The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1899-07-25
The Root Of Strike Troubles.

The incidents OF the street railroad
strikes, here and In Cleveland, make
palmer what has been plain enough for
years to clear-sighted observers-that the
struggle involves, not 30 much conditions
OF employment and rates Of wages. as the
right OF the unemployed to accept employ
ment which strikers have relinquished. The
strikers not only refuse to work themselves.
but they refuse to allow anybody else to
work in their places. A man who is getting
10 wages at all is forbidden by them to ac-
rept $3.50 q day when they demand So.
II he does. they call him "scab, pelt him
With brlckbats break his head and his
bones. and, to make sure that he shall throw
hp the Job he has taken, they destroy. as
Tar as they can, the machinery which he is
employed to operate.
The question: therefore, comes to this:
Have the unemployed any rights which the
employed are bound to respect? Every
year more human beings arrive at maturity
than are removed by death, and unless
they are to suffer for want Of food, clothing
and shelter. they must get work and be
paid for 1t. A certain number succeed in
doing this, but there are always others who
do not, and these, consequently. are always
on the lookout for opportunities OF making
living. The competition from this source
would, II not interfered with, reduce wages
all round, since the unemployed, to get
places would underbd the already en-
ployed, and either displace them or make
them come down to a lower level of pay.
To prevent this, labor unions have been
formed. which fix wages at a uniform
rate and generally succeed in keeping
that rate in force. Unless man belongs
to such union he cannot get work ut all,
for, II he attempts it and succeeds for
little while. the union men as soon as they
know 1t refuse to work with him, and his
employer has either to discharge him or
see his business brought to standstill
The result Is, that, in addition to con-
siderable number Of unemployed union
men, there is larger number OF unem-
ployed non-union men, both watching for
chances to be employed 1t Is impossible
to increase industrial occupations fast
enough to provide for all OF these. Even
II tho non-union men all joined unions,
some Of them would none the less be SUI
perfluous, and, after n while, In their des-
peration, they would withdraw and refuse
to be bound by union laws. Under any
conditions, therefore. society is confronted
with the problem Of both finding work for
all who are able and willing to work. and
at the same time OF keeping up wages.
Tho union men who are at work are con-
tented enough. but what OF the union and
the non-union men who are out Of work?
The root OF the strike troubles is not, there
fore, the alleged grcediness Of employers,
but the irrepressible tendency OF the human
race to multiply beyond the means of sub
sistence Those who ara intelligent and
strong enough to get jobs desire to keep
them, and to protect themselves against
displacement by the weaker and less intelli-
gent. Hence strikes. and hence tho violence
to which strikers resort 1t Is struggle
for existence, like that OF shipwrcckcd
sailors on raft in the ocean with n scant
supply OF food and drink, and the weaker
have to succumb.