Make up your mind that your own way at least shall be controlled by the rudder of conscience, and learn from the passing ships a lesson of use in your own life.
ONE OF THE MANY CORPSES IN THE JOHNSTOWN MINE
The widow says to the mine owner: "Here he is, dead—killed working for you. Where were you when he was killed? Driving in your carriage, enjoying the difference between his EARNINGS and his PAY. Was one dollar and thirty cents per day too much to pay him for this risk? Was it too much to let him save something for us—who now have nothing? Is there nothing to arbitrate when the man who risks his life and gets nothing asks arbitration of the man who risks nothing and gets all? ——
There are many men in America—honest and sincere—who believe that strikers are nearly always right, that failure of a strike is a calamity.
Other men, less numerous, but also honest and sincere, consider strikes an evil. They believe that labor unionism threatens "capital," threatens national energy, and our national industrial supremacy. ——
Let us endeavor to take a clear view of the strike question, and to discuss—as free from bias as may be possible—some of the main viewpoints of those interested.
We may, at the start, accept two statements as sound:
First. The employer wants as much money as he can possibly get.
Second. The workman wants as much money as HE can possibly get.
It is impossible for both or for either to win absolutely. The success of one must leave the other penniless.