The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1874-09-05 00:00:00

SATURDAY, SEPT. 5, 1874.

TEE WEAKER of the HOUSE of COM-
Notts on AGRICULTURAL LABOUR.
At Glynde Harvest Home, held on Saturday, on
the estate of the Right Hon. Henry Brand, near Lew-ea,
that gentleman, in responding to the toast of his
health, said—' I am very much obliged to you for
drinking my health, and for the cheers with which
that toast has. been accompanied. Since we met on a
similar occasion last year there has been in certain
counties much agitation amongst those engsrd in
farming upon the vestion of wages. That!'agatation
has not reached us in this district, end I hope it never
may. I trust that those engaged In farming, whether
masters or men, will have the good sense to come to
terms on the question of wages upon a fair
standard without agitation from outside. (Hear,
hear). But I ran not one of those who con-
demn inawriminately unions of men formed for the
Purisiese of increasing their own wages or benefiting
the;r own condition. There are unions and unions, all
differing widely from one another. Some may be formed
upon rules beneficial alike to masters and men, while
s there may be founded upon rules which are opposed
to public policy and injurious to society at large. I
will, by way of illustration, give you two instances
of bad rules by which unions are governed, and
whih seem to me to lead to more injurious
effects. One instance that I will give applies
to unions formed by masters, and the other instance
applies to unions formed by men. In the contest
which lately prevailed in the Eastern Counties the
farmers formed themselves into a union, by which
they licautd themselves never to employ a man
who belx,ngeil to a union. Now, as an employer of
Labour, I never would bind myself by a rule of that
kind—(hear, hear)—which I believe to be both harsh
and unwise. To give an instance of another vicious
mile, I will cite the case of unions in the same Eastern
Counties formed hy men who bound themselves by
-rules which left it to the discretion of a committee of
strangers to dictate when and hov. a stnke should take
place--strangers who, from their total ignorance of the
local interests and circumstances in each particular
district, could not possibly give a sound opinion upon
iso delicate and intricate a subject. Now, it seems to me
that the true principle is this—Whenever a dispute
takes place between masters and men, the settlement
of that dispute should be left to themselves or to
arbitrators appointed by themselves. I, as an em-
ployer of labour, never should ask a question whether
any ,d you belonged to a union or not. My idea is
this —That the master has a right to ask of his labourers
faithful and efficient service, and he ought to content
himself with that, and to ask no question whether
a man does or does not belong to a union. (Hear,
hear.) I still live in faith and hope that the day
will come--and that perhaps not far distant—when
labour will be recompensed, in part, at least, by pay-
ment from the profits of capital. I made an attempt
in that direction by a proposition which I made to you
some two years ago, and which proposition is still
open to your acceptance. I look forward, not without
terve to some of you accepting the proposition. I will
not now stop to discuss the several reasons which I
can fully appreciate that prevail with you to decline
acceptance, but I can assure you that if you had
thought proper to invest upon the conditions stated
by me any savings which you may have made, the
interest upon those savings would have exceeded that
which you would have obtained from the savings hank.
And now, roy friends, I wish you health, happiness,
and prosperity for the year to come, while I thank you
most coc-dially for your faithful, active, and honest
exertions to helping Inc and Mr. Colgate to carry on
the business of this farm."

