LEGAL ASPECT. Any combination of laborers to raise wages was illegal in England until 1824, and in France until 1864. In the United States strikes as such have never been illegal, but until after 1830 it was not definitely settled that strikers could not be arraigned for civil and criminal damages under the conspiracy laws. When a strike represents a combination to injure property or a definite person it is illegal, and the same is true of acts of intimidation, the de struction of property, or the forcible prevention of work. Some forms of sympathetic strikes and of the boycott have been held illegal. Riots are covered by the criminal law. In many States there are special statutes regarding strikes. Thus the common law of conspiracy has been expressly repealed in New York, Pennsylvania, New Jer sey, and several States, but the statutes usually provide for punishment of the use of force or intimidation. Certain States have spe cial laws regulating strikes on railways or in mines, a few make the municipality or county responsible for damages due to strikes, while Missouri and Wyoming forbid the employment of private officers from without the State for the protection of the employer's property against vio lence on the part of the strikers. The use of injunctions has been regulated by statute only in Kansas. A difficult question is often involved in determining how far workmen may go in per suading others to join a strike. A leading case is that of the Northern Pacific Railroad (Arthur Cs. Oakes, 63 F. R., 310), in which the employees were enjoined from (1) intimidating, (2) per suading others to strike, or (3) combining to strike themselves in such manner as to cripple the railroad. On appeal, however, the second and third clauses were abolished. Since the passage of the Inter-State Commerce Act (1887) and the Anti-Trust Law (1890), the courts of equity have acquired enlarged powers. interfer ence with the United States mails or with inter State commerce (in railroad strikes) may be a serious offense. The United States can obtain an injunction against strikers, who, if they vio late its provisions. may be summarily punished for contempt of court. In cases where railroads are under receivers the receiver is regarded as an official of the court, and a strike against the road may be as such unlawful. The use of in junctions in labor disputes is by no means new. but was brought into special prominence by the Chicago strike of 1894. As a method of dealing with strikes the injunction is prompt and ef fective, but its execution practically involves arrest without indictment and trial without jury: it implies very great power in the hands of courts; and its frequent employment, not al ways in the wisest way, has created much bitter feeling and distrust of courts among working men.
IhsTonv. In the United States there are a few records of strikes previous to 1800, such as those of the journeymen bakers in New York in 1741. and of the journeymen shoemakers in Philadelphia in 1796. 1798, 1799, and 1805. Something like a modern strike occurred in New York in 1S02 among the sailors. They paraded the streets and compelled others to join them, but were dispersed by constables, and their lead er was punished. From 1821 to 1S34 there are accounts of only a few strikes each year. the records being doubtless very incomplete. These were generally among the building trades, hat ters, tailors, shoemakers, and laborers on the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal. "In 1835," says the report of the Connnissioner of Labor (1901, p. 721), "strikes had become so numerous as to call forth remonstrant comments from the public press." A number of strikes for a ten-hour day occurred in the thirties, while strikes for eight hours were general in 1872-73. From 1881 to 1900, according to the Reports of the United States Department of Labor, there have been 22,793 strikes, involving 117,51)9 establishments and (1.105.694 employees throw n out of employ ment. Of the latter 90 per cent. were males. The duration of strikes varies of course within wide limits, the average for twenty years being 23.S days. The statistics of wage loss to employees ($257,000,000) and to employers ($122,000,000) have very little significative. More than $10,000,000 was contributed by labor organizations (the figure is probably too low). Considered by States. 2S per cent. of all strikes occurred in New York, per cent. in Penn sylvania, 11.6 per cent. in Illinois. per cent. in Massachusetts, and 6 per cent. in Ohio. In New York City 5090 strikes are recorded, in Chicago 1737. Considered by industries per cent. of all strikes occurred in the building trades, 11 per cent. in coal and coke. 9 per cent. in the metal trades, 6.6 per cent. in tobacco, 5.6 per cent. in transportation. The largest strikes usually occur in mining and railroading, as is shown by the fact that of the total number of striking employees 31 per cent. were in coal and coke, 7.9 per cent. in transportation, and only 10.9 per cent. in the building trades.