Year: 1875

The experience Of the puddlers' strike in
Pittsburg, which has lasted all winter, should
not bo overlooked by workingmen in my
section Of the country, nor in any branch Of
industry. It is startling epitome OF the
want and suffering which the laboEing classes
may bring upon themselves by ignorant judg-
ment and M-temper. It is solemn warning
against tho indulgence Of nero prejudices
end the assertion Of unreasonable demands,
at the sacrifice of employment, savings, and
the comforts and happiness Of home. It is
another and conspicuous example, Of tho in
efficacy Of "strikea" as q means to enforce
compliance with demands that exceed tho
limits Of ordinary prudence and profit It is
new and conclusive pr3of that, however
much capital may suffer IN o deadlock and
enforced suspension ct business, the labor
ing classes suffer hundredfold more.
Strikes are utterly inadequate to the adjust
ment Of the relations between employers and
the employed; tho former may sustain
serious loss Of capital and the interest there
on, but the latter suffer the loss Of bread for
themselves and those dependent upon them.
This is true even when tie cause Of the
strike is just one; when the strike is the
result Of excessive and unreasonable de-
mands On the part of the strikers their loss
is all the greater, for tho employers con
better afford to allow their copital to remain
idle than to use it at loss


Tho Pittsburg strike shows the far=reach-
ing nature Of the resulting calamity. The
number Of puddlers who refused to work at
the rates offered was only 1,7oo, but it is es-
timated that their action threw 10000 men
out Of employment in and about Pittsburg,
and 10000 men throughout the country,
whose employment depended upon the orig
inal work Of the puddlerz. The strike arose
from the unwillingness Of the workingman to
bear their share Of the losses incident to the
panic. Iron went down to figure where it
was no longer profitable to employ puddlers
at the old wages, which we're $3.50 per ton
The employers notified the puddlers that they
could not afford to pay $3.50; tho pud-
ders demanded Sc or nothing Work was
stopped at the iron~mills, and consequently at
the factories working up iron into al sorts Of
utensils. Tho puddlers thought the price Of
iron would increase, owing to the falling of
in production. On the contrary, it decreased,
and the owners Of the mills are not able to-
day to pay more than $3.50 ton, while the
men might have had work during most Of the
winter at $3.50 per ton The puddlers re-
manned obstinate, and the result is that the
industry Of whole city hns bsen prostrated,
and great business interest paralyzed The
unemployed thousands have exhausted their
savings, and a1e suffering from hunger
and want Their employers ere badly OF, it
is true, but tho work1nen are in an infinitely
worse condition, as tho consequences Of this
miserable civil war.


This strike came, IS ve have said, from the
refusal Of the wo-kingmen to share the re-
verses Of panic and hard times. Their ro-
fusal is the direct outg1owth Of q mysterious
and senseless conviction that there is some-
thing more sacred about labor than there is
about capital This doctrine is utterly non
sensical. Labor is the oct Of producing
wealth capital is wealth produced by labor,
and saved Labor ii productive capital Is
reproductive Labor 10 ths effort ef to~dsY