The Express.
London, England, 1853-11-29 00:00:00

THE EXPRESS, TUESDAY EVENING, NOVEMBER 29, 1853

THE STRIKES.

(FROM A SPICIAL CORRRSPOIDRNT.)
PRESTON, Dionuor.

All those symptoms which were visible in the dis-
ordered state of the town, are becoming fearfully ex -1
aggerated. There is no diminution in the army,
23,000 strong, which is vainly endeavouring to
blockade the capitalists. There is no variation in the
looks of the dogged waiters on Providence who stand'
at every corner. They are perhaps a little more
haggard, a little more sullen, but they appear to
have no more hope than before, and to wait with
the same confidence the possibility of something
turning up. Taking the number of those who ought
to be engaged in the mills, but who are now on
strike, to be 23,000, and the population of Preston
in round numbers to be 70,000, it will ap-
pear at once how large a proportion of the inhabi-
tants are idle. The reader may form some idea of the
appearance of the town, by figuring to himself the
altered aspect that London would present were a
similar proportion of the metropolitan population
to cease working, and loiter about the streets with
their hands in their pockets. We should then see the
extraordinary spectacle of nearly a million of idlers.

Some idea of the enormous loss which the country
sustains by the proceedings which the men have
adopted may be formed kby a consideration of a few
of the statistics of the strike of 1836. In the October
of that year the men turned out. The whole num•
bee of 8,500 hands, employed in 42 mills, stuldetly
ceased producing either for themselves or their
masters. The fixed capital sunk in the build-
ings and machinery was estimated at 550,0001.
The working capital was valued at 250,0001. Shortly
after the commencement of the strike the masters in

vain made an attempt at a compromise by offering
10 per cent. addition to the present rates of wages.
This was refused, and the consequence was that in
December the distress was described as "universal
and intense." On the 9th of January some of the
men came to terms, and on the sth of February the
mills were all at work. The estimated loss in wages
to the hands in the mills was 52,8131. The hand-
loom weavers lost 9,5001. ; and the clerks, waggoners,
and others suffered to the amount of 8,0001. The
total loss to the working classes would thus
be 70,0131. From this, however, must be
deducted the wages earned by a few
of the mills between January 9 and February 5, the
amount raised by appeals to private and public
charity and poor law relief, and the allowance made
by the Trades Unions. This makes a total deduction
of 12,803, leaving the net loss to the men of
57,2101. The loss to the masters of interest on their
fixed and floating capital is put down at 45,0001.,
while that of the shopkeepers is estimated at 4,9861.
The aggregate loss to the town was thus 107,1961.
But the money estimate of the damage done is not
all. The best workmen left the town. Numbers of
those who remained acquired habits of idleness that
could never be shaken off. The demoralisation
amongst the females was incredible. The tone of
the working class in general was lowered.
Fearful as these statistics are, the history of the 11
present strike, should it ever be written, will present
results still more fatal. There are no available data
for estimating the value of the capital now invested
in the mills at Preston, but that it must have been
greatly augmented since 1836 is evident from the
fact that it employs three times u many labourers
as were at work in 1836. When we remember, too,
that day by day new inventions are taking place in
the machinery, and each novelty generally infers a
rise of price, there will be little difficulty in coming
to the conclusion that the loss sustained by
the capitalists is augmented in a ratio quite equal to
that which measures the loss sustained by the men-
It is to be wished the misguided men or their
leaders would, instead of indulging in vain hopes of
victory, give one shadow of a reason to show that
the effects of the present strike will be more in their
favour than those of the last. The only argument
that we have yet heard urged is, that they are better
organised, and that they have discovered a new
system of tactics. They say that they can unite the
whole body of labourers throughout the kingdom to
support the refractory workmen of one town, and
that by this means they have it in their power to
keep up the war longer than the masters. Allowing
this to be true, is it quite certain that if the masters
are beaten the men will be better off? What if
they beat the masters so completely, that the latter
are ruined ? Will the men find their account in
that ? What if, when they themselves are tired of the
contest, or are asked to name their own terms by
some of the masters, it should be found that the
capital of the latter is so much diminished that they
must contract their operations? What if it should
be found that only a few of the masters have sur-
vived the process, and that the capital of the rest
has dwindled away to nothing, or has been removed
to other trades? How will the men rejoice in a
victory in which their ruin is more certain than in
a defeat ?

The conduct of the men at the present time is
imitated from that of the sagacious carpenter in
Hogarth's picture, who is represented sitting at
the extremity of a sign-board, and sawing
through the limb which supports him. Every
step in the process of victory must inflict
evil on the men themselves. They are senselessly
rejoicing at the progress of the fire that is burning
their own house down. The more capital they de-
stroy, the lees will be distributed amongst them in
the shape of wages, whenever work is resumed. No
a Labour Parliament" will be able to cause an addi-
tion to the wages fund, and no improvement can cake
Once in the condition of the labourer until this is
accomplished. This is arguing upon the supposition
that the men can by an extension of their organisa-
tion throughout the empire, succeed in bringing the
muters to terms. But there are many reasons against
this supposition. In the first place it is
quite competent to the masters themselves to
form Associations. They have done this in
many instances, and with success. In the
next place, it is quite certain that a great
number of the masters are independent of the profits
of the capital they invest in mills, and will be able to
hold out for an indefinite period. But there are a
number who are not independent, and who will he
forced to withdraw their capital if they are able, and
invest it in other ways. The ruin or withdrawal of
these capitalists will only strengthen the hands of
those who remain, and the men, when they come to
work, will find that there is no more employment for
the whole of their number. There can be little
doubt that the competition between themselves, in
consequence of the diminished supply of work, will
lower the rate of wages, aud that they wilt hod
themselves worse off than before.

Greater evils remain behind. It has been the
policy of the men at Preston to remain tranquil in
older that no excuse may be afforded for the inter-
ference of the military or police. Up to the present
time they have strictly abided by this policy. But
there are symptoms that they are becoming weary ut
this. Preston, it is true, is tranquil, but it is Asserted
that the men who mobbed the Preston masters at
Blackburn had followed the masters from that town.
The report, if true, adds to the seriousness of the
complication. Those who will leave home to commit
•iolence are not likely to remain quiet for
mach longer in their own town. If riots take place
the end of the strike will be even worse than we