THE GENTLE ART OF STRIKEBREAKING
(By J. II. Craige, ir Collier's).
(The author has b en a strike
breaker, a hobo, ami u workman,
and his judgments are based on
experience).
From the principle o.f organized
thuggery, which is sU the bottom
of it, to the last det.v5 of the way
the men are treated. nd the char
acter of the men tlvsss -selves, there
is hardly a clean s:v- to be fornd
in the whole trade strikebreak
ing. Of course tht .term profes
sional strikebreake does not ap
ply to the legitin .-::e workman
who accepts any w tge he maj
think proper regardless of the ac
tions of his fellows. No unprej
udiced person blames such a man.
So long ?s he needs the money,
gives legitimate woik in return
for iVand obeys the laws, he can
not ,be criticised justly, despite
what his trade union fellow work
men" mav sav about the matter.
If strikebreaking were left to such
men there culd be no objection
to snkbreVmg indeed, there
wovH be little strikebreaking
done, for if prospective strikers
know thit plenty of competent
men are willing to work under
the conditions to which they ob
ject, thev wi'I naturally think
twice before striking.
Th? r-rofess'onal strikebreaker
is entirely different from these
men. He is not a competent
worVtran.vno' a workman in any
respect. He is not even a com
petent trmi. Good hoboes on
the road - r-HM"rTuze him by his
caste-marks, nn-1 will have noth
ing to do with him. His one as
set is the desperate courage of
the rorrered wolf, born of a re
alization tK? h is already sunk
to the loves'- possible depths and
is working upon the last job open
to him.
Scattered through the mass of
this army is a leavening of men
of really great native courage and
exceptional fighting ability, who
are attracted as much by the
dangers of the job as by the hisrh
pay accompanying it. Usually,
these men are ex-convicts, who
have had one taste of prison and
are in deadly fear of another.
Though they fear prison, they
fear nothing else, and join the
army of strikebreakers to secure
the life of danger, action and blood
which their restless, fierce, cat
animal temperaments crave, with
out the menace of the law.
When the strikebreakers are
put to work their one instruction
is : "Keep things moving and put
up a bluff of being busy." If it
is a factory to which they are
sent. tley are told to keep smoke
conpe out of the chimneys and
the rMchinery humming. No
work s expected from them, and
thev -do none.
If to strikers prove obstinate
and fc:n in crows to make dem
onstrations, the supreme moment
of the strikebreaker's existence is
at band. Sending out two or
three stool pigeons with guns,
nd infractions to shoot over the
"heads their comrades.the strike-
breakrs' leaders supply the most
breakers' leaders supply the most
men with guns and clubs and pre
pare for action. When the strik
ers and the strikebreakers come
together, the stool pigeons blaze
away from the crowd of strikers.
Having been shot at, the strike
breakers have a legal right to
defend themselves, the guards
charge, and the things which hap
pen to the mob of strikers are sad
to relate.
Tfce Strike in Philadelphia.
Neither age, sex, nor condition
serves to defend the head from
the club, and the first sign of
resistence brings a shot from the
ready revolver to end the argu
ment. I will never forget the
sight of a mother with a child
in ber arms in one of the riojs
of the Philadelphia strike, last
year, staggering along, blood
pouring from three jagged cuts
in her head, the result of a club
bing administered by one of these
guards. The man was arrested,
but went free, as did all others
arrested for similar crimes at that
time.
Never before were there such
systematic, wilful, brutal, unpro
voked assaults upon an unoffend
ing populace in an American city.
It did not seem to make any dif
ference whether the victims were
strikers or sympathizers or not,
they got it just the same, and if
they called on the police for aid
they got it worse . There has
never been such wholesale pilfer
ing and looting. If you gave
the strikebreaking conductor a
coin you got no chars ee. If you
protested, you were thrown off
the car and clubbed, and if you
resisted, vou .ran a fine chance
of being shot. The strikebreakers
made no pretense of turning in
any money to the trolley com
pany.. "You ought to be thank
ful to get your cars back," they
said.
Once the employes are tamed,
the result of a strike depends
merely on whether employer or
employe can the longer stand a
suspension of business. Many a
prosperous business has never re
covered, from the effects. of ,a
strike dealt with after this man
ner. Many a man has been killed
by violence, and many a woman
and child starved during such
strikes. What is perhaps most
important of all, thousands of
honest men have been forced by
such procedures to accept a wage
on which they found it, impossi
ble to rear their children as good
citizens.
Hitting r Rattler for Experience.
I first came into personal con
tact with a professional strike
breaker a little more -than five
months ago. when riding a freight
train with a chum of mine from
Philadelphia to New York. We
were supposed by our parents to
be riding in the usual way, on a
passenger train, bat my chum had
an inquirinsr mind, and insisted
we should hit a rattler (freight).
