The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1907-08-16
Who Pays?

The theory that q very large percen-
tage of the wealth Of the country is in
the hands OF a few mon and that strikes
are the most effective means Of taking
some Of it away from them and trans
serr;nS il 20 other and more worthy
hands is not supported either by the
facts IF the case or by experience.
To some extent labor, and organized
labor in particular, regards itself as the
victim of the greed and oppression Of an
element called capital. II proceeds on
the theory that there is a more or less
fixed quantity Of wealth or money in the
country and that the only way in which
labor can obtain what il regards as it's
proper share Of that money is by an
imitation Of the methods Of the high
wayman. This theory ID essentially
stupid. In all except a few unusual
cases the strike is not a battle Of labor
against capital, but OF labor against
labor. II ia an assault made by a group
Of producers. upon the great body OF
Farmers. even as the strikers are. What
ever a group Of strikers may gain from
a strike ONE from the pockets of others
who, like themselves, are dependent upon
their daily labor for the maintenance Of
themselves and their families.
Occasionally a strike ruins or cripples
an individual employer, but labor is no
gamer by that process. Labor points to
the record and claims that its improved
condition, in the matters OF wages and
hours Of work, is due to it's demand,
usually enforced by strikes, for a larger
share of the proceeds Of its industry. 1t
justifies its policy by the existence Of
higher wages and shorter hours than
those prevailing before the strike was
used as a weapon. The fact is that
labOr's Improvement has come in spite of
its frequent disturbance Of industrial on
ditions and not because Of those disturb
ances. The laborer's condition to-day liz
better than it used to be because of
greater production and improvement in
productive processes and methods, and,
in important measure, to the elevation
of social standards.
ItCiCtOiI1o W thhC OVthcbb ACPoi Ol ttnD
growth of manufactures in the United
States shows that in 1850 the item Of
wages represented 2s.2 per oent. Of the
total value Of products. The percentage
Of succeeding decades, using census
years, is, in the order given, % per cent,
iS,per cent, 17.S per cent, 20 per cent
and. in 1900, IS per cent. There is no
indication here that labor has by its
strikes secured any larger share Of the
value Of its production.
II appears, further, that during that
fifty a term the number OF wage
earners was multiplied by six, the total
Of wages was multiplied by ten and the
value Of products was multiplied by
thirteen. Here, and not in those costly
strikes for which labor itself pays, soone
or later, is the clue to the improved con-
dition Of the wage arner He shares
in a general prosperity which his strikes
endanger and on which a heavy draft is
made for the payment Of the cost Of his
disturbance OF industrial conditions.
All the facts and the figures show that
strikes are a weapon which labor ses
against itself. Strikes are a stupid
economic blunder, and the seeming profit
Of those which are successful comes out
Of the pockets of other workers who in
their turn retaliate and draw upon the
pockets of their fellows.