The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1872-04-06 00:00:00

'rrlE STO UR f 3 R OTIS EavEtt.

night. The man worked 100 hours in the seven dayg
for Vs. od. en hor it,: deribed till gsneial
character of the projected 'Union arrangements, the
division of the county into districts, the appointment
of officers, the preservation of funds, and so forth ; but
was unable to speak of the rules in detail, inasmuch as
they had still to be cot sitlered and amended. The
main object was, by Corobinstien, to 9btain advatre
of it. a tbil, making tbs. a week. They would be
reasonable in their demands, am' would allow a man

who was incompetent to lake less than IBs, a weds.
They were not yet prepared to insist on the "nine
hours day," but would prefer to be paid so much per •
hour, leaving the time optional because of the exigencies
of farming. If they could not I,,et the rime they must
eudgmte. Mulson't Lay and Chicago Vionld wekome
them. They had but to take a week's sail, and their
labour would soon produce them a competency ; therefore
the young men need not make up their minds to finish
their lives at the workhouse, after a hard existence on
ltls. week. At similar meetings held in other vil-
lages Mr. Arch was always present, and mainly en-
larged upon the same topics. At Harbury he urged
upon his hearers that, if they were properly paid for
their labour, they would be able to provide themselves
with many comforts which they now can only obtain
by accepting charity-and that charity of a kind
Whieh was thought by the donors to place the
recipients under profound obligation. He urged that
they should seek their rights, in order to maintain
themselves as honest members of society without the
aid of charity. With all this there has been a tune
of moderation, an apparent striving after accuracy
of statement, and a reiteration of injunctions to live
peacefully and to commit no offence, which shows
Mr. Arch to be well fitted to conduct the struggle
to a successful issue. It is curious to note how

far -other speakers fall short of his standard—how
prone they are to run into mere claptrap, or into
appeals to the
.passions ant the class prejudices of
their hearers. Mr. Arch simply counsels patience,
moderation, good conduct, and firmness; and it
must be in no small degree the result of his influ-
ence that the proceedings so far have been absolutely
free from disorder, large meetings of 1,000 or 2,000
labourers have assembled and dispersed without a
blow being struck, or a stone thrown, or a tipsy
man being seen among the crowd. The mettings,
nevertheless, produced no small consternation among
the employers of the locality, and on the oth of
March the Weltesbourne labourers, on being told
that their demand for an advance could not be granted,
struck to the number of 200 men. On thepth.a, large

meeting of landowners and farmers was held at Well's-
bourne, under the presidency of Sir Charles Mordaurd,
which led to a general expression of dislike of the
Union, and an agreement among the farmers to dis-
countenance Any attempt to organize a counter-Union
among employers of labour, At the same time it was
distinctly understood that everyone was to resist the
demands of the xneu as much as possible. The Rev.
Mr. Ifolbeche spoke at reat length on the grave ques-
tions which had arisen, and finally submitted the fol-
lowing resolutions, which were unaniniondy adopted,
and 2,000 copies ordered to be printed for circulation
in the county:—

•' 1. 'that this meeting most earnestly deprecates any corn
bination among labourers which originates or fosters discord
and disruption between the agricultural labourers and their
employers."
2. That this meeting is most anxious to preserve intact
the feeling of gomiwill and confidence which has for the
most part prevailed between the above classes."

