The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1873-09-06 00:00:00

MR. STAPLETON, M.P., ON THE PRICE
OF LABOUR.

On Thursday evening in lapt week, Mr. John S'aple.
son, one of the Parliamentary representativee thi
borough of Berwick-ln-Tweed, de liverel a lecture on
"The Price of Lsbour in the Future" in the school-
room, SpittaL The Mayor of Berwick (.ilderman
Junta Pun,* occupied the chair.
Mr. Stapleton, Who wee cordially received, saii, in
the course of his remarks :
I think that upon the whole the effect of combination hoe
been to enabic tne.labourer to make better bargains than he
would otherwise have done. 'I him action I, twefuld. It Is
spilled the master whose profit he wisbee to confine, and
treilat the purchaser from whom he wisina to elicit the
highest obtainable price. It sometime, happens that,
urged on from below by the pressure from their work.
nice, muters are driven to exert prices from their cus-
tomers which others he they wool I never have thought of.
It woad be an error to suppow that the money which goes
to Increase wage. Is entirely lost to those members of
the community who do not share In the Increase. In rie
fax as the barroom d wage enables the labourer to escape, not
only In his own person, bet In the person of his wife and
c.hildrep as well, the evil arising from unwholesome food, Ill'
ventilated dwellings, and insufficient clothing, the whole
community Inn gainer. It j rytog better health, he gives bet-
ter work for the now wage than he did for the old. Therefore,
he does not enhs n -us the price of the commodity on which he
works to the extent of the Unloose ire hi, wager. Among Ibe
other advantages which ho obtains is improved education
for his children. Me rears a generation of labourers superior
to his own. The diffusion of knowledge among the
mg. of the people tends to cheapen production.
The more aommon education becomes the less the difference
most be between the various w rts of labour, as
well as between the various ranks in the industrial heir-
archy. Where many are sufficiently educated to enter thorn,
the ranks of those trades In which a high standard of educe
thole required will be inevitably crowded, cum etition will
bring down the wage, and the ma eminence ol those trade.
Iss lowered. ID the same way when many men are fit to take
lomman's place, io will no longer to able to command

a salary am much above that of the esslnazy workman aa it
has hitherto been. Clerical work becomes cheaper as educe
I lion advance,. Indeed, the day is probably not far dialect
I when the clerk will be so badly paid that he wIU not be able
to hold his head above the skilled labourar. We mast, there-
I fore, bear in mind tisat a two-fold process Is going on. Fast,
the upward tendency of wages generally; secondly, the
tendency to equality among the various kinds and deism of
labour. The Sr t raises, but the evcond been the prices of
the num gate of the work necessary to accomplish a given
object or to produce • particular commodity.
the worst nee • labouer can melts .of his earnings Is to
spend them in drink. But even this use of his wages he can-
not make without conferring • beuelit on the oth`er meanders
of esclety. The revenue laws ate so contrived that every
shilling spent on alcoholic liquors yield it. contribution to
the Etch. quer. The flourishing state of the revenue fur the
last I. w years has been due mainly to the high rate of wages
the lahourns dames have enjoyed having enabled them
to consume an tieuseal tomtit, of excisable liquors. It
I. to this that we owe the redaction of the income teL
The Increase of revenue driven irum the lebouriug Muses
through the Inarealiel consumption of liquor hag found its
way Into the pockets of the higher and middle claims by
the reduction of the Income tax. Let me not, ho•ever, be un-
derstood to say that these claws profit more by this m ide
of expenditure than they would by any which would have
seen more to the advantage of the labourers themselves. If
the labourer laid by hla euperflous earnings, hie savings
would keep tdm oft the poor-rate In Its old age. They would
usable him to provide for himself In sickness, and to pay for
the Fchoulltne of his children. Ile would then remove the
burden which rans directly on the other claws In their cha-
racter of ratepayers. By abstaining he would also prevent
that Increase of charge 10th. ratepayers which results from
the increase of Crime which invariably attends elomeive in-
did/Knee in Intoxicating liquera Besides, as I have already
observed, moderation in indulgence and judicious expendi-
ture would make him and the members of his family better
workpeople, and consequently add to the value of their
work.

There in another way in which the labourer In receipt of
large wages pays toll to the other classes of society. When-
ever he enters tho market as a purchaser, whether it be
where he has been unknown, or with • nurse fuller then
usual where he has been known, the effect of hie pur-
chasing is to raise the price of whatever he covets.
This rot only operates In favour of ether workmen
who may have been employed In producing the object
desired, but equally in favour of the capitallet arida
basset them at work. in one case, and It le that in which
it has been most marked, the effect reaches further.
Fresh meat and vegetables are antoug the thing. which
• well-paid labourer most desires. But these can only be
obtained from &Wish soil. When his customer raise. their
price he not only bonnie the farm labourer, and the tenant
farmer, the wave he lad set in motion goes farther. It
reaches the owner of the soil, so that increased 'mg. lead
to increased recta. I speak chiefly of pastoral and garden
land., es free tnela renders the effect of the additional
demand In the mica of corn comparatively slight, without,
however, CP ncelling it altogether. What I wish to point out
now Is that the prosperity of the working classes, speaking
of them generally, anis to the vaue of land, but especially
of that which la sold for the production of meat and vest,-
able..

After touching upm foreign competition In Europe and
America, Mr. Stapleton said he thought more seriously of
the danger at some future—it may be no very distant time—
of competition from the far East. It appeared to hint im-
possible that Japan could long continue in her premnt
career of progress without Indudrig China to follaw. China
contrive sh ,ut a thU of the human race. The people Cr.
not unskilled In m,nruf dure. For porcelain, silk, and
nankin she has long been famous Labour there la cheaper
than In any other part of the world. Her people are in-
dustrious, persevering, and Ingenious. Their power of
imitating, and so appropriating the ideas and Inventions of
others. is unparalleled. Such a people, if they once entered
the lists, would he most formidable competition. The Ideas
which have held them back from intercourse with the rest of
the world may giveaway asauddenly as they have done to Japan.
Our Shops may be inundated with Chinese goods. Nankin and
silk, and real Chllll porcelain may supersede our home
fabrics, Nat as tea, an agricultural product of China, has
superseded the home brewed ale which our forefathers
were coutont to drink at their morning meal. It may be
rged that accordin: to the Free Prade doctrine the eaten-
-1( four trade with China would enrich us. We should
, a , what we could spare for what we stood in need of.
I 'Chinese industry would affect us more serlouely by
competing with us and undermiling on in neutral market.
• dln our own. To me ti is appears the one grist dung( r
looming in the future. If China should he., doe • great
manufacturing country and chit the mdketa of till world
with her fabric., I do not are how the manufacturing
population of Europe a mid auvtain the contest without
descending to the level of their competitors. Cool
hu enabled us ti pay bdter wales and work shorter
hours than our rivals at the very moment that we have
been &bib g them cot of the markets if the world. Such
an enhancement of the price of coal as we are 'tow witness-
ing la therefore fraught with danger to every industry which
cars be carried on In cruntries where cud &Ida see form,' as
large, as acceasible, and u available fer the production of
steam as ours. In China there are coal-field. said to be rut
and velua•de. They have not been worked because the
people have not be u allowed to work them ; why, Ills diffi-
cult to ray. All we know in that political and religious
reason. have been assigned for the prohibition. At this hour,
when everything In the cleat la changing, it I. needless to say
how frail re the reliance which can be placed on the im-
mutability of Chinn A stroke of the pen might remove the
only barrier which prevents the fahri,s of cheap Chinese in.
dnstra II mling tho markets of the world, and swemping thme
of every other country The coal is there, the labour, the
skill is there ; If native enterpris, is not suilicent, enterprtm
in free, and may he hat from any country in the world.

Having next cone !trot the effect of dear lab or Co er -
conragli.g the hatredum ion of machinery. Mr. S apleton pro-
ceeded to inquire-41,w fad. It p-asible for labour to eurtch
itself at the e epee.° or capital. rile kind of cipltal which is
most exposed to thia kine of attack is lend. The lend can t
tete winds and ay. It mud depend Ur Its miltay.nion on
the labour whiih is available on the spot whet :Lie.. To
me It appears probable that the laureate of serge. in the
agricultural districts will, at nest, untavourahly effect the
value of land. The fattier, knowing that be must spend
more on wages than lu /miner Minas, ant ace ;die he to tie
Increased value of the work which will le done in r. tura
for the Increased wage., ae le•a ems, r In his hi 'Meg
for land. If teens do not fall, tl.ey will not rise as th, y
otherwise have done. The eat teal Increment of the vain.
of land will he intercepted before It reaches the landlord a
pocket. For • thee thugs win tie unsettled to the detriment
of imaineri,ers, la the Cud, owaver, they will fall Int) their
natural plaice.. The farmer .411 and better work for In tter
wages, new mae, of ecounMsing through new Inventing,
better market, fr. rn higher wages, and he will be able to
pay as g. mi • rent In the Cod as he would hive done if
there had been no em In wages. I assun.e that carAtal
Is free as air; and that if hafal..ged upon it will take alas.
and fly. But whither lo some country whin the claims
of a our are leu eserle,aut and the return upon capital
conammently higher But If there is no Inch country,
capital must needs give way. The capitalist must put up
with smaller re-Euro..ln order that the labourer may have
a large hip. Thi. is the economic ii object of the lot r.
A.lohal. Whether thr ugh that aocilly or amply from
the therms.. of c minantateation between dlfferant mana-
tees, questions of w•ges a-a no longer heal. The wok.
mink of different con- tries have understandings with each
other. If these understen.Pngs are iv cittain and imperfect
now, time will render them mere. acre and comp ete. It
BOOM., therefore, not 'womb-hie that lab itar may Infringe
upon capital. Capatalists • that 1. 10 ilby, ttnase wad polaris
' the inciante ated wealth of f ',roar ages) tray be competed
to acme t smaller returns, lest their capital should have to
lie idle and the return from it lien ins at all. Their share of
the wealth tnlng created by the) bat acl m if !alone and
capital wit I he has ad that of the co-pa-tner, the labourer,
more. At the ..me time It meat be observed that combi-
nations of l•hourers in Ktrope to keep it we the return
from capital may have the effect of del vie,: the trade out
of Europe altogether Into those great Easteru countries of
which I hove alrtady spoken.

In conclusion, Mr. Stapleton stated his conviction that ic
result of the changes which have recently occurred. and
which are now going on will be an amelioration of a most
decided character In the labourer's pealtion. A better time
Is coming for the sun of toil. Happineas doe. not depend
upon wages, or indeed upon money in any shape whatever
in the abstract it dee nets a greet deal upon the use which
men make of the money when they get it. I need hardly say
that when lecreasoi wages lead to it -tressed drunkenness
and debauchery they are productive not of good, but of un-
mitigated evil Cr those who receive them. Sell-Indulgence,
which stops short of wickm'nets, while it heap the
labouring chits nearer to the class above them may riot
make them better or even happier than they were before.
It is ex.rernely difficult to draw the floe between the
self inanigence which enervates ar.d that Increase of en-
joyment and of comfort which add to the moral and
intellectual, as well Rs the physical well-bring of Mall.
II is a question which each man most reAVA for
himself, hat thile are ways In which increased wages
will enable the labouring classes to raise their own
Condition, and at the same time to confer a beneilt or
the other climes. One of the greatest, perhaps the
greatest, burdens which property has to bear Is the poor-rate.
Now it Is salient that if II err sty means of provident and
friendly societies, to wh.ch they contribute when at work,
are able to provide for themselves when sickness and old
! age have destroyed their cspacity for work, they are doing
themselves a service, Inasmuch as they insure themselves
, against falling into pauperienr, and they ere doing the
ratepayers • service by tinting them the burden they
would therwize have to hear. The same observation ap-
plies to tholes who aro able to provide for widows and
orphans in ease of untins- ly death. There ls another way In
which hieh wages will ens-tie the labouring classes to elevate
, themselves and relieve the Tess of society : that is. by paying
: for the educat.oo of their own children. Hitherto, the
labouring clever hitvu' teen content to allow the r children
bc e located paray, though not entirely, by the charity of
, those above them. In -pie do net like t e acknowledge
even to themselves that they are receiving favours, hence
it has come to be a point of honour in marry paste of Elie-
, land with the poor to believe that they are conferring •
favour on school manager, I y sending their children to
school. I say nothing f the contrihuti fr m the to
the expense of primary education, because all contribute to
, the taxes; I Rey nothing of the expert., of Board schools to
the retepsyert, because many of the parents of the children
at the schools are ratepayers themselves. Bat I venture to
say that if the labonring clue paid so much towards the
education of their own children as to diepoise with the sub-
scriptions of their neighbour., they would do much to
I elevate their own condition, and to establish their own hide-
pendence. The clergy have .1,011:lute/I largely towards the
I rer=d" l'arigueclay"oon„to fo
f t hem° erTrancTrfe:.'"Aeyi;lea'vehercreec st‘tebd
other people's children, while they have been a rely put to
provide a suitable education for their own. It appears to me
that when high wag, onside the lithouring class to dispense
with this assistance. it Is bar-sly compatible with self-respect
end a proper sense of the'r own dignity to accept it.
I may conclude thee remarks by observing that increased
wages will is...reale tagat'on, inasmuch as tee maintenance
of or armies, our navies, and, above all, the dorniruc!loh of
vessels, must become more expensive For the same reason
some of our locel rates, such at the pollee rate, mutt Increase.
I have already shoe u that while the price of ordinary labour
rises, th tt of intellectual lebtur will diminish. I have only
to edd that those if us who live on fixed incomes meet me kr,
up cur minds to grow poorer as everythiert we minim be'
comes dem..., while our metes rd purchaelng decrease.
T.iough tiers err crust. rooting ieflueuces at work, they are
not enough to restore the balance.