The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1873-03-29 00:00:00

THE LATE STRIKE IN SOUTH WALES

REVIEWED.

"Om Own Correspondent" of The Timee, writing from
Merthyr, Alarch 10, thus reviews the put, pres,nt, and
future of the "Strike'

The great Strike in the irtiu and coal trades of South
Wales, which has just been brought to a close, will
long be remembered. Whether we consider the area
of the district affected, the number of the men con-
cerned, the importance of the industries involved, or
the casts to the contending parties, the struggle has
been a truly gigantic affair, and many of its details
may be studied, by -both masters and workmen, with
prolit, in view of the possibility, which it may be
hoped is remote enough, of another conjuncture of
circumstances similar to that which preceded this
tremendous contest. The year 1872 was noted for the
extra, rdicary flow of prosperity which it brought to
the coal and iron trades of the country generally.
From various causes the regular consumers of iron
had postponed the renewal of theirstmks until they
were absolutely compelled to do so, and at the same
time makers had allowed their own stocks to become
on reduced, that when orders were at lase issued they
came simultaneously with a rush from all quarters of
the globe. There was no reserve to meet this unex-
pectedly large demand, and those who required the
article had to wait until it could be manufactered.
The natural cruet qtrence was a competition, not among
makers for custom, but among purchasers for prefer.
cow in supply, which le d to the rapid advancement of
prices to unprecedented figures. The inevitable move-
ment among the workmen for a share of this prosperity
followed, mod wages were increased time after time,
and even now the agitation to this end hes not
ceased. The briskness of the iron trede ne-
cessarily affected the coal trade in the mine direc-
tion, _ but not to the extent wtich is popularly sup.
posse). It was the concurrent improvement of almost
every other important branch of national industry
dependent upon fuel for its existence which induced
the dereard ter coal that preceded the present ex-
traordinay and unjustifiable market price of that corn.
modity. The colliers, of course, claimed their share
of the higher prices paid by the public, but the increase
of their wages does not wholly account for the aug-
mentation of cost to the consumer. On the coutrary,
there might be a aseeping re hictien of prices without
necessarily involving a reduction of the workmen's
wages, provided the dealers who stand between the
public and the coal owners would be contented with
reasonable profits. But the mischief in this case had
arisen firm the action of the colliers themselves, and
that which has contributed most powerfully to the
abnormal rise of the market prices of coal was also one
rd the principal causes of the late Strike. I refer to
the diminished output of coaL The fact is coal has
attained such &value that, what with restricted supply
and irregularity of working by the general body of
workmen, in the pits, and in the ironworks, makers in
South Wales found it impossible to consume fuel in
the manufacture of iron and obtain a fair profit upon
the manufactured arti tie. Hence the notice of reduc-
tion, which was r-sued on the Ist of December last at
all the South Wales ironworks, and which was per-
sisted in by the ironmasters to the dire extremity of a
general Strike. If the truth were known it is not im-
probable that some of them may have conceived an idea
that a Strike would not be all lossif it taught the work-
men the o alue of making the best of their own time
and labour, instead of discounting every advance of
wages by a reduotion of the time worked. This was
the most serious phase of the whole matter, and it may
be stated briefly in this way—that, after advances in
the aggregate of nearly 40 per cent. had been given,
the employers, much arrainst their will, paid many
thousaml pounds less in wares than they did when the
workmen were in receipt of the lower rate, and every
advance was followed by an aggravation of this evil
until it culminated in the Strike. Ostensibly the us.
puts was over a question of 10 per cent, more or less in
wages, but it would be an injustice to she South Wales
Masters to suppose that they were influenced by
mercenary motives. The gross bliM to be saved was to
them a trifle. They undoubtedly wanted to bring the
men to a sense of the duty which they owed to all
parties to render „a full week's labour in the week.
On the other hand, it would he wrong to say that even
the workmen were actuated by mere motives of gain.
The workmen in the Union were the moving and de-
terminieg party among their own class, and rightly or
wrongly they believed what their leaders told them,
that it was not a question of 10 per cent. but &battle
for the destruction of the Union. Upon these grounds
the struggle commenced, but as might have been fore-
seen the position .1 both parties shifted as time wore
on until the Masters would be satisfied with nothing
lees than a restoration of the old re lotion/drip of direct
dealing with their workmen with the view of re-estab-
lishing the confidence which load been disturbed by the
agitation • and with the men it was a point of honour
'lotto submit until they could do so, as they believed,
with credit to themselves In the end I think the ob-
ject of both parties has been achieved, but at what
sacrifice we shall now see. _ - -

