The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1902-10-19

must have asked themselves when they
read Of the sWall-street tragedy yesterday.
ABOUT STRIKES In GENERAL.
An attempt to discover the beginning of
or gaining advantages for w~orkingmen
would probably lead to the conclusion that
in some form or other they are as old as
the human race. Ever since there began
to be any kind OF labor there have been
grasping employers, hard conditions. and
ambitious or disconnected wage-earners,
and when these conditions exist there must
be friction and protest. Originally, per-
haps, the strike was the act of an individ-
ual who exercised his right to quit work
when he found the wages or other con-
ditions unsatisfactory. Each quitting of
work by an individual would lack the
element of coercion, and, therefore. could
not be called a strike in the modern sense.
Nevertheless, as an assertion of individual
rights it contained the germ of the modern
strike. If the dissatisfied individual could
induce several other persons of the same
AA-io ~ Jill WI AAAdB thNAA JOhS NSAO
would bring a pressure to bear on the en-
ployer that might force him to yield.
Thus, gradually there would arise organi-
cation. 1t is probable that strikes in some
primitive form preceded labor unions, and
that the latter were adopted as a means
of making strikes effective.
1t is not known when labor unions first
began to be formed in this country, but
there were strikes considerably more than
a hundred years ago. The first one of
which any record exists was a strike of
journeymen bakers in New York city in
a strike of journeymen cord wainers which
resulted in some of the strikers being ar
rested and tried. AT the trial one of the
lawyers for the defense said:
L have had an opportunity of examining
the records of the criminal proceedings
of our tribunals for a great number Of
which was preferred in the year 1741 against
certain akers for combining not to bake
bread but on certain terms. This indict-
ment, however, concludes contrary 10 the
form of the statutes. And it appears that
no Judgment was ever rendered upon IL.
Another lawyer, of counsel for the prose-
%cution, said the formation referred to was
aey not to bake till their wages were raised.
"On this" he said, they were tried and
convicted before the revolution. but 1t does
not appear that any sentence was ever
passed" This reference in 1910 to the
journeymen bakers strike in 1741 fixes the
1 aarIiacf Ennup dota nf anu ctrika ip fhtc
country. 1t is a curious fact that those
early strikers were prosecuted under the
common law for conspiracy. Between 1895
and 1900 there were three strikes by the
journeymen shoemakers Of Philadelphia.
AS the industries of the country increased
so did strikes. but during the first half of
the nineteenth century they were few in
number and unimportant compared with
those Of recent years. In many cases,
however, the leaders were arrested, tried
and convicted of conspiracy under common
law and without any statute on the SUBJ
ject. 1t is worthy of note that the courts
in the early part of the last century went
further in asserting the common law doc
trine against conspiracies to injure ones
private business than they do now. The
records also show that wages in those
days were very low. In June, 1888, there
was a demonstration of several trades ir
Philadelphia for shorter hours Of labor
and the city authorities resolved that 1.-THE
wages now allowed, S71z cents per day, be.
ing manifestly too scanty to supply al
the wants of the laboring men in the EN-.
ployment OF the public, each laboring mar
in the public employment shall receive as
compensation for a days work OF ter
hours the sum of 81 instead of S71k cents
In 1889 there was a general strike of EN-.
ployes on the Reading Railroad for an in,
crease from 81 to s1.121a per day. Thi:
strike also included a demand for NOR,
whisky. the then being IA pint:
per day to each man. The rapid indus
trial development of the country follow
ing the civil war was accompanied by
corresponding increase i'm the number O
strikes and by the growth of labor unions
The number of strikes in the year 1880 ex
ceeded the total number from the beginning
of the century down to that time. anc
since then they have steadily increased
Int 1899 there were 1,797 strikes in tn
United States and In 1900 there were LIS
In 1899 the loss in wages to employees wa
SIS, 159, 9S5 and the loss of employers wa
81. AZ. 407. In 1900 the loss to employees wa
SIS. 31. 80 and to employers s9,431 .29. A gen
eral review of the growth of strikes dur
ing the last century and of the presen
situation suggests the inquiry, where /
1t going to end?