PROBLEMS OF MUNICIPAL ADMINISTRATION 441 



for themselves. Owing to the irregular and limited hours of work 

 a condition quite like that prevailing on the London Docks before 

 the great strike of the dockers the weekly wage of these unskilled 

 men was exceptionally low, and the plea was based almost wholly 

 upon the duty of the strong to the weak. A chivalric call was issued 

 that the standard of life might be raised to that designated as Ameri- 

 can, and that this mass of unskilled men might secure an education 

 for their children. Of course, no other appeal could have been so 

 strong as this purely human one, which united for weeks thousands 

 of men of a score of nationalities into that solidarity which comes 

 only through a self-sacrificing devotion to an absorbing cause. 



The strike involved much suffering and many unforeseen compli- 

 cations. At the end of eight weeks the union leaders made the 

 best terms possible, which, though the skilled workers were guar- 

 anteed against reduction in wages, made no provision for the un- 

 skilled, in whose behalf the strike had been at first undertaken. 

 Although the hard-pressed union leaders were willing to make this 

 concession, the local politicians in the mean while had seen the great 

 value of the human sentiment, which bases its appeal on the need of 

 the " under dog," and which had successfully united this mass 

 of skilled men into a new comradeship with those whom they had 

 lately learned to call compatriots. It was infinitely more valuable 

 than any merely political cry, and the fact that the final terms of 

 settlement were submitted to a referendum vote at once gave the 

 local politicians a chance to avail themselves of this big, loosely 

 defined sympathy. They did this in so dramatic a manner that 

 they almost succeeded, solely upon that appeal, in taking the strike 

 out of the hands of the legitimate officers and using it to further 

 their own political ends. 



The situation would have been a typical one, exemplifying the 

 real aim of popular government, with its concern for primitive needs, 

 forced to seek expression outside of the organized channels of gov- 

 ernment, if the militia could have been called in to support the 

 situation, and thus have placed government even more dramatically 

 on the side of the opposition. The comparative lack of violence 

 on the part of the striking workmen gave no chance for the bringing 

 in of the militia, much to the disappointment of the politicians, who, 

 of course, would have been glad to have put the odium of this tra- 

 ditional opposition of government to the wishes of the people, which 

 has always been dramatically embodied in the soldier, upon the 

 political party dominating the state but not the city. It would 

 have given the city politician an excellent opportunity to show the 

 concern of himself and his party for the real people, as over against 

 the attitude of the party dominating the state. But because the 

 militia were not called his scheme fell through, and the legitimate 