"3. That this meeting is firmly convinced that in the in
Wrest of the agricultural labourer every effort should be
niatie to dissuade labourers from pining any Union against
their employers, anti to persuade them to withdraw if they
have joined ; audit these measures are 1111111ICCCESi at, then, as
a last resource, title meeting considers that emplojers must
refuse to employ Union men."
" 4. That this meeting considers the demands already made
by the labourers are excessive, but declines to interfere in
the matter of wages, and leaves such disputes lobe arranged 1
between the master and ma."
In consequence of these resolutions individual efforts
have been made by masters in the direction indicated.
Some have discharged all Union men, others have
offered an advance of wages to all who would pledge
themselves not to join its ranks ; and these step hove
been attended with some amount of success. But in
the meanwhile branches of the Union have sprung up
in nearly every village ; the proposed rules have been
published in detail, although not yet confirmed or finally
settled, and the groat meeting at Leamington on Good
Friday evening, presided over by Mr. Auberon
Herbert, M.P., has welded together the scattered
branches int: one coherent whole. More than
one cottager with whom I conversed this morning
conjectured that his actual or late master would be
staying at home from church because there would be
" summut for 'us to rode in the newspapers ; " and
they all seemed to expect that the mere report of the
meeting would greatly help their cause. Mr. Arch
himself, with whom I had a long conversation, water
at least expressed himself as being, less sanguine ; and
complained of the timidity of many of those with whom
he had to deal. I discussed with him some of the
points referred to in his several speeclis, and found
him iu possession of very clear and definite views
with regard to them. -He said that the farmers,
as a class, had during late years made a great
change in their expenditure and mode of living,
that they avoided actual labour, kept bun-
ters, and indulged in many luxuries formerly undreamt
of, but that the lot of the labourer had changed only
for the worse. Ile spoke in detail of alterations in
prices within his own recollection; and contended that
if the fanner could not afford to . increase wages, he

must either diminish his rate of living or pay less rent.
He held that the labourer had a right to a greater
share ~f the profits of the land than he now receives ;
and that it is enough for him to assert and secure this
right. He has no need to trouble his head with the
possible effect of its assertion upon others.
Mr. Arch sometimes, and other speakers much more
frequently, dwelt upon the actual lowness of present
wages as a crying grievance, almost as a sin against
humanity. They have described the hard lot If a
labourer on 10s.. or 12s. a week, with a wife and family
to support, and have given elaborate calculations about
the number of farthings which, out of such a pittance,
could be devoted to each meaL One especially semia-
tional picture has been drawn, in which the mother of
a family disclaimed all knowledge of the manner
in which her children were supplied with boots.
But as the children were there and
.as they mani-

