The labor world. [volume] (Duluth, Minn.) 1896-current, 1900-11-17
PAST and PRESENT
LABOR TAUGHT I'm EXPERIENCE TO
MANAGE ITS OWN AFFAIRS.
Strikes Were Among the Earliest
Means Adopted by Workers to
Remedy Their GrievaMces-'Ths
First Strikes We're Imported Into
the Revolutionary War.

| 'he american COiOnleS Prior to
the Revolutionary War.
| A strike may be properly described
| as a combination of working men to
enforce an alleged right or remedy an
alleged wrong, writes Joseph Michaels
in the Switchmens Journal. The
| term, however, applies more generally,
! II not soley, to combina tons of work.
| men organized to secure higher wages,
| shorter hours of labor certain priyi-
| leges or immunities, the refusal of
| which they declare to be an infringe
ment of their personal rights The
! term ''lockout,' not infrequently con-
| founded with strikes, means the sus-
pension of labor in workshops. facto-
ries, mines, ETC., at the instance of en-
ployers, to accept the acceptance by
| working men of terms or wages ten
dered by the former.
| Strikes were among the earliest
means enlisted by working men to rem
edy their grievances, one having oc-
! CURED in England during the four
! teenth century. They were imported
into the American colonies at a date
prior to the Revolutionary war: and.
Notwithstanding the protest launched
against them on the score Of economy
| alone. strikes have continued to occur
| at steadily decreased intervals since
| lI41. when the bakers of New York
| went on q strike,' which. however
| was suppressed and the participants
were placed on trial charged With con-
| sDiracy Fifty years later the question
Of an increase of wages was raised
among the journey1nen boot and shoe
makers Of Philadelphia, who partici-
ttited Il strike which succeeded, though
a similar movement by the same organ
izations against q proposed reduction
IF wages in 1899 did not attain the full
| est measures Of success.
Among the early strikes on record in
| the United States are the sailor strikes
in New York in 1903, the Philadelphia
IshoemakerS two years later shipbuld-
erS of Massachusetts in 1917, and the
printers strike Of 1920 at Albany, n.
Y. 1t was during this period that the
terms "scab' and rat" were coined
as expressions Of contume melious COM
ment applicable to men who declined
to join in movements of the kind, either
contemplated or commenced. The en-
Issuing ten years We're charac cterized by
See fsstxi kass SSsaa
| in movements of this kind during that
period They became more numerous
also. and were more firmly contested
by the opposing parties. often lasting
for months, as was the case in the
tailors' strike in Philadelphia during
! the year lS47, when they held out four
months before they would agree to an
| adjustment.
In 1882 the nlarchants and shippers
OF Boston refused to employ men con-
! nected With labor unions and in 1885
| the merchants Of Schuy!kill. Pa es-
|tabliShea q lockout. These are be-
| lieved to be the first actions taken in
| the United States against labor unions
q. in the employment of the lockouts
as Il means for the defeat Of strikes.
Another incident of the strikes which
occurred about the same time was the
establishment of the tcn-hour system
among the hands employed in the fac
tories Of Allegheny City, Pa. in con
federation Of which they submitted to a
production of Is per cent in wages. This
WAS in 1S4S
In the years following strikes pre-
vailed in various parts Of the country,
| with results in some instances finan-
lcially disastrous to all concerned, and,
in number if instances. attended
! with violence. an exception to this
rule was the strike in 4 Massachusetts
! mill, caused by the revocation of an
order which had formerly prevailed
allowin gthe employees fifteen minutes
for lunch. In 1859 there was "a strike
| linaugurated by the Pennsylvania coal
miners, and in 1860 by the journeymen
shoemakers Of Lynn. Mass.
Il The years included in the decade
commencing with 1860 We're even more
II productive of labor troubles than the
years preceding. They occurred large
II ly among easern manufacturing es-
tablisments and in the mining dis
II tricts Of Pennsylvania. though they
were only incident to the railway serv-
ice and other transportation corpora
II tions in various portions of the country
II Proposed reductions of wages without
q, corresponding reduction of the hours
of labor We're the leading causes al
legged. Arbitration was occasionally
II employed for 4 solution of the prob
N lens, but not always successfully
though in 1871. the miners strike al
Scranton. Pa. was adjusted by this
II means.
II The strike OF 1871 Was perha ps, the
most Widespread and most disastrous
during its continuance of any that has
occurred in the United States. 1t be-
gan in June at Martinsburg w. w.
among the employees of the Baltimore
& Ohio railway system, and speedily
extended in every direction. The orig
I inal cause is declared to have been the
reduction of wages for laborers from
one dollar to ninety cents per day
though it was alleged at the time that
the trouble was participated by the
lncendlary speeches of labor agitatOrs
at all events. the strikes of that yea!
are remembered as having been attend
ed with considerable loss Of life and
great destruction Of property. For
many days during the month Of July
the city of Pittsbur, was in the pcs
| session Of an ungoverllaDie mob. The
tn ri