The Kalispell bee. [volume] (Kalispell, Mont.) 1900-192?, 1903-09-22
The Ballot VS.. Strikes and 6oycotts.

Inc consideration of wage QueS-
tons with their consequent strikes,
boycotts. lockouts. etc. has been the
policy of labor unions since their in
ception. Have they been successful?
Will this policy lead us to a perma-
nent solution of labor troubles? Let
us see.
| have before me the sixteenth an
nual report of the commissioner of
labor for the year 1901. containing
history of the strikes and lockouts in
the United States from 1881 to 1901.
During that period 22.793 strikes oc
CURED. The total employees before
the strikes was 9.779.574. The total
number thrown out of employment
during the strikes was 6.105,634.
showing that nearly one-third of the
workers interested refused to join
the strikers, The total loss of wages
during the strikes was S257 .S65,47S.
In 50.I per cent of the cases the
strikers were successful. In 1888
per cent they were partially success
full.
The history of lockouts shows
about the same percentage of success
as failures on the part of the en-
plOyers in that manner as of the en-
ployes by strikes and 557.192 persons
were thrown out of employment per-
manently by the strikes The aver
age loss Of wages during the time the
strikes We're in progress was 50 per
capita.
In many cases these figures do not
show the full loss of wages nor the
total number discharged simply be-
cause they do not include facts
which occurred after the strikes were
settled.
The writer has personal knowledge
of the Great Northern railway strike
Of 1894 The strikers won-the com
pany surrendered Internationally.
The men went back to work without
prejudice: that was the agreement.
But in three years there was not a
man in the employment Of the com
pany who took an active part in the
strike.
These figures are worthy of careful
consideration. They show the enor-
nous cost of strikes and teach the
use of reason and education instead
Of force as no other facts can.
But, expensive as strikes have
been, the successful ones have been
of benefit to the workingmen. Nor
would it be just to say that the I'M
successful ones were total loss.
/ The great Pullman strike taught
the people the idea of government
ownership of railways as nothing
else ever did before or since. The
successive coal strikes of late years,
and especially the one just closed.
have brushed the cobwebs from mill
ions of brains and made room for the
idea of public ownership and control
of the mines in the interest of pro-
Queer and consumer.
1t seems to me that if We could lift
the veil of the future and take peep
beyond we could see that the two
strikes just mentioned have been the
most successful the nation has ever
seen. | say most successful because
they have pointed the way to a per-
mauent solution Of labor troubles.
1t cannot be said that the success
Of a strike or a boycott IS a perma-
II Mt solution Of the trouble. The
conditions which the workers force
from their employers. satisfactory
as they may be today, may be I'M
bearable in a few years, owing to
changed conditions, and then the
same battle must b. fought over
again.
A large part Of the time of labor
union meetings is devoted to the dis
cussiCn of bOycotts. strikes and unfair
resolutions but, fellow-WOrkers. stop
and think and you will see that the
ben fits accruing from the solution
of such questions is more theoretical
than practical. No sooner have you
disposed of one case than another de-
mands attention. and after you have
got all the trouble settled careful
examination of the cost of living will
show an increase in the cost of liv-
ing that robs us of all our benefits.
1t seems to me that if the money,
time and energy spent in this way
was expended on education along the
lines of social and political economy
teaching the members the true cause
of their trouble, and pointing the way
to a permanent solution by changed
social and political condition. the re
suits would be far more satisfactory
and effective. The ever-increasing
army Of the unemployed curtails the
power of labor unions to fix wages
and enforce their demands and points
out to the intelligent uniohist the i'm
perative necessity of a change OIL
policy from the industrial field to the
political one.
After all it is the hungry tramp
that fixes the wages that we all work
for. Without him the labor unionist
would demand the full product of his
; toll and the wage system would tt
at an emf.
Are wages increasing? Measure
in dollars and cents they are, hui
thai i; not the proper way to meas
j ure them. Neither is it right y
measure them by the purchasing
power of a days wages, but By the
productive power of dag labor.
AS machinery increases the pro
ductive power of days labor the
hours should be shortened, merely
preventing the machine fIor food
ing the country with tramps, and tht