The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1892-03-16
The Interest of wage.Earners.

The Interest of Wage-Earners.
1t is a singular fact that there are work
ingmen who object to the establishment
of boards OF arbitration and Cancellation
as means for settling labor troubles. The
objection probably arises from two sources:
% The pleas OF that class OF labor agitators
who support themselves by agitating, and
consequently prefer the existence of
trouble to its satisfactory settlement; and
% the fear that capital may Overreach or
outwit labor in the presentation OF its
claims To the first no answer can be
made except the statement of the fact.
There has always been, and always will
be. a class of persons who place their indi-
vidual interests above every other consid-
Grafton. This is the law Of selfshness.
Dryden understood it when he wrote:
For twas their duty, all the learned think.
T. espouse his cause by whom they eat and drink
1t exists at all times and under all cir
cumstances. No matter what the ques-
ton, no matter who concerned. there are
men-and many of them-who will make
tire effect on their pockets the supreme
test. For this reason our laws do not
permit Judge to try a case in which he
is interested, nor man to serve as a juror
who is interested, nor a citizen to serve on
an election board who has bet on the
election or Is related to a candidate. OF
course there are men who can rise above
such influences, but everyone recognizes
that there are others who will not. In
regard to arbitration it is evident that
those who live by strife are not actuated
by the same motives as the great mass Of
labOrers, whose real interest is quiet and
steady occupation at fair wages and under
fair conditions.
As to the second cause il is sufficient to
say that actual experience has shown,
whenever arbitration has been tried, that
it has almost invariably produced Justice,
and that it has always proven better for
labor than the system of strikes and lock
outs. This is in part due to the inherent
necessity of disadvantage to labor involved
in strikes, for they are practically tests of
endurance. In such a test it is simply
impossible that there should be any
equality between labor, whose earnings
are its support and life, and capital, whose
earnings are frequently only surplusage
The loss always falls heaviest on the wage
earners. even though In absolute amount
that OF the employers should appear trebly
great. This money loss is matter that
deserves a careful thought of all wage
earners. 1t Is something that affects not
only their temporary well-being, but also
their future improvement of condition.
Col. INGERsoLL recently said at banquet
IN New York:
Happy, O blessed, is that country where
the rich are extravagant and the poor
economical Unhappy is that country
where the poor are exTavagant and the
rich are economical
There is a vast amount of truth in this,
and there is no greater extravaganza Of
workingmen than that of strikes. In the
census of 1880 an elaborate collection of
statistics of strikes was made by Mr.
JAMES ID. WEEKS, who is well known as an
accurate and intelligent writer on labor
topics. In 1880 he found that 762 strikes
occurred in this country. Full returns
were obtained as to 226 of them. In
these 64.779 persons took part and the
days work lost was ,9S9,s72. The abso-
lutte wage loss was S3,7ll,097.
This system of investigation has since
been continued, and the result. up to the
year 1887 are presented, in the special re-
port of the commissioner of labor for
that year on strikes and lOckouts. For
the six years, 1SSl-1SS6. the number of
strikes and lockouts was 1902, the num-
Der of laborers involved ! .323, 303 and the
wage loss was S59.972, 44O Resultant
losses can only be conjectured, but this
direct, certain and enormous wage loss is
surely enough TO make any person stop
and reflect that this system is a bad thing
for labOrers.
Moreover, while 1880 was an unusual
year Tor number of strikes, and while the
number has varied widely since then,
there has been steady increase in the
number of persons involved and steady
decrease IN the percentage of strikes re-
suting favorably to the workingmen.
These figures are so remarkable that we
present them in tabulated form.