THE FOLLY OF STRIKES.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXVII, Issue 69, 21 November 1913, Page 5

THE FOLLY OF STRIKES.

[To The Editor Stratford Post.] i ; Sir, —What are strikes? They are weeds that grow in every land; they I are plagues that upset Industrial peace, trample on reason and enthrone a | mental hysteria that leads men to the j very fringe of madness and the com- • mission of terrible crimes. Like evil I acts, strikes ultimately recoil on the ! originators, and impose sad and cruel i wrongs on thousands of innocent women and children. They serve no use- , ful purpose in the advance of Labor's l cause, but rather create united hosJ tility and doubts as to the ultimate intentions of Labor should it obtain supreme political sway. The finest thinkers, wlio work for the consummation of the triumph of Labor, declare strikes to be the most unreasonI able, fruitless weapons used by the workers, for they leave nothing but I misery and destruction in their wake. ' The Labor leaders of the present are ! tired by a fanatical zeal to lift their ! party to political supremacy, but while ! they apply strikes they will alienate I public sympathy, create entangle- ! ments, and drive afar off the hopes lof their idealistic dreams. To deny | that strikes will not occur in the future would be stupidil foolish, but i they can be made less frequent by the | passing of wise legislation dealing with I the future. Strikes will abide with I use for all time, because they are the i climax of that struggle which will alJ ways be between Capital and Labor, j and it does appear that in the natural order of things they have a place as- ! signed to them ; therefore, the uiost I we can hope is to minimise their oo-

cnrrence' by keeping ever on guard and checking as far as possible every ’ attempt made by either Capital or Labor to get an undue advantage. Surely the present strike is :.n mv •« pardonable sin, for the curse it lias spread over the land has hi ought irreparable loss on thousands of men. and women who have in <' he past assisted Labor to the position it now enjoys.

Xo sensible man Las any war against Unionism, for it is true that when the units of a nation determine to organise and form unions according to their respective forms of employment, it is a sign of that nation's expanding power, for it is an abjective expression that each unit has risen to the fact that he or she has individual interests in the State worthy of protection. Unions combine and solidify these interests according to their peculiar characters, and a federation of unions, like a federation of States, forms a united structure out of these different members. Unions are the highest achievements reached since the fetters were struck from the feudal serfs, who for a long and cruel period were little else than miserable bond-slaves in the grip of their baronial masters. To me, it does appear that unions are the centralising of great energies, and if these energies are controlled and guided wisely they must make for national power and opulence, but if handled unwisely they will wreck every force that makes for human progress. Capital and Labor have their legi-

timate parts to play, and peculiar rights in the conduct of this country's industrial concerns; and he who would deny either its rightful place is as foul a traitor as ever spoke ill of his king. There are wild enthusiasts who write and speak against the use of gold as an essential medium in the production of human happiness and comfort, hut their pronouncements do not enter seriously into the equation when the weighty deliberations of state are being conducted. To deny that the power of gold has not worked cruel wrong all along the line of human progress would be a wicked lie, and to deny that Labor through the agency of strikes has not been guilty of crimes against society would be equally a lie. Let us hope that the present devastating strike may be brought to an honorable settlement, for a settlement that is not mutual and satisfactory to both contending factions will endanger the future healthy conduct of our industrial affairs, — I am, etc., THOMAS BOYLE. November 20, 1913.