The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1874-07-11 00:00:00

AN ADDRESS TO MINERS BY MR.
BURT, M.P.

I A largelv-attendeil meeting id the miners in the
Wrexham District, belonging to the National Associa-
I tion of Miners, was held in the Eisteddfod Pavilion
I at Coedpoeth, near Wrexham, on Saturday, Mr.
I William Lester presiding. Mr. Macdonald, M.P.,
who had promised toattend, was prevented from being
present by domestic affliction, but in his stead the
meeting was addressed by Mr. Burt, Ml'. for Mor-
. path, who, after regretting the absence of Mr. Mac-
donald, said he saw by the device which had been pre-
sented to him that one of their mottoes was " Unity is
strength," and this was a lesson which the working men
in England and through the world had learnt. It was
many years since he first advocated the cause of Trades
Unions, and they were not then so popular or so well
understood as now. They were told that Unionism
was opposed to political economy, but one of the
greatest political thinkers, Mr. John Stuart Mill, held
that, without them, a working man would be com-
pelled to sell his labour for less than its market value,
and it was to avoid that result that Unionism was
formed. Ile did not suppiwe that they could raise
wages above their fair market value, but their object
was not to sell their labour for less. The National
Association of Miners had by their efforts been the
means of getting better legislation for the protection
of their lives, and such measures as the Mines Regula-
tion Bill were mainly due to the pressure brought to
bear by the association; and men learnt by dearly-
bought experience that they could not do without
union. The Union had doubtless committed many
errors through ignokince of their real powers; they
could not accomplish impessibilitiea ; they could not
raise wages above their market value, nor could they
get advances when trade was depressed. He was glad
they had formed a Union, and he trusted they would
use their power discreetly and with good sense. He had
always been a strong wives:ate of Unions, because he
saw in them the germs of good but he trusted they
would be superseded by something better. Unions there
would be, but not as now, the standing armies of labour, I
but far better, that they would develope into
co-operation. He believed that the Unions had
produced better relations between employers and
employed; and, referring to the lock out of the
farm labourers and to the fact that the far-
mers combined themselves, while claiming the
right to prevent the labourers from doing so, he re-
called the state of things in the Notth when the
Unions were first established there. Every man who
joined was a marked man, but they fought and they
conquered, and he would like the farmers to look back
upon that time and beware of fighting against the in-
evitable. In their first strike they started with £23,
and after paying away £5,000 emerged with 1:700.
That experience taught them that they must prepare
for war in times of peace, and they had now accumu-
lated £lB,OOO. He (lid not claim credit for this alone,
for wealth by itself was of little value; but he wished
them to look at their poaition now. The masters
said they should not combine ; they said they I
would, and did. The masters soon discovered that
they must recognize this new state of things, and
the next step was that deputations from the
Union in its corporate capacity were received and
heard, but their claims discussed by the masters
privately. Now there was a joint committee of coal
owners an., coal workers—sixof each meeting together,
and when disputes did occur, as they would among
thousands of men, the matter was argued out, the vote
was taken, and the horny hand, when held up, counted
for as much as that of the wealthiest coal owner in the
district, and thus disputes were settled without strikes
or lock-outs. He wanted them to be able to do this,
but it would, of course, take time. It would show, '
however, that Trades' Unions were not synonymous ,
with strikes; but some of the most foolish strikes
he remembered occurred in districts where there was I
no Union, and men allowed themselves to rush into
a strike without considering whether they were right
or whether they had any chance of success. The edu-
cation of Trades' Unions induced men to think that
where disputes occurred it would be better to settle
them by reason than by the barbarous method of
strikes. He hoped the time would come when work-
ing men would be as they were in one case in the
North, the owners of their own collieries, and in this
he saw the hest solution of the difficulty. He thought
the working men had a right to a share of the wealth
they had done so much to create, and if they would only
save their money, instead of spending it, seas many of
them did, in worse than useless ways, he saw the dawn
of a better day before them. Let them remain united
and sympathize with each other. If so, there was a •
bright future for them. He believed in the working
class; not that they were always right, but that they
strove to do right. Never had they so much power,
political or social, as now, and if their aspirations were
high their future was safe. Let them be self-reliant
and avoid spending their money in the public-house,
but attend such places as the working men's club
which had just been opened at Wrexham, and use all
those great levers for their improvement. They had
learnt the value of union. Let them now study to
improve their gift. Mr. Burt, on concluding, was
loudly cheered.