Staunton vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1860-1896, 1894-07-20
TINsLEY & MORTON. Proprietors.
FRIDAY MORNING. JULY 20, 1894.
ARBITRATION IN STRIKES.

There seems to be an impression that
regard to the Debs strike won the admira-
tion of the country, has promised to see
that the late strikers shall have ALTERATION
with the Pullmans. He has done nothing
so foolish; he has simply said that under
the law of 1888. which has been called, but
is not, an arbitration law, he will appoin,
a commission to Investigate the late riot
and it's cause.-the commission to report to
Congress.
No man of practical views will ever ad.
yocate enforced arbitration in business mat
tiers. 1t is impracticable. Arbitration must
Ae voluntarily resorted to to be. Of any COOP
to either size. An arbitration which de-
cides that u Workingman shall take less than
Il living rate for his work is just as useless
us one that decides that an employer must
pay his labor 81 q day when he can only
afford $l,5G. No workingman nor en-
ployer is going to put his wages OF capita
at the mercy Of enforced arbitration. The
only good the Boards of Arbitration which
eXistin several OF the States, have done, was
to afford tribunal before which both contes-
tants can go and each hear the others side
calmly set forth in a quiet room. and not
discussed amid the noise Of property being
wrecked and shots being fired. These
Boards give both sides q chance to get cool
and listen to reason, but that is all. To
give an Arbitration board the power to fix
wages OIL fix profits would be practically
giving it the power to confiscate both labor
and property.
The American Railway Union when it
made the submission to arbitration by the
Pulhnans it's ultimatum, made fatal
mistake. but it was a mistake that is COM
anon il this day when European ideas seem
to be getting the control Of many of the
zabor unions that were formerly controlled
by Americans and American interest
Thirty-years ago strike consisted of the
workmen going out and refusing to work
longer under the existing conditions. AS
a rule if the strike lasted any time the men
scattered to other points Of the cOuntrY-a
proceeding that was pretty sure to bring
the employer to their terms if he was able
to comply with them; for there is nothing
worse in industries than to have to reor-
ganize force of Workmen. 1t is a great
drawback to the success of the plant. But
nowadays when strike is declared. about
Ience from tIle strikers either to person or
to property has followed. This is not a
matter of surprise When we recall the great
change that has come over the labor unions
in this country in the last twenty-five
years. In the large cities the foreign ele-
ment and their ideas have become the dom
mating force.
The Amerit al workman has made two
mistakes that it has now almost gotten be-
You'd his power to repair. One is that he
has admitted to his labor union foreigners
without limit OF restrictions; the other is
that lie has adopted rules regarding the
number of apprentices that may be en-
ployed in a shop, that about bar the Ame'
rican boy out. 30, while the foreign mem
bers Of the unions have increased by tile
ship load, the American members have graG-
nally grown less in proportion every year.
Iii fact it amounts to this, that the real
American workman is now found almost
exclusively in the small towns.
The predominance Of the foreign element
in labor unions is largely responsible for the
silent feeling of antagonist: to them which!
so largely prevails Oh the farms Of the coul.-
try. The mem bership is slowly assuming
the position in the eyes Of people, of an or
ganization that is foreign to them, that is
antagonstic to them, that they cannot un-
derstand, and that they seldom hear ct eX-
cept when connected with scenes OF destrnc-
ton and bloodshed. Their demands are to
the mass of the people, foreign to and i'm
practicable in America. The people can
not understand, for instance, Il demand
, that q lnan must keep his shop open at a
loss in order to give other men work, OF
submit to an arbitration" which may re-
suit in making him do it whether he is able
or not. 70 the American people this sort
of demand snlacks Of anarchy.
Labor unions have done good service il
this country, the remembrance of which
should not be wholly blotted out by the ca
pers OF some of the men who have gotten into
power in them at this day. They have been
helpful to the workingman during life and
to his widow and children after him. 1t
is to be hoped that experience and time
will show them the Importance OF restor-
ing their old time hold on the estimation OF
their countrymen. They cannot afford to
let their organizations fall into the hands
of such men as Debs and Sovereign, who
with chimeF.cal IDEAS and insane ambition
are likely TO wreck the interests with which
they are entrusted. They Should remem-
ber that in this great country the union
membership is but small clement as conf
pared with the mass of the people who are
determined that the laws Shall be oheyed,
and they should more generally inculcate
in their ranks the American idea that all
wrongs are to be righted through the ballot
box. Car burning, murder by means of
weakened bridges, assaults on other men
who are willing to work, producing starva-
ton III sections OF the country 10y disabling
railroads and destroying their property. are
as foreign to the American idea of govern
ment as their originators are to American
soil. In this free country a man IS labor Oh
a man S capital are his own. and cannot be
subordinated by law to serve the interests
of others, and when this condition Of things
changes, the country will have ceased to be
free. No strike in the last twenty five
years has had as little popular sympathy as
that that has just collapsed, and this fact
ought to he pondered by those wlo are now
in control of labor unions: there is much
in it worthy Of thought Nc Labor Union.
State, or people, can set up an authority in
side of the Government ef the United
States without being ground to powder