Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1917-07-07
Another Strike Lesson.


What threatened To become 4 strike
where human life would have TO be
sacrificed before the involved elements
could be brought to their senses has
been adjusted at Bloomington, Ill.,
through the calm counselling Of con
servative heads representing both
sides in the controversy.
In the past two days Bloomington
was the scene Of the widest rlottug
n the history Of that city. The en-
ployes Of the street railway company
thought they should have wage in
crease, a more satisfactory arrange
raent of their working hours and rec
IGNITION Of their union The officials
OF the company did not see fit 10 inn
mediateIy acqu{esce in the demands
Of the employees and there was q
strike When a worker sees another
walk into the place he leaves ia order
to enforce demands that no believes
are fair and reasonable IL is only nat
urai that he should become 0eIIgeT-
ent, and If he does hold his head and
let's his successor proceed peacefully
in his employment he ls an exception.
2 =
on strike showed no inclination 10
carry their protest I'd ri1tous proper
lions until the outside agitarCr arrived
on the ground and began 10 point Jua
way to the local men He got street
corner and told them how they han
died strikes ia other cities and there
was no reason why the trick should
not be turned with equal success IN
Bloomington. Then Mother Jones
blew in Here is q fine Old lady. who
has seen much and probably suffered
more In her earlier years because q
the differences between capital and
labor. None will doubt that she means
we'll, but her methods do not belong to
the present. She Yields a wonderful
spell over q crowd, especially i II Is
composed of maicOntents. The Bloom
ington strikers and their sEmpatalzer5
were In the right mood 10 hear q Moth
or Jones speech She fred the crowd
10 a frenzy. In fact 1t appears that
she carried her listeners farther than
che expected 10, and the hours follow
Ing her utterances were the most tenn
pestuons ever Witnessed IN iae CITY
Men completely lost their reason and
It seemed that human blood would run
in the streets unless the terms OF the
strikers were met It was necessary
10 summon the state military, several
companies strong, To compel order
When she saw she had struck
match that had started 81 coufagra
lion that imperiled the entire city
Mother Jones, evidently conscious that
she had done more harm than help TO
the cause she esp0used, suddenly dis
appeared from the scene Of the strike,
as did other agitators who shared the
responsibility for the disorder. When
the agitators had flown and "a sem
hlance Of quiet mad been obtained by
the presence of troops the men who
had in their hands the power to bring
TO an end the difficulty that had pre-
cipitated the breach between the com
pany and its employees get their heads
together. They are practical men.
Each agreed that the other was en-
titled to consideration Each had an
argument that sounded good from his
point of view. The company WIS Will
Ing to go to certain lengths to satisfy
its employees. There would be better
pay and there would be recognition Of
the union II that would insure peace.
During last night agreements were
reached that will insure resumption of
business on the street ear lines, the
strikers to be taken back in the posts
they left The Bloomington incident
ought to serve as another proof TO la
Dor that its worst enemy In disputes
with employers is the imported agi-
tator He thriyes on trouble, When
there is peace he is out of q job, There
is a healthy lesson for both labor and
capital in the Bloomington affair. Cap
ital is not wholly blameless fer not at
least attempting to head off the strike
by some assurance TO the men that
their demands would be given consid-
Grafton I'll at least Offering promise Of
some Of the concessions that The OIL
Gals must have realized that thsy
would have to make eventually.