Show rATER FOR THOUGhT It is a new interest which has been given to the ontest between labor and capital by the notion which the New York Central has taken in regard to its old employees More than three thousand of its men went out on strike two mouths ago A good many of these were opposed to the strike and protested against it but they were overruled and the leaders of the labor organization of which they were members ordering them to quit work all obeyed The road was tied up for a little while but new men came along and as fast as they could be trained they were put into the I places of the strikers and by the time the strike was declared off the company was fairly well supplied with hands and the road was operated about as well as before The strike was a failure and one of the worst failures that had ever occurred J When it was seen that it could not succeed and many of the men were openly finding fault over having been ordered out the leaders declared de-clared the strike oS and gave the men permission per-mission to return to work There was a rush for their old places but to their astonishment aston-ishment and discomfiture the men were told that there was no room Tor them the positions at the disposal of the company being all fulL They asked if the refusal to take them back was because they had struck anti were frankly told that it was and that no man who had struck need apply for employment as none would be given him VicePresident WEBB who made the fight with the workingmens organization was recently interviewed on the subject when he declared that while his company would make no war upon a labor union and would not ask men whether or not they were Knights of Labor or members of a union they would not take back in their employ if they knew it any man who had struck He said that for six weeks their old employees had been doing all in their power to destroy the companys property and rain its basinass and if they bad not succeeded it was through no fault of theirs Tt would be suicidal to restore these men to their places and give them the power to again distress the company to do this would also be gross injustice to the men who had gone to the companys relief when it was in trouble If the Central wereto be guilty of such ingratitude with what grace he asked could it appeal to laboring men for help when trouble came We believe this is the first time where great employer has adopted the hittingback policy It has been done on a small scale but we do not recall an instance where 3000 men have been told that striking had deprived them of the hope of getting employment em-ployment No other concern has been in a position to tell this to its men Doubtless Doubt-less those 3000 men thought when they went out they would be bade in their places in a few days at most that if they were not victors they could at least submit to the company confess con-fess their defeat and return to their positions posi-tions Their surprise must be equal to their chagrin Especially will those who were opposed to the strike and pleaded for permission to continue at work be annoyed an-noyed to find themselves not only out of employment but in sense blacklisted We arc predicting that the policy of striking back will be tried by other employers em-ployers now that the New York Central has been successful with it and while it i wuild be a cruel and wicked thing to do there is a probability that there will be combinations of employers to retaliate upon men who strike Whatever may be the effect of the Centrals effort in other respects it should cause workingmen and especially the leaders to be more careful more cautious and more IhoughtfuL They should ° I t think more of the consequences of striking takine into account probable failure as well as probable success If they will do this and will permit per-mit themselves to know that not only Will they not earn anything during the strike but they be forever may deprived of earning earn-ing anything in that neighborhood they will ben slower to go out and the leaders will not be so eager to order strikes If hose who ordered eCentral strike thought that such an outcome as has resulted was possible they should have been lynched for we can conceive of few crimes that would be worse than the deprivation of those thousands of men of the privilege of earnnig bread for themselves and their wives and children If the course uursued by the Central shalltoach poor working menwho under the very best conditions that they can ex 0 pect will be more or less at the mercy of more or less oppressive capitalto exorcise greater care than some of them have been doing in the selection of leaders and toe = to-e their sober second thought a chance it will result beneficially for the toilers for It will teach them to not strike except their cause is just and there is a reasonable reason-able likelihood of winning or unless there I shall be open to them opportunities to earn I wages in the event of the failure of the strike |