A QUESTION FOR STRIKE READERS

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 1908, 17 November 1913, Page 9

A QUESTION FOR STRIKE READERS

Sir, —In a- book which I Lave recently read, entitled "The Man ot the Hour,' and published in 1905, tho conditions of labour and somo aspects of strikes aro dealt with in the form of a story. Tho scene is laid, in tho United States, The hero, well-born and wei-l-cdflcated, and prospective heir to wealth., forsakes his own class and throws in his lot- with tho workers, through a, genuine" desire to uplift and assist what lro deems to bathe enslaved and down-iroddon_ portion of humanity, Jle takes all.active part

tho'outset to "striking," loyally" supports his comrades when once the striko has beou declared; and, at a crisis, by a groat speech heartens and solidifies the strikers. When ultimately he discovers, the real nature of the aims of the striko loaders, and sees tho results of their methods and the direct effects of tho strike on the strikers, he opens his mind to a friend. This is what ho says:-* "No ( man has a right to urgo other men into a fight that may ruin i them without' having a reasonable assiiranco he is going to win. A striko is a devilish thing. It was my business- to bo sure it was a righteous striko in tho first place, and that there was a goad chance of its winning in tho second. I didn't do either. I jumped in over my head without knowing how I'd get out. In short, I liavo been a damn fool and a damn scoundrel." If the strike leaders- in the present striko were to apply to their actions tho two tests given above, would they bo able to arrive at other tlui-n tho sa-mo conclusions?—l am, etc.,