The Montgomery advertiser., 1904-09-09
srRrkrs rN FICTION AND FACT.

The novelist. Henty, in one of his books. the scenes of which are at Staff fordshire England. draws graphic picture of strike among the coal min CTS of that region. As is usual in such cases. the miners demanded higher wages which the mine owners refused to grant. Then there was a general strike and very soon hundreds and thousands of men were idle. For a week or two everything apparently went we'll, and the miners were jubi- lant. It was predicted that the bosses would soon give in. Money from the miners union was dealt out to the men in amounts sufficient to keep them from want and they anticipated an easy vic- tory, after a good rest during which they and their families were provided for out of the general fund.
 But this could not last forever. As time passed and the mine owners show ed no indications of giving in conditions were changed for the worse. Funds became scarce, the amount to each
 
 men suffered and children starved for lack of food. Left to themselves" we are told, ''the men would have much sooner given in," but they were bound to and restrained by the unions. Again we are told that "the delegates of the union went about holding meetings. and assuring the men that the masters were on the point of being beaten and must soon give way" But the masters did not give way. and from threats the starving miners proceeded ito violence and attempted to wreck the mines. In this they partially succeeded but the civil and military authorities inter- fered, with the result that many of the strikers were killed and wounded and others sent to prison. Then the strike ended and the men went back to work, having gained nothing but experience won with bitter suffering for them selves and their families.
 Though this purports to be work of fiction it is true to the life, and has many times been repeated in this coun- try. When a strike is ordered by the unions and the walking delegates the strikers are buoyed up by the assur- ances that they will soon succeed, that the employers cannot afford to have work stopped and that they will be forced to give in and accede to the de- mands of the strikers. These demands are often unreasonable, unfair and un- just. but the strikers are powerless to resist the orders of their organization and those who dominate 1t, and refuse to either give in or agree to any com promise. Meanwhile, during their days and weeks of idleness they and their families must suffer, or they must live on contributions taken from the earn ings of other laboring men who doubt must contribute to "the cause." The strikers are living on what is little better than blood money wrung from those who really have nothing to spare
 But this is not the worst feature of most strikes. In every aggregation of StTiheTS tHeTe are sure to De some law less and turbulent men who are ready for violence. When they find that there is no hope of success by peaceable methods they resort to others. They not only prevent others from working, resorting to lawlessness and force if no other means will serve, but too fre- quently try to destroy the property of the employers. After all, they may fail to obtain any concessions Or ad- vantages, and if they succeed it Is at the expense of all confidence and good feeling on the part of their employers who will remember 1t against those who defeated them. What Is gained in one way Is lost in another.
 The picture drawn by the novelist is not in any degree an extravagant one, and we've no doubt that he only de- scribed scenes which actually tran spired among the miners, and which are duplicated in this country on many oc- casions. Sympathetic or concerted strikes are rarely right in principle or practice. Generally they are wrong in both.