Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 18.djvu/726

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page needs to be proofread.
*
628
*

STRIEGAU. 628 STRIKES. east of Liegnitz (Map: Germany, G 3). Leather products, cigars, sugar, brushes, and whips are the principal manufactures. Basalt and granite are mined in the vicinity. Population, in 1900, 12,858. STKIGEL, stre'gel, Bebnhaed (c.1460-1528) . A German painter of the Swabian school, born at JMenimingen and probably a pupil of Zeitblom at Ulni. He stood in high favor with the Emperor jMa.ximilian I., in whose service he repeatedly journeyed to Augsburg, Innsbruck, and Vienna. His religious paintings, of which there are four interesting altar wings (1515) in the Berlin ^Museum and a Pieta, besides three others, in the Karlsruhe Gallery, do not quite equal his por- traits, notable specimens of which are that of the Augsburg patrician Konrad Rehlinger (1517), in the Pinakothek, Munich; "Councilor Cuspinian and Family" (1520), in the Berlin Museum; and "Emperor Ma.ximilian with Family" and "King Louis II. of Hungary" (1524), both in the Vien- na iluseum. STRIGEL, ViKTOKiN (1524-69). A theologian of the Reformation period. He was born at Kaufbeuren. Swabia, studied under Me- lanchthon in Wittenberg, and became professor at Jena in 1548. He became involved in the synergistic controversy (see Synergism) and was imprisoned for several months in 1559. ritimately he was forced to leave Jena, and went to Leipzig (1562), and later to Heidclljerg (1567). Here he was charged with holding Cal- vinistic views. His chief work was the Loci Theologici, published posthumously (1581-84). Consult: Otto, De Victorino Strigelio (Jena, 184.3) ; Dollingcr, Die Reformation, vol. iii. (Re- gensburg, 1848) . STRIKE (AS. strican, to advance quickly, OHG., strlhhan, Ger. streichen, to stroke, Goth. si riles, stroke; connected with Lat. strinyere, to draw tight, Gk. CTpayyakri, stranqaJe, halter, arpay-ydc, strangos, twisted ) . A term used in geology to indicate the line of intersection of a stratum with the plane of the horizon, the strike thus being at right angles to the dip. The line of strike coincides with the outcrop when the surface of the ground is level, or when the dip is vertical. If the dip is constant in one direc- tion, the strike will be a straight line : but with a gradually changing dip, as from south through southeast to east, the strike will be a curve. In the case of a quaquaversal fold it is a complete circle. The strike is usually measured by plac- ing the compass so that the north and south line is at right angles to the dip and then reading the number of degrees from the north pole of the needle to the north and south line ; a strike of N. 45° E. thus means 45° east of north or northeast. See Dip. STRIKES and LOCKOUTS. A strike, in industry, occurs when there is a cessation of work on the part of a body of employees acting in concert to enforce some demand upon the employer, or to resist some demand which the employer has made. The employees are here assumed to take the initiative in ceasing work. When, on the other hand, the employer shuts down his establishment in order to compel work- men to comply with some demand, the suspension is called a lockout. It is not always easy to dis- tinguish the two in practice, especially as an em- ployer may not infrequently lock out his men in anticipation of, or on threat of, a strike. Certain popular movements in the Middle Ages bear resemblance to strikes, such as the dis- turbances in England in the second half of the fourteenth centur}'. More like the modern strikes were the contests between different guild organizations, or between journeymen and guilds- men, in both English and Continental towns. But as a social problem, as a frequent and apparently enduring feature of the industrial system, strikes belong to the nineteentli century. The strike has usually been an essential part of the policy of trade unions (q.v.). Misused though the strike has sometimes been, the existence of the union as its directing and controlling agency has been the chief means in transforming local, half-insurrectionary outbreaks into carefully planned attempts to attain well-recognized ends. The detailed causes of strikes are manifold, but the chief causes concern the wages question. In prosperous times strikes are likely to be made for increase of wages: in times of depression, against a decrease. Demand for a reduction of hours is a relatively frequent cause. Also of importance are strikes for the enforcement of union rules of work, for recognition of the union against the employment of non-union men, and in sympathy with strikes in other trades. The strike is often the first weapon employed by a newly organized body of laborers to strengthen their position. Laborers have sometimes com- plained that they were forced into a strike by their union, and an inisucce-ssful strike often results in the dissolution of a local union or in the decay of a larger body. The sympathetic strike has not generally proved advisable, and is regarded with disfavor by the best unions. To avoid or put down strikes employers may form organizations or use the lockout. They have at times been accused of instigating violence in order to bring the strike into public disfavor and obtain the aid of troops. On the employees' side boycotting and 'picketing' of all sorts are likely to occur in a serious strike. The bitter feeling against men who refuse to strike or who come to take strikers' places often makes the more peaceable forms of persuasion end in in- timidation or violence. Public sj'mpathy is an almost essential element in the success of any large strike, and is likely to be alienated by vio- lence or the destruction of property. This is well realized by the better trade unions, but when disorder or riots occur — often due to a semi- criminal floating population — the public may probably fail to lay the blame elsewhere than on the strikers. The magnitude of some recent strikes in important industries has emphasized the harm done to general business, and the inter- est which the public has in labor disputes as a third and impartial party. Conciliation and arbitration have come prominently forward as remedies for strikes. In 1888 a Federal law provided for the appointment by the President of strike commissioners in disputes in- volving inter-State commerce, and the Chicago Strike Commission recommended a permanent commission on the subject. The improved organ- ization of trade unions, their increased responsi- bility, and the use of the trade agreement may lessen the waste of strikes in the future. Legal Aspect. Any combination of laborers to raise wages was illegal in England until 1824,