The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1878-11-02 00:00:00

CARDINAL MANNING ON THE
BRITISH EMPIRE.

Speaking the other day at a great meeting of Roman
Catholic clergy and laity in Liverpool, on behalf of
St. Joseph's Foreign Mission Society, Cardinal
Manning said that the missionaries were intended to
cope with heathenism beyond the bounds of Christen-
dom, but within the boundaries of the British Empire.
And here came a new obligation. Some would ask,
what had they to do with the British Empire? But
they had all helped to rear no that mighty fabric,
the mightiest in the world. When God raised up a
mighty empire He did it for a purpose. The old
Roman Empire did its work, and it was crushed,
crumbled, and utterly destroyed. The great Catholic
Empire of Spain had passed away like a shadow, and
the greatest empire the world had ever seen for extent
was the British Empire, which they had helped to
build up. They had what Spain never had. They
possessed at this time an eighteenth portion, at least,
of the habitable globe, and had over 241 millions of
ellow-subjects : and these 240 millions of men, with
their 150 princes and chieftains these realms
and kingdoms and principalities—were all gathered
under the sovereignty of the British Empire. Was
this without a divine purpose? Was it to pass away
as a shadow like Spain? Upon them it depended to
give answer unto God, if they wete to be fAithtul
their duty. If they partook of the greatness of that
empire, they partook of its responsibilities. If they
partook of its wealth, they partook of its duties. If
they partook of its powers, they would partake of its
doom. Empires were raised to be the servants of
God, and if they would not fulfil this duty God would
crush them.

The Agent-General for New South Wales has been
informed by telegram of the arrival in Sydney of the ship La
Hogue, which sailed from Plymouth with emigrants in July
last.

A good answer was given a night or two ago to Rome
one who was grumbling because the French would be sure to
be dissatisfied if we occupied Egypt. " They are sure to be
perfectly wild with us," said he And the answer was, "It's
quite natural, they are sure to be as bitter as Gauls."—" The
Tatler "in Pictorial World

On Monday afternoon a 25 miles bicycle match for
£5O a-side took place on the Leicester cricket ground, in
the presence of a large concourse of people, between David
Stanton, the long-distance champion, and Walter Phillips,
of WolverhaMpton, champion of the Midlands. Phillips
took a good lead at the start, which he maintained for about
eight miles, when Stanton pulled IID considerably, and in a
few rounds succeeded in taking up the running, and when
20 miles had been traversed, he led by a yard or two.
Shortly after Phillips put on a spurt, went to the front, and
soon led by 100 ards. Stanton was unable to again catch
Phillips, who easily. Time: Phillips, lh. 34min. 375ec. ;
Stanton, lb." . biLiec.

THE DEPRESSED STATE OF TRADE
AND INDUSTRY.

The Timis of Monday-has the following leader on the
depressed state of trade and industry that exists through-
out the kingdom, and which is well worth a thoughtful
perusal:—

