The Express.
London, England, 1853-08-06 00:00:00

Sruisra seem still spreading through the country!
with the rapida) of a contagious disease. Scarcely

say departnien of society in which labourers work
for hire has he en free from the operation of these
eignitiaant iut, eruptions to the ordinary routine of
Wi•Liout attempting to deny the pi rfect
right of any s• t of labourers to refuse to work for
less than they :pink the fair market price of their
toil. there is still very great reason for doubt-
ing whether tie generality of the labourers in
the prtoent it-::,nee have as much reason as right
on their side. tln the other hand, it is quite certain
that the uwaus which many of the participators in
the strikes have employed to coerce contumacious
of th' it own body, put them entirely be-
yond the reach ••t' the sympathies of the fair-dealing
portion of their countrymen. The right that any
ooe has to strike is no more valid than that of an-
other to reotw to juin him. 'this is con-
stantly being forgotten by werkmen. They,
in almost evee instance which has happened during
the last few week+, have been tempted to use vio-
lence to carry cut their ends. But when one set of
labourrrs can ieuly obtain the assistance of others is
strike by cot Trion, they confess by this eery fact
that the strike is illegitimate. A strike is legitimate,
only alien the labourers arc not receiving such
ooges us would be fairly decided upon if the
relation of the supply of labour to the demand
were subjected :o accurate adjustment. There will
be no need for labourers to strike when capitalists
find the supply 14 labour inadequate to the demand.
Labourers do not strike iu Australia. Masters, in-
deed, try to Pule, but it is useless. If masters in
Australia and California were to waylay, and beat,
and otherwise ill-treat contumacious members of
the r body, who yielded to what seine considered
the extnivagant demands of labourers, they would
be guilty of the same kind of absurdity
sod itumoraliey as characterises the conduct
of some I ebourers amongst us here. If :he butchers
at Manchester were to maltreat one of their number
for selling meat to the labourers on strike a penny a
pound cheaper than the rest, the labourers would
have a list ly example of the absurdities and injus-
tice of interference with the legitimate course of
trade.
The whole error on the part of the workmen arises
treat the contused notions which are current upon
the subject of wages. Unconsciously they cling
to the old mediaeval idea, that services are to be
repaid by a gilt dependent upan the generosity
of a master, and not by a 'eminent dependent upon
the value of those services in the market. One of
the orators at the meeting of the dock labourers on
Thursday evening—alluding to the men who had
complied with the terms of the Dock Company—
said : " A few labourers had gone in, but they were
not Englishente ; they were English bastards, and
a disgrace to their fellow-men." 'the logic of this
assertion is not worth investigating; it i the feeling.
Why are a set of men to be declared infamous because
they sell their lubour at the highest price it is worth
in the market? But it is not the highest price, re•
plies the orator. "The labourers," he continued,
"that were now in the docks could not do half the
work, and the company would find that out to their
own loss." Very well, if this is the case there will
be no need of violence. If there are no labourers to
be got but those on strike, the company will per-
force yield to the demand for increased wages. If, how-
ever, the labour market is so stocked, that the company
an after a little time and trouble find others to fill
the places of the seceders, not all the violence possi-
ble to be employed can make a strike successful.
Whatever advantages are obtained fur a moment are
certain to be speedily lost. If the workmen
knew just so much of the law of supply and
demand as would teach them to recognise
the fact that when labour as well as any
other article is plentiful it must be cheap,
and when scarce it must be dear, what a vast amount
of good must arise. Strikes would then seldom
take place, except under circumstances whi:h legiti-
mised their occurrence. When, however, they are
told, as the Dock Company have told them, that the
fairness of the bargain between the company and
themselves depends not upon the value of the labour,
but on the price of provisions, then there is no wonder
that the visas they put forward are as illogical as
those of their teachers.
lie moat unpleasant feature in the present state
of things is the ferocity which many of the men on
strike have been guilty of. The conduct of the
cabmen at the commencement of the strike was dis-
creditable to that fraternity. Smashing cabs and
making drivers fly for their lives, was bad
enough, but the strike of the dyers at Man-
chester has been marked by features of still
greater brutality. A band of 70 or SO work-
men, after amusing themselves during the morning
of Tuesday last by throwing stones on the roof and
windows of the manufactory of Mr. CRomprosr, made
in the evening a resolute attack on the house. After
having forced their way in, they cruelly beat the men
at work, and then made an onset on the owner. This
gentleman, about sixty years of age, was sassimi
by the police from the hands of half a dam
ruffians who were maltreating him with sticks and
staves. Such occurrences as these are indicative of
an amount of brutality, as well as ignorance, which
leads us to look mournfully upon all Strikes. The
only remedy we can see is in the possible education
of the men by their very failures. In the meantime
the law must be vindicated, and men on strike must
learn that they can only be permitted to nee just
such weapons of combination as are allowed to their
employers. If we must have Strikes, let them be
distinguished by manly Fair Play on both bides.