Strikes among mechanics began early in California,
In July 1853 the carpenters of San Francisco com-
plained among themselves of the irregularity of prices
for day's work, the rate ruling from ten dollars down
to next to nothing. No one knew what to charge ;
each was fearful of asking too much or not enough,
and so they fixed wages at eight dollars a day, some-
what above the average of what they had been get-
ting. On the 18th, those determined to hold out and
not work except for the wages named, to the number
of about 400, held a meeting on the plaza, and after-
ward formed a procession and marched through the
town with banners streaming and music playing. Had
wages been double, it is likely they would have been
just as dissatisfied. Laborer's strikes are a melan-
choly commentary upon the intelligence of working
men, who fail utterly to see that wages are regulated
by the inevitable law of supply and demand, and that
any attempt to forestall this law reacts upon them-
selves.
The 'longshoremen determined to have six dollars for nine hours work, instead of five dollars for ten hours. Perambulating the wharves to the number of about 300, they forced all who were at work to join them, using threats and violence when entreaty failed. The wharves for the time were almost deserted ; but next day the stevedores having acceded to their de- mands, the men went to work, happy in the thought of another dollar a day to spend and another hour to spend it in. At the same time the calkers and ship- carpenters demanded and received ten dollars a day. The firemen and coal passers then struck, the former demanding $100 a month, and the latter $75. The masons of Sacramento also demanded the same wages received by their fellow-craftsmen of the bay, which was ten dollars a day. The hod-carriers of Stockton, in place of five dollars a day, struck for six dollars. In San Francisco the system worked so well, that the masons whose wages had just been raised to
