The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1872-07-06 00:00:00

THE LOCK-OUT IN THE LONDON
BUILDING TRADE.
(From the Daily New, July 11

It is a pity both sides to this unfortunate dispute
cannot be heard at the same time. The !rasters prefer
silently to bide their time, and this affoijs opportunity
for preferring charges against them that might lose all .
their force could the explanation quickly follow. An
altered tone, however, is now observable in the language
of the men. Less is said about the influence of vulgar,
selfish views, and more disposition manifested to argue,
not cry, down the fears of employers that to c,.nceile the
nine hours would be alike detrimental to their own and
the public interest. Mr. Frederick Harrison' at the
house painters' meeting, gave the cue for this healthy
' change, and it is to be hoped it will not be departed
from in the future conduct of the contest. Carpenters
and joiners, masons, plasterers, bricklayers, painters,
smiths, fitters, and labourer', are now acting through
separate organizations; but the "Brown Bear" Com-
mittee have summoned a conference to see if some-
thing cannot be done to ensure united action. At the
masons' meeting on Saturday, moreover, Mr. Hales, on
behalf of some members of the Committee who acted
for the engineers in a similar capacity, submitted a plan
for the formation cif a Joint Central Finance Com-
mittee, to appeal to the public for subscriptions in the
names of all, and apportion the funds to each accord.

to nuinbers.
There was a very large attendance at the usual
Saturday morning gathering of the masons, in antici-
pation of Mr. I.lroadhurat's Saturday review of the
situation. He said the Times and Daily Telegraph of
that day bristled with advice and suggestions for their
guidance, but written in a tone that showed they only
desired to give them a negative support. (Hear,
hear.) The former appeared to make a special point
of the refusal to accept the resolution of the London
Trades Council ; but the fact was the masons
thonght that body lad not influence minffi.dent with
the masters to obtain their assent to the pro-
posal, and that was why he characterised the reso-
lum ion as mei e " waste paper." Where would
have been the use of accepting, unless they knew
the ?ii asters' Association were also ready and will.
ieg to act upon it? (Hear, hear.) Had the em-
ployers manfully and in a straightforword manner
wade the same proposal, or something like it. the case
w 4 mold have been very different, but coming from the
quarter it did it could not be seriously taken into con-
sideration, because the declaration of the masters, from
beginning to end, proved they were entirely at yam lance
with the men upon the time question, but so far as
money was concerned, they would, it was true, make
no fuss about it. To reduce the hours, they had in
effect said, would be tantamount to national bank-
ruptcy, and if they remained of the same opinion, what
good could come of offering them this resolution?
(Hear, hear.) Let the offer, whatever it might be, pro-
ceed from the masters themselves in an open manner,
and it could be done. Until they did go it was im-
possible for the masons to make a move, however
anxious they might be to have the dispute settled
as soon as possible in a plain common sense and
straightforward manner. (Hear, hear.) At present
the desire of time masters seemed to be to go into a
eseurt of arbitration without any basis of reference
whatever, and if high personages were inadmissible as
arbitrators, that recourse should then be lad to some of
the judges • but he did not expect such a tribunal
would be thought satisfactory even if Lord Chief
Justice Bovill himself were nominated arbitrator.
(Laughter.) The Social Science Committee mm Labour
and Capital had been kind enough to suggest that "a
court of arbitration should be at once constituted, con-
sisting of an equal number of the representatives of
employere and employed, who shall at their first
meeting elect an umpire or ref eree, and that all matters
in dispute shall be referred to such court, whose de-
cision shall be final, it being agreed that, pending such
award. both parties may maintain theie present posi-
tion ;" but from what he hail already said it would be
seen the proposal came too late. (Hear, hear.) Having
announced that Mr. Williams, the General Secretary
of the National Plasterers' Association, which had its
origin thirty years ego at the old Pontec-home, Liver-
pool, was organizing a great demonstration of the work.
people of Birmingham in favour of the men, Mr.
Broadhurst concluded with an earnest exhortation to
abstain from saying or doing anything calculated to
drag the movement into a police-court under the pro-
visions of the Criminal Law Amendment Act or any
other law.
A resolution was passed nnanimously, thanking the
Social Science Association • for their resolution ; and
.Ir. Broadhurst was deputed to attend the Birming-
ham demonstration Af4 the representative of the

