Baxter Springs news. [volume] (Baxter Springs, Kan.) 1882-1919, 1894-06-02
pIscouRAolNo BUSINESS CONDITIONS.

The following from the Iron Age
Hardware Bulletin Ia so full of
good sound sense that we repro
duce II:
1T is trite saying that misfOr-
tunes never come singly. When
things are going wrong our woes
seem to multiply. Having struggled
with financial depression of I'M
precedcnted severity aud barely IS.
capped national bankruptcy. we are
with further troubles
which impede our efforts to regain
u portion of our former prospect y.
At u time when patient industry il
most essential in upbuilding the
fabric of conscience, labor troubles
intervene to check the work and
continue the wcarisonie reign of
Reorganization. just as employers
of labor are gradually feeling their
way to a resumption of operations
and more workmen are again find
ing their names OH pay rolls. Il e
demon of discomfort begins his fell
work and strikes become prevalent.
The knowledge that more workmen
are obtaining employment Causes
those whose wages have been re-
duced to believe that prosperity has
and that they are being
treated. Instead of feeli, q
thankful that employment can be
secured again. they 'murmur at the
low wages paid and revile the men
who are endeavOring to give them
work. They are consequently ready
to take the advice of labor agitators
aud abandon their tasks when the
word of command il given by their
dcspotic leaders. Blu. less il now
seriously depressed over u great
part of the country simply because
men refuse to work and not b, cause
they cannot find employment. The
is reversed from II II oh.
tanning Ia. !all and winter.
Congress is condemned. and
justly. for its innction on MON, IL
tous public questions, but wor.iing
men are almost. IL not quite. as
much to blame now for cen .inu'
ance of the business depression as
Congress. If every able bodied
man in the United States
make an effort to obtain EN-
ployment whereby he could earn
some kind of living, even though |
the pay for the present should be
scanty, endeavoring ut the same
time to live frugally and fore 20 the
luxuries of happier era, he would
be taking the very best course to
bring about the restoration of good
tines and the return of business
which would enable EN-
ployers to pay better wages. The
IN; n who refuses to work for 81 a
day because he formerly earned
sl.2J to $50, or for 81 because lie
once found his labor bringing 50, is
inwittingly a stumbling block in
his own path as well as that of his
In idling his time away
the settlement of strike
he eats up his savings. runs heavily |
INTO debt or else becomes a burden
III the community in which he lives
,r OIL the trade organization to which
ie belongs. At work he helps to
support the community in which he
ives: on strike he is "a detriinent to
1. We believe firmly that If from
January l of this year up to the
present time there had been no
strikes whatever in any part of the
but every working man
iad honestly striven TO secure EN-
,loyment at something. even If he
lad to go from home to hunt ii,
here would be little distress within
,ur borders and symptoms of i'm
would be apparent OH
very side.
STRIKES are sometimes justifiablc.
Hcn are not slaves in our time and
should not be treated as such. But
he strikes which have tikcn place
his year and are now in progress
ire of the wrong character and
nave been precipitated at the wrong
line. Even If men are now being
paid low wages and can barely sup
bort their families OH what they
,arn, they are better off than with
10 employment. trusting to the
charity of "a noto .'iously cold worl |.
An instance of this kind is found i'm
, large manufacturing establish
nent in the West whose employees
% the number of several thousand
.ccently struck for higher wages,
although they were assured that
contracts had been made below cost
merely to keep them at work and
hey were given the opportunity of
the books of the COM
,any to verify the sta nent. They
ire now out, the works are shut
Town to stay closed for an indefinite
lime, aud stories of distress among
The workmen's families are already
heard. II is UNANIMOUSLY cruel for
labor agitators to lead their poor
iupes into such a mire of hopeless
ness in times like these. The man