The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1896-12-20

partially successful with the first lot
I but the others obstinately insisted or
/ getting their share of the strike pas
and refused even to consider the adj
visibility of returning. They demand
ed what was promised them. or threat
ened TO enter the works in a BODY
which action would have speedily put
an end TO the contest Gibbons was
well supported by that section of the
press which gave more than a few
lines each day 10 the progress of the
strike. One morning the chief of these
papers came out with an appeal to the
public for aid. The case of the strik-
ers, battling. it might be, at first fol-
their own rights. but fighting in real
ity for all working humanity, was most
convincingly and tersely put in a
double-leaded editorial. and the journal
itself headed the list with a handsome
contribution. Would the people OF
England hold aloof. reduce these work
.ers into slaves, using the weapon OF
journal did not believe such apathy
existed, and its belief was amply justi-
fed, for subscriptions poured in rapid
ly, together with indignant letters
from all parts of the country, which
were duly printed in its columns.
The first pinch of the strike came on
the men when it was suddenly an
nounced that strike pay would the
next Saturday be cut down to one
quarter the amount they were then re-
ceiving. There was a good deal of
grumbling and some inquiries as to
what they were fighting for. but on
the whole. the disastrous proclamation
was received quietly, if somewhat
grimlys
I'VE are bound to VIM" said Glib
bons. when he was reluctantly COM
PEELED TO tell the men of the reduction.
The firm is losing nearly a thousand
pounds a week by the factory remain
ing idle, and il is not likely they will
stand that long, even to oblige Sart-
WELL
Gibbons had not the courage to add
that even with this reduction, the
union could not hold out more than a
week longer; that it was practically
at the end of its resources, and that
future strike pay would have to de-
pend on the subscriptions received
from the outside, a most precarious
source of revenue, for every one knows
how short-lived enthusiasm is and how
the collection of hard cash destroys il.
There is much in good generalship,
and one of its axioms is that you
should endeavor to discover your en-
emy's weakest point Never once did
it dawn on Gibbons or any of his lieu
attacking had only to be approached
in one direction, when the walls would
have crumbled like those of Jericho;
never did it occur to him that Sart-
well was fighting at the same time two
battleS-one with the men and one with
the masters and of the two contests he
feared the result of the latter most.
Sartwell was between two fires; he
had urged both Monkton & Hone to
nd he Ger,f M 80.
and leave the conducting of it to- him.
They vacillated; in the evening Sart-
well might have their promise, but in
the morning they had changed what
they had pleased to call their minds.
They always feared the worst They
saw the factory in flames, and the MOB
shot down by troops. They implored
Sartwell to come to some agreement
with the men. He had said the strike
would be over in three weeks. and here
it was still dragging on, the men as
determined as ever. If he were wrong
about the duration of the fight, might
he not be wrong also in his treatment
of the men? Was no compromise pos
sible?
This sort of thing Sartwer had to
with, and it wearied him more
than the strike itself. He o3ened the
papers in daily fear that he would find
there some letter from the firm, in an
swer to the structures of the day before.
which would show the public at once
how the land lay.
Gibbons believed that the backbone
of a fight was money, as in many cases
it is; but moments reflection might
have shown him that, if the fight was
to be conducted on a cash basis. the
strikers had not a ghost of chance.
because the firm of Monkton & Hope
was much richer than the union. He
believed in fighting the devil with fire.
Adages are supposed to represent the
condensed wisdom of the ages, where
rs they too often represent condensed
foolishness. If one has to meet an ex-
pert swordSman on the field of honor
ne should select a pistol if he has the
choice of weapons. Fight the devil if
you like, but never with fire. When
Narsten had said to Gibbons, Mr.. !
knows to a penny how much !
you have in the bank" the secretary |
lad answered grandly that Sar.well !
night see the books of the union for |
Ill he cared. and much good might it /
10 him. The fact that a man like !
sartwell thought it worth his While |
o ind out what the enemy was doing. |
lid not suggest to Gibbons that il !
night not be bad plan to have a look |
'ver SartwelPs shoulders and discover
ust how things We're going in the /
privacy of the managers office When
darsten ferreted out various things as
he fight progressed. and brought his |
to Gibbons, the latter waved /
t aside as of no consequence, treating
1arsten throughout as an enemy in the
amp.
Timid little Mr.. Hope passed through
he gates each day to his office, scarce
y ever glancinS at the crowd that
looted him and made remarks not I
leasant to hear. He dreaded the mo-
nent of arriving and leaving, but
bought it a courageous thing to do,
he would be neglecting bis
uties OF a free-born BritOn if he
eserted his post at any time of dan
er.
If Gibbons had been a shrewd man,
e would have called upon Mr. Hope
t Surbiton. and ten minutes CONVEX
alton there would have shown him
he true state of affairs. for the timid
tile manufacturer was as transparent
s crystal. IF the secretary had lured
ne of the partners to the strikers
lace of meeting. which might nave
cen accomplished as easily as with
ne ''blacklegs" from the country, he
'ould in all probability have had
ublic statement which would have
lade Sartwell's resignation inevitable +
hus might Gibbons have led his army
} victory and at the same time have
laced his enemy where his army then
the gates.
And this was merely one of the
lethods By which a clever general
ould have trilmphed.
II Gibbons had taken the trouble to
form himself about the effect the
w editorials had produced in the
indS of the partners he would have