| Show THE QUESTION AT ISSUE THE strike of the street car men continues ard and we fear the result will prove unpleasant for them there are so many working people who are ready to engage i in n the pervice of the company that the mati ning of their cars is only a question of a very little time there would perhaps have been better prospects for the strikers if they had been skilled artisans in the full sense of the term and their work had been such as demanded skilled labor but the service on the street cers though it requires some skill and experience is such that its chief points can be learned in a few days at most and is unlike those trades which require years to learn earn and become proficient in them the of the strikers are being rapidly filled up and the boycotts that have been declared by some of the unions will not of thema themselves elves affect the situation to any great extent the question involved in this dispute is not as supposed the mere jangle over the cleaning of the cars As to that the sympathies s of the public are largely with the men they have to be neat and trim in their appearance and the work required of them after their daily run ran is over is not calculated to improve their personal appearance there are two sides however to this question and it is claimed that the labor involved is not so great as has been represented be this as it may the teal real trouble lies in another direction the company object to any interference in their business by an 6 organization r the authority of which they do not recognize they will not he be dictated dirtat d to by any such association or society any disagreement between them and their pin fm aloyes they hold can be and should be settled by and between them as parties to the dispute side pressure of the kind that has been applied the company will resist roi rei sa I 1 t on principle so that the question is not really shar shah the car drivers and conductors be compelled to clean the cars but roust must the company submit to the dictation of a society or aggregation of ef societies whose right to make any demand upon them they do not admit we merely place this matter before the public on what are claimed to be its merits we have no part or lot in the quarrel except as the public interest is involved we with the citizens of lake in general deplore the obstruction of travel on a hitherto most efficient street car servi service je the position in which a number of honest working men have placed themselves and the probability that they will be superseded pers eded by other and andhor for the present less efficient persons I 1 As to labor unions our views remain as they have been for a long time we concede the right of men to unite fur for self preservation mutual improvement the raising of wages the shortening of labor hours or any other lawful purpose VV we e do not concede the right of any organization to compel any mn man to join it conform to its rules or submit to its ways when he is not a member nor to assume authority to coerce any company firm or individual employer into any method of conducting business or the employment of a certain class or the exclusion of another class of workpeople L libor abor has its rights and so has bag capital each individual should be free to join or not join a society as he himself elects to labor or not labor for such wages as may be offered to him and such hours as he and the employer may agree upon if he chooses to fetter himself asto as to this he has no right to put chains on another nor has any body of men the right in law or reason to seek to drive any one away from labor because he does not see fit it to unite with a sect society club or union which they desire to uphold if men choose to place themselves under given restrictions and under the lead of certain men that is their privilege but they must not expect that either persons or firms that retain their individual freedom w will yield to the same rules and authority unless they please so to do workmen have a right to lc strike it is usually however very much to their disadvantage employers have the right to resist the strike L when they think it is to their disadvantage if men will not work except on specified terms others have the right to accept those terms if they choose to do so strikes always entail losses either on the strikers or on the employers commonly on both therefore they ought always to be well considered before they are determined upon and men should not dot abdicate their freedom and submit to the dictation of rash persons who have not fully weighed the consequences in saying this we speak in general terms without special reference to present complications there are at least two sides to every question and both should be well weighed before an opinion is formed concerning it we believe that in this case the car cleaning matter could be satisfactorily arranged but we do not believe it can be settled through any order society or combination that lays down terms storms or an ultimatum no matter how worthy that body or its of officers ficeri may be because the company will not recognize its authority they are not dot compelled to do so and therefore all attempts at such negotiations tiati ons will fail the men and the company who are parties to the quarrel must settle it among themselves or it will not be settled at all and in a short time it will pass out of public sight and consideration |
