New-York tribune., 1899-07-21
THE FAILURE OF THE STRIKE.

Strikes, like poets, are born, not made. That
fact is emphasized day by day in the progress Of
affairs In this city. A legitimate strike is one In
which ALL or nearly all, the workmen in a given
industry feel themselves the victims of grev-
ances which are no longer tolerable, and for
which there is no other means of seeking re-
dress, and in which, accordingly, all or nearly
all spontaneously join. Such strikes sometimes
succeed, and deserve to succeed. But such is
not the abortlve affair which has been foisted
upon this city at the present time This strike
was not born in any such sense of grievance 1t
was artifcially devised by INSCRIPTIONS con-
spirators at the outside 1t was worked up and
organized and finally ordered in the same arti-
fetal manner. clique Of stock jobbing poll
ticians, to quote the words Of the chief strike
leader himself, were the authors Of It. They
worked 1t up In n contemplate manner for self
ish purposes. The men did not, a rule desire
It, Only few men have taken part in IL. There
is reason to believe that some of those perhaps
most, who have taken part in it were either
brlbed or coerced into doing so. The great ma
jority of the employees of the corporations
against which the strike is directed have
promptly and steadfastly refused to join the
strike.
is failure. 1t began in Brooklyn on Sunday
morning. At no time since then, save for few
hours at midnight, has traffic in that borough
been seriously disturbed. The car company has
been steadily gaining in the struggle with the
disaffected men, and has now succeeded In re-
storing its service almost to its normal condl-
ton. In a day or two more the last signs of
strike will have disappeared Here in Manhat-
tan a "svmna fhpficn strike hogan on "Wednesday
morning. Save ON one line which runs through
one of the least orderly parts Of the city, there
has been no perceptible interference with traffic
Indeed, in the city as whole the streetcar ser
vice has actually been better than before There
is no ground for fearing that there will here
after be any material interruption of the service
The effort TO create strike arthcially and to
dragon workingmen into 1t against their will
has ANONYMOUSLY failed. True, the leader of it
declares that "the strike is practically Won"
But citizens who see the cars running regularly
and the streets free from disorder will not re-
gard that utterance other than in a Pickwlckian
sense. The strike has failed because it was
made, not born; or, II 1t was born, it "ded
a-bornng"
There should be little difficulty in placing re-
sponslbillty for this wretched affair. The testi-
mony of the leader OF II is sufficient He de-
clares that 1t is the work Of speculating politi-
clans, and that 1t has no justification in facts
On that point we are quite willing to take his
word. His statements are moreover, abun-
dainty corroborated by the observations Of many
who have closely watched the progress Of af-
fairs on 'The Street" Weeks ago there was
talk, clearly heard In Wall Street that n strike
on the Brooklyn Rapid Transit lines was about
to be organized for speculative purposes. 1t was
organized. II was ordered. 1t was attempted
And It has, at least thus far, failed. 1t has
failed to bring the company to terms" II has
failed to paralyze or even seriously TO interrupt
the operation Of the lines. 1t has. above all,
from its authors point Of view, failed to de-
press the market price Of the stock OF the corpo-
ration assailed. The last named feature Of the
failure Is tho one that least interests the general
public Nevertheless II must be regarded with
much public satisfaction as causing the bitterest
disappointment to the conspirators who tried to