Why does labor strike? Figures published by the Bureau of Mediation and Arbitration in New York show that of the 240 industrial disputes in that state for one year, 139 were for higher wages, 21 for shorter hours and 37 were on the question of trade unionism. The most noticeable, feature of these statistics is that the number of demands for higher wages was 52 percent greater than in the previous report. It indicates clearly the attitude of labor to force its demands without reasoning matters out. For the idea of settling higher wages in proportion to greater production never appeared acceptable to the workers. When this very arrangement was made in the English coal strike it was hailed as something hitherto unheard of.
The tremendous increase in demands for more money show that we still have before us the task of explaining to workmen that value given in wages must equal value received. If we doubt the importance of our efforts in this line we should note that the 139 strikes for higher wages caused the loss of almost four million working days--no small loss for a single state.
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