The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1903-04-04
PERIOD OF STRIKES.

THE NUMBER Of strikes now in
L progress throughout the country
would seem to indicate that labor con-
ditions are not of the best While none
Of the strikes is of very great mag
nitude. the aggregate number Of men
out In various lines is not small. Near
~ all industries are represented I'm the
bands of strikers, showing that the
discomfort is not confined 20 any par
ticular classes.
In New York and Connecticut the
building trades, including plumbers,
/ carpenters. fathers. painters. plaster
ers, paperhangers, brieklayers, masons
and the like. constitute the greater
part Of the strikers, It is said that
from 5000 to 10000 men have started
upon a period Of idleness due to a fail
ure Of their employers TO grant them a
reduction Of hours of labor and an
increase Of pay.
In Chicago some thousands Of ma
rine hremen. oilers and water tenders
have quit work. while 500 union tai
Tors. 700 steamfitters and a large num-
Der OF excavating teamsters have also
walked out. Brewery workers i'm Co
lumbus are demanding more pay and
have struck TO enforce their demand.
Further west, in Denver, the cooks and
walters have tied up the restaurants
to an embarrassing extent, and there
is talk Of a sympathetic strike among
the allied trades there. such as the meat
cutters and bakers.
The strike cloud that threatened the
Wabash railroad seems 10 have van
ished. for the time at least, but un-
less the differences between the men
and the company are speedily settled,
by arbitration or otherwise, a strike is
almost sure to be inaugurated. The
Wabash employees believe they are not
sharing In the prosperity the road is
enjoying. Wages Of other railroad
workers have been increased. In some
cases voluntarily. and il others TO pre-
vent strikes, and they insist on SINH
lar treatment.
Salt Lake has had its little disturb
ance. also, in the trouble between the
federal building contractors and their
stonecutters. This difficulty has been
temporarily ended by the discharge of
the stonecutters who threatened 10
strike. 1t may be that no further de
lay in the construction of the build
ing win be occasioned. but that is a
matter on which no sure prediction can
be made at present
Taken as q whole the situation is
alarming. but it is not surprising,
There is no getting away from the fact
that the volume Of wages today is
larger than ever before. More men are
employed, and many Of them at better
wages than ever before. The trouble.
however. lies in the fact that wages
have not been increased in proportion
to the cost Of living.
The man who was employed steadily
half-dozen years ago and who has
had steady employment during the in-
tervenlng time up to the present is
worse Off today than he was then, al
though his wages may have been in
creased. This is true because the pur-
chasing power Of his dollar is consid-
erably less than It was a lustrum since.
Practically every article necessary to
his existence has gone up.
Recently compiled statistics show
that it costs close TO 40 per cent more
to live now than it did a few years
ago. The increase IN wages viii not
exceed from 10 to Is per cent. That is
why the labor situation Is critical; the
situation Of the laborers is critical
They are told on every hand that the
country is prospecting as it never pros
pered before, and they are not sharing
iu that prosperity.
What we need is a readjustment Of
the prosperity schedules so that every
enc OF us win receive and enjoy his
fair proportion.