festly had boots, and as no reasonable person can
believe that their mother did not know all about these
boots, the legitimate inference may be that she pre-
ferred not to tell. The fret is, that this 12s, a week
story will not bear examination. It is put forward,
and I think unwisely, as an easy means if obtaining
sympathy from the large number of people to whom
the stun would hardly at pear to be a barrier against
starvation. The nominal wage of 12s. a week is, how-
ever, in fact, increased in various ways ; and, in the
immediate neighbourhood of Wellesbourne I am
assured on the best authority that the actual re-
ceipts of an able-boiled man average Itis, a week,
How this is brought about may be gathered from
what is, perhaps, the best view of the farmers' side
of the wares question that bas yet been given to the
public. Tina is afforded by a paper and discussion
at the Banbury Chamber of Agriculture, on the 26th
of March. The author of the paper (Mr. Westover)
disputed the truth of the assertion that the men have
to live the year through on the sums named at the
various meetings that have been held. He stated that
he himself paid an average sum of 38s. 3.1. annually
for manual labour on every acre of arable laud in his
occupatian, and that four of his regular hands, from the
Ist of March to the middle of November last y ear, a
period of 37 weeks, averaged over their nominal wages
as follows :-No. 1, ss. 4V. ; 2, ss. ; 3,4 s. 73d.;4,
4s. 3d., extra per week; no Sunday wink; and, with
the exception of a short haytime and of harvest, they
very rarely worked more than the ordinary nine
hours per day. This average is stated to include
every day of an exceptionally wet season, in which
I not an hour was reckoned as lost, although much
time was lost to the employer, and all the hay was
damaged. 'l'lle wife and children of one of the men
referred to picked up wheat on two farms last harvest
worth £5 at the market price, which, distributed over
the thirty-seven weeks' would be an additional 20. 81d.
per week. The men have their cottages at the rent
which the farmer as s for them, and the farmer does
tenants repairs. -lluring the other fifteen weeks the
into have what piecework can be given to them, such
as barn work and hedge-cutting; they are, at all events,
regularly employed at their day pay, and lose no time
on account of weather or short daylight. Sunday work
is generally reduced to the necessary feeding and milk-
ing, for which the men are always paid extra money,
in many cases with food in addition. In a discussion
which followed, the Rev. C. I. Francis, of Tysoe,
supported Mr. Westover's statements. He said that
the speakers at the various meetings first argued that
the labourer lived upon what he never had lived upon,
and neser would live upon, the 10s. a week. They
ignored every other source of income except the
bare 10s. a week. They argued that this 10s. for
seven persons only allowed three farthiugs a meal
three times a day. If the labourer really lived on 10s.
a week thim would be true, but it was not true. Let
them inquire into the particuhirs of the average
income of an able-bodied agricultural labourer in
'rymoe parish' with wife and five small children,
only one of them able to work, and the wife able to
work 12 weeks out of the 52. No extra piece work
was calculated for the man excepting hay and har-
vest :-Man - for 45 weeks at 128., £27 ; harvest, four
weeks at El, £4 ; beer money, It; mowing, three weeks,
Is.; beer money, his. Wife-reaping, two weeks,
El 4s. ; beer money (11d. per day), 4s. 6d. ; hay-
making, three weeks, les. ; beer money (4.1. per day),
;is. 9d.; bean-setting or other field work, her wee 6,
El Is. Boy-forty-five weeks at 2s. Gd., £5 7s. lit.;
harvest, four weeks, El ; haymaking, three weeks, Os.;
beer for hay and harvest, Is. ; total, £46 12a. 6d.;
If the man is carter or cowman, 2s, per week more
(or is. and beer), £5 4>.; total for carter or cow-
man, £5l Iris. 6.1. Parish privileges.-Allotment,
30 piles (produce of half will pay allotment rent);
, 30 bushels of potatoes, grown on other half, at
28. GiL a bushel, 1:3 15s. ; gleaning, four bushels of
wheat, at 7.4., El es. ; ditto, two bushels barley and
beans, at its., 10e. ' • poor land, coal to the value of
is. lid. ; parish land, clothing to the value of 1014. ;
adult clothing club, ls. 6d.; children's ditto, 6s. ;
total 1.1 Is. ; total of carter or cowman, with privi-
kges, £5B 17.3. They would see how utterly false
were the assertions of those agitators who said that a
man and his family had to lire on 10s. a week. Some-
body should he appointed in each parish to make
known the facts, or the Chamber should publish them
in order that they might go forth to the world, and
show what the labourer really does earn. No one really
knew what the privileges of the labourers were unless
he lived in the country with them.
Partly from these considerations., partly from ob-
servation of the physical condition of the people, and
partly from knowledge of the state of agricultural
labourers in other parts of England, I am driven to
the conclusion that the men of South Warwickshire
are in many respects the most favoured of their class.
Their receipts would seem boundless opulence to
many of Canon Girdlestone's former parishioners,
and the rise in the price of butchers' meat, which
has so seriously affected households higher in the
social scale, passes, comparatively speaking, ever
their heads. Butchers' meat has never been a staple
article of diet among agricultural labourers., although,
doulstless, a much prized luxury. The wages in War-
wickshire were very generally advanced a shilling last
year on the application of the men, and since then
prices hare altered, it at all, for the better. lam
I soured that a further adwasoe of 2A, woukl mow have

been very generally conceded if asked for, as the
natital torliLat7 of thi mile, of ebisk. The farmers !
say they do not so much object to toe mon'ey dtmand
as to being brought under the yoke of an Union.
Regarding the wages claim, therefore, as being un-
tenable on the plea of necebsity. I am driven to look
upon the Strike as something far more serious than the
cry of eitipty stomachs for more food. I look upon it
as an endeavour on the pl of thlt lalAwers to raise
themselves in the social scale by asserting the hig2er
value of their work, and it is very significant that this
endeavour should come from those who are lmst off. It
is surely a matter for regret that the plea of insufficient
wages, qua sustenance, should have been raised. It
is almost equivalent to a charge of inhumanity against
employ§rs; and it, for this very reason bitterly re-
sented by the lattlit. It is itffpossilde to foresee the
issue of the present contest, tilt th§ demands Made if
not at once conceded are almost sure id be repeated
and pressed at some future time. In any event, what •
ever else may happen, it would greatly tend to simplify
the question at issue if the termination of the Strike
were made the occasion for the abolition of all the
irregular payments which now swt:ll the labourer's re-
ceipts, and for the substitution of some definite aLcitnt
of weekly wages.

