Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1899-08-05

| outs lost on account of their idleness the
vast sum of nearly S190,00O,O00 in wages.
During these years labor unions and other
organizations which had accumulated sur
pluses during years of industrial peace
spent more than $13,OO0O00 in the relief
of suffering strikers and their families.
In other words, 1t cost the strikers OF the
United States more than S203, S0o,0O0 to take
part in the strikes of thirteen years Dur
ing the same period of time the loss to en-
plcyers from strikes and lockoutS was
nearly sos, 100000. 1t will thus be seen that
during these thirteen years the strikers
| lost more than 81 for every 81 of loss by
| the EMPLOYERS. In other words, every
striker who throws down his tools and goes
| out must expect that 1t will cost him Just
! twice as much in proportion as 1t VIA cost
his employer, although according to the
statistics already quoted he has an equal
chance of winning the strike and thereby
of lettering his wages or his hours, ana,
in measure of making up in money re-
| ceived 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 strike
knows that this phase of the conflict is
the most heartrending of any In the great
strikes Of Chicago in 1894 many men were
both killed and wounded and hundreds or
families, most of which belonged to the
better class of working men, were left en-
tirely destitute of the ordinary neceSsarieS
of life.
The writer of this article saw women, the
| mistresses of homes in which there were
fine pianos md rugs and pictures and
many other trappingS of comfort, get down
on theil knees in the model town of Pull
man, with its model streets, its model wa
ter works, it's model sewerage, Its model
church and its supposedly model factory
and beg with tears in their eyes for
handful Of flour and a bit of bacon to keep
their children from starving. This and the
decentralization which comes to a man who
has fought in a lost cause and who knows
that wherever he turns all the gates of en-
ployment will be closed against him. these
things, which have no part in a dry col
lection of statistics, are the features which
bring the deepest misery and lend to the
strike its deepest shades of wrong.
Demands of Strikers
There being a strike. man who, guess
ing to 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 ID per cent, are caused by a de-
mand for reduction of hours. Six and six
tenths per cent represent a demand both
for increased wages and a reduction of
hours, 3.33 per cent represent demand for
new scale and 2.S 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 per-
centages and ldding them together, that
543S per cent, or more than half of the
strikes were caused by positive and ag-
gressive demands on the part of the strik-
erS themselves.
In all of these cases the employers. APP
parently were willing that conditions
should be unchanged, that the strikers
should go on with their work as they had
been doing in the past; whereas the strik-
ers, owing to improved times or for some
other cause, had concluded that the old
conditions could no longer prevail, and
had apparently failed in their efforts to
remedy them by any other means than
by strike. On the other hand, statis-
tics show that considerable number of
strikes are the result of some change on
the part OF the employer to which the
workingmen will not agree. For instance,
per cent of the strikes for seven years,
according to statistics gathered by Mr..
Wright, were brought. about by an at
tempt on the part of the employer to re-
duce wages, and $50 per cent were brought.
about by an attempt of the employers to