Herald and news. [volume] (West Randolph, Vt.) 1878-1943, 1900-10-04
Strikes and Labor Unions.

This country has once more hat
occasion to consider the subject of the
strike on large scale. The differences
between the 10000 anthracite Goa
miners and their employers have beer
J uppermost in the public mind for the
past three weeks. The question has
been brought close to very many tal
removed from the scene by the tenn
porary increase in the price OF hard
coal-one of the leading necessities in
nearly all industries and in millions OF
homes. So complex and interdepend-
ent have become our modern social
conditions that when a single wheel in
the entire mechanism stops distress is
felt generally. 1t is only when every
part runs smoothly that the best results
are enjoyed. So we all dread strikes,
deplore their occurrence and rejoice
when they are settled. Whoever could
so arrange matters that labor disturb
ances would cease would be hailed as
a benefactor to the race, but until We
arrive at Utopia we shall not see the
last of them, for good and sufficient
reasons. The best We can do at pres
ent is to get along with as few as
possible, and seek to remove their
causes before they come.
No question is as many-sided as that
of labor and capital. Labor takes one
view Of it, capital contrary one, and
third parties pass upon it usually from
prejudieed or ill-intormed standpoints.
some sympathizing with one side, some
with another, and still others being
utterly disguised with both parties.
The right or wrong of any particular
strike or lockout is so obscured as to
be almost invisible, and quite often
this phase is wholly lost sight of.
Nearly always expediency and not
Justice control the terms OF settlement.
This is not to be regretted. since what
is satisfactory to the parties most
interested Is near enough to the right
to suit outsiders.
Closely related to the subject Of
strikes is that of united labor and
united capital-unions and trusts.
Many people have unreasonable and
unwaTanted prejudice against one or
both Of these. and yet there is no doubt
but what both have an honorable place
in our modern system. BY some the
unions are regarded as breeders OF
discord, baneful 10 all and everybody
They exercise a species Of tyranny, we
are told Men of small calibre are
permitted to NEEDLE with affairs quite
beyond them; to dictate to the owners
OF large businesses as to how they
shall rundhem whom they shall en-
ploy; what wages they shall pay; and
to shut out from employment all
laborers who will not bow in subser-
vience to them. That is the way the
capitalist looks at it, and those who
sympathize with him.
But the laborer looks at it differently. |
He appreciates what a weak thing he |
is or would be, singly and alone to
oppose anything that his wealthy
might propose. Work he must
have, or starve. and he can only get it
at such terms as capital is willing to
He has ambitions to live in
a manner BETTING the age-and why
should he not? lie has a home to
maintain, children to educate, old age
TO provide for. 1t takes good wages
to do these things, and if he cannot
get them life is a failure to him. If
he is forced to compete with the
cheapest possible labor that offers. he
will be kept perpetually at the lowest
level, with just enough remuneration
to keep soul and body together, and
possibly not that, if fortune is unkind
10 him. Such is the laborer's lowly
estate when he is left alone. But in
union there is strength. A single
in a large factory might
leave and the owners would not notice
it, but when conditions become such
that all of them walk out and the
wheels stop. the employer is ready to
grievances and, if possible, to
rectify them. SO it is that wage
carriers find it expedient to combine.
Most people will concede the advan-
tage of the union principle, but many
complain of its methods. For in
stance, man viii say, Il propose to
run my own business as please and I
not be told what | shall do by some
delegate No man is 80
that he can run his bust
hess as he pleases. If he did. the
,hances are that human nature would
cad him to do some queer things. He
a great deal to his employees