Auheron Herbert, M.P., on Saturday evening
held an outdoor meeting on the green under the chest.
nut tree, and delivered an address to upwards of 100
labourers. He pointed out the importance of good
behaviour throughout the present struggle, and hoped
they would cultivate feelings of moderation. As an
incentive to good behaviour he referred to the eXcellent
example of the Lancashire weavers when suffering
from cotton famine. Ile also urged them to strive for
individual improvement, and promised on hi, return to
London to send down an adequate supply of copy-
books, elates, pens, pencils, &c. The Relief Committee
from Leamington distlibuted aid to the men at the
rate of ss. each per week. The farmers have not yet
conceded the demands of the men.

On Saturday evening, Mr. J. T. Hibbert, M.P. for
Oldham, was present at the annual meeting of the
Lees Liberal Association. In the course of his speech,
referring to the strike of agricultural labourers in
Warwickshire, he sail it was quite anew thing to see
a strike or anything like a union among agricultural
labourers. lie did not like strikes hineself, believing
them to be a waste of money, but he hail a great
sympathy with these unfortunate agricultural labourers.
(Hear, hear.) In his position in connexion with the
Poor Law Department he was continually being
asked to allow Boards of Ou)rilians to give relief
to families where the the wages were only lb. or 10s.
a week. (Shame.) He was asked the other day to
permit a Board of Guardians to relieve a poor family
consisting of eight children, a man And his wife,
where the wager were only 9s. or 10s. a week.
("Shame !") He was asked the other day to permit
a Board of Guardians to relieve a poor family consist-
' lug of eight children, a man and his wife, where the
entire earnings were only lls, a week. (Sensation.)
It seemed a hard thing. and no doubt the meeting would
think so when he told them that he ref used to give
permission. But why did he refuse? Because if
they were to allow Boards of Guardians to give
relief in cases if this kind there never would be an
increase of wages. It was this indiscriminate dispen-
sation of relief which kept down the rate of wages in
agricultural districts. He had looked the matter care-
fully through, and he found that in those counties
where the labourers were receiving, the least wages
there were the heaviest poor rates. The only wonder
to him was how they managed to bring ups family at
.all, and he thought it was a mistake on the part of
the masters not to pay a good wage and have good
workmen.

intmeritta fact. it is a bearing the burden of a tetrible
liquidation, and we also have to bear it. Having be-
fore our eyes the signal prosperity of our neighbours,
we na"e nn enbancsd feeling of respect for the resigna-
tion and courage ilith whish the ranch nation bears
the consequences of its ill fortun::. We cannot avoid
admiring the cheerfulness with which the retch eitieen
accepts taxation, and we believe that the same woOld
not he witnel-sed in England. To take at random an ex- I
rtople, we find that our Assembly has heavily taxed the
I:mmllla:turn of matches and t seems that the price of
that article of neeisLitY hag been gteatly increased. Yet
the tax hasbeenverygnietlYbotnn LastyeattheEnglish
Finance Minister included a like tall in his Budget.
and from all the back streets and the our qnatters of
the metropolis, where the thousands of women and
children employed in the manufacture of chemical
matches are erowiled together, there came such a
threat of uproar that the Minister was obliged to
dbandon his plan, and to remodel his Budget. It was
the sa:tic thing with respect to the licensing laws. For
many years propositions hairs been made in Parliament
relating to that subject, but they hkec all failed before
the coalition A great trade interests backed titi be the
clamour of the masses. See with what docility and
patient-8 eve in France accept an augmentation in the
price of these attle'es of daily consumption. And yet
it is said that Frenchmen kr, difqcult to govern."