The Express.
London, England, 1865-03-16 00:00:00

TEE LOOS OUT IN THE IRON TRADE.

Let night, a meeting of delegates from various
trades'. societles was held et the easier Hotel, for the par-

pose clinking into exmeidaratiou Mee present lock•oat h; the

ins bads clitafterdaks.

TM eseelisg waa celled is consequence of the issue of s
Marne whisk Oohed Hsi, "believing immediate notice in ins-
guesitis ea miry trade society throughout the kingdom, to
old wiz heMbree is the iron trade nueoessfully to re net one
at the um* Mapeadose Misch ever yet made by combined
metal upon Limos., the, pressed meeting is celled to COD-
ilk the best UMW to be adopted to aid the men now
Shrews est of employmmat.'

The following tries were represented at the meeting :
ima engineers, Waldemar, carpenter (12 so-
efiesiirri"d rieklayen, roams (5 ladlm), bookbinder _bah zert
painters (6 societies), pluton" platie-workses, Nsotosea
Associatioo of Miners, United Glum Gutters' Society, briar-
makers, printers, bras trades, machinists, Lawless Wed-
end shoemakers, bookmaker City shoemakers,' boiler-
makers, coopers, shipwrights, and bootelossra. Altogether
there wwppnse about 200 delegates present. The meeting was
aiteoded
..by a &pular. from the executive council of the
Brierkj-bill National Articled= of Ironworker', consisting
of Mars. Ailthis, Davis, and Hobson ; and also • depute-
New *era • the Millman' Association , Mesas. Laughlin
sad Biddlentoon Mr. Meedonsid, prosideat of the Ns-
timed Miners' Armistice, was oleo present.
Mr. G. Porn, having been Galled to the chair,
opened the proceediop by stating that this meeting was of
great importance, and wee called for the purpose of hearing
the statements of delegates from the re from South
Staffordshire and the mill men from the irandistrieta They
were aware that capital and labour were in deadly conflict
in the iron weds. The men believed that the masters were
acting not only on the principle of reduction of wages, but
tar the purpose of destroying the combination of working
men. government had given that the privilege of
combining together for the protection of labour. but the mas-
ters did not "prove of thatoombinatdon, andthey had stated '
that they would do all they. could to destroy it. The man
rid they only wished to maintain themselves in their proper
social position. So far from the present combinations
being their work, it was really the work of the masters.
After Pang a history of the. efforts made by the South
Satlcedebire sad the Gateshead executives to got the
=ahem to meet the men, and their having refused to
support the North Staffordshire men when they struck, be
thought the conduct of the masters most reprehensible in
locking out the whole trade, them condemning the innocent
with the guilty. Not only was he convinced that the masters
bad ao justification • for locking' the men out, but he
bed ao kesitatioa in saying that he thought them guilty of
an illegal conthirsey spirt the rights of the working men,
sad if the legislature. did its duty it would pass a inure
which would- make • proosediag fraught with so much
misery to thousands of iniscorat persona impossible. No
doubt this tyrannical arm was shoed at the very exist-
ence of trade societies ; they had made sip their minds to
the
question to en rasa sad they had not only
themselves together in England, but had invited
the Welsh masters to join them, who would indeed be will-
ing enough to do so if they would go a point further, end
continue the lock-out as long se the ironworker.' trade
society existed. The operatives had done all they could
to avail a strike; they were quite prepared to meet the
mastere, and discuss the matter quietly, and abed
sought, time after time, for an interview, bat it was
denied them. He thought that the masters would fled that
it would be a very dangerous thing for them to challenge
the mu to a downright struggle in such a ruse as they
now had, and he contended that if they succeeded they
would only be the means of driving the bone and sinew of
the country • from its shores. lie denied that this was a
combat between labour and capital; on the contrary, it was
the tyranny of capital over labour, and the effect of a de-
terioration upon the part of the masters to keep the work-
ing Iran in the lowest possible position. He should call
upon Mr. Allkina, one of the deputation from Brierly-hill,
to address the meeting.
A very noisy diacurion took place at this period of the
proceedings, in consequence of Mr. Howell, Mr. Odgers, and
others milling in question the legality of calling the meeting
as one of trades delegates, and several of those present
attempted to address the chair upon the point, but in the
noise and confusion that ensued they could not obtain a
barge. At length
Mr. ODCIRS was permitted to speak, and complained
that so notice had been given of the intention to hold the
meeting to the trades council, who ought to have been
consulted in the first instance.
The Ceramic./ explained that the meeting had been
called at the instance of the conductors of the Beehive
sewspaper, which was the organ of the trades societies in
the press, it being thought that immediate action was ne-
cessary.
Some little dimatisfactioe was ermined that the initia-
tive had not been left to the trades council, but eventually
barman y was restored.
Mr. Axxinte said that they were sent by their fellow-
workmen. He would 'tether have been here under a dif-
ferent aspect. They were under a dark cloud, but did pot
expect all sunshine. There was a time when unity antra
the iron workers was unknown, and • great deal of trimly
was carried on by their masters. A few took the matter
into eoesideratioa, perhaps a doer at first was the most.
They held their council privately, put a few peace out of
their own pockets, and distributed handbills to:wform their
fellow workmen that they were simply trying to get
little more for their labour. Their occupation was such
as to pee/duos extreme exhaustion, and combined with
little food was hurrying them to on arty grave. Some
seven or eight iron-works gave the advance, and about 800
men mine oat. But public sympathy was rather withheld
then, because they did not sufficiently respect themselves,
but so improvement had now taken place in that particular.
They struggled then for 21 week., and received about Be.
• week. The ilium:eaters then gave way, and sot only
inizeued their wages, but gave them additional privileges.
Sines then unity among them thrived wonderfully. He ad-
mitted that many grievances had been remedied by the
ironmastere, bat at length they began to be very appre-
hensive of the union,t_andithey began to cry through
the pre for the iroomasters to ise
their society, and now they were desirous to dimin.sh the
wags of the men, and they believed also that they were
endeavouring to (raah the union. The North Staffordshire
men were on strike, and the delegates sanctioned resistance
to the reductioc. The izonmuters then called • monster
meeting at Birmingham, and pegged • resolution to lock
out all the ironworkers of the kingdom unless the iron-
workers of North Staffordshire went to work. The men's
executive, seeing the immense importance of the proceed-
ing, and the extent of the misery that would be occasioned,
pawed a resolution calling. on the North Staffordshire
men to go to work again, but they refused, and
the delegate told them that they would not. The
consequence was there had been • lock-out, and thousand'
of men, with their wives and families, had been reduced to
the verge of starvation. He concluded by sayiug that he
should be happy to answer any further questions.
Mr. HOBSON, the secreterr cf the South Staffordshire
Association at Brierly-hill, said that the lock-out was con-
sidered as one of the most vicious proceedings that could
have been adopted. finny people