The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1880-03-20 00:00:00

STRIKES IN AMERICA,

Unc!tr date PLiladelptla, Marcla 15, the Corresp)odent of
The Titres writes :
•
A lock-out of piano makers began at New York
to•day. Seven hundred workmen. of Steinway's
factory having been on strike for several weeks, de•
mending an advance of wages and refusing to resume
work at the old terms, the other employers have
to-day began a lock-out. Four thousand workmen are
conseqtruntly idle, and uneakiness is general among
the American working classes, who c!aim naom
wages. This demand has in some trades been con-
ceded, but denied in others, Soveral thousand
colliers are on strike in the Clearfield bituminous coal
I.:Tim of Pennsylvania. An extensive paddlers' strike
for 20 per cent. advance in wages began to-day at the
mills in the Interior of Pennsylvania. Fifty-seven
mills, emilloying 7,000 workmen, will probably be in-
volved In the strike.

The receipts on account of revenue from the let
April, 1879, when there was a balance of £6,915,768, to March
13, 1550, were 677,053,351, against £78,683,549 in the corres-
ponding petted of the preceding financial year, which began
with a balance of £6,243,389. The net expenditure was
£76,237,538, against £7%704,002, to the same date in the
previous year, The Treasury balances ou Mardi 18
amounted to £8,74248, and at the same date in 1879 to
48,602,460.

A FRENCH OPINION OF LORD
BEACONSFIELD,

The Paris Correftpondent of the Standard writes:—" In con-
nection with the approaching Dissolution of Parliament the
following remarks, which appear In to-day's Journal des
Debate, will show the public in England the views enter-
tained on the coining struggle by this ieading organ of public
opinion. Its estimate of Lord Beaconsfield will be read with
special interest. After setting forth its entire impartiality,
the Debate proceeds as follows
"There can be no two opinions as to the eleill with
which the Ministry fixed for the Dissolution &moment
equally propitious and unexpected. The Dissolution
had been announced so often before that people had
begun to give it up, Lord Beaconsfield, moreover, has
imagined so many novelties in the working of the Con-
stitution that people fancied he was capable of allow-
ing the House to come to the term of its natural life,
and that is the reason why the Dissolution which
all the world were prepared for a few months
ago took everyone by surprise when it was
formally announced. People, however, speedily grasped
the opportuneness of the measure. All the great
European questions are solved and England has had
coneiderable influence in their settlement. Minor and
more exclusively Englieh questions, the war at the
Cape and the war in Afghanistan have either reached
theirdenoument or come to a standstill, The occasion
was thus a favourable one to call upon the country to
pronounce its verdict on a policy which has already
secured happy results and to contrast it with the
policy of the Liberal party, Lord Beaconsfield
understood this at a glance, and he so contrived
that all the world understood it also. But what
above all things provokes admiration for that re-
markable man is the boldness with which he has
markel out the limits of the battle-field. He
opened fire on his adversaries before they had time
to recover from their surprise, showing all the daring
activity, controversial dash, and skill in mite en
scene of the Disraeli of old times. Lord Beaconsfield
has certainly been one of the most daring men of the
present age. No man has been more contested, more
attacked, more insulted than he. To stand on the
breach to repel all assailants has become a second
eature with him, and neither honours, fortune, nor
glory has altered the character formed by the battles
of the Frees and the Tribune. He is one of those men
who can be beaten, but who can never be crushed.
For years, through a series of defeats, he pursued
victory, and finally achieved it, He never allowed
any thing to discourage him. We find him now
just the same man as he Was years ago, with his
faults, which do not appear to have diminished,
but also with his qualities unimpaired. The
moment the electioneering campaign opens his
bugle rings out a call of defiance, and he
rushes forward, not to defend himself—he is far
too good a polemist for that—but to earry fire and
sword into the enemy's camp. The offensive is best
suited to his nature. Whatever may be the worth of
his arguments, his great object is to disconcert his
adversaries by the rapidity and vigour of his blows,
and there is no denying that those blows have been
eudden and crushing, If it were desired to criticize
politically, philosophically, and historically the re-
reproaches which Lord Beaconefield levels against the
Liberal party, a good deal might be said in the way of
distinction and explanation. Lord Beaconsfield knows
that quite well, and it is the secret of his success. He
feels confident that the Whigs will entangle themselves
in a maze of explanation and comments. His letter
to the Duke af Marlborough will survive as an
accusation violent no doubt, but direct and driven
home. The merciless point has pierced through and
through the weak places in the enemy's armour,
and the Whigs will be unable to shake off the
weapon. Look at the Marquis of Hartington's
Address to the electors of North-East Lancashire. It
Is an honest, sensible defence, brimful of good reason,
but how different from the warlike attitude and
triumphant tone which Lord Beaconsfield has im-
parted to the Government. Possibly Mr. Gladstone
may strike a more rousing chord, but it would be
rash to expect from him the telling brevity of Lord
Beaconsfield. As an electoral manifesto, as a proclee
mation befure the battle, the letter to the Irish
Viceroy is a Otef doturre of its kind, and leaders of
Governments or even of parties oau do no better than
study it. The Opposition, judging by their replies,
feel beaten beforehand, which is not a happy disposi-
tion for going into action. The manifesto of Lord
Beacoesfield may be unjust and excessive, but it is
most able, and in the coming contest will tell heavily
against the Liberals."