The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1874-04-18 00:00:00

The following 15 an extract from the letter of the Special
Reporter of The Tithes, under date Newmarket, Monday,
April 13:—

It will be gathered from what I wrote of Exning,
that, though in the matter of wages the men were no
worse off and some were better off than their neigh-
bours, other causes were in operation there to make
them discontented and to explain the reason why this
village was the first to proclaim what, I fear, must be
called an industrial war. Talk with the men here and
elsewhere leads me to attach much importance to the
possession by them of small allotments at a moderate
rental It will be understood that the rental mentioned
in the previous letters covered all outgoings, and that
the allotments were free of taxes and rates. The land-
less labourer is always discontented, and envies his
comrade the opportunity of growing a few sacks of
potatoes for home consumption, or broccoli and other
vegetables for sale in Newmarket. The bit of land is
a savings bank on a small scale into which the small
cultivator puts his labour at odd times, taking out that
which represents hard cash. The pig is another small
savings-bank, the investments in which are withdrawn
when killing-time comes. Thrift and industry are en-
couraged by both forms of investment, but pigs cannot
be kept by the occupiers of such cottages as those
described in my last letter, and allotments are the
exception in Exning. I regret to say, also, that this
is not the only village hereabouts in which there is no
school. Now, desirable as it may be that labourers
should have land, it is far more important their
children shsuld have education. There is a want of
brightness and intelligence about many of the men
one talks to which is painfully suggestive. The
children in the schools are far less quick in learning,
and offer, in point of intelligence, far leis promising
materials than town children. It is all the more essen-
tial, therefore, that there should be no break of con-
tinuity in the work of education. Yet, here and there,
you come upon a village where the children are left to
run wild, and who grow up as stolid and ill-informed
as their fathers. The contrast between parishes is
sometimes striking. Exning has no school; Burwell,
two miles distant, has two well-built, excellent schools
for boys and girls, and the clergyman, the Rev. J. W.
Cockshott, carries on a night school for adults with oc-
casional Penny Readings and other methods of enlist-
ing the interest and sympathies of the labourers.

Temperance societies seem to have made little way
in the Cambridgeshire and Suffolk villages around
Newmarket, though they are needed quite as much as
in the towns. I heard of some Good Templars us
Burwell, and one must be thankful to any agency
which keeps poor men from making themselves poorer
and their homes more wretched and degraded by
drink. On all hands I hear unqualified satisfaction
expressed at the earlier cloning forced by the Licensing
Act. It has been in these villages an unmixed boon,
and the police have had lean to rick The men go
home more frequently sober, or, perhaps, I ought
to say less frequently drunk; but it in to edu.
cation that one chiefly looks for the mean; of

