Waterbury Democrat., 1901-05-17
STRIKES MAY BE AVOIDED.
How to AcOld Them Told By One of
 Our workIngmen.

Our Workingmen.
 To the Editor Of the Democrat:
 The present impending strike of the machinfsts and metal workers should concern every person in the city ir- respective of condition. 1t affects our whole community, employer and em- pIoye alike, and 1t will not do on the part of the employer to dismiss with impatience a request from those work ing for him for a betterment of their condition when they feel they are being used wrongly, or, on the other hand, the employe should not think for a moment that because a demand or a request from him Is not at once granted that the only remedy is a strike. The manufactures of our city are with very few exceptions men Of ability and fair mindedness. Brought up in the factories they know what is right, but having gradually been sep arated from the work people they seem to forget the trial and wants of those who worked with them. They forget the changed conditions. On the one hand they have been promoted as it were from day wage workers to sal aried officers. With increased pay and privileges, with all that means to CIRCUMSTANCES duu ldL4llcS, lnCI and go when they are so disposed. No loss of time, no curtailment of wages. Improved tools and machinery means only to them larger profits, more salary. more comfort for themselves and those dependent upon them, in fact enabling them to enjoy life asEGod meant for man to do. On the other hand, the worker in the shop sees inn proved machinery driving out his fel- low workman and he neryously asks himself, When will it be my turng' He has the same feelings, the same de- sire for home, family, enjoyment. comfort, education, everything that makes life endurable, and is willing to work for it; but every once in while a cut comes in his pay. A loss of a day in the week; laid off for week; a month of half time; nothing coming in; the boy must go to work to help out; the girl whom he wanted to edu- cate, wanted to keep out of the con faminating influences of shop life, must also go to work to keep the house going Comfort, education, vacations, clothes. food, all disappear beneath the grinding exactfons of striving for an existence-not q living. no. merely a right to exist. And all this in the year 1901, when we are told of the un- iparaileled prosperity of our country. Yes, we are prosperous, but the work people as a whole do not share in 1t. It Is true more are working, wages are fair, but the vast majority of the pros perity goes into the pocket of the em- ployers. Manufacturers, wealthy and philanthropic, endow colleges and li- braries, build reading rooms and music halls for their help, make everything Gin their opinion) lovely for the work ing man, but neglect one or two vital things, viz: increasing the pay, short ening the work hours, in short enabling the working people to share in their prosperity and giving them the means of living as they should. Another grievance. When men have something to say to their employers and in their way think it best to send a commit tee, how are they treated2 The com mittee are marked for dismissal when it is the right of every American to make his wants known. The commit tee are not discharged for that Oh, mol But the fact remains they have to go. Appeal to the legislators. They just turned them down. The corpora tions are too much for them. General Kellogg attended to that. Ask con gress for relief2 Oh, yes. MT Sperry went to Washington to look after that end of 1t. Send in some committee to the office, they will see that no more of that committee will be placed to trouble them any more. And so it goes. Nothing left only to strike, and next Monday will see how that will work But there should be no need of 1t. The manufacturers are making money enough to grant the nine-hour day with ten hours pay without wait ing for Monday. Meet your men on level ground and let them feel that we all belong to one human family and are governed by the same divine i'm pulses. What injures one injures an- other; what tends to elevate one ele- yates the other. Do away with. need less friction. Place none but good, honest, fair men in positions of re- spOnsibility, and when you have bosses who are not such, listen to the other side, remove their cause of complaint and you may be sure strikes will be a thing of the past. now on at the clock shop and the pre- yious strikes at the same factory should never have taken place if the superintendent, or those responsible, had used tact and discretion. The means taken to find out who belonged to the union, the contemptible treat ment of men, the measures taken to punish people who were mixed up in previous affairs, show conclusiyely that they are a misfit; that they can not fill the shoes they are trying to wear; that until a change is made in the personnel of the management there will always be friction and trouble, entailing loss upon the com pany and distress upon the workers. And many work people who are well acquainted with MT Wade are ask ing themselves the question, why he, who Is man of we'll known fairness and responsibility, man in whom all have confidence. does not in the inter- est of honesty and fair play, cut the Gordian knot and restore his factory to its position among the other Water bury industries which it occupied so many years
 A woRKINGMAN.