Evening star., 1897-03-20
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touch of his opponents quality and his
anger was lost in admiration for the young
mans shrewdness and knowledge of the
business The fight had been conducted so
quietly that no one in the neighborhood
would have known. from any sign of dis
trrbance, that war was in progress. Mar
s'en made no attempt to buy off the new
men. who came and went from the works
unmolested by the pickets. Marsten some
times talked with the strangers, telling
them of the strike and asking where they
came from: advising them to get work
elsewhere, but never making any attempt
either to ooerce or to bribe them. Sartweli
wondered at this. and hoped Marsten would
continue such a mild and harmless war
fare; nevertheless its very mildness made
him anxious. and he cautioned his new
strikers though he was well aware of The
useiessness of trying to inculcate secrecy
fer men will talk. In fact, Marsten kent
himself well informed Of what was going
on inside the works. and saw that the man
ager was quite shrewdly concentrating his
attention to one branch of a department
instead of trying to fill the whole factory
at one time He was gradually collecting
MS hundred cogs from all points of the
compass. and by and by would have one
big wheel and pinion. out of the many
wheels and pinions revolving. One day at
noon. when the men came out Marsten
rapidly running his eye over them. saw
new man. and at once he recognized that
here at last was the hundredth cog
You're new comer?' he said, accost-
ire him.
Yes" answered the man, II came this
morning.
I'd like to have a word with you," said
Marsten, keeping step with him.
IT : no use. / know there's a strike.
m here 10 work. and l don't give hang
for the union.'
We'll. it will do no harm to talk the
matter over"
,,It'll do no good. didn't come out to
talk; came out for my dinner"
"Of course. I'm on the same lay myself:
come with me We can talk and eat"
Il 1an pay for my own dinner"
Certainly; I'm not offering to pay for
II dcn suppose l get a tenth part OF
the wages you do; can see by the look of
you that you are a good workman. I'm
secretary of the union. and l get but a
few shilllnss a week. l would tell YOU
how few, but you probably wouldn't be-
lieve me, for l could get much more at my
trade"
The more fool you, then. for working
fer less
Perhaps. I want to raise the wages of
mel all over the kingdom so I'm oonten:
to work for little If l can do that Where
do you come FROM"
Il m Bolton man"
rs your family here"
No,
Why
What's that to you. I'd like to know?''
Its good deal to all of us, because 1t
shows that you are not sure of your situ-
ation.'
1T shows nothing Of the kind I'm guar
anteed my Situa ton
Guaranteed, What does a masters
guarantee amount to? We're going to win
this strike, and then where will you new
comers be" You know what happens when
the men go back Not one of you will be
left in the shops. Suppose you do not get
wages for a few weeks, what will be the
beneft in the end? permanent situation
at even lower wages would be better"
wv no says ii wouldn't? But haven't the
permanent situation, you see"
Now you are talking sense. Are you a
member of the Unon?"
Il was. l had a row with the foreman.
and he gave the sack
In whose shop was that?"
AT Smighden's."
Il don't know it. What wages were you
getting there?'
Thirty shillings a week.
DO you know Markham, Sarbury &
Company of Bolten?"
Yes
Would you be satisfied with thirty shil-
EEgs a week there?"
Yes; if | could be sure Of getting IT,"
You can be sure Of it. 1 will telegraph
TO the foreman this minute, and we'll have
an answer before We finish eating He has
promised to find me places for three men,
and l haven't sent him one yet. But don't
say word 10 any one here. for / want to
Feep the other two places for Bolton men
II they come
IN not go back to the shop at all if
can be sure of a place in Bolton"
And so it about that SartWell lost
his hundredth cog, and the cog never
thought 1t worth his while to give his
late master even a word of explanation.
He left on the first train for Manchester
This kind of thing happened several times
before Sartweil fully realized the method
in Marsten's action He thought at first
that Marsten had been merely lucky in
f,Fr.- IN off
such purchase would block all progress
1t was like pulling the linchpin from one
of the axles of a wagon. The manager
wrote to his fellow managers in different
parts OF the country, and warned them
that their foremen were giving places 10
employees from the works Of Monkton 4
Hope. and he received answers saying they
would do all they could to prevent such
tranSplantlng. but. ii difficult to
trace where a man went, when so few of
them were deported the warning came to
nothing II wholesale exodus had been
attempted Sartwell. with the aid of his
fellow managers, might have done some
thing TO prevent its success, out the very
homeopathic nature of Marstens remedy
made it difficult to cope with. By this
time the feeling that he was a beaten man
began to creep over Sartwell, 1nd although
he said nothing and sought sympathy from
no one. IL aged him more than years Of
toll had done His daughter, now nome
from school. saw with helpless grief me
ietp ilH'S care was plOuSNlnR IN ms rug
ged face.
Curiously enough. Marsten's quiet but eff
fective methods which convinced so far
seeing a Sartwell that they were
ultimately to be successful, had the very
OF pOsite effect the Strikers themselves
They did not understand the game, and
they saw with increasing uneasiness that
the works we're apparently filling up while
nothing was being done to prevent it. Mars
ten did not call meetings and enthusias-
ticaliy show his hand with outburst of
clcGuence. as had been the habit with Glib
bOHs. The men thought he was doing moth
ing merely because he was saying nothing
and even Marsten's own friends began to
feel dubious about the result. There was
no sign OF giving in on the part Of the mas
ters. and they saw every day an increased
spite of Marsten's prohibition, the strikers
began To gather about the gates hootiug
the new employees when they came out: for
boots and grCans seemed to accomplish
something, and were a least relief to the
peht-up feelings of the idle men. Marsten
saw these signs of revolt with uneasiness.
nj he thought, as the men this time were
Lot starving, end as they knew the union
was still i'll ample funds, he could keep
the strikers in hand until a decisive blow
would show Monkton & Hope the futility
OF further resistance. He had quietly pre-
pared such blow. and he expected that
when II fell the strike would triumphantly
cad.