Is connectionjwith the foregoing, The Standard remarks:—
Nothing could be better than the tone of the
'Speaker's address to the labourers on his estate at the
harvest home of Glynde. It is instinct with the spirit
of charity, and offers counsels of conciliation which may
be profitably studied alike by the masters and the
labourers. We imagine, however, that the farmers who
have been in the thick of the struggle in the Eastern
Counties will hardly be inclined to follow Mr. Brand
in his appreciative estimate of the value of trade
unions. He speaks "as an employer of labour," but
te is fain to confess that the Suffolk quarrel has
not touched Glynde. Spectators at a distance are
rarely the best judges of the tactics employed in
a quarrel in which they have no concern, and it is
possible th..t if Mr. Brand had stood in the position
of an Exning farmer his slew of the usefulness of la-
bourers' unions might have been considerably
modified. It is one thing to uphold the right of com-
bination in the abstract; it is something very different
to uphold the tactics by which that combination seeks
to effect its object. If Mr. Brand had been a Suffolk
farmer, had found that the hearts of the labourers
around him were being turned against him by agitators '
and delegates from a distance, and had discovered that
a conspiracy was on foot by which all his work.
men would have been "called out:" at harvest time,
sinless be consented to give an exorbitant increase
of wages, he might have considered that a farmer ,
who looked upon the labourers' union as an enemy,
and fought it as such, was not wholly without excuse.
As a matter of abstract right the lock-out was quite as '
justifiable as the strike. The question of poli:y rests
upon wholly different grounds. Conflicts such 88 that
now happily brought to a close in the Eastern Coun-
ties have been termed clumsy expedients for determin-
ing the value of labour, and it is usually held that the '
side which con, piers has established the superior justice
and accuracy of its calculations. Upon this theory there
'is no use in asserting that the farmers were in the wrong
when the event has proved them to be in the right.
Mr. Brand speaks to better purpose when he counsels
both the farmers and the labourers to mutual forget-
fulness and forbearance. Both have suffered and both
have gained experience and instruction. It is probable,
as one result of the conflict, that the labourers would
heartily agree with the farmers that the unions have
been bitterly in the wrong. It is probable, also,
that by common consent the condition of with-
drawal from membership of the union will be
tacitly. ignored. It was a permissible weapon while
the unions were the avowed enemies of the farmers,
but it bs not worth while to brandish it offensively
now that the power of the unions is broken. There is
much to be said in favour of what Mr. Brand calls "the
true principle." "As an employer of labour," he
assured his workpeople at Glynde, "I should never
ask a question whether any of you belong to a union
'sr not. The master has a right to ask of his labourers
faithful and efficient service, but he ought to content
himself with that, and to ask no question as to whether
a man does or does not belong to a union." Mr.
Brand may be pardoned for looking at the question
from this point of view at happy Glynde. If, as a
farmer dependent upon his crops, he were forced to see
in the union an enemy striving to compass his ruin,
he might possibly come to the canclusion that the law
of self-preservation justifies a man in fighting such an
enemy with all the weapons at his disposal.
In spite of the failure of his proposal of last year,
Mr. Brand still lives in hope "that the day will come,
and that it is not far distant, when labour will be re-
compensed, in part at least, from the profits of
capitaL" He has invited his workpeople to invest their
savings in the farming operations on his estate, with
the assurance that they would receive larger interest
than they could obtain in a bank. The invitation
has met with no response whatever; but it is neces-
sary, in order to estimate the real extent of the failure,
to ascertain what has been the amount invested
as an alternative in the savings hank. Possibly there
have been no savings, and, consequently, no invest-
ment at all. In the other event, we should consider
the labourers justified in their preference for a mode
of investment which gives them a complete command
over their capital. Mr. Brand could hardly assign
to each of his labourers that proportion of control
over his farming operations to which the amount
would entitle him. If he did, we may be sure that
the undertaking would be absurdly ill-managed, and
would result in calamitous failure.

were the inhabitants—or neglectful—that upwards of
a thousand doors, windows, fanlights, &c., were found
open by the police at night ; while the guardians of pub-
lic peace and order were sometimes not only not thanked
for pointing out the laxity of people, but actually
abused—called to account for what probably would be
termed their "blessed officiousness ;" and some of the
people who were erarned positively refused to get up
either te 'mainline the premises or to secure them.
With regard to windows, it may be well to remind
occupiers of private houses, now the winter is coming
on, that there is a simple thumbscrew sold by iron-
mongers, with a small brass plate to tit on the sash.
which will effectually prevent the window from being
opened, at any rate without the glass being broken -
proceeding that would cause some little difficulty and
noise.—City Pros.