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Show INJURING THEIR CAUSE. - The street car strike jn Cleveland. 'O.. and its j attendant disorders, dynamite outrages, shooting and throwing of brick bats, once more causes the reflection re-flection that organized labor and its friends are its own worst enemies. That the organization of the workers of America has resulted in improving conditions, con-ditions, shortening the hours of work and increasing their wages is beyond dispute. That certain so-called so-called leaders in the organization of laborers, as well as the scoundrels who use dynamite to intimidate intim-idate the employers, have incurred the ill will of the public and brought discredit upon the whole Beheme of unionism is equally beyond peradven-ture. peradven-ture. . The ill-advised policy of violence which accompanies accom-panies a great many disputes betw'n employer and employehas in large measure discredited every organization or-ganization of labor in the country. The public is not given to fine discrimination in such matters, and the thousands and thousands of members of organized labor bodies who unhesitatingly condemn the irrational methods of a few radical memberr. tfre included in the general condemnation for the acts of the few. Aside from preventing violence, which shcmld be the first work of a union in difficulties such as arose in Cleveland, the rational course to pursue would be the avoidance of an unyielding insistence on demands, in answer to which the employer has the better argument. Conservative demands have nearly always been met by employers. The history of radical demands is one long story of defeat for the unions. Instances are so numerous that none need be cited. The efforts of organized labor have effected many betterments in the conditions of work and rate of pay. No one at all acquainted with the movement will attempt to deny that, and every fair-minded man is ready to congratulate the unions on the good they have accomplished. As long as the individuals individ-uals composing the membership ofTany union are disposed to give a fair equivalent in quantity and quality of work for the wages received; and as long as they conduct themselves in a becoming and law-abiding law-abiding manner, their organization is entitled to the respect and good will of the public, and they have it. Even when differences seem to justify a strike, , and it is not to be presumed that self-respecting men will submit to real grievances, the sympathy of the public is naturally with the strikers. J5ut when violence or unlawful interference with the rights or property of others occurs as an accompaniment of the strike, that public sympathy is immediately alienated. Dynamite never won a strike. If the cause for the strike is a just one, a little intelli gence and square dealing in negotiations are far more potent for settlement than a dynamite bomb or a shotgun. It might be mentioned, also, that a gleam of intelligence and a desire to be fair on the part of the employer are also potent factors to the adjustment of differences. |