The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1901-09-03
THE EFFECT OF THE STRIKE.

4LE ELL OH Il IL Il SLn1 N
The great Amalgamated strike is near
ing its end 1t will pass into history and
be pigeon-holed with the other great fail
ures of it's kind. Shaffer will take his
place along with the men whose desire for
notoriety was greater than their honesty
or their ability.
1t is needless to go over the history Of
this abortive attempt to rule or ruin; the
effect of the effort alone concerns the
public. To all who were not misled by
the false representations of Shaffer, the
strike can succeed which has no wrong
to remedy. A strike Is like revolution,
Ing popular sympathy to overcome the
static inertia of the established order Of
things. SO when Mr.. Shaffer threatened
a strike, simply to compel the trust to
force the non-union men into the Anal
gamated association, he placed himself
and his order beyond the pale of popular
sympathy and doomed the enterprise to
defeat
Between the domination of labor unions
and the domination of the trusts the pub
lie has no choice One is as fatal to the
best interest of the people as the other.
The absolute sway of the union means
industrial stagnation and decreased Ca
pacity to produce. England now suffers
from the enervating influence of trades
unions. The domination of trusts means
higher prices unless legislation interviews
to place them in cempe tition with the
world To do this, we have only to re-
move the protective tariff. This viii be
done. 1t is only a matter of time But
no law making body of the United States
can ever be induced to interfere with the
propagation of the labor trust-the poll
ticians stand in too much fear of the
labor vote. In the only political declara-
lions We have against trusts the labor
trust is specially exempt.
So, when Mr.. Shaffer ordered a strike
to compel the employers to assist the
<AHAeblSsoAliolSo " SCCdi0 AllSuADGI6, WHICH,
he opened war to test the strength of his
association and the endurance of the
United States Steel Corporation; when
the contest became a mere question of
who should run the great steel trust,
the people said ''we will have none of
this. Quit work If you desire, but If you
carry your opposition to the point of
rlously interfering with the trade Of the
country, the third party in interest may
take hand.
The effect of the Misrepresentation
of Shaffer, regarding the strength of the
| association; his polyglot statements re-
ing and his utter disregard of the ordi-
nary tenets of the codes of moral and
! business ethics, has been to thoroughly
disgust the people with unions and
Strikes.
This strike has demonstrated that the
unions as now organized are wholly unre-
liable; that they demand a contract only
to break it when ha;r-brained leader
calls a we Say that ILflS 0Apc-
rience has demonstrated the unreliability
OF unions. This fact is shown by the
| expressions of sympathy and the assur-
ances of help from the great Federation
of Labor. But we will say to the honor of
many that Shafferlsm with it's creed of
reputation, was not swallowed by all.
Even some of the Amalgamated lodges
refused to obey his order to stultify them
selves.
The entire proceeding has been the
severest blow that ever has been struck
| at organized labor in this country. The
result will be demand from all en-
| ployers that unions be Incorporated and
! given a financial standing in order to be
competent to contract The unions have
been enjoying the benefits of unilateral
contract-one that bound the employers
but not them. The only strange feature