The Nome nugget., 1901-08-30
STRIKES AND UNIONS.


 history and it's consequences are ar-reaching. Tens of thousands ,f workers are out of employment and scores of mills are silent. It ts not easy to judge the outcome at .his distance, but in view of the forces s-afrayea against each" other It is but reasonable to suppose that the steel trust rlagnates will in the end win. The steel workers repre- sent the labor employed :n the steel industry; the steel works owners represent the capital. Cap stal'is mighty and will' prevail, but at terrible csst to- itself. Labor Is powerful. but while 1t 'in juyts capital it enervates itself so com pletely in long-drawn-out strug- gle, such as this, that it must at last succumb to the inevitable.
 AS we understand the situation, the Amalgamated Steel Workers are fighting not for an increase of wages nor for shorter hours, but fSra principle. The steel trust are ready to pay the wages and agree to all the terms demanded, but they insist that their employees shall not join the unions of their craft. The struggle thus assumes the aspect of fight on the part of the steel trust against the principle of unionism. The attitude taken by the steel men, is direct out growth of the concentration of wealth, as shown in the formation of trusts in the United States dur iaaIae past few years. The con csntration of wealth begets power and breeds arrogance. It is pot because the non-union man. will work at a cheaper wage than the unicn.employe that the steel asso- citation declines to recognize him. It is the principle that he repre- sents. The growing strength Of united labor is the thing which is feared.
 Trades unions have taught some valuable lessons, among them that labor has-its rights as we'll as its duties, and that capital has its duties as we'll as it's rights. The usen who compose, the steel trust probably do not know this, except in 'aa, a,abstract sort of way; their horizon is boundedr only by their idea of what constitutes their tights. There is no sentiment ilirapital-especially concentrated capital. Organized labor. too, sometimes forgets what is due to capital, and acts in. an, arbitrary manner.
 h the geoat fgEt now being vpged, however, we fail to see how the steel magnates expect to profit eventually, even if they should gain. a temporary advantage by disintegrating -unionism. Labor is z.commcdity without which em- ployers -can do nothing, and the day has passed when l.e can secure It on his own, terms. There must be an understanding between the employer and the employed of the wages and the duties and every: thing else s.connected with the rela-. tionship, and because that is the case laborr unions have been tormed and arrangements made as to.the terms upon which they will work.
 It is folly to7think that union ism can be destroyed or. severely crippled for any length of time. If a.; trades union,. is- disrupted, its members denied employment and their places given. to non-union men, it is*usuaNy not very. long before these men organize for mu- tual protection. Conditions are ever changing, and it seems to be a necessity born of modern econom- cal conditions that impels men more and more to band together, while on the other hand the ap