The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1868-02-01 00:00:00

*totOltikge 01,150-tn.

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY I, 1868.

WORK VERSUri CHARITY.

Stalinism is no recommeniation, but we may
say a word of praise for John flan, inasmuch as
he is a figurative and representative personage,
and love for our countrymen whom he represents
is rather patriotism than self.love. John bull
then, though he has his faults, Is a good•hearted
fellow on the whole ; he has ilia prejudices, as
who has not? lint he has at least a largo heart
to sympathise with Vie &aro Wei of the distressed.
No ono gen deny that
He balli a tear for pl,y, and a hand
Open as day for no Ito.; eharity,

No one ((IVOR 20 largely orgi freely al John
Bull I Or 10 ollwr words in no country 14 there
MO i,di,hPhsilty la hi our on. Vi hive insti•
tntions for 'tiniest all the ills that flesh is heir to,
ao far AS they can be slim latod by pecuniary
help and personal devotion to the Pick and suffer.
um. lint nationally. as individually, we do not
like to give away money for nothing; we do not
like to keep men in idleness by charitable eon-
trilmtions when they can work, and get their
own living. Now we rextr,4 to say that as this
very moment a denmnd for vharity is being made
where there is no necessity for it, and it will be
seen that this 'it .tc of things opens up some
very serions considerations which affect the
whole country.
That there lies been and still is great distress
in the eastern districts of Loudon is known to
all our readers Immense efforts have lawn
isle to relieve this aiStreSS, and it. is I(rOtif)iiilf
to beer tint on the whole it is de,•re:teing. We
should not now refer to it therefore, but for a
stote of things which we submit might to de-
mand the serious attention of working men
throughout the country. Let us glance at the
Nag, an fir as tiny are connected sith the ship
building trade.

-
It is well kill .wo that in the distriets of Poplar,
Lintelniuse, and Mill wall the trade of shipbuild-
ing has 11101.11 carried on to it very large extent.
Alsny of the yards lire now closed, and this is
the main rause of the d..ep diNtress of the locality.
lint what is, HIS to speak. the cause if tin cause ?
The immediate cense of the poverty aunt distress
is went of eniplo•neot : but what iS the cause
of ss mit of 111111110 wont ? A deeline in the de-
mand for ships is the natural conelnsion until
we en Ii to inquire ii I the actual facts ; but
ill 01 is not the re "Pin. for it has been pointed
•01, that "at tiiii moment there are 115,124 tsus
If iroii shipping being built in the Ciyile, while
last year, at the same period, the amount WWI
only 82,(111(1 tons. lii the Times of Monday there
is a list of new contracts taken by tho hhip-
'milder: of the tiple. and One firm, llossrs.
koLiertson and Co., has no less than six vessels
MI 11.41111.'

