New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1893-04-03
TIRvP'.S MTSTJKE.

The wace-carners of the United States are
the people They are able to do whatever they
will But organized labor docs not meet the
response and support expected, and sometimes
is pcrpcyed to know why. The reason is that
some of its methods arc based on distruSt OF
the American sense of justice. 1t demands and
tries to cocrce, but the people know that they
cannot be cOeIced
1t is hard to bring this fact home t. the full
understanding of men who feel that they have
been unjIstly treated and want to use every
weapon within reach to crush opposition. They
forget that their condition is one which the
wage carriers of any other land may envy.
They forget that they have attained position
such as the laboring class never attained IN
any other country on earth, or in any other
age of the worlds history, by reason OF the
general disposition of the people as whole
TO see that labor should have as liberal com
pcnsati0n as the progress of civilized society
would permit. individuals there are. Of course
whose contempt for labor and laborers is as
keen as it was when it found expression IN
the phrase, Northern mudss." Employers
there are, of course, who are grasping and deaf
to justice. But the great body of the people
during the whole century OF the Nations life
has been disposed to stand b. labor - secure
it fair rewards, to increase its returns and to
insure it the respect which honest toll deserves
1t is Nation composed of people thus fairly
inclined that organized labor sets itself too
often to cocIce.
Men who know human nature know that this
is not shrcvd. At the first symptom OF coer-
cion Americans are up in arms with tho same
spirit which made teapot Of Boston lllrbor
IL has always been an easy Nation 10 persuade
but hard one to drive. When a man begins
by assuming that Americans will not grant
what he wants except under compul'ion, he
not only stops the ears of men T. plea Tor
the Justice of his cause. but he kindleS an an
tagonsm which is hard to resist. Organized
labor could expect tcnfOld more from the
American sense cf justice than from any 60
ercivc device. Yet Mr.. Swinton says that the
strike j. the aborcrs rifle and the boycott his
bayonet. Then he is poorly armed. Both are
apt to be, and the boycotts are always, CO.
orovc measures Appeal t. public opinion
against unfairne.s of employers has sometimes
failed but mt often Attempts to fore what
society would not otherwise grant have failed
Tar IHDTe Cllfu tHdIi nav
The strike. if wholly discovered from efot'
to stop others from working by force or in
timidafion, is merely an appeal 10 natural laws
of supply ard demand You must have the
work done" it says; lean You get anybody
else 10 do it well on your terlns?' such a
strike cannot be denounced as illegal, except
in rare instances. where public interests are
unnc essarily sacrificed. But how many strikes
without any force or intimidation has the c)un-
try seen in late years? Labor organizations
freely admit, in form. that they have TO light
to ccerce or intimidate non-union workers but
the thing is so often done that The ordinary
mind under stands Mr.. Swinton 10 mean. threat
ching and violent compulSion OF n)n-union men
when he speaks Of n strike. The error is not
in public apprehension. II is in the conduct
of those who resort ~ strikes n "a remedy.
The boycott is always and necessarily an
attempt to cCcrcc. 1t threat rs thousands who
have no part in a quarrel in order 10 make m
antagonist suffer. It's very csscnce is hostile
to American freedom, and the disposition 50
often manifested to resist the demands Of
organized labor is largely due to the fact that
b0ycotts and coercive strikes are so often its