The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1872-07-27 00:00:00

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SATURDAY, JULY '27, 1872.

STRIKES & THE COST OE LIVING.

lo every direction we observe a continuation
and development of those demands on the part
of labour that have been the most marked fem
tore of the year 1872. Here there is a prelimi.
nary meeting to consider the position of the men
in such a trade: then there a meeting to die.
. . .. • .

ems a compromise offered by the masters ; and
in another place there is a meeting to rejoice
over the success of a movement for increased
wages. The labour movements have had two
speeial objects—ill the first place an increase of
pay; in the second place a diminution of the
period of labour; cud in some eases—among
the builders for example—these objects have
been united, and the men have demanded both.
And it is a most remarkable fact that as a rule
these labour movements have been crowned with
success, the rare exception being that they have
failed, while even temporary Mare is by no
means synonymous with ultimate defeat. The
motto of the working men appears in this matter
to be, " If at first you don't succeed—try, try,
again." We have at the present moment trades
that have struck and have succeeded; trades
that have struck and failed, but that will inevit-
ably strike again when they feel that their posi-
tion is favourable; trades that are considering
their rates of pay and hours of labour, and that
probably will strike ; and a comparatively few
trades that are for the present apparently satis-
fied with their position. But instead of the word
" triulee " ought perhaps to have used a lar-
ger and wider term. It is not only mechanics
and artisans, but all sorts- and conditions of
men," who are employed, who are either striking
or contemplating such a coarse—clerks, railway
servants, postmen, labourers, gardeners, oinni.
bus men, cabmen, we. ; while the other sex has
not escaped the general contagion, and laun-
dresses t- the ladies of the washtub' and char-
women have been among the malcontents.
There is of course one main cause for this—
the prosperity of the country. During the past
twelve mouths on the whole money has been
plentiful; commercial and trading enterprise has
been active; public confidence has been strong;
we have been undisturbA by wars or rumours
of war; and the natural consequence of all this
has been a great demand for labour, while this
result has in its turn resulted in Labour making
increased demands on Capital. The question
now, however, begins to assert itself, whether

our very prosperity may not—we were about to
say lead to our ruin, but we will say seriously
affect our commercial position. The United
Kingdom mainly owes its exalted rank among
the nations of the earth to its industry. The
fame of tho British workman has been world
wide. In no other country of the world was the
worker so continuously I iborions ; nowhere did
the worker effect more in a given time. Other
countries, owing to their superiority in artistic
education, may have displayed more taste and '
refinement than ourselves, but the British work-
man stood unequalled for honest, earnest, effec-
tive intostry. But may we not now ask—we
certainly do so in no unfriendly spirit to our
working elasses—witether the British workman
is not waxing fat and getting lazy ? If this
question be regarded as offensive, let us appeal
to facts in substantiation. Demands for a dim-
inution in the period of labour have lately been,
and are still, common, and the Saturday half-
holiday merely whetted the appetite for leisure
time. As an undeniable consequence this dim-
inishes production and invites foreign competi-
tion, which means decreased home trade. Work-
men would do well to look at the matter from
this point of view. To the great mass of the
fraddle and working classes decreased proitic-
tioa and the increased price of labour are also
becoming very serious in the enhanced coat of
living. That we may not be accused of putting