It signified a labor
movement reduced to an opportunistic basis, accepting the existence of
capitalism and having for its object the enlarging of the bargaining
power of the wage earner in the sale of his labor. Its opportunism was
instrumental--its idealism was home and family and individual
betterment. It also implied an attitude of aloofness from all those
movements which aspire to replace the wage system by cooperation,
whether voluntary or subsidized by government, whether greenbackism,
socialism, or anarchism.
Perhaps the most concise definition of this philosophy is to be found
in Strasser's testimony before the Senate Committee on Education and
Labor in 1883:
"_Q._ You are seeking to improve home matters first?
"_A._ Yes, sir, I look first to the trade I represent; I look first
to cigars, to the interests of men who employ me to represent their
interest.
"_Chairman_: I was only asking you in regard to your ultimate ends.
"_Witness_: We have no ultimate ends. We are going on from day to
day. We are fighting only for immediate objects--objects that can
be realized in a few years.
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