ugh
the United States, remarked that all the strikes she heard of were on
the question of hours, not wages. But there were nevertheless abundant
strikes either to raise wages or to maintain them. There were, also,
other fundamental questions in controversy which could not be settled by
strikes, such as imprisonment for debt, lien and exemption and homestead
laws, convict labor and slave labor, and universal education. Most of
these issues have since that time been decided in favor of labor, and
a new series of demands takes their place today. Yet as one reads the
records of the early conspiracy cases or thumbs through the files of old
periodicals, he learns that there is indeed nothing new under the sun
and that, while perhaps the particular issues have changed, the general
methods and the spirit of the contest remain the same.

The laborer believed then, as he does now, that his organization must
be all-embracing. In those days also there were "scabs," often called
"rats" or "dung." Places under ban were systematically picketed,
and warnings like the following were sent out: "We would caution all
strangers and others who profess the art of horseshoeing, that if they
go to work for any employer under the above prices, they must abide by
the consequences." Usually the consequences were a fine imposed by the
union, but sometimes they were more severe. Coercion by the union did
not cease with the strike. Journeymen who were not members were pursued
with assiduity and energy as soon as they entered a town and found
work. The boycott was a method early used against prison labor. New
York stonecutters agreed that they would not "either collectively or
individually purchase any goods manufactured" by convicts and that they
would not "countenance" any merchants who dealt in them; and employers
who incurred the displeasure of organized labor were "nullified."

The use of the militia during strikes presented the same difficulties
then as now. During the general strike in Philadelphia in 1835 there was
considerable rowdyism, and Michel Chevalier, a keen observer of American
life, wrote that "the militia looks on; the sheriff stands with folded
hands." Nor was there any difference in the attitude of the laboring man
towards unfavorable court decisions. In the tailors' strike in New York
in 1836, for instance, twenty-seven thousand sympathizers assembled
with bands and banners to protest against the jury's verdict, and after
senten