The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1902-06-08
A SHOCKING POSSIBILITY.
supposinG that All the Government
Clerks should Strike.
Washington Star.

Washington Star.
while Washington has had several
strikes recently among its wage earners of
pigmies compared with the giant strike of
all of the government employees in the eX-
ecutive departments of Washington for a
raise OF salary which could be inaUgurated
If the price of beef and other foods con-
tinue to rise" said old government clerk
who has weathered many political storms
and department tempests.
But this is joke. The clerks of the
government have the government at their
mercy rather than the government having
the clerks at its mercy, as is popularity sup
posed, II they only realized IL and acted
concertedly and as a unit. OF course, the
idea % a strike the part of the en-
ployes of the government in Washington is
entirely new, and would be of radical eff
fectiveness If carried into operation. 1t
would not be impossible of realization if
every one of the $4,000 employees formed a
union and obeyed its mandates. The Pres
tdent would not only have Congress upon
his hands, but an army Of diSgrunted en-
ployes and lot of vacant public buildings.
He would certainly be up against a hard
proposition.
1.-The high price OF meat aud food is felt
by government employees l. keenly by
any other class of wage earners, yet they
seem 10 have been overlooked in the gen
eral discussion attending the impending
meat famine. Thousands and thousands of
them receive from $50 to $50 a month max
imum pay. and this is about the average
monthly pay of the average wage Garner.
A strike on the part OF every government
employee in Washington would be a catas-
trophe TO the country and government
alike. Temporary employees could not be
put into their places, as neither the Pres
ident nor Congress can override the law.
Their places could not be filled, as would be
commonly supposed, by host of outsiders
unless the entire Civil-service Commission
were abolished and the entire ciVil-SerVice
act repealed Chaos would reign. The
vacancies would have TO be filled through
the civil service. eXCeDt Congress wiped IL
out of existence, as would be probable in
the event of the contingency l suggest.
90 Tear,, maIi nio,,as IN WasI5,eto fnT
many reasons, and only the major ones
will consider. One is that of any one body
of workers none can be found where har-
mony Of thought and union of action are
utter imDossibilities. L have never seen in
ten years service any three clerks who
could agree upon any one point IL one or the
three happened to be a woman emplOye.
l have seen men agree among themselves
and women hold together for a time at
least, but never a concerted agreement on
the part of both sexes. Why? Mainly be-
cause the women wanted TO dominate their
views, and as the men would not submit
disagreement resulted. Women a mat
ter of fact are poor masters at the art.
The relief associations of the different de-
partments are well patroniZed by women
employees, but they are managed by men
or they would have disrupted long ago.
$50. if all the men to a man agreed to
strike all of the women to woman would
disagree and vice versa. Thus the safety
of the government, as ii were. is in the
toiling within the walls of our public build
ings Were all of the employees men and
they unanimously agreed to strike for
higher wages, force action on the part of
ment in twenty-four hours a baby is
tied up I'm Its crib. Another leaf in the
wreath which bedecks the brows of our
fair coworkss; they are saving the govern
ment."