Three parties are losers,--the community in general by being deprived for the time being of productive forces; the employers by loss on capital invested; the employees by loss of wages.

The loss to the community, while very real, is little felt.

Employers, as a rule, are prepared to stand their losses with equanimity; in fact, when trade is dull, or when an employer desires to make changes in his business, a strike is no inconvenience at all; but the men are the real losers, and especially those with families and with small homes unpaid for; no one can measure their losses, for it may mean the savings of a lifetime.

It frequently does mean a change in character from an industrious, frugal, contented workman with everything to live for, to a shiftless and discontented man with nothing to live for but agitation and strife.
It is easy to acquire the strike habit, and impossible to throw it off.

A first strike is more dangerous than a first drink; it makes a profound and ineradicable impression.