STRIKE IN AMERICA.

West Coast Times, Issue 572, 25 July 1867, Page 2 (Supplement)

STRIKE IN AMERICA.

In a letter dated the 7th of May, the New York correspondent of the *' Times'' writes as follows : — " The cqntiuued strikes throughout the country attract far more attention than the political occurrences of the hour. The Americans could once feel a pride in the boast that in their country ill-feel-ing between employers and employed was almost unknown, and that the troubles between labor and capital, so common in the old World, could not even be comprehended here. There is an end of all that. The large cities are filled with discontented workmen, determined to seize and use political machinery to accomplish their ends. Of course, the first thing that happens to help them is the accession of a crowd of politicians to their side. Place and office are to be gained by becoming the champions of the mechanics. ' It is too good a chance for the politicians to miss, and before long this labor question is likely to develop itself into a very formidable agitation. A few days .ago there was a meeting of workmen at Chicago, at which a number of place-hunters went down on their knees to their dear friends, the oppressed artisans. One gentleman, at present ' Governor of Missouri, and looking .for something better by-and-by, wrote to assure them that he would fight for them against capital with ' earnestness of heart and soul.' Mr Kuykendall, a member of Congress, told the meeting that * capital and labor never did or can unite. Capital will never be content unless it controls labor.' ' Capital,' he further said, ' must not be allowed to be centralised in the hands of a few.' To these 'lessons in political economy, which, I need not say, were well received by the meeting, the hon. member added the following : — ' If the laboring classes produce the wealth, they must control it ; and if all the working men agree upon this, their success is certain.' Another speaker said that they were engaged in God's work, and that capital would drive them into the dust.' General Wallace told them they could make what laws they pleased, and, therefore, they need not long be oppressed. President Johnson sent a letter, in which he expressed his warmest wish ' for all their endeavors to benefit, protect, ar\£ elevate the laboring men of the country.' Thus encouraged and petted, the working men would be more clear-sighted than they are if they ceased to persevere in their present designs, even

although the effect will be to throw them out of employment. The employers are trying to defend themselves by bringing hands from a distance, and some are talking of removing their machinery to another spot. The people have at last a dissatisfied class to deal with, and their experience will soon teach them to understand the difficulty which has been encountered elsewhere in preserving a good understanding between employers and employed. At St. Louis there have been crowded meetings, followed by several incendiary : fires. " A very dangerous feeling is springing up in the minds of the workmen, and if the strike should last till they feel hunger, the prospect for the masters', doubtfully protected by the law, and with the politicians against them, will be very unpromising. This labor question brings to my mind the hardships and sufferings which I constantly find my countrymen bringing upon themselves by unwise emigration to this country. By unwise emigration I mean emigration without means, and without friends or influence here. The notion evidently prevails in the Uuited Kingdom that the moment a man lands in America he is sure of finding regular wages and employment. The victims of this theory find themselves cruelly deceived. It is bad enough in the cases of men who are used to rough work and to privations, and who do not care how much more of either they may be called upon to undergo. If they have brought no money to make a start with, their lot is as hard as it can be for a time. But with men who have been used to gentler fortunes the position is terrible. Clerks, and even young professional men, come out here literally to starve. So far from its being easy for an unknown person to obtain employment here, there is probably no country in the world where it is attended with greater difficulties. A man who can dig or hew in quarries, or work in mines, may find something to do after great search and trouble ; but the lighter callings are all overcrowded. Even with good recommendations from Europe and influential friends here to back them, the chances of success are all against the emigrant. There is a case in point Avhich came to my knowledge a few days' ago. A- young came out from England with good letters of introduction and was taken up kindly by several gentlemen here — one of them was not only a kiudhearted, but an exceedingly influential man. Every effort was unavailingly tried to get the emigrant a situation for nearly six months, and at last he was put into a counting-house. He was willing to do hard work, but he could not submit to the insolence to which he was subjected — the taunts of his fellow clerks on the score of his nationality, and the sympathetic insults heaped upon him. His companions, indeed, had resolved to make it impossible for him to stay there. So he was driven out, and I believe his friends detei % nixned l as the kindest thing they, could do for him to subscribe together to pay his passage home. I have known, I aui sorry to say, far move distressing instances than this, in which men with families rashly came out to try their fortunes, and were reduced to the most shocking straits. A man out of employment in England only adds to his miseries by coming here, unless he has means enough to carry him to the West, and some friends who can help him. Once started, the emigrant may do well in America, but the difficulty — is to get the start. If intending emigrants will well weigh these few lines, they will save themselves many a heartache.*'