For adventure seekers wc had
a s'ow time of it until the train
stopped for some reason at Bound
Brock, New Jersey, the coal gon
dola in which we were riding
coming to a halt just in front of
the station building. As we were
starting again, a husky person
with a large, prosperous looking
leather grip and an alcoholic air
climbed into our car, ( where we
were laying low. "When he saw
us he started visibly, but, appar
ently reassured on further inspec
tion, sat down, and ' informed us
with considerable profanity that
r.otbing was going to pull out of
that burg without taking him
along.
We told him if he was in a
hurry to get anywhere it would
pay him to wait for a passenger
iram, but in answer to tins he
merely reiterated his determina
tion to blow the town. Seeming
an adventure my chum offered
him one of our treasured cigar,
under the influence of which he
became exceedingly communi
cative. ,
In answer to my chum's ques
tion as to why he was so anxious
to get out of the town, he replied
that he was a strikebreaker. That
conveyed nothing to our minds,
but, fascinated by the man's reck
less air and melodramic manner,
we pressed him to tell us all
about it, which he did, swaying
as he spoke with the emotion of
the train and the effects of the
liquor he had imbibed.
'"We just wound up a job near
New Brunswick," he said. "Oh,
nothing much, just a little facto
ry, but it was pretty soft. They
oniy sent one carload of us down
from New York: When ve gets
there the super he says: "Now,
boys, you got a nice thing here;
all you got to do is to be good."
You get your four dollars a day,
and there's good quarters for you
and you get your grub and liquor
regular. All you got to do is to
keep the smoke coming oiit of
the chimneys, and if one b' them
g'iiks gets fresh hand it to them
gcod and plenty. They're all
Americans,- and there- ain't any
ugly fighters among 'em.'
"So we kept the - chimneys
smoking, and I tell you we lived
fine. There wasn't anything at all
doing for about a month. About
that time the men got to coming
to the factory gates every day
at noon and begging us to come
out and join them, telling us that
their wives and kids were starv
ing. Pretty "hard on the poor
ginks it was at that; but we was
getting our four-"a day regular,
and if we hadn't done it some
body else would.
"Then they began to throw
rocks. One day they smashed a
window in -the super's office.
'You're a nice lot of gooks,' he
says, 'standing up and letting that
bunch rock you. They're getting
too fresh. Well have " to" teach
'em manners.
- "Next day when noon tenjes
about twenty guards with' clubs
and guns is lined up : at the back
of the factory. Pretty soon the
mob comes ' and begins to- get
fresh. Then somebody throws a
rock and the super gives us the
orders to tear into 'em. We
comes around the corner on the
dead run. Biff! "Bang! we gives
it to 'em. and a man drops at
every wallop." Chee. dat wasi a
great scrap ! They didn't stop tf
fight, just took it ori'therunr and
us after 'em. We" left a trkil "of
'em lying all lover" the road right
back to the town. !
"They never came near tfie
j factory any more, and the strfke
sorter petered out. I did pretty
good, though." . I was wise to the
'forny' gamblers, arid I ducked
the sure-thing game, so I came
through with a hundred and fifty
cold 'plunks' right in my poclcet.
"I'm heading for New York
now. They say there's a strike
on in the cloak makers union.
Girls, they are. That's the hiest
game a guy in my'bir can get-up
against. When a eruy asks for a
iob thev sav : 'Well:" eo eet a
girl. Does she have to be a girl 1
that can make cloaks? Not on
your tintype. You go out xm the
street and you pick up any old
bum. You say to her: 'Kid,; do"
yOu want a' job for three and. a
half a day? Then "you" 'fix -it "un
with her and you gd back -and,,
you say : This is my" wife.- She
wants a job sewing and I want
a job as a guard.' :
"She gets her three ahti a hah a "
day and you get four. AnyOu have
to dot is to keep your'eyferon?her
all the time to see? that ' she
don't fly ' the coop. livery "day
you take her to workand guard
her on the way. Sher donVdd
no work any' more than'Jyotf xlo,
but while she is in the- factory.
putting up a J bluff; ' yon hang
i arouna ana neat up any or - tne
strikers or their pickets or any
of their women friends that" get
fresh.' -
"After the strike is over, yon
get your own wages' and take as
much of the girl's as'-yoo think
you can get away with and beat
it. Oh, it's a skinch. I got plenty
of money now and I don't hare
to work, but. if there's a garment
strike on III get in on it jost'for"
the pleasure of holding" down a
job like that.
My chum - and I did"" not greet :
the strikebreaker's tale "with any
thing- like the enthusiasm he
seemed to think it merited, and
he appeared a trifle" miffed 'and
got off the train when it stopped
at the Elizabeth yards.! Tht yarn
made an impression on me that
I never forgot.:
That impression has been con
stantly widened' and-deepened.
No one who associates much with'
men and women who -earn their
living with their hands and" is at
all susceptible to smypathy with
their trials and suffering calf help
being impressed by, the; - evils
wrought by- the strikebreaker and"
the wreck and ruin he leaves " ifl"
his stfaiL . -
I have seen rmny-tourv ratn;