lifting up the labourers by giving them, among
other things, wider and clearer views of what they
may do for themselves and by teaching them to adapt
theinseh es more ready to new and better conditions.
'1 he process of improvement may be slower than is
supposed, for the rust which has gathered thr ,ugh long
I years Of neglect is not to be rubbed off in a tingle
genettion.cMeanwUs, one ;fp come into sotne of
theoremiltd willageande, antl apprecirdelhe
I good which. may be clone and being clone by many
a hardworking and self-denying clergyman in the
I midst of pervailing poverty and prejudice and igno-
I ranee. IVllat his predecesairs may have done
or failed to do in the past it is unnecessary to in-
quire; but one ia grateful to hear the testimony
borne by rich and poor to the good work done by
many of his claas daily. What has been effected for
education in these villages is pdncipally due to him,
and his strength and often scanty resources are both
I taxed to the utmost to raise the mental and moral
irtottis of his flock under conditions singularly trying
and depressing. His work would be much easier and
the prospects of improvement both in the mind and
morals of the poor about him would be much greater
if they had better wages, fewer temptations to drink,
and more decent and comfortable dwellings.
This consideration leads me tort subject I have men-
tioned frequently to farmers as well as men—" piece-
work" they call it in this neighbourhood—l mean,
putting work out. Employers and workers alike admit
that this system is applicable to much if not to most of
the work about the farm, and surely it furnishes one
mode of raising the labourer's wages without increasing
the farmer's expenses? First, as to the labourer.
"Look here," said a sturdy fellow, when I was telling
him that there were complaints among the farmers
of slow, unconscientious work, "Look here;
what encouragement have I to do my very best
all day long when some chaps alongside of me don't
do much above half what I do, and yet earn just as
much wages. It gives a man a bad heart, I can tell
you." One could not but assent to such reasoning,
and it is obvious that in agriculture, where it is per-
haps easier to see what each man does than in a work-
shop or manufactory, this system of handicapping the
quickest or most conscientious favours skulking all
round. In principle, there can be no denying that on
a farm, as in every other business, each labourer should
have a distinct inducement to do his best, and that
he who does most should earn most. New, to what
extent is it possible for farmers to get their work
done by piece? An intelligent farmer in a neighbour-
ing village told me he put out the following work :
Ploughing, spreading manure, and drilling, at so much
per acre ; dressing corn with the machine, paid by
quantity; turnip hoeing, both by hand and by horse,
and cutting and cleaning turnips for sheep, at so much
per acre. He had tried to pay for threshing by the job,
but had not succeeded to his satisfaction. however,
the work already mentioned represents a considerable
proportion of that tobe done duringthe year. I omit the
five weeks of harvest work, because that is almost uni-
versally done by piece already. In the words of
my informant, no body of men could be more
contented than his seemed to be with the piece-
work as thus arranged by him. They drew
their weekly wages of 138., and at the end of each
quarter there was a settlement of surplus due to
them. Thus they always had money accumulating,
and it was paid to tliern in a little lump, so that it
could not be muddled away week by week, and, when
it came, might stop many a gap in the family expen-
diture. In this way they made three or four shillings
a week more than their stated wages. As to the
farmer, he had equal, perhaps pester, cause for satis-
faction. The result to him was that, upon 630 acres,
instead of requiring nine single ploughs with 18 horses,
he gradually dropped down to two double ploughs with
six horses, and a single plough for occasional use. He
found that whereas a man's average day's work in dril-
ling used to be about nine acres, it rose to 13 acres,
and sin sine occasion a man, to show what he could do,
got through 16 acres. My informant gave me some
other instances of rapid work, but these perhaps,
suffice. The material point is his estimate that by In-
troducing piece-work upon his farm wherever he could
do so, he saved 10s. an acre in labour, while his men
were more satisfied and better paid. His foreman,
from no interested motive, but from sheer pigheaded-
ness, had raised every obstacle to the new system;
but some time after its success had been made
clear, he came to the farmer and said, "I
think, Sir, I might as well leave you." "All right,
John," was the reply, "but why ' "Because, Sir,
I have so little now to do; nearly all my time used to
be employed in looking after men and seeing that
they did their work, but now they go straight
ahead, and want no looking after." It is right
I should moderate any too-sanguine expectations
which may be formed upon the results of the piece
system in this instance by stating that it did nit pre-
vent the men on the farm from striking for an advance
of wages at the very outset of the struggle. They
could not be employed at piece-work all the year round,
so they were hands on weekly wages, like their fellows,
during some part of the year, and they cast in their lot
with the rest. . . .

The Special Reporter of The Tina also writes from
Newmarket ou Tuesday :

The farmers at their meeting to-day showed no disposi-
tion to subniit to arbitration. They adopted no resolu-
tion on the subject, but the tenor of the speeches was
altogether against the employment of Union men. Various
speakers set forth views substantially identical with
those attributed to them in a previous letter-- that work
on the farm was well in advance, that the farmers on
the whole were not now in want of labour, that the lock-out
was necessary to teach the men a lesson, and that good in-
stead of evil would result to the farmer, because he on his
side would be taught to economize labour. One employer
stated that the wages of the men on his farm during the past
year had varied from 178, a week to 21s. 6d., indepepdent of
perquisites. The meeting has brought the dispute no nearer
to an end. I fear, indeed, that the end is now further off
than ever.