The quarrel which has broken out between the
agricultural labourers of Kent and Sussex and their
employers, in consequence of a threatened reduction of
10 per cent, in the labourers' wages, is a new illustra-
tion of the extent to which the depressed state of trade
and industry throughout the country_ is at last affect-
ing the condition of the masses. Until the present
year the bad trade of which- there were so many
complaints seemed hardly to affect the community
generally. Rich merchants and manufacturers were
either making little or no profit or were working at an
absolute loss in order to keep their connexion together
so as to be ready for better times. But pauperism
did not increase; the revenue was maintained; the
fall in wages in some trades, where an extravagant
rise had occurred, appeared to impose no cor-
responding tuft ring on the workmen, who made up
partly for the reduction by working more steadily and
spending less than they did on drink, It was a ust
matter for congratulation that our working classes
were richer than they had ever been before, and were
passing through a protracted dull period, not without
diminished employment and lower wages, but with
less suffering from those causes than had ever before
been witnessed. But lately it has been evident that
the diminution of employment and the lowering of
wages are bearing more hardly on the working classes.
The employers on all sides propose sweeping reduc-
tions with a determination which there is no resisting.
Resistance, where tried, is utterly broken, as was
the case with the late cotton strike in Lan-
cashire after a comparatively brief struggle.
At the same time, as tha reductions are in
addition to previous changes in the same direction,
they are far more keenly resented, the acerbity of the
contest in Lancasnire being the most striking instance
in point. The tone in which the dispute between the
agricultural labourers and their employers has com-
menced also shows how close to the quick the reduc-
tions of wages are now cutting. Nor are there wanting
the usual accompaniments of a condition of distress
among the masses which these reductions and the
angry resistance they meet with imply. As the last
Quarterly Return of revenue showed clearly, and the
weekly returns since issued also show, the revenue is no
longer maintained. The reduction from last year's
receipt in the chief branches of income is not great,
but the fact of stationariness in the revenue, allow-
ing for the natural increase of population, would
imply a real retrogression, so that any falling-off of
revenue is most serious. More significant still, there
has been a very considerable increase of pauperism
during the present year. The fact of the increase is
somewhat obscured in the general totals, there being
only about 2 per cent, more paupers in all England
than there were last year; but on analyzing the returns
we notice that in the Northern manufacturing districts
and Wales the augmentation is much more formidable,
At the end of July last, in the North-Western or
Lancashire district, the increase in the number of
paupers was as much as 6,079 on a total of 60,175 at
the corresponding date last year, or at the rate of no
less than 10 per cent. In the York district the increase
at the same date was 3.948 cn the total of 56,551 at the
corresponding date a year ago, being at the rate of 7
per cent. Altogether, in the West Midland, North
Midland, North-Western, York, Northern, and Welsh
districts, the augmentation amounted at the above
date to 17,513 upon a -total of 324,895 at the corres-
ponding date last year, being at the rate of nearly 5i
per cent. The fact that by setting off the reduction of
pauperism in the southern districts the increase over the
whole country becomes only 2 per cent. modifys very
little the gravity of these figures. It is well known that
during the last five or six years a very strong administra-
tive pressure has been brought to bear on the system of
outdoor relief, which tends so far to reduce pauperism,
and, therefore, to neutralize the effect of any causes of
increase which may exist. That in these circumstances
there should be an increase of more than 5 per cent. in
the pauperism of the manufacturing districts generally
is painful evidence of the extent to which the masses
near the verge of destitution have been pushed over
the limit and have been temporarily pauperized.
Add to all this that the deposits in the savings-banks
are DOW stationary, or show signs of Blight with-
drawals, and we have ample proof of distress and
suffering among our working classes of which till the
present year there had been little sign.
Will the reductions of wages continue, and will the
suffering increase or diminish in the next few months?
The balance of evidence, we fear, points, to things not
being at the worst. The effect on trade of the great
failures which have lately occurred may easily be ex-
aggerated, but they are having some effect in curtail-
ing employment. A certain number of firms cease to
exist, and the diminution of competition enables the
remaining emploe era to dictate their own terms. In
Lancashire the failures have already been followed by
a heavy fall in piece-goods and the shutting up of
more mills. On the Clyde another reduction of ship-
builders' wages, in addition to the great reduction
which was vainly resisted last year, is announced:
Other announcements of the like nature will pro-
bably be made. The prices of the articles produced
in almost all our staple manufactures are unprece-
dentedly low, while stocks are abundant; so that
we can hardly yet be quite at the bottom of the fall
in wages which may occur. In special trades, too,
there appears to be a singular combination of adverse
circumstances. Lancashire depends on the Eastern
trade, and the Eastern trade is thoroughly disor-
ganised. In agriculture the employers are now urging,
in support of their reduction of wages, that they have
had four unremunerative seasons, and this is painfully
true. In 1875, 1876, and 1877, as Mr, Caird !states
in his recent book on "The Landed Interest,"
the yield of wheat was about 25 per cent, below
the average. The seasons were also bad for stock
rearing. The prices of produce, notwithstanding,
were generally low, so that the farmer had the
double disadvantage of a poor yield and a low
price. In the present year the yield of wheat has
been eight per c,..nt, above the average, and the season
has also been more favourable than its immediate pre-
decessors for stock, but the price of wheat has fallen,
perhaps, to a lower point than it has touched since the
free trade period, while farmers feel more than ever
the competition of foreign cattle and fresh meat. As
the result we hear of farms wanting tenants all over
the country; so that if the labourer's wages are being
reduced, he is only being made to participate in
the general distress of agricultural industry. Pro-
bably the late seasons have been much under
an average, and the average profitableness of
farming in England is not to be determined by
recer t experience only; but the momentary circum-
stances are singularly adverse, and must govern
rents and wages for a very considerable time. The
deplorable state of the iron industry, again, is too
notorious for comment. Turn where we Will, We
perceive signs of a condition of things in which em-
ployment must be slack, and what employment
there is will often only be procurable at a reduced
wage. The suffering from this state of things must
also be acute, because the dull time has now lasted
so long as to bring the reserves of the working
classes nearer the point of exhaustion. Every
m strike and lock-out has left the weaker than be-
fore, while individuals have had to struggle with
long periods ot enforced idleness. Apparently, too, the
reductions of wagea are getting to the point that not
only, is the advance in the prosperous period between
1871 and 1873, being lost, but wages are falling
back to a lower level than that from which they
rose. This has been already felt in the iron and coal
trades, as the low prices indicate. Nor is there wanting
direct evidence. It is calculated, fiqr instance, that
the average miners' wages in Scotland are now 2s. 9d.
per day, while the level from which the great rise of
1870.73 took place was 3s. 9d. per day, that having
been the average of the years 1868 and 1869. In the
cotton disputes in Lancashire it was also contended
that the reduction was causing the workmen to lose
the advance of many years. That the changes in
progress are most sweeping is evident, too, from the
numerous and successful attempts on all sides which
employers are making to lengthen the hours
of labour. A reduction of the hours of labour
has been one form, and a most expensive one,
in which workmen in the last twenty years
have exacted an increase of wages, but they are
now yielding extensively the ground they had
won. There is some reason to believe that much of
the fall in wages is only nominal, and corresponds to
a reduction in the articles which the masses consume.
Some economises believe that a slow appreciation of
the money standard has been in progress, and that part
of the phenomena we see are due to the working of
this obscure but far-reaching cause. Certainly the
price of bread, groceries, and the leading textile
manufacturers, the principal articles of consumption
among the masses except meat, were never lower than
now. Is is natural, however, that the nominal reduc-
tion should be resented and often felt as altogether
a real one, and that many of the consequences should
be the same. - -

