find no market for his
labor except at personal risk and the danger
of a broken head.
The fundamental mistake in tho whole bust
ness is. OF course, the assumption Of natural
and unavoidable antagonsm between employer
and employed. between buyer and seller. That
there is an apparent conflict Of interest between
tho man whose profit lies in buying labor at
tho cheapest rate and the man whose natural
chief desire is to pet for his labor the highest
price is true enough. But we do not by any
means believe that this narrow and selfish view
is taken either by the large majority OF sue
ccssfu business men who employ labor or by
the mass Of worSngmcn. Both employers and
employed as rule recognize the fact that in
the long run good understanding. fair adjust
ments of differences and mutual concessions
are more profitable, as well as more salts
factory to both. There ought to be- there
are, in fact, no differences that cannot be adj
iusted BY patience and foibcaiancc and, above
all. We repeat, there are no grievances that
either Justify violation Of law or are redresscd
thereby.