THE Temuka Leader. THURSDAY, JULY 12, 1894. THE STRIKES IN AMERICA.

Temuka Leader, Issue 2684, 12 July 1894, Page 2

THE Temuka Leader. THURSDAY, JULY 12, 1894. T HE STRIKES IN AMERICA.

This industrial war in America has taken a serious turn. Mr John Burns told English Trades Unionists some time ago i hat they would have to throw more of the devil into their action than they had been doing if they desired to succeed. The Americans apparently want no such advico. They are throwing enough of the devil into the strike by all accounts, and much distress, privation, and suffering is the result. We have no sympathy with such tactics as those employed by the strikers in America at the present time, but they are excusable on the ground that the employers take no notice of their demands. It invariably happens, at any rate in Australia, that thP workmen seek a conference with the employers, and the employers arrogantly decline even the small concession of listening to what the men have to say. Nothing is more exasperating than to be treated with contempt, and when the .employers contemptuously spurn all overtures to conciliation and arbitration they contribute, even though indirectly, to the evils which resul'. from strikes. There is no wrong will). - a remedy, and very few strikes but whldb if both sides gave and took a little* eoulii I>P settled amicably. We noticed that very otfejl the workmen have used every legitimate mean# to got the employers to meet them and talk the matter over, but as often the employers have spurned such overtures. If thus drive- i to desperation by such contomp'.nous treatment, the workmen resort to violent measures there is an excuse for them, oven though it may not altogether justify their actions. In America the strikers appear to take full advantage of every excuse they can to destroy property iuai ;nako their power felt. They have made their power felt; vast as the groat continent is, immense as are its resources, enormous as are its v/pUth, and controlling as is its influence, it is nothing and it cau d > little without labor. The strike is jio more than a week old; it is only partial, and yet people aro suffering great privations owing to the impossibility of getting the necersaries of life. Docs not this teach a solemn Jesssou I Docs it not show the men of wealth how helpless ihey are, aud how they are as much dependent on the workman as the workmen are on them! This is what all ought lo boar in mind; wo cannot live indepeadhutly of ouch other ; no one can play

a lone hand, and consequently no one section ought to attempt to domineer another section. These strikes and upheavals ought not to be necessary, and would not if men treated each other honestly, and we are glad to feel that they are practically at an end in New Zealand. The Conciliation and Arbitration Bill of Mr Reeves, which was thrown out last year by the Legislative Council, but which, this year will become law, will settle strikes for ever. Under this law all industrial disputes will be referred to a Court of Arbitration, and both parties must submit to the result. The condition of America at the present time appears to be very bad, and the strike appears to be the outcome of the depression. The masters attempted to lower wages, the workmen have rebelled, and hence the strike. But it is as likely as not that behind these superficial causes there is something of the political element; we feel inclined to think that there is some connection between the strike and the freetrade movement. It is very likely that the manufacturers are purposely harlfassing the working people in order to force them to vote on the protection ticket next election, and if so they have by this time, we presume, found that they have overreached themselves. At any rate the situation is apparently serious, and our opinion is that a much worse state of things will be witnessed before long. An educated and intelligent people will not stand by and starve whilst a few are hording millions by means of machinery.