The Lakeland evening telegram. (Lakeland, Fla.) 1911-1922, 1922-08-10
FROM OUR READERS
ARE WE HEADED
FOR THE BREAKERS ?

lncHI OF HlCtnOu Ol dCllOH uOeS HOl
Justify its continuation nor does the
long continued form of government
offer any plea for change of form.
The change must be determined by
the growing conditions of the society
thus governed.
Tradition advises that when man
first wen tC mill he put corn in one
end of the sack, a rock in the other,
to balance over the horses back, but
as the flmily grew, he put corn in
both ends. Thus the growing family
made this change necessary.
| am :u!d that our judicial form of
government is from England, much
OF which she has long ago discarded
because she outgrew it.
The administrative form of our gov
eminent is the advisory form, the ed
ucatiOnal form, the law making form,
the protection form, the governing
! form The chief object before the
government is protection of her peo-
pie. And yet, two of the leading in
| dustries upon which every man, wom-
and child is dependent, is left in
he hands of two classes, employer
and employe, to fight over at will. and
the people have to foot the bills of
he fight.
The government has assumed finan-
cial control and stays the hand of the
railroad in the matter of freight col
! icctlon9 from the people, and stays
the hand of her labor in the matter of
his collections from the road when
they do not force their way through
government authority That is the
state of the case today. The govern
ment never has controlled the roads
in this matter. and, Judging from the
past. she never will till she takes
them over and operates them. Let us
examine the path over which we are
travelling. The most imposing feature
of rail economy is the strike. A strike
is concerted action on the part of
working men to force their employers
to grant some demand.
In 1877 a strike failed in its de-
mand after destruction of property by
rioting and in incendiarsm to the
amount of $5,000.000. In 1892 six
strikes were called, and one of them
made necessary the presence of eight
thousand troops to stop it, In 1894
a strike for higher wages failed with
oss to the railroad of $4,000 and
$2.0OO,0O0 loss in wages. In the same
year mine workers struck, with par
| tiai success, but lost in wages $13,-
800, 900 In 1902 mine workers struck
May 15-0ctober 49, Pennsylvania coal
miners, state troops had to be called
in, 90
;ncendiarism, etc; it was finally ar
Iitrated after much suffering by the
people and loss to mine owners of
500 100000 and loss to miners of
S29, 100000. to the state and people of
$57 200 900.
Between 1881 and 1900 there were
22,793 strikes. Fifty per cent were
successful. with : loss in wages of
1857 500 900.
These figures do not bring us with
in twenty years of present conditions.
but we are still headed for the break
ers under the heaviest strikes we
have ever pulled off.
While the strike is an old method of
securing what is demanded, it is in
tolerable, except as a last resort. be-
cause it is the employment of force.
Furthermore, it has its limits as
last resort in industrial institutions
in which the interests of all the peo-
pie are involved, namely, railroading
and coal mining. In these institu-
tons the effects of the strike do not
end with the two contending parties,
but passes over them on to the inno-
90
bills. | have in mind one man, who
made and sold to be paid for on de-
livery, nine cars of vegetables, four
ct them loaded. A strike embargoed
them, they rotted. Millions of others
similarly affected though innocent of
the contention. The innocent public
is penalized in a railroad or coal
mine strike because of their interde-
pendence in them-penalized but not
incriminated. There is not vestige
of justice that will tolerate such con-
dition.
Man ceases to be within his rights
when, by his action, such results fol-
low In private or individual in
dustry the strike may be allowable,
for there the contention ends with the
contrasting parties. If my life depends
on the destruction of property of my
fellow man, l am within my right to
destroy said property. but after re-
covery | am bound to restore such
property. But l am never within my
right when by my act l destroy his
property for my own self-aggrandize-
ment or the accumulation of dollars
and cents.
AS a rule, arbitration is the means
of settling a contest after a strike is
called. Why not employ it at the
outset? 1t would avoid bitterness of
feeling the strike engenders. I'll
would save millions to labor and oper-
~ on Id hillin,,s 70 thn .ana,,In