The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1871-10-07 00:00:00

OVERWORK ON RAILWAYS.
(From The Tio,ex, Moliday, l)et. 2.)
Mr. Pas, o,ks 114 to pu1..11,1i his ',ply to Mr. Trit,e's
letter (.1 the "IWI ult. .

" Rangernore, gt.pt.

":My dear Price,—Since the receipt of your ktt:d ol the
14th I love node carefill inquiry respecting the validity of
such of toy stateine, its as yoll challeoged. I have nothing to
retract, Ind I find abundant confirmation and it large aCellnill-
bition of evidence in snpport of what I wrote to yott. This
scrupulous rare on fly part seems hnost suin•rtlio an, for hi
substance pin admit the facts I placed hcf..re p al, while pat
dispote the inferences which may lw draws fern th.m 31y
purpose is tt 1111010 that the inailagement of the Midland 17,1-
aild 111'1.01 towards ill, ir iviielommi, in-
consistent with the public safety, and lid itrious to the perma-
nent interests if the allarelliiiilers. mini, 011 the other hand,
conteoil that the abuses I exposed were hilt exceptional and
occasional digresaions Inns the regulathms of the oanpany,
which Ty care nor skill could prevent ; and that paw system
admits of no material retorts. I accept the issue you pro-
pore, and I shall cheerfully how to the verdict the puldie
pronounce between IN. On 0110 point they surely must
M in 113' ibcour, for y.at ignore the existence of the
public ;11l your anxiei y to apolttgise for excessive work alai
low it doca 11111 51,5,111 to have occurred to you that the
safety t I your paaseagers depend s not only Oil the employ-
ment of ell qualified servaats, lint also on avoiding mieh
exce...aive 0101111 dill their pliWeeS ill might pialify them for
the etacietit .1 iaharge Of their duties. YOll treat the matter
act it were wittily one of eramontical administrat ion yon
say that during the winter the traffic lost, much augmented
as to .ddige you to keep pine servants many h. airs beyond
an ordinary day's work. • involving not only tatne.inty on the
men but great expense and loss to the company: Now, what
are the probable resalts of this excessive lalmar, with less
id neceSsary Sleep, strain of painful attention, and emistoilielit
411111110 Si of faculties r What but a large proportioa of 1110
accidents, which end, I imagine, 11l ' great expense and 10,0
to the company ?' 'lnt your :vise sillistaill Lilly that 11c,0
clanucrs cantiot be avoidtd ssitht,oit ii larg, stall of men
voile 1,1 Cali! I,l,oi:sly employ's] in leas Imsy periods. If that
be so, the pill die v. ill hlskt Oil pole nuolient y.or staff and
paying the extra wages lip to the poilit of security. Net I
cannot help believing that much might be accomplished by
chore skilful arrangement and distribution of the work
to I.e done. Be that as it may, surely, with a revenue in-
creasing at the rate of a thousand pounds .a day, you will
not liegrudze all expenditure itelispen.Able to the public
Ede, y. Before tots-eating to ether 'whits ill ilbpute,
I May lie permitted to ..11, my . o,.c.sta for taking a pert in
this controversy. and showing that I ilid net obtrude myself
into it unsolicited. Derby, which I have represented for so
many years. is the centre of the Midland system. and the
seat of its directory, mid more Min 400 of your servants,
many of them my constituents, after haviog in vain appealed
to ytat for redress of grievaneeS, applied to tile, as their re-
presentative, ant as a 31 hiland shareholder, to Interpose on
their behalf. Two years shice I matron unsuccessful attempt
tut prevail on :Mr. Allporb to Helen to their prayer. Ile hi-
formed Me that the men had no reasonable gratual of com-
plaint. At the linthyearly meeting held ill February last I
address,' you and the shareholders on the subject, but my
appeal was 111-received and never answered. Again, in my
place in Parliallielit, I node a statement, to which yen re-
plied by affirming that it bad not a shadow of foundation.'
" My statement embraced in idol Ii great somber effects
of the same character is, the overwork of Walker, which In
your letter you not only all.tw tote' true, but you Windt it to
