Chapter III: Personal Services (4)

The above is the universal and fundamental objection to Strikes. _The remedy for economical evils, real or supposed, must ever be found in economical considerations._ The strong but foolish tendency of the times is to mix up things that are quite distinct; to try to apply to the evils of Trade the rules of Morals, which is a useless task; to appeal to Politics in matters of pure Bargain; and to resort to Force to cure the evils that flow from the wholly voluntary action of individuals. This is like the doctor who would cure bodily ailments by mental and spiritual recipes. It has all the absurdities of the late famous "Mind-cure." The mind is indeed higher than the body, but bodily maladies must be treated as such, or the patient will die; the imperatives of Ethics are certainly superior to the profitables of Economics, but the latter are well able to take care of themselves on their own ground; Religion is loftier than Morals, but it becomes a very poor substitute for morals in the daily routine of life. _Similia similibus curantur._ Economical evils can only be removed by a better Economics better applied. Strikes are an outside and irrelevant remedy for low Wages.

A bad principle works badly in practice of course; the principle that underlies strikes is so opposed to the fundamental nature of exchange, that we might know beforehand that it would work badly; and as a matter of fact, it does work badly enough both upon employers and employed, because strikes are certain to embitter the relations between the two classes, which ought always to be cordial and free, and especially, because strikes must work on the minds of the capitalist to lessen the Wages-Portion for the next industrial cycle. Fortunately, we possess authentic statistics gathered about Strikes by the Massachusetts Bureau of Statistics of Labor, and published in detail in the Report of December, 1888. The information given is exact in relation to five principal States, and approximate in relation to the other parts of the United States. We will copy first the table exhibiting the Losses in six years on account of Strikes of both Employers and Employees, and the outside assistance received by the latter:--

EMPLOYEES' LOSS AND ASSISTANCE AND EMPLOYERS' LOSS IN THE FIVE
PRINCIPAL STATES ON ACCOUNT OF STRIKES AND
LOCK-OUTS FOR 1881-1886.

+------------------------+-------------+------------+-------------+
| STATES. | Employees' | Employees' | Employers' |
| | Loss. |Assistance. | Loss. |
+------------------------+-------------+------------+-------------+
| _Strikes._ | | | |
| Illinois, | $6,636,208 | $238,452 | $5,251,829 |
| Massachusetts, | 4,200,489 | 266,708 | 1,970,881 |
| New York, | 8,581,784 | 726,696 | 5,966,421 |
| Ohio, | 6,378,757 | 415,568 | 2,793,427 |
| Pennsylvania, | 12,890,346 | 781,338 | 3,897,757 |
| Other parts of the | | | |
| United States, | 13,127,139 | 895,795 | 10,821,238 |
| +-------------+------------+-------------+
| THE UNITED STATES, | $51,814,723 | $3,324,557 | $30,701,553 |
+------------------------+-------------+------------+-------------+

The large percentage of establishments represented in this table, in which the strikes were ordered by labor-organizations, is particularly noticeable. In New York 94.26% of the establishments had strikes which were ordered, in Illinois 83.96%, in Massachusetts 81.91%, and in the United States 82.24%. The "walking-delegate" so-called became the principal personage in all these strikes; he brought the orders to the men from the "central-union" of their special organization, and became in most cases the sole means of communication between the two. "_You are the strike_," exclaimed the Lord Mayor of London the other day to Mr. Burns, the walking delegate of the dock-laborers now on strike in that city. That the daily bread and home comforts of tens of thousands of men depend on the secret and irresponsible decision of a little knot of agitators, sending out their verbal and often ambiguous written orders by a walking-delegate or two, is one of the monstrosities of Strikes often witnessed in the United States. The laborers sometimes do not know even the causes of the strike. There has been great want and suffering for three months past among the striking coal-miners in the State of Illinois; and a brief editorial in the "Springfield Republican" of Aug. 24, 1889, describes the state of things so justly, that we quote it:--

"Ex-Congressman William L. Scott, who owns coal mines at Spring Valley, Ill., has offered to pay 75 cents a ton for mining to the strikers who in their destitution have been subsisting for some time on public charity. This is 2-1/2 cents a ton more than the miners have asked for, but it is coupled with the condition that each man must seek work individually and not through some outside union committee. Although the men have been reduced to a state of abject want it is said the conditions imposed will prevent a settlement. In that case we may conclude that a few well-fed walking delegates are acting for the men and not they for themselves. It is a strange time to quibble over such a matter. The worst and most oppressive enemy of labor is the parasite who lives upon its distresses."