The notice for a reduction expired on the 28th of
December, on which day the whole of the men—
colliers, miners, and ironworkers, with the exception of
the two former classes in the employ of the Dowlais
Iron Company—struck work. The Dowlain Company
had issued first a notice of reduction in common with
the other ireinumsteis, soil sub.equently, a fortnight
later, a notice to terminate all contracts. Under
the advice of the Executive of the Union, the Dowleis
colliers and miners worked on until the expiration of
the second no ice, when they also came out. The
strike affected nine works, owned by five different pro.
prietarite in Clamorgamliire, and II works owned by
the same number of proprietaries in Monmouthshire.
The number of collieriee, exclusive of ironstone mines,
which were incladed lathe movementinGlamorganshire,
was 60 ; blest furnaces, 67 ; puddling and mill f urnaces,
736; anti rolling mills. 43. In Muninouthshire there
were 58 collieries, 62 blast furnaces, 780 puddling and
mill furnaces, and 35 rolling Thill3 brought to a stand-
atilL Toe number of hands employed, inclusive of
men, lads, and women an I girls, at the works in
Wainorganshire was, in round numbers, 34,1100; and
in Monmouthshire the number wars 31,500. The
totals are 118 collieries, 129 blast furnaces, 1,516 pud-
ding and mill fursaws, and 78 tolling mills—including
bar rolls and rail mills—at which 65,500 persons found
employment. Out of that number probably 5,000
men continued at work upon repairs, &c., after the
28th of December, so that it may be fetid, without
erring greatly on one side or the ether, that on that
data and on the 15:11 of January, when the Dowlms
colliers struck, 60,000 men, boys, and girls ceased
working and took to a temporary life of idleness.
Now let us see how this momentous step affected the
commerce sod manufactories if the district, calculated
upon the basis of work done in ordinary times. To
b. gin with the collieries, the average weekly output of
the Glamorganehire pits was 55,000 tons, and the pro-
duce of finished iron 5,300 tone ; in addition to which
about 1,000 tone of Mee, was turned out at the works
of the Dowlais Iron Company. In the Monmouth-
shire district the output of coal was about 52,000 tens,
but the produce ed iron was greater, the average quan-
tity of finished iron being 5,700 tons weekly, in ad.
dition to whit from 800 to 1,000 tens of pig was sold
in its raw state. The Ebbw Vale Company also
turned out at Ebbw Vale nearly the same emantity
of steel which was produced at Dowlais. Tem gross
figures for the two counties show an output of 107,000
tons of coal and a promotion of 11,000 tons of finished
iron, 1.800 tons ot finished steel, and a surplus pro-
duce of nearly 1,000 toes of rawipig for sale. These
figures are approximate and not precise, but the data I
may ray came from the moat reliable sources, and I
have kept within the mark rather than exceeded. To
sect rtsin the values of these quantities it would not be
quite right to take the present price or even the
average of the bet three moraine, became it was in-
evitable that the withdrawal of theme enormous quanti-
ties of coal and iron from the markets should cause an
emward movement, which we have witnessed. and in-
flate prices to a degree beyond the price which would
have been attained had the South Wales Works been
in full activity. Suppose we calculate the finished iron
at £lO per ton and the rest in proportion, we at once
arrive at a loss of about i 1140,000 per week upon meta
only. Of the total quantity of coal raised about two
. thirds would have been consumed in the manufacture of
iron, and would be arneutited for in the above Moms ;
but this remaining third, or to be within bounds say
tons, would have been available for export; and
at the moderate price, as prices now go, of 15s, per ten,

there was another £22.500 lost to the community,
making a total of I:102,500 per week. This, it should
be remembered, represents the direct loss of trade at
the ironwinks alone, and takes no account of the
multifarious transactions which flow from the activity
of the works, and which ceased when the latter stopped.
These we have no means of ascertaining, but it will be
found. I think, that 1:20,000 is not an unreasonable
estimate for the loos of business lit this kind. The
Strike looted eleven weeks at all the works except those
of the lAynvi Iron Company, where it terminated on
the Lith of February, having lasted seven weeks. If
those works had remained in the seine condition as
the others to the end of the struggle we should have
found that the loss of trade throughout the district
from the 28th of December last until the lire-
sent date wool' have reach. I tie enormous total of
over £2,000,000. Deduct £llO,OOO as the estimated
vine of the coal Rohl and iron manufactured by the
Llynvi Iron Company since the 17th February, and the
total still reaches nearly L-2,00,000 sterling. The
while of this loos does not fall upon the Strikes dis-
trict alone. It represents the gross value of the trade
which would have been done hail there been no sus-
pension of activity; buy, though the bulk of it will be
sustained by the isspulation of the two unfortunate
unties, yet the blow will be felt far and wide. The
Northampton iron ore traffic. for instance, which
amounts to hundreds of thousands of tons in the year,
ha 'been entirely suspended. And all persons trading
with the districts must share in the loss.

