Show i THE GREAT STRIKE i i At li oclock noon yesterday Washington time the operators in 4 the various offices of the Western t Union Telegraph Company to the s number of 12000 cloned their keys q pub on their hats and coats and i t withdrew leaving in many cases unfinished business on the tables ThIs action for a time created considerable con-siderable confusion withstand I w ing the fact that the movement had 4 been anticipated for several days i t and the company was at least forewarned fore-warned It was of course impossible impos-sible to fully provide against a proceeding pro-ceeding of such widespread and f I sweeping proportions and the operations op-erations of the company were i correspondingly paralyzed 1 1 In Salt Lake the operators of the l t company withdrew in a body a l ° i leaving only the manager of the b office to attend to the business he t soon succeeded however iu obtaining 11 obtain-ing some little local assistance 51 I and the receipt and transmission l of dispatches went ahead as usual 211 j excepting of course some httla unavoidable ji4 J I un-avoidable delay This from what i r meagre tidings we have been able I i to gather seems to have been the t cato with all the important offices r on the companys lines all or nearly all the old employees throwing throw-ing up their positions and assistance aii from other source3 coming along L s immediately but slowly The cause of this immense movement 1 move-ment was a demand on the part of the operators for shorter hours and higher prices they demanding h among other things that they have a one days rest during the week or r = 4 in other words that six days work 1 constitute the week that eight I hours constitute a days work and ii 1 < seven hours a nights work instead of nine and eight hours respectively i i ° as before that both sexes be paid t alike for equal work and that the i pay be uniformly increased to the t i i eixteub of 15 per giant All of these Y demands were refused and the i strike of yesterday was tho resuit i The Brotherhood of Telegraphers 4 is a body noted for the intelligence j I and businesslike ability of its t members but in this instance tbey J have certainly gone too far Ad a < yauces in the price of labor when a reduction of hours is also sought never take so great a jump as that i demanded by tho brotherhood The Aet 11 I reduction on one hand or the increase t in-crease on the other might by itself 10 have been granted but not both together I a r r to-gether for this would have meant I E Iii told an addition to the companys i J expenses of over CO per cent and i 1 jfoa therefore entirely out of the r luestion Soil only remains to bo A i i 1 1 i seen which pa tythe corporation or its employee has sustained the greater injury That the former is I a loserto a great extent cannot ba I denied its business is impeded and hampered by strange and in some instances unskilled men and women and in a i large measure by vacancies which cannot in the very nature of things be filled for some time losses are bound to occur and claims for damages dam-ages will be numerous beaide which tho loss in prestige and in regularity regular-ity of proceedings will be very great So much for the company On the part of the strikers it i3 tolerably i certain that the telegraphic experience I experi-ence of many of them is ended for ever as the Western Union is not likely to employ them again and will furthermore use its influence against their obtaining employment elsewhere a small percentage may get other places but not immediately immedi-ately so the result for them is disastrous dis-astrous It i3 simply stepping out of a salary into no income whatever giving up the littler that they had and getting nothing in return This Is a hard practical life to those who have to labor for the means with which to sustain it money or means of some kind are an absolute necessity and when a steady revenue rev-enue sufficient at least for immediate imme-diate wants Is all at once cut off sorrow and suffering must follow as an inevitable result The principle upon which striking rests is all wrong It is simply the weaker party making demands on the stronger and attempting to enforce en-force them Arbitration or at least no greater exactions on the part of the laborer than is consistent with his position and his employers interests and these unaccompanied by threats is the better plan to pursue pur-sue Something may then be effected if circumstances warrant it but extortionate and disproportionate disproportion-ate claims backed by proposed striking strik-ing as the result of refusal will hardly ever prevail Those who control large interests and receive and disburse great sums of money will not be coerced in that way and even if they are compelled by some unavoidable crisis to yield for a time it will be but a short time their resources are generously extensive enough to enable them to overcome the situation in very short order and then those who forced them Into a corner will have to beat a hasty retreat In all this we do not wish to ba construed as entirely endorsing the Western Union Telegraph Company Com-pany It is a monopoly whose grjwth and power are felt wherever the servico of its wires is required and by none more than newspaper people Its tariffs are regulated by the principle of getting all they can compel those who are forced to patroniza it to pay and in the case of press reports the priors for which amount to no less than absolute ab-solute extortion the quantity and I quality of the service performed are I txceedingly inferior A persistence I in the course it has of late pursued will some day bring upon it a strike which will not be so easily overcome revolt of the combined press of the Pacific coast |