The farmers met late in the afternoon, after the market
was over and the market ordinary had been discussed. Much
earlier in the day the labourer's had been gathering in the
streets, which they paraded with a band of music at their
head and a few blue banner& All the men wore bits of blue
Abend. I suppose there were five or six hundred of them ;
half that nuniher of women accompanied them. The women
were respectably dressed, nearly all wearing blue ribands on
their boonets, and occupied the place of honour in the van
of the procession, marching four or five abreast like
the men. At about half-past two o'clbck they gathered
round a waggon, placed upon a piece of waste land
called the Severels, near the exercise ground, and listened to
sonie stirring addresses. Mr. J. C. Cox, a Derbyshire Magis-
trate, presided, and began by congratulating the labourers
on their peaceful and orderly conduct, which be exhorted
them to continue. He had not, he said, come to abuse
farmers, for that would only be mischievous. He recog-
nised this as a law-abiding movement, and as long at 3 it
was so conducted, and there was no rick-hunting or other
act of lawlessness, it would command hia entire sympathy.
He repudiated the stale arguments used recently against paid
agitators, and declared his conscientious belief that lithe
Labourers' Union were to collapse to-morrow, which it would
not, the members of the Central Executive, from Mr. Arch
downwards, would be able to command quite as good pay,
and would have for lesdarduous work than they had at pre-
sent. No great movement would be carried on without paid
agitators. The clergy were paid agitators for the support
of a State Church, the difference being that, whereas
the clergy were paid by all sections, whether they be-
longed to the establishment or not, Trades' Colon delegates
were only paid by those who believed in their honesty
of purpose. From personal experience he could speak of
the business-like manageinent of the Central Executive,
who squandered no money hut applied every farthing
of it in the way they thought most likely to pro-
mote the interest of the members. When Mr Arch was in
Canada he was offered £5OO a year to net in this country as
the official agent of the Dominion for emigration purposes.
Mr. Arch declined this offer because he said it might then be
thought that he stood pledged to set the advantages of emi-
gration to Canada in a more rosy-coloured light than they
really deserved. Again, Mr. Arch was offered a good farm
belonging to Sir Edward Watkin on terms which would have
enabled him to purchase it in a few years. Ile declined
this offer too, bemuse he thought it would hamper
him in carrying forward this movement. The Lord.
Lieutenant of an adjoining county —'tied Stradlsroke
—whose warmth of language against Trades' Unionists Mr.
Cox strongly condemned, bad advocated the formation of a
Benefit Society for aged and worn-out labourers. The power
and advantages of the Union were well shown by such pro-
posals, which were never thought of before the Union was
established. Now, the Union did not merely represent an
old shilling or two a week—it represented the principle of
independence. Whatever benefits were conferred by em-
ployers must be gratefully acknowledged ; but in his opinion
the day was too late for Benefit Societies established by em-
ployers. What the labourers wanted was such a wage as
would enable them to take care of themselves, and not be be-
holden to Fenner Squire, or Parson. By standing out now
against this Lock-out, the labourers were really paying in
capital with a view thereby to increase their wages in the
future No doubt, in the history of Strikes, many had come
to grief altogether but many others bad done incalculable
good to the men, while they had done no harm to employei
Such sti ikeis had sent up wages, and the men had in this way
soon been compensated for their sacrifices during the few
weeks or months of the strike. It was just like a fanner
who put expensive manure on his land with a hope of the
future. Referring to the question if beer, Mr. Cox
condemned the lavish gifts if it by the farmer, anti
said he hoped one result of the Strike would be to
put an end to these perquisites, anti enable the men to iv-
ceive the whole of their wages in money, as men did in other
placed He thought all agricultural labourers should be
grateful to the Bishop of Manchester for his iiympathy ; and,
referring to the strike of the Lincolnshire Labourers for all
advance from ISs, to, gls, per week, he said that strike had
not been sanctioned by the Executive of the National Union.
He wished also to state that more applications were made to
them by the tent branches for leave to demand an increase
of wages than had ever been granted. It was not right to say
that the initiative was taken by the Executive ; the move-
ment originated in every case with the men themselves,
The Executive at Leamington rejected any such ap-
plications, and had recently refused its sanction in cases
where labourers receiving 17a. a week proposed to ask for an ,
increase ; nor had the labourers ever been advised lip the I
Executive to strike during harvest time, or at any time of
emergency to the farmers. What might be done in the
future, however, he could not say, if the farmers pushed the
men to desperation. The present crisis was obviously occa-
sioned by the farmers themselves. Had the labourers been,
the cause of it, they would not have chosen a time like
the present. The National Union were ready to en-
dorse the proposals for arbitration made by Mr. Mundella
in The Times They did not thereby hoist the white
flag. Public smolt and support were pouring in on
all sides, and if the men stood out and were true
to themselves, they would certainly win. The arbitrators
were not to consider the question of the Union, for it would
be just as absurd of the farmers to lock out the men because
they were members of the Union as it would be for the men
to refese to work for the farmers because they were mem-
bers of the Chamber Si Agriculture. He did not, therefor%
anticipate defeat ; but, if the men were defeated, it would
only exasperate them more, and next year the Union would
be twice as strong as ever. In Dorsetshire there had lately
been an inquiry whi h proved to him that higher wages
meant lower poor-rates. With better wages and better
dwellings, we should no longer be called oil to pay £14,000.000
a-year in poor-rates, which was a disgrace to eons a civilized
nation.

