386 THE QUESTIONS OF THE DAY. 



hours of labor to constitute a day's work are fixed with refer- 

 ence to giving employment to tlie largest number possible- 

 At first, in this country, the day's work was ten hours, then 

 nine; now all trades are striving for an eight-hour day, 

 and some have achieved it. In case of disagreement with 

 employers the ultimate remedy is a strike. The unions claim 

 to, and probably do in most cases, include the best workmen 

 in their respective trades. In most cases, however, the places 

 of strikers can be promptly filled by other workmen who are 

 out of employment. The new men, however, are seldom so 

 efficient as the old, and strikes in large establishments, and 

 especially when important work is pressing, cause great loss 

 to employers. In some trades, as locomotive engineers, for 

 example, an extensive strike may almost paralyze trade, since 

 there are almost never at hand skilled engineers, who can 

 safely operate a locomotive, in sufficient number to run trains. 

 When strikes are organized on a large scale, and the result is 

 doubtful, effbrts are made to induce "sympathetic strikes," in 

 trades more or less closely connected with the strikers, but 

 who have at the time no grievance of their own. This adds 

 to the embarrassment of the employers, and by interesting a 

 larger number of people, increases the pressure of public 

 opinion. For example, if locomotive engineers were on a 

 strike, they would seek to enlist the fireman's organization, 

 or that of the trainmen, in the hope of absolutely stopping- 

 transportation. This would tend to bring the public to the 

 side of the strikers, because it would desire business to be 

 resumed and travel made safe, with little regard to the interest 

 of contending parties; and as the railroads can usually be 

 coerced easier and quicker than the strikers, the pressure tends 

 to be put on them to yield. 



It has come to be generally conceded that a strike is a legit- 

 imate and proper method of procedure iu case of extremity, 

 provided it be conducted peacefully. No one questions the 

 right of any person to stop work when he does not wish to 

 work longer, and very few now question the right of organized 

 bodies of workingmen to stop simultaneously by virtue of a 

 prearranged agreement. Early in the history of trade union- 



