Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1895-10-21
LABOR BULLETIN
Commissioner Wright Reports On
Strike Affairs. -
FOE SERIOUS REFLECTION

On the Part Of Roth Contestants In Labor
Disputes-B1dget Of Facts and Fispres
That II Not Accompanied by Opinions
Cost Of the Great Strike at Chicago-The
Storm Center Located-InterestingB MAJ
ter ON IN Important Subject.
WASHINGTON, Oct. 2l.-Chicago mon
opolizes considerable amount of space
In the first issue of the Bulletin OF the
United States Department of Labor"
which Commissioner Wright sent to che
printer today. The bulletin is TO be iss1ed
bi-monthly, it is understood, but II the
rest of 1t resembles the part which is nOvy
ready for the printer it is going to take
three months to get it ont. The first part
is virtually history of strikes for the last
seven and a half years and is carried dewp
far enough 20 show pretty thorough re-
cord OF the Dcbs strike. The book takes
no side, expre;es no opinion, advocates no
theory. 1t deals mostly in figures.
A Lesson Between the Lines.
The deductions drawn from them in the
preface are of the twO-and-two-makefou four
| order, but there arc stcrnly instructive
lessons between the lines for those who
care to read them. The report docs not
say whether strikes are or .re not @gooJ
things. 1t merely records facts and fig
urcs. 1t shows, for instance, that from
Jan. l, 1887, to June 81, 1894, there were
| 10000 strikes in the state of Illinois. Out
of these 4,657 succeeded and f.4l3 failed
The great Chicago strike, in which the de-
partment of labor recognizes twcnty-six
separate and distinct strikes, cost. the
strikers 81, 295, $50. This strike alsO cost
the railroads &, Oo2a 29s, but the report does
not say upon whom the loss fell hcavfest.
Chicago Strikes Cost Most. :
| Neither Is there q statement of which
won, but side by side there stands two
ominous. columns. One is headed: Mum
Der Of men thrown out of employment"
The other: Number of men brought from
other places to fill strikers places. Both
columns are filled. While, for seven and
q half years, Illinois shows the highest
number of strikes and lockouts the city d
Chicago itself stands third on the list. In
the number of actual strikes Chicago Is
beaten by both New York and Brooklyn,
but the city by the lake regains an unen-
viable rank by the fact that her strikes
have cost more. -
Location Of the ''Storm Center"
New York, for instance, had 2,Q1a
strikes, involving 215,ti49 men and causing
a wage loss Of &c, 40, 3S5. Chicago during
the same period had only 52s strikes, but
they involved 2S2.6ll men and made q
wage loss of &, SID, 494. Chicago soems to
be a better city to strike in, too, for New
York's organized labor, with all it's strikes
only contributed s79s, Sl7 to the strikers
Chicago unions helped their striking
members with 81, $50, 1SS-rather more than
a million over New York. The storm cen
ter for strikes shows up pretty well whcr
the report declares that Illinois, Massa
chusetts, New York, Ohio and Pennsyl
vania furnished 81 per cent. of all tn,
strikes. Twenty-six assorted cities fur
nish 56.34 per cent.
Some Details from the Report.
Coming down to the causes Of strikes Il
is shown that % per cent. are for rails,
in wages, per cent. are sympathy
strikes, 3 per cent. are against non-uniol
labor and 9 per cent. for the recognition
of the union. In 1898 there were 1880
strikes. During the first six months o
1894 there were 1886 The greatest strike
appear in the building trades. In sever
and a half years the building trades has
60 ISL strikes, the coal Industries ha,
5,9oS; clothing trades. 3,O41; tobacco trades
2,5O6; food supply trade, 1888; stone cut
tiers, 1893; metal workers. 1884; transpor
tation, 1877, and printers, Cos.
In Illinois for the same period ther
were $50 strikes; $50 were ordered b
unions and 2;.l were not. On an averag
the men remained out nineteen days. TIL
loss in wages to the employees was $i5,3.,aa
O97. Labor organizations helped them t
the extent of 81 91S, 81.