After the President's speech, the labourers were addreseed
by Mr. Ball and other delegates, Mr. Ball inculcated firm-
ness, moderation, sobriety, and honesty. In hie opinion, as
no question of wages was concerned, there was nothing to
arbitrate upon, and either the labourers must leave the
country or the farmers must rescind their determination not
to employ. Great numbers of young men. be added, must
leave the locality tithe fanners were to be brought to their
senses, and he exhorted the women to bear patiently present
hardships in hopes of thereby securing a brighter
future, and to encourage the men to die on the field
rather than be dishonoured by giving in. They must stand
true to themselves, to their homes, and also to their em-
ployers when they went to work again. To show the present
condition .4 agricultural labourers, of whom he bad himself
been one, he said he believed that 95 per cent of them were
in debt, and that SO per cent, could not write their names,
In the course of the proceedings, It was stated that Mr.
Arch, Mr. Ball, and Mr. Taylor, the General Seoretary of the
Union, were teetotallers. The meeting liatened very atten-
tively to the ititco,hes ; and, although there was no noisy en-
thusiasm, there wa., nothing to ehow discouragement
Throughout the day the Unionists were extremely cell con-
ducted, and I did not see a single case of intoxication or
miebehaviour among them. The hint given by Mr. Ball as to
cite neceseity of emigration wan taken by the emigration
agents on behalf of 'Sew Zealand, Ontario, and
Queensland, who go from village to village, and are ex-
ceedingly latve szil curse*. During Cho oat two ot

three days ZO people have left for New Zealand, 20 la-
bourers have migrated to Nottingham, and 33 men, women,
and children to Ontario. The Union gives cl each to the
men, los to the women, and fe. to each child who emi-
grates, and this money goes towards payment of the patiage
money. the Canadian Uovernment defraying nearly all the
reMaindor of this charge The men or single women thus
sent out simply have to get a certificate signed by a minister
of any denomination, or t the a ent of the Trails Union,
testifying to the age, moral e,iaracter. and health of the in-
tending emigrant /n the Market-place to-day new com-
pet itot appeared for the unemployed bone and sinew of the
district in the persons of two recruiting sergeants. , _