But let us see what the workmen themselves have
lost. What they might have earned had they con-
tinued to work and applied themselves steadily to it
one can only roughly guess, but we can determine
nearly enough for our present purpose what they have
actually lost by their past earnings. The gross amount
of the actual weekly payments in wages at the iron-
works where the strike existed exceeded £75,000, which
gives an average for every person empl iye I if nearly
243. per week; but we know that boys and girls do not
earn on an average quite two-thirds of that am. nut,
RO that it is evident the men all through must have been
in the receipt of decent wages, though far below thesuins
publi-hed by Mr. Fothergill. That gentleman, however,
published the precise sums paid to his own workmen,
and we are not to suppose that other workmen
of equal ability might n3t have earned as much if they
had worked the name time, lint the actual wages
paid cannot be gainsaid, and the figures under this
head show a loss of over £300,000 sterling, after de-
ducting this 611 M paid to the Llyinvi workmen during
the four weeks that they have been working. Against
that we have to set 5140,000 disti ibuted in the shape of
strike pay by the Collier-li' Union, and about £23,000
,4ubscrihe I in various ways for the relief of sutlerers ;
so that after every allowance has been made the lose
which this strike has entailed upon the working men
alone amounts to no less than three-quarters of a
million of money.. . .
If over-indulgenoe in drink at times, leading to ir-
regularities of work and other abuses, wad one of the
gravest faults in prosperous times, the nietuent the
cloud gathered over the men they began preparations
to meet the storm. The drink was sacrificed and the
grocer's bill cut down. The steady men, who foresaw
that they would be involved in the strife, practised the
severest economy, and when at length the evil day
came it found thousands with a friend in their own

p ickets which would enable them to weather the
storm for a while; but, at the same time, it found
thousands helpless, friendlees, and in dire dis-
tress. From the latter class came the cry of dis-
tress, and bitter indeed it was ; from their ranks
also issued the army of mendicants which epread over
the country for miles in all directions, and lived week
after week upon private charity. From the first day
of the Strike to the last, however, the quietness of the
people has been something to excite astonishment and
adepiratiou. In the midst of the severest weather
which we have experienced in this part of the country
for many years. with neither money, food, nor fuel,
except what others gave them, thousands of hungry
people, men, women, and children, have preserved the
utmost order and propriety of behaviour. Not a single
policeman has been sent to assist the ordinary
force ; and though exposed by their impoverish-
ment to the strongest temptations, yet there has
been an absolute dsarth of business at the police
court ; and as for drunkenuesss, it has b-ens rarity—
a fact which may account for the utter absence of dis-
order or disturbance of any kind. Nothing, indeed,
could exceed the decorum of the workmen or their good
feeling—l may even say their pleasant feeling ; for
when the trial was Sorest they still spoke kindly of
their employers, and those employers and their
Managers and Agents moved among them as freely as
though they were simply enjoying a holiday. I think
these are features of this extraordinary contest, when
men by the thousand weie sustaining such heavy
losses, which do them infinite credit, and which will
certainly not leasen the esteem in which they are held
by their employers. Another striking circumstance
may be mentioned. Not even the poorest among them
would sacrifice his independence by accepting the
relief of the Poor Law Guardians ; and, contrary to
general expectation, the strike has made no spc
pgeciable difference in the burdens of the ratepayers.
On the other hand, this position has been maintained
by a large proportion if the men at the expense of a
heavy discount of their credit. Shopkeepers' accounts
are in smear; rents are in arrear—indeed, it may be
taken as a rule that no rent ha, been paid by the ma-
jority of the men since the strike began. I know that
it is the case with those who live in the Compahiea'
cottagee—Lf, *planation has been made to them for
rest—and the majority of c ittaa e °amens tell the
same story. Of course, these arrears will have to be
liquidated, but it will be a work of time, and for many
months—in some cases, where there are heavy families
to support, it will be two or three years—the strike will
leave its burthensome legacy. The struggle, however,
has been fought out with admirable temper on both
sides* The masters have shown no rigour towards
those whose distress they might easily have aggravated,
and the men, on the other hand, have been throughout
distinguished by their respectful attitude towards their
empMyers. If there were no other feature in the con.
test this alone would make it memorable. It has closed
amidst general rejoicing, and the iu preasion exists
everywhere, among all classea, that it will be many
years hence before the district is visited by another
such commercial disaster. .