*
Moreover, while the unions were responsible for about 47 per cent
of the strikes in 1881, they had originated, directly or
indirectly, 75 per cent in 1905. More significant, indeed, is the
fact that striking is a growing habit. In 1903, for instance,
there were 3494 strikes, an average of about ten a day.
* The cause of the strikes tabulated by the Bureau of Labor is
shown in the following table of percentages:
1881 1891 1901 1905
For increase of wages: 61 27 29 32
Against reduction of wages: 10 11 4 5
For reduction in hours: 3 5 7 5
Recognition of Union: 6 14 28 31
Preparedness is the watchword of the Unions in this warfare. They
have generals and captains, a war chest and relief committees, as
well as publicity agents and sympathy scouts whose duty it is to
enlist the interest of the public. Usually the leaders of the
unions are conservative and deprecate violence. But a strike by
its very nature offers an opportunity to the lawless. The
destruction of property and the coercion of workmen have been so
prevalent in the past that, in the public mind, violence has
become universally associated with strikes. Judge Jenkins, of the
United States Circuit Court, declared, in a leading case, that "a
strike without violence would equal the representation of Hamlet
with the part of Hamlet omitted." Justice Brewer of the United
States Supreme Court said that "the common rule as to strikes" is
not only for the workers to quit but to "forcibly prevent others
from taking their place.
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