The Washington herald. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1906-1939, 1909-11-14
THE QUESTION OF STRIKES.
HOW IT FIGURES IN HISTORY

In considering the inconvenience
caused to the community by strikes and
their fsr-reaching effect. II must be re
garded as simple and manifest truth
that the community VIII be the happiest
where they DO not exist
OF course socialism is at the bottom
or the evil. and so powerful and rapid
are the strides Of socialism that we
are not surprised at hearing strikes ex-
tending az far from our own country as
Japan and Sweden.
The Century Encyclopedia defines a
strike as follows:
To press a claim or demand by coercire OF
threatening action Of some kind In common USAGE
70 quit work along with others in order 10 compel
employer % acoede 10 some demand for incroass
Of pay. 10 protest against something. a re
duction Of wages. as 20 strike FOR higher pay o.
shorter hours Of work.
Quoting from another authority:
The inevitable outcome u Lhe situation IN which
men, struggling for what they conceive 20 be legiU
mate erds. zee fellow-workmen joan with the en-
ployer 20 defeat them. The danger OF violence in
the course Of strikes has led TO frequent use 81 the
Injunction by the courts. and great number Of
acts all perfectly legal in themselves. may 10 In
cuded in tho list Of acts restrained by the tuiuno
ton. This. Il is often alleged b. labor leaders.
suits in serious injustice 10 the strikers preventing
hem often from poaccably presenting their side Of
the case 10 the strike-breakers. who have been
brought. perhaps. from distant parts Of the coun-
try and know nothing Of the merits Of the case
The frequency OF yoeree in labor disputes has led
20 tho extensive employment Of private guards and
in very recent times 10 the formation Of organ
lied body Of strike breakers who hold Themselves in
readiness to 80 to any part Of the country TO take
the place Of strikers The success or failure Of
strike depends largely upon the power OF the strikers
to prevent the employer from filing the places left
vacant by the strike. Employed in a moderate de-
gree violence is condoned by many labor leaders as
8 useful adjunct to the strategy Of a strike.
And again:
The earliest strikes IN the United States tooh
PLACES toward the close Of the eighteenth century
These inTolTed only small bodies Of skilled work
men Until the close Of the civil war strikes were
relatively few and Of limited duration.
McMaster's People of the United
States" volume II. chapter Is, page 6lS
| is authority for the following:
| A number Of them Clew York saiiors)
struck. formed a band marched about the city and
compelled scamen employed at the old rates to Join
! them. But the corstables arrested the lead
! er and so ended lin October iSd2) the ear
best Of labor strikes.
The Old Testament IS authority for a
statement that induces US 10 believe that
history as having made a corner in
grain. and the New Testament IS author
ity for the belief that In the time of
Christ strikes were existent For In
stance. st. Paul, in his first epistle,
third chapter. to Timothy, in reciting the
requirements OF a bishop, says he must
be no striker" and in his second epis-
tie 20 the Thessalonians. chapter third.
verses, g. 7. and s, he says:
Now we command you. brethren. IN The name Of
our Lord Jesus Christ, that you withdraw your
selves from every brother that walketh disordery
and not after the tradition that he received from
US; for yourselves know how YOU ought TO follow
rs. for We behave not ourselves disorderly among
you, neither did We eat any mans bread for naught
but wrought with labor ard travail night and day
that we might not be chargeable TO any Of you
And in verses 10 II, and Il:
For even when We were with you. this We CON-
manded yop that any would not work neither
should he eat. For we hear that there arc some
which walk among you disorderiy. working net at