masons.
About 1841-2 there was a great strike of masons
employed on the new Houses of Parliament, arising out
of some personal disagreethent. Mr. Walton, then a
young man, was its leader, but he has since adopted the
profession of srchitect, and is now practising at Brecon.
He was present at the meeting on Saturday, and, being
called upon to speak, he adjured the men to stick to
the nine hours. For thirty-six years he had advocated
arbitration in the settlement of these disputes, and upon
everything else hut the time question there might be
room for a reference here, but on that there must he no
surrender. The social improvement and future welfare
of the country depended upon giving the people m re
time for thought and recreation. To make a man a
good citizen, a good father, and a good servant, he must
be made content with his lot, and educated; but what
time could a mason find for education who toiled ten
hours a day, and generally had to walk two or three
miles to his work, morning and evening? (Cheers.) A
vote of thanks was accorded to Mr. Walton for his
address, and the roll call was then proceeded with.

(trrom the Beehive.)
The men in their conduct of the negotiations with
the employers were in every way right at the com-
mencement. Nothing can be wane or more to be
deprecated than the half-brutal off hand way in which
employers frequently treat working men, and the
joiners acted in a manly and fitting spirit in resisting
this. The men's offer to arbitrate were stupidly re-
fused by the employers, and when accepted, with • con-
dition if being sole appointers of the arbitrators, the
concession was simply an insult. Up to the 11th of
April, therefore. when Mr. Matking received a
letter from Mr. Piper offering fair conditions of
arbitration, the men were in the right and the
employers decidedly in the wrong. It must be clear
to every sensible working man that arbitration is,
above all other ways, the right way of settling the dis-
putes of working men and their employers. There
was every reason to believe that the working men saw
this clearly, as at pseveral trades union congresses the
principle of arbitration has been affirmed by resolution.
In fact the first offers of the carpenters and joiners
showed that they had faith in this salutary principle.
and desired its adoption. By what blunder in policy,
we ask, was this disposition departed fis m' Or why
the mockery of insistMg on the two roost important
points in dispute being withdrawn from arbitra-
tion ! If the men had accepted full arbitration over
their whole case—and anything less is a mere playing
with the question—their arbitrators would have gone
armed with • clear understanding as to the points in dis-
pute to which they have attached the chief importance,
and they would have fought for such a settlement as
might be most agreeable and advantageous to the men.
They might nit have secured all they were looking for,
but if their case had been ably handled—as there cannot
be much doubt it would have been—they might have

_ -
Remised, without contest or less of an hone or a Ai],
ling, the most important portion of the matter in dis-
pute. As it is, they have discredited a principle to
which working men sh ,uld cling with tenacity and
in good faith, and have entered on a contest which,
whether won or lost, must entail on them and
their families serious loss and suffering, to say no-
thing of the general disturbance to industry which
strikes and lock-outs invariably bring with them.
At the present moment the tattle is not being
fought by the whole of the forces on either side, but
there is every likelihood, if it goes on, all will be drawn
in. to the injury of all. If it be not absolutely too
late, something ought yet to be done to rectify the
mistake which has been made. We do not ask the
men to stand still one moment or to slacken their
efforts in the least, and if the tight must go on, our
hearty sympathy will be with them, and our earnest
lrire thot they may win will not suffer diminution.
But we sug,rest that they ought to have the courmre
and magnanimity to ask for a parley —or rather to
appoint some person in whose judgnreut and honour
they ean rely—to open nerrotiatione with the employers,
not because they ,keml the issue of the battle, but
because having taken a false step, they wish to repair it
in is manly and eon,i.lerate way. We ty,l, the joiners
and carpenters in all sincerity to consider this sog,,,es-
tion, and we press it on them the more earnestly, be-
cause it will tend to exalt and make permanent those
mutual discussions and settlements between employers
and employed, from which alone we can hope for that
thorough identification of interests on which our best
hopes in reference to the future industry of the country
rest,
TtESDAY.

There is no new feature to report in connection with
the lock-out in the London building trade. At a meet-
ing of the masters yesterday, the same resolute deter-
ruination was manifested as on former occasions. The
men also are apparently resolved to stand firm, and
at a gathering of the masons it was stated that many
of them were about to leave for work in the provinces.

At an aggregate dividend meeting of the lock-out
masons of London on Tuesday, Mr. Broadhurst, who
presided, expressed his regret that the masters had se-
parated on the previous day without making any offer
to the men. The latter were quite willing to consider
any reasonable suggestion as the basis of arbitration.

At a numerously-attended meeting of the master
lightermen and barge-owners of London, held in Lower
Thames-street, on Tuesday, a committee was appointed
to confer with the men respecting their demand for an
increase of wages.