be a 'typical case which represents a general view of the
labaur of a aliollatyl enginealtiver during the winter 111.4101 s:
That is precisely what I said. Now, as to Walker : you say
that the foremen declare that he wished to make overtime
because it would 'tie him goml,' and the manner id saying
this conVeys tlic iiiipecssiim that yini scout regard the desire
if the men to make • a e 'aline as 0 illStifical ion of the prac-
tice. I cannot conceive 5 More dangerous principle. The
practice is condemned by the very rubs which you say the
company cod., your as far as possible to carry lad. It is
prio dbytb cc ref:el.:slimua that the I.lloille of each 111011
ill into respoc ice duty shall not cMcced the number if lanes
beyond which tile vigour anti energy of the frame and the
alert attestion 1,1 the mind can be sustained. The purpose if
this regulation is obrii MS, and its obsceVallCO is Ells I,ol,oS:try
condition of escaping the varied causes of accident. T. break
the rule hecause its brawl, may 'do the men gofel • ...mitt be
an error parallel with that the directors commit when they
connive at the c aillimance of risks which same slight in-
crease of expenditure might avert. la. ur Wall.er dal in-
deed ' make more belie' and receive 1110 re wages, but truly
the privilege dill him no good ' and did his masters great
brunt. Within s fortnight of that debate In the house
of l'ommons, Walker, 5.110 liad smile no hours' time out of
34, was rebutting at one o'clock in the 1110e111110 fn.st
to Derby, when he and his fireman, both fast asleep, rau
throsall Bartel station at the rate of 3; miles an Inter.
The pointliniall, set tot that the train was wi'llant control,
IT an net of extraordinary courage and
tamed it into a siding at full spe•al there the mischief
wnus to the sto.hing to pieces of I 3 or 14 Carria3cS.
tint What if tine pointsman had also boen Weary witli long
toll :Mil the rilli into eillision With is pa.visree
train 1 Walker, notwithstasiing Ids tableful sen ice of ito
yeah, was sti aightway dismissed ; but whether the penalty
due to the net of negligence might not more righteously
have fallen on those who permitted if they did not
eliptin him to work so many hours without relialnliilde red
and sleep, may wrlt eXereise the Mind of a ca,mst. You tax
me, as your able manager,. Mr. Allport, did two years 'ma,
with making ' ilin 1111 l Us charges,' but Can you lie ignorant
that yoUr sun-ante dare not let their lie known lest
they should Moir the resentment of their masters, even when
they tell the truth I Are their fears groundless? Yait men-
tion the ease of ;I Signalman near Leeds 11/0,11 when a fright-
ful amount of ditty was imposed. I am informed that it is hiy
no means clear that he was responsible for the negligence
which has la ell instated to Min. He had served you without
reproach for many years. Ile mm dismissed ; Itut to what
influence was his dismissal tine ? Has no ir•pliry Jaen made
by yoursulairdinates with the view' thaeoVering Ity whom the
information was given to me? Yon doubt the advantage of
public discussion on sodellcateasubject alt that of ' the relations
between employers and their servants,'and you go all to lecture
that the Mte of a ageSallit holirsof work are not arranged orcom
trilled by the al idlaml Company, lad are deterntitied by the
natural law, which alike preScribeß to me an ti the company
the rate payable to every class of workmen. Well, at this
moment every. important newspaper in Great Britain is dis-
missing this 'very delicate quest,. ' if capital and labour,
not in its abstra.t hdrn as P.O. prescribe. but in the form it
assumes when the principles of economical science are
viewed in their actual relation to practical affaha. So far
am I from asaentitig to your notion that it is beneficial to
SUppreSS all prat tical inquiry on these subjects, that I am
strongly of opinion that the Interests of both workmen and
employers demand their thorough discussion. That there
are natural laws of demand anti supply which influeace all
the operations of capital and labour I admit as heartily as
yourself, and also that the principles of economical science