_
In all probability the distress of the working classes
may be of long continuance, whether the great failures
and troubles among the employing clasees continue or
not. Of course, it these failures and troubles should
continue, no one will doubt the seriousness of the
results on the working classes; but it is important
fully to realize that prosperous times for capitalists
which seem now to be at hand may not be so good
for workmen. It has frequently been noticed that in
the first year or two of a trade revival the revenue does
not augment and pauperism keeps on increaeing, while
there are considerable numbers out of employment.
In 1869 and 1870, after trade had distinctly begun
to revive, and Lancashire especially was very pros-
sperous, pauperism went on Increasing; nor did the
revenue increase very fast. The reason appears to be
that in the earlier stages of a trade revival there is
still a superabundance of labour, and it is only as
prosperity increases and capital rapidly accumulates
that an extra demand for labour which leads to a rise
of wages prings tp, The working. classeq, there-
fore, must make up•their minds to a year or two
more at least of low wages, and' hard work when
they can get it. The richer class-s must. equally
make up their minds to hard work, though they
have, perhaps, a better prospect of profit hy
their work than has been the case for years.
But the ultimate result of this time of trial
should be good. The abounding prosperity which
existed a few years ago was demoralizing. Life had
become too pleasant, and hard work too distasteful, to
many employers and employed. The axiom of political
economy that human nature requires the strongest
stimulants to labour, and that it is indolence which is
our chief enemy, had been very much forgotten. All
classes will be the better for harder work, longer
hours, and stricter discipline; and the lesson of
greater thrift which is so much needed in this country
will also, we trust, have been very widely learned.

Seth Green's experiment of stocking Lake Ontario
with shad has resulted in the hitching of millions of them :
but although they were first put there seven years ago, they
do not grow to he above eight inches long, and are not fit
for food.. They furnish excellent feeding for pickerel and
bass, and fisherman complain that these fish will not take
bait as formerly, so stuffed are they 'with young shad.
The iledical Press and Circular learns that already
more than 100 medical men have succumbed during the
yellow fever epidemic in America. Whilst the citizens of
all shades and grades were panic-stricken and in full flight,
to the honour of the profession be it said, net one quitted
his post of duty, and many even volunteered their services
from parts where the fever was not raging.