The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1899-08-07

plover although according to the Stats
Tics already quoted he has an equal chance
OF winning the strike and thereby of bet
tering his wages or his hours, and. in
measure of making I'D in money received
or in freedom gained, for the losses which
he encountered while the battle was on.
As to the number Of persons killed in
strikes or of those wounded, or Of the
families which have gone hungry because
the head Of the household had no work,
there are no existing statistics, and yet
every one who has been through a strike
knows that this phase of he conflict is the
The most he1rt-rendng of any. In the great
strikes of Chicago in 1884 many men were
ho ID killed and wounded and hundreds Of
families, most OF which belonged 70 the
better class Of working men, We're left en-
urely destitute Of the ordinary necesS2rleS
of life The writer Of this art Gle saw wo-
men. the mistresSes of homes in which
there We're fine pianos and rugs and pic
lures and many of the other trappings
Of comfort get down on their knees in the
model town Of Pullman, with its mode
streets. its model water works, its model
sewerage. its model church, and its sup
posedly model factory, and be- with tears
i'm their eyes for a handful of flour and a
BIT Of bacon 10 keep their children from
starving This and the demOraliza ion
which comes to a man who has fought IN
a lost cause, and who knows that wher-
viii he closed against him, these things.
which have no part in a dry collection OF
statistics. are the features which bring me
deepest misery and lcnd to the strike It's
deepest shades Of wrong.
There being a strike, a man who. guess
ing as 20 its cause. SHOULD say that the
employees had demanded an increase Of
wages would stand one chance in four OF
being correct. That is. statistics of the
labor bureau show that % per cent of the
strikes are caused by a demand for in
crease in wages. About one-eighth of the
strikes, or 1S per cent, are caused by de
mand for reduction of hours; sc per cent.
represent a demand both for increased
wages and a reduction of hours, 3.33 per
cent. represent a demand for a new scale
and 2S per cent. represent a demand for
the recognition of the union to which the
men belong. 1t will be seen, therefore,
taking all of these different percentages
and adding them together, that 54.33 per
cent, or more IMAM half of the strikes
were caused by positive and aggressive de
mands on the part of the strikers them
selves In all of these cases the employ
ers. apparently, were willing that condi-
tons should be unchanged, that the strik-
ers should go on with their work as they
had been doing In the past; whereas, the
strikers, owing to improved times or for
some other cause, had concluded that the
Cd conditions could no longer prevail and
had apparently failed in their efforts 20
remedy them by any other means than by
strike. On the other hand. statistics
show that considerable number of strikes
are the result of some change on the part
Of the employer 90 which the workngmen
will not agree. For instance, 8 per cent
of the strikes for seven years, according
to statistics gathered by Mr. Wright,
were brought about by an attempt on the
part of the employer 90 reduce wages, and
36 per cent. were brought about by an
attempt of the employers to introduce nom
union men in their factories or on their
railroads. A third class of strikes in
which the relations of empower and en-
plOye would seem to be cOngeuial Is that
in which the men go out owing to sym
pathy for strikers in some allied trade.
| The sympathy strikes during the seven
| years are put down at 773 per cent. OF
| the whole. They are the result of the re-
| markable organiza tons of wOrlIingmen in
unions, a movement which has been a
marked feature of industrial conditions
during the last twenty years.
Equally interesting and instructive sta
| tistcs have been gathered as To the set
| dement's Of strikes, and they show one
| thing upon which the American working
| man and his employer are much TO be
congratulated. They show that both OF
the parties to the controversy have at
| heart a feeling of frank friendship and
mutual approval. They would much
| rather discuss their grievances openly thar
| to go to the dire measures of the extended
| strike or to bother with arbitration com
| missions or to fight "scabs." They show
| that more than one-half of the strikes arc
settled by direchhrrangement between the
| parties interested and that only about one
| twentieth are settled by arbitration.
| Strikes in America, as well as in Eng
| land have been exceedingly frequent sine,
| 1887, the great strikes of that year having
| served in a way to school both striker anC
employer in the tactics and strategy o
| industrial warfare. To-day it has be
come a science in which both sides ar,
| wellskilled in using every weapon which
| comes to its hands. The employer thuu
ders with his legal injunctions. and tn
| employe advances with his boycott, a wea
pom often more effective than the strik
| itself / suppose there have been strikes
| that is, defining strikes as the simple re
| fusal on the part of employe TO work 70
| the employer. since Cain refused 10 worl
| in his fathers apple orchard. The yer
| first American strike recorded on tn
| pages of history occurred in the year 17il
In those days strikes went by the NOR
serious name of conspiracies. This par
| ticular strike was called the bakers
conspiracy" All of the bakers of NeS
York city refused to bake any more brea
until their wages were raised. The OF
hcials were naturally much shocked a
this condition and without more ado, al
rested, tried and convicted every one of IN
strikers for the crime of conspiracy an
made them all go back to baking brea
whether they would or no. In 1903 ther
came the notorious sailors strike in Ne,
York city. and in 1885 there were no fewe
than fifteen strikes in America, and econ
omists and pamphleteers immedia tely an
nOunced that the world must be comm
to an end. else no such dreadful industrie
conditions could endure. What woul
they think if they could know of the Al
strikes every year in New York city alone
And then, after the civil war began tn
great movement for an eight-hour day
Here too. the labor unions got their frs
great impetus due to fluctuations in tn
currency rapid denominations of wealth
and the widening field of labor, due to III
BOLTON of slavery. If Il had not bee
for the civil war the labor unions woul
certainly have been far behind what the
are today in completeness of organizatio
end in other lines of developments
1872 there were fully 100 600 workmen, mos
| Nv i'm New York city, who struck for a