The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1920-08-12
A STRIKE THAT FAILED.

The Denver street car strike is end
ed, the cars are running again, but
are not manned by the strikers. The
latter have asked for their old jobs
without any attempt to dictate condi-
tions OF employment. According to
the Rocky Mountain News:
The strike was lost the moment it
was called The great public would
not endure it. Public sentiment was
unalterably' opposed to it. The strik-
ers were without justification. Legal
~. morally and economically they
were at fault. They had broken an
agreement; they were without any real
grievance and were receiving good
wages. Without thought OF the in
jury they were doing to a whole COM
munity. they left the public high and
dry. They ignored their relationship
to the public as employees of a public
utility corporation bound by franchise
contract to serve the public and keep
its cars going.
In the history of the strike and in
its results the News sees a lesson
which it thinks should be taken to
heart by labor unions elsewhere. 1t
says further:
What has taken place ought to etch
into the heart of organized labor that
before it goes on strike to the extent
of injurfng a whole city or a large
number of people it must be certain
to have a good case. that it is using
the strike weapon as very last resort
to obtain justice and that the public
is fully acquainted with the dispute
If the mems cause is just and makes
right appeal to public sentiment. the
men have nothing 10 fear; indeed the
leverage of public sentiment is recOg-
nized as SO aI-powerfuI in labor dis
putes affecting the public that the en-
ployer will hesitate a long while be-
fore he challenges it ana permits his
employees to secure public sentiment.
1t must have been driven home to the
ill-advised WOrkmen that where the
people have a direct stake in q quar-
rel, such as the transportation strike.
they reach a quick decision for them
selves, are impatient with bubbles and
intuitively place the blame where it
belongs In reaching a verdict where
they are the greatest sufferers. the
people cannot be bothered with extra
neous matter. They insist upon imme-
date resumption.
Another basic truth must have been
thrust home to all but the most obtuse
in the ranks of decent labor and of the
alien Bolshevism that insisted upon
obtruding Its doctrines in the critical
hours of the strike, namely. that there
must be no violence practiced in labor
disputes. no appeal to brute force, no
attempt at terrorism.
II it be claimed that there can be no
cessation of labor in a great utility
without violence and inconvenience.
then the answer must be that there
shall be no strike. that the great third
party shall take a hand before 1t
reaches the dangerous stage.
The innocent more than the guilty
suffered from violence the last few
days. Strike leaders and their follow
ing insist that they cautioned against
violence and the lists of dead and in
jured may prove that they had no part
in the bleodshed. but after all has been
urged in defense, the people felt that
the calling of the unwarranted strike
was the first cause for rioting that
brought death and injury, and to end
these things there must be an end of
the strike