Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1892-09-01
panic here2 or what Is the secret cause
Of this change?
AN EXPLANATION or PREVAILING
STRIKES.

DURING last week there were re-
ported about MY labor troubles In var.
ious parts Of the country. These In
ciude strikes, lockouts, aud grievances
relating to union organizations. The
vas, majority OF tho strikes failed in
their object, only a few successful,
there were some compromises, and a
number yet remain unsettlod.
In one Of his messages 10 the Forty
ninth Congress, President Cleveland
said:
"rho discomfort Of the employed IL due
In large degree to the gfasping and
needless oxactions OF employers, and the
alleged determinations in favor OF capital
as an object Of governmental at
tolilon. Laboriug mon arc not
always careful to avoid causolcss
disturbances. But suggest that
lnstean Of arbitrators thoro be- created a
commission Of iaborsconslsiing Of three
members, who shdl DO regular officers
OF the government, charged among othor
duties with tho consideration and settle
ment, when possible. Of all controversies
between labor aud capital"
This suggestion was ignored by
Congress. Compulsory arbitration Is
now talked Of, bu. iis prac,lcability Is
questionable. One authority asks
whether II the case were decided In
favor Of the employers the laborers
could be- compelled by force to work.
Orin w. Weaver, chief assistant OF
Carroll ID. Wright, commissioner Of
labor, says that compulsory arbitration
would not do. IL has been tried In
Ohio, New York and Massac husetts,
but II has achieved very little good.
In the last named State IL has ao-
compllshed little.
Mr.. Weaver was asked recently by
n st. Louis Globe. Democrat CORES.
pendent to what he attributed the pre-
valence Of strikes In this age. He re-
piled rs follows;
"To human nature. We arc undergoing
great transition, which has boon In
course Of development for tho past forty
or fifty years There arc periods In the
history Of civilization when all things,
80 to speak, are stationary. There is no
perccptiblo change. Tho established or
der Of things moves In ia established
grooves, without any remarkable or vio-
Ia fN mutations fTlnuW VaaVfRIa
ccedod by periods Of radical social reyo-
buttons, and all OF q sudden we are in the
middle OF changes aud a general turmoil,
like tho great labor strikes of the
present Tho causes are not always out
wnrdly apparent. II IL to DO sought In
the immutabillly OF human nature. Tho
conditions are changing by which society
is surrounded. 4 now direction IL given
to human thought. Socialism IL an on
tlroly modern phenomenon. 1t was not
known during tho periods Of industrial
stability. Woriingmen read moro and
reflect more. Literature IL cheaper, and
ideas, right or wrong,are spreading faster
than they did flfiy years ago. Now ma
chlnory Ia constantly introduced; now in-
vontlona follow fast ono upon anothcr;
and the minds OF people arc receiving
now impressions and keep constantly
alert for changes. In short, We arc liv-
ing In II timo Of rapid changes, when no
settled order Is to be thought OF. Strikes
have boon raging for years; they will
probably continue for a hundred years
longer. IL Is question we have boon
unable to solve satisfactorily, and /, Is
not likely TO be solved until the course Of
intellectual activity oncc moro subsldos
into regular and definite channel"