Albuquerque daily citizen. [volume] (Albuquerque, N.M.) 1895-1903, 1902-07-10
THE FIRST STRIKE.
The Fight Between Labor and Capital
Began in l7l2.
A BIT OF HISTORY.

AS strikes and dissensions among
wage earneTs seem to be the order of
the day. in these strenuous times Of gil
gantic combinations and trusts. the fol-
lowing article relative to the first
strike will prove interesting reading:
The first strike on record was that
of the Palatines in New York in 1712.
These people, brought to this country
under contract by Governor Hunt, of
New York. were sent 100 miles up the
Hudson and placed upon royal lands
to produce tar and ~turpentine. The
British government had issued a sub
sidy of $50, 900 in aid of the project
and the immigrants were under con-
tract for a series of years. Governor
Hunt left the management to Robert
Livingston and a bevy of ~overseers.
Of 1000 who left England under the
subsidy, 1927 actually went up the
Hudson and settled in five separate viii
lagos. The governor furnished bread
and beer through Livingston for the
workers. Soon a strike for food oc-
Cured. The governor, who was also
employer, went up with the militia to
the scene of conflict. Food was shut
OF except to those actually at work,
and bullets a la mode were served to
those who were d~issenters from the es-
tabllshed order. Governor Hunt pro-
posed to enforce his contracts by the
power of the militia. Appeals to Eng
land were in vain. The argument used
was that the common laborers could
earn 37R cents and skilled laborers
621s cents a day anywhere in New
YORK. The fallacy was, of course, that
these people were under contract and
TOl1lh nnf hn tnAnnh hy th1 -N.-lz.l-
that controlled free people. In fact,
-He strike was for the ~abrogation of a
contract that the governors agents
had violated. The Indians offered free
lands to the ~malcontents and finally
the governor permitted those who
could not be subjugated to leave the
turpentine plants, but not to leave the
province.
The takers of New York city struck
in 174l for an increase of wages. There
seems TO have been a union or com
bination of some sort, as all the bake
shops were tied up. An indictments
against the bakers was secured and
they were found guilty of conspiracy
mot to bake except on certain terms"
but no sentence was ever passed upon
anyone.
The colonial period ended with the
Inauguration of Washington in 1889,
so that so far as known, only two colo
NAL strikes occurred.
The .shoemakers of Philadelphia
formed a union in 1892. and in 1896
ordered a strike in all the shops in the
city for an increase of wages. The
strike was successful. The same union
struck again in 1898, with like results.
In 1893 the masters ordered a reduc-
ton and again the shoemakers struck.
This strike lasted ten weeks and was
compromised. There were 100 mem
bers of the union at that time.
The sailors of New York city struck
in November. 1909. for an increase of
wages from $40 to $11 a month. As
the result of a street parade, the con-
stables arrested all the leaders and
the strike failed.
A strike occurred in New York city
in 1909. which is OF interest as show
ing that nearly all the methods and
terms supposed to be peculiar TO re-
cent years suspension OF work was
called a turnout" The word strike"
was now applied to a turnout" in a
single shop. The cordwainers struck"
in the shop of Corwin & Aimes, but
this firm defeated the strikers by TAX
ing their work privately to other
shops. Then came the sympathetic
strike, or what was called a general
turnout and i'm November, 1909, 200
men were on strike. every shop in the
city being affected, to aid their breth-
reT in the Corwin & Aimes shop.
Here, too, for the first time, a member
of the organization who returned to
work was termed a 'scab.'
The first Of the ten-hour strikes he
gan in 1925, and from that time until
1850 they were quite numerous. In
1895 there We're eleven and in 1886
nine strikes against working from
sun TO sun, or rather, for a ten-hour
day. In many places where ten hours
had been secured there was a reac-
tionary movement, beginning i'm 1S47.
especially at Bath, Me, and the ship
yards along the coast. The %proprietors
tried to return to the old days from
"sun to SUM-" and strikes to retain the
ten-hour day were frequent and usual
ly successful.
From 1850 TO 1860 the strikes were
mostly for increase of wages. The
years 1853. 1854 and 1858 furnished the
greatest number, the two former years
thirteen each, the latter nine. Ii is
only in recent years that newspapers
have considered strikes as news;
hence unless a strike came up for re-
view before a court. nc mention of il
is 4 be found. The idea of making a
newspaper act as historian on the spot
did not formerly prevail, greatly TO the
loss of history.