A strike is a state of war, and like war, there are two parties to it, and it cannot be expected that the party of the other part should not strike back. The "_lock-out_" is the counter-stroke of the capitalist to the "_strike_" of the laborer. Lock-outs, however, are comparatively infrequent. Capitalists, as a rule, are conservative and forbearing. Massachusetts took the statistics of lock-outs as carefully as those of strikes, and the following is the table:--

+------------------------+------------+------------+------------+
| STATES. | Employees' | Employees' | Employers' |
| | Loss. |Assistance. | Loss. |
+------------------------+------------+------------+------------+
| _Lock-outs._ | | | |
| Illinois, | $533,497 | $5,374 | $347,065 |
| Massachusetts, | 952,310 | 136,626 | 550,675 |
| New York, | 3,150,123 | 392,316 | 845,262 |
| Ohio, | 848,829 | 231,870 | 493,100 |
| Pennsylvania, | 712,956 | 77,038 | 237,735 |
| Other parts of the | | | |
| United States, | 1,960,002 | 262,814 | 988,424 |
| +------------+------------+------------+
| THE UNITED STATES, | $8,157,717 | $1,106,038 | $3,462,261 |
+------------------------+------------+------------+------------+

Like war too, strikes and lock-outs are wasteful and demoralizing to both parties. Why should there be a resort to force to settle an industrial dispute any more than to settle any other private dispute? Will such a resort be long tolerated by public opinion in civilized countries? The Legislature of Massachusetts in 1886 provided for a State Board of Arbitration for the settlement of differences between employers and employees. The statute was crude in some respects, and the basis of it not very firmly fixed in the nature of things, but the Bureau of Labor reports that it has been justified by the results in its practical application during the short time of its operation. The broad truth is, that the value of Commodities and the value of Credits is now left to the safe action of Demand and Supply under free competition in every country in Christendom: why should not the value of Services be left to the same safe and inexorable action? Governments gave up long ago all idea of regulating directly or indirectly the prices of merchandise and the prices of commercial claims of all kinds: will they not shortly give up also all idea of regulating directly or indirectly the rates of Wages? They will. The three kinds of things bought and sold are on an exact level in the nature of things, so far as Government is concerned. Wages are abundantly able to take care of themselves in the ordinary way, as goods do, and stocks and bonds; and an enlightened Public Opinion is fast coming to see, that a man's personal service rendered needs no more the oversight of the State in its sale than his horse, or note of hand at interest. Strikes, and lock-outs, and all extraordinary courts or boards to settle quarrels between a labor-giver and a labor-taker as such, since it is a case of ordinary buying and selling, are foredoomed to pass out in the good time coming.

Towards this good end works strongly the common _futility_ of strikes and lock-outs. Carroll D. Wright, chief of the Bureau of Labor in Massachusetts, now the head of the National Bureau of Labor, in his State Report for 1880, gave a succinct account of all strikes in that State from their beginning in 1830. They were 159 in all, of which 109 were unsuccessful, 18 apparently successful, 16 compromised, 6 partly successful, and 10 "result unknown." In Great Britain during the year 1878, there occurred 277 strikes, of which 256 were failures, 17 were compromised, and only 4 were successful. The following table taken from the Massachusetts Report of 1888, gives on a broad scale the results of Strikes in the United States for six years:--

GENERAL SUMMARY OF STRIKES IN FIVE PRINCIPAL STATES FOR 1881-1886.

_Percentages._

+--------------+-------+---------+-------+-----+--------+-------+-------+
| CLASSIFI- | Illi- |Massa- | New |Ohio.|Pennsyl-|Other |THE |
| CATIONS. | nois. |chusetts.| York. | |vania. |Parts |UNITED |
| | | | | | |of the |STATES.|
| | | | | | |United | |
| | | | | | |States.| |
+--------------+-------+---------+-------+-----+--------+-------+-------|
| _Strikes._ | | | | | | | |
|Ordered by | | | | | | | |
| labor organ- | | | | | | | |
| izations, | 83.96 | 81.91 | 94.26 |71.21| 61.59 | 73.06 | 82.24 |
|Establish- | | | | | | | |
| ments closed | 70.70 | 79.10 | 51.01 |81.21| 70.11 | 57.57 | 60.13 |
| | | | | | | | |
|Causes: | | | | | | | |
|Against | | | | | | | |
| reduction of | | | | | | | |
| wages, | 5.35 | 6.23 | 2.50 |20.73| 22.65 | 8.61 | 7.77 |
|For change of | | | | | | | |
| hour of | | | | | | | |
| beginning | | | | | | | |
| work, | - | - | 3.86 | - | - | 0.05 | 1.61 |
|For increase | | | | | | | |
| of wages, | 41.54 | 35.28 | 39.09 |52.42| 46.97 | 45.01 | 42.32 |
|For increase | | | | | | | |
| of wages and | | | | | | | |
| reduction of | | | | | | | |
| hours, | 17.85 | 0.50 | 9.37 | 1.85| 1.06 | 4.96 | 7.59 |
|For reduction | | | | | | | |
| of hours, | 18.35 | 42.71 | 24.31 | 5.32| 5.32 | 17.23 | 19.48 |
|For reduction | | | | | | | |
| of hours and | | | | | | | |
| against being| | | | | | | |
| compelled to | | | | | | | |
| board with | | | | | | | |
| employer, | - | - | 7.32 | - | - | 2.19 | 3.59 |
|Other causes, | 16.91 | 15.28 | 13.55 |19.68| 24.00 | 21.95 | 17.64 |
| | | | | | | | |
|Results: | | | | | | | |
|Succeeded, | 54.16 | 35.28 | *51.05|49.44| 32.60 | 42.69 | *46.52|
|Succeeded | | | | | | | |
| partly, | 10.33 | 45.93 | *8.14| 8.87| 17.57 | 17.27 | *13.47|
|Failed, | 35.51 | 18.79 | *40.65|41.69| 49.83 | 40.04 | *39.95|
+--------------+-------+---------+-------+-----+--------+-------+-------+

* In 15 establishments the results were not ascertained.

3. The third popular remedy for low Wages, which has at least the merit of being in the line of economical considerations, as the other two are not, is "Co-operation." The interest in this proposed remedy is much less both in Europe and in the United States than formerly, owing to the failures that have mostly attended the attempts to put the scheme into practice, although there have been some remarkable successes also, particularly in England. The idea of Co-operation is this, namely, that certain laborers within given classes combine of their own accord, (1) _either to purchase their necessaries in common and at wholesale, hence at cheaper rates because avoiding all profits of the middlemen_; or (2), _more especially to engage in the joint production of the commodities they are familiar with, the laborers furnishing the capital also from their little hoards or borrowing it on the strength of their individual or associated credit, managing the business themselves, all being co-partners, and of course all sharing pro rata the entire profits of the concern_.

All this is well; and in countries where laborers have been under traditional disabilities, it may be in some cases very promotive of their self-respect, activity, frugality, and general welfare; but any one can see that no new economic principle is involved in the plan. As in all other production, so here, there must be (1) capital from some source, (2) steady and skilful labor, and (3) superintendence or management of the business. It is at the third point that schemes of co-operation have mostly broken down. The faculty of good management is rare; the organizing and executive ability needful to carry through any scheme of co-operation will not come upon call; if any of the co-operators chance to possess it, the scheme may succeed, although he who is conscious of having it will prefer to use it for his own gain in his own way, to say nothing of the practical impossibility of any man's working with the same spirit when the gain or loss is to be largely another's as when it is to be wholly his own; moreover, it has been well said, "it is impossible _to hire_ commercial genius or the instincts of a skilful trader"; so that, while there is no trouble about the workmen uniting the character of capitalist and laborer in their own persons, and no doubt that they will work harder and more skilfully while sharing profits as well as receiving wages, it is still true, that the difficulty of securing a real "captain of industry," and thus a perfect organization and management of the whole business, puts the scheme of co-operation out of the question as a means of raising wages, or promoting the general welfare of laborers.

In this country, where there is nothing to hinder any laborer from becoming a capitalist, where the savings-banks are open to the smallest gains, where nothing is more common than for two or more workmen to organize a firm to carry on some branch of business, where most of the present capitalists proper were formerly laborers proper, and where the shares of most of the joint-stock companies are open to everybody who has the means to buy them, there is only one consideration that seems to justify any special jealousy of laborers as such towards capitalists as such; and that is the fact, that Legislation, every now and then, sometimes on a small scale and then on a gigantic one, now by means of corporate charters and then by other means more indirect and effective, _does confer certain extraordinary privileges upon capitalists_. So long as capitalists and laborers rest upon their natural rights and positions, neither can get any undue advantage of the other; and just so far as each recognizes their identity of economic interest and the consequent reciprocity of obligation and effort, the prosperity of each will help build up the other; but, on the other hand, so far forth as any advantages are given to capitalists by special laws, either of State or Nation, these become necessarily unjust to laborers, and ultimately also injurious to capitalists; and in this case, the laborers, seeing just what it is that hurts them, _ought to combine together and to strike, not capital (their best friend), but a piece of perverted legislation (their worst enemy)_.

FOOTNOTES:

[5] O'Reilly's Poem, at Plymouth, 1889.

[6] Green's Short History of the English People, p. 144.