The star. (Reynoldsville, Pa.) 1892-1946, 1900-08-08
THE EDITOR STRUCK.
HE JOINED FORCES WITH THE PRINT
ERS WHEN THEY QUIT.
The Winning Manner In which Biii
steritt Handled q Bcwnnd For In
creased pny by the Force On the
Old DnIlns TImcs.

OLD Dpiins Tunes.
There are ways and ways of settling
labor strikes. The unions have used
the sympathetic strike" plan. at times
securing settlement by calling out
the forces of allied trades. with the
"bosses" the lockout frequently has
done the business. But there are meth.
ods of crasing. differences between en-.
ployers and employees which even Chi.
chgo has overlooked. Strikes have
been settled by the bosses joining the
ranks of the strikers. voluntarily as-
sumlng the posts OF walking delegates,
directing the movements of the strlk
ing army and debating the time when
difficulties were declared or.
Proof of the power OF this method
was furnished during the days of the
old Dallas Times. That Texas city
was but struggling town then. with n
population that was getting close up to
the 1000 mark. The editorial alm OF
The Times Ind inst been seized by
william Steritt, better known In Wash.
ington's and Texas newspaper world
today ns plain "Bill' Stcritt. the title
colonel" frequently being preiixed In
recognition OF his birthplace. Ken.
lucky.
The Times under the Steritt regime
employed Ave men and one woman In
Its manufacture The latter wns the
wife OF the foreman of the printing
room and worked mt the cases." while
the printers devir' performed double
duty by acting as the motive power Of
the hand press. The foreman during
his younger days had had an argument
with mule, and the scars OF that bat
tie which decorated his face had nided
In securing his reputation OF being "a
bad man In mixup." shortly after
the new hand press had begun the
molding OF editorials and the sharing
of subscription donations ranging from
garden truck to overworked farm stock
uneasiness lodged In The Times office.
Rumors of labor troubles and of union
organization were heard.
"We've concluded to quit" said the
foreman as he stallled into the edtor's
sanctum one morning backed up by the
entire mechanical force. I'VE don't
get union pay. and we've organized
chapel If you don't show up more
money, your paper don't get out. that's
ALL"
"Going to strike, are you?" queried
Steritt, who had not found promises of
direct road to wealth and Wall street
through The Times. "Unionized, are
you? Well. sir. I'm glad TO hear II. I've
been thinking for some days of going
on n strike myself. The circulation of
this concern isn't extremc'y feverish.
and none of the SUBSCRIBE will ever
miss us, and II they do 1t will bc to our
benefit. The few blocks of white paper
out there will keep. and guess the
hand press won't object to day Off.
Yes, sir. we'll strike right here and
now. Wen Just walk around the cor
ner and celebrate the Inauguration Of
this 'walkout' with a drink"
The foreman's wife here transferred
her share of arbitration power on the
masculine contingent and departed.
The quintet expressed some surprise
at the turn of affairs. but followed Ster-
lit to the corner saloon, where three
rounds of drinks were put away under
his direction.
"You see," began the foreman, we're
ready to go right back to work now II
you'll pay
"No, sir-ee," broke In the editor.
"Why, we've just struck. and couldn't
call things of now. Hold on, tell
you, and wen win out"
The Times office was closed up, the
windows nailed down and the Office cat
turned loose to forage. On the fourth
day the foreman approached Steritt
and sounded him as to the advisability
of declaring the strike at an end.
Cant do it," was the answer. "why,
I'm having the best time Of my life.
Hang out, and we'll win, l tell you. II
could find another union around here,
we would have one Of those sympa-
thetic affairs. Mop; the strikes not of.
and hereby Issue another pronuncia.
mento to that end. Besides that, the
people are beginning to find out they
need paper I'm In this strike for
subscribers"
Then they liquored several times, and
the foreman left.
On the ninth day the striking army
Of five conferred with the self appoint.
cd walking delegate. They contended
that they were ready to resume their
end Of the work Of shaping public opin-
ion at the old schedule Of weekly pay.
Steritt was obdurate and advised fur
ther hostilities for several days. On
the fourteenth day he was called on to
accept most sweeping capitulation.
The next day the hand press began its
grind. the foreman, who had not lived
up to his reputation as bad man."
took his wife and his followers back to
the cases." and Steritt continued the
work of gathering items" and build
ing editorials. At the close Of the day's
work the force was summoned to the
office.
Next time" advised the editor, "you
don't want to stop when you've organ.
lied chapel. You want to 60 ahead
and organize and build whole cathe-