Now it on es) beck a few months. Last nom.
tiler the alllliillllli trade on the banks of the
Tlennee was getting dull—it mattera not for the
moment from wird emse— lila all eminent firm,
with a view of giving their iiien employment, a
large number having had to leave for want of
work, entered into a preliminary contract for
linilding a ITSOOI for a foreign Government.
Ilefore the contract 11/11s signed, sealed, and
bunt red," the tlriii called their nein together,
mid saiidi in stilvdanee this "We know that
w WIC is scarce, auil that if it continue so you will
soiiii fall inti distreas. as has happellVil before
now. To give you work, therefore, rather than
to obtain profit for oiiraelves, We propoae to en-
ter Into a contract for aneh and such a WWI;
hat we have had to con. pm with Scotch and
foreign and we ean cinly obtain the
tamarind on such terms rts; even to get back oar
will prem.:bate your working for Ila a
Ill)' instead of your union regulated wages of
'7o. Shall we take the contract on those terms ?"
Tile 1111,11 said they would consider the proposal,
111111 they apeistily declined to accept it, prefer-
ring, to be out of work rather than to submit to
a reduction of a shilling a day. From motives
of generosity. CO well as front a desire to keep
iii shipbuilding trade as much ne possible on
the hankm of the Thamea, the firm then pro-
pined that the men should work for Gil a day,
but this was also refused, and the ship was built
elsewhere—we believe ill Denmark. Now these
are facts which are stated in time ordinary news-
paper reports of the tunes. And it is from a
peraistiaiceii. tide suicidal policy—we 1100 the
phraae deliberately-- that so mach of the exist.
ing Mures,' io the Isle of Dogs arives
The Loudon shipwrights now Cl no G.i a
day wages, while the rate on the Clyde is da
The natural remit follows. There needs 110
deep knowledge of political economy to induce
11l reliiinta or governments any more than other
people to go whore they ean get served it the
apcat rate, other things being eipial ; and
that ships can be as well built on the Clyde as
011 the ThaDlefl need not be insisted on, Ship-
hitiliiers and merehants lire, however, desirona
of aiding the London men if it can be dime, and
AK a proof of this it is stated that a few weeks
ago a gentleman offered to give .11 a ton more
than the Glasgow rate for a ship of 500 tons,
lint that he could not get the offer accepted in
the Isle of Dogs ; and yet there was then the
severest dietreas in the district, which this
amount of work would have proportionately re-
lieved in the most legitimate way. At a meet-
ing in the district, heat Saturday 1111 Offer woe
made to lay down two iron chips of 1000 tons
each, if the men would take anything like the
Scotch prices, but the proposal of lower pay
than the regulation rate was met by laud cries
of " No, no," (ruin all parts of the meeting.
Finally it was arranged that a committee of
workmen ahould meet the employers, and report
the result at a future meeting.
'rims, then, the matter stand at present—work
retvu3 charity ; the dogged adherence to a regu-
lation rate of wages which the masters, in face
of competition dawdler°, cannot pay, or the ac-
ceptance of pay which will keep the wolf from
the door, and deliver the workman from the
condition of a saindpanper relieved by the hand
of charity ; the loss of substance in the attempt
to
.grasp a shaiinw. _
. .

irades' unions have frequently placed work-
men on the horns of a dilemma like this, but it
is seldom that the choice of evils is so clear.
Admitting that these unions are permissable ;
even going farther, and allowing that they ars
desirable, working men throughout the king-
dm ought to see that the time may COMO Wholl
obstinate adherence to rules made in times of
prosperity may be false political economy, and
a severe injury to their own class. No working
man will deny that half a loaf is better than no
bread, and undonbtedly it is better that the half
leaf alt ill be honestly earned than accepted
f r the hand of charity ; but trades' unions too
often ignore sueli selfmvident axioms.

THE IRON TRADE.
WoLvERTIAUPT" Wediusday.
The meeting of the iron trade hero to-day
lillowe4 that ill RAMO instances there is fifightly
more doing thall WN the Ca.lo last week; but
it ie doubtful if, on the whole, the trade has
improved since that time. The failure of Mrs.
tlibbons was much discussed; and the opinion
of the be6t•informed on the subject was that,
but for the engagements which existed before
Mr. Uibbous dud, the stoppage would uot have

taken; plass. Eadeotiene during the colleen'
etrlte, it Yens nsserted that the furnaces hnve
been eerrieil en at a tweet ever tainer the death
of Mr. Gibbons. The profit of the Yew Tree
Colliery, dnrinr, the four years terminating
with March Mat, and of the furnaces in the two
years and four months ending with the same
dnte, were, we are assured, .£lO,OOO. The
gnestien of reducing wages was much debated,
and the firms who are ready to give notice com-
plained of the indisposition of others to take
that step. Members of the trade, of ennsiden
Rhin standing, lie,itato to give notiee, not be-
Cause their profits are satisfactory, hut because
they believe that 1w posponing the rednetion
for nwhile, they will be able to effect it on a com-
prehensive scale, embracing miners as well as
ironmakers Pt all kinds. The steel Willem
employed at the Minerva Works, in this town,
are on etrike against a reduction in their wages,
and they are begging as mortice dancers.

BIRMINGHAM, 7hurstlay.

There la nothing fresh to report in referenee
to the atate of the iron trade; all kinds of un-
favourable rnmours were aloft again to-day, and
It la no wondor that acme firms are very hard
pressed. There wag 'no busine c doing to-day,
and evervbrav clilmit4 that the trade cannot be
worse than it ia at this moment. Some few
makers have orders Milling In, but it la quite es•
eeption al ,