Fifty years in Wall Street

by Henry Clews

The result of the contest was that, within one brief month, the power of the unions was shown to be weakness itself; employers everywhere discovered the intrinsic importance of the combinations they had so much before dreaded, and very many respectable and reflecting members of the unions felt themselves discredited in the eyes of the public, while their faith in the efficiency of their system of supposed protection was seriously shaken. After this, if I am not seriously mistaken, employers will find that they have much less to fear from trades-unions than they had once supposed. A defeat so fundamental as this, is likely to be followed by the gradual dispersion of the formidable array of united workmen. Such a result is no more than is to be reasonably expected from an organization based upon no great truth and no sound principle, but resting upon popular ignorance and misconception of the natural laws governing society.

During the progress of the recent strikes, I had occasion to make frequent allusions to the course of events, from which I may be permitted to make the following quotations:

(The following appeared on the 3d of May.)

“The Knights of Labor have undertaken to test, upon a large scale, the application of compulsion as a means of enforcing their demands. The point to be determined is, whether capital or labor shall, in future, determine the terms upon which the invested resources of the nation are to be employed.

“To the employer it is a question whether his individual rights as to the control of his property shall be so far overborne as not only to deprive him of his freedom, but also expose him to interference seriously impairing the value of his capital. To the employees, it is a question whether, by the force of coercion, they can wrest, to their own profit, powers and control, which, in every civilized community, are secured as the most sacred and inalienable rights of the employer.

“This issue is so absolutely revolutionary of the moral relations between labor and capital, that it has naturally produced a partial paralysis of business, especially among industries whose operations involve contracts extending into the future. There has been at no time any serious apprehensions that such an anarchical movement could succeed, so long as American citizens have a clear perception of their rights and their true interests; but it has been distinctly perceived that this war could not fail to create a divided, if not a hostile feeling, between the two great classes of society; that it must hold in check not only a large extent of ordinary business operations, but also the undertaking of those new enterprises which contribute to our national progress, and that the commercial markets must be subjected to serious embarrassments.

“From the nature of the case, however, this labor disease must soon end one way or another; and there is not much difficulty in foreseeing what its termination will be. The demands of the Knights and their sympathizers, whether openly expressed or temporarily concealed, are so utterly revolutionary of the inalienable rights of the citizen, and so completely subversive of social order, that the whole community has come to a firm conclusion that those pretensions must be resisted to the last extremity of endurance and authority; and that the present is the best opportunity for meeting the issue firmly and upon its merits. The organizations have sacrificed the sympathy which lately was entertained for them, on account of inequities existing in certain employments; they stand discredited and distrusted before the community at large as impracticable, unjust and reckless; and, occupying this attitude before the public, their cause is gone and their organization doomed to failure. They have opened the flood gates to the immigration of foreign labor, which is already pouring in by tens of thousands; and they have set a premium on non-union labor, which will be more sought after than ever, and will not be slow to secure superior earnings by making arrangements with employers upon such terms and for such hours as may best suit their interests. Thus, one great advantage will incidentally come out of this crisis beneficial to the workingman, who, by standing aloof from the dead-level system of the unions, will be able to earn according to his capacity, and thereby maintain his chances for rising from the rank of the employee to that of the employer. This result cannot be long delayed, because not only is loss and suffering following close upon the heels of the strikers, but the imprudences of their leaders are breeding dissatisfaction among the rank and file of the organizations, which if much further protracted, will gravely threaten their cohesion. It is by no means certain that we may not see a further spread of strikes, and possibly with even worse forms of violence than we have yet witnessed; but, so long as a way to the end is seen, with a chance of that end demonstrating to the organizations that their aspirations to control capital are impossible dreams, the temporary evils will be borne with equanimity. The coolness with which the past phases of the strikes have been endured, shows that the steady judgment of our people may be trusted to keep them calm under any further disturbance that may arise.

“Prior to the strike in the Missouri Pacific, Jay Gould was one of the most hated men in the people. He was anxious to have public respect and sympathy. He had made all the money he wanted, and was willing to spend part of it in gaining the respect and honor of the country. What his money could not do for him this strike on the Missouri Pacific has done. The sympathy and good-will which previously were with the strikers have been shifted from them to him. There is no doubt that the strikers selected the Missouri Pacific because it was a property with which Gould was known to be most largely identified, and because they thought that general execration would be poured out on him in any event. But, instead of injuring Mr. Gould, they have done him inestimable service.

“The timely and forcible action of Mayor Harrison, of Chicago, will put dynamiters and rioters where they belong, and thus divide the sheep from the goats in a very short time. If officials would sink political bias, the country would soon be rid of law-breakers and disturbers of the peace. As this plan of treatment has now been adopted, it will be far reaching in its effect, and stop mob gatherings, riotous speech-making, and other such bad incentives, which recently have been so conspicuous in Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Louis, and elsewhere. The laboring classes, who are parties to the strike, will now have an opportunity to retire to their homes, where there will be more safety than in the streets, which will bring to them reflection. They will then soon become satisfied that they are the aggrieved parties, and the not unlikely result will be their turning upon their leaders, who have deceived them.

“There have been numerous vacancies created by the strikers voluntarily resigning. There has been no difficulty in filling these vacancies by those who are equally capable, if not more so, from other countries flocking to our shores. The steam ferry between this country and Europe has demonstrated this by the steamer just arrived in six days and ten hours from European shores to our own. As the separation between the oppressed operatives of the Old World and America is thus reduced to hours, Europe will quickly send to us all the labor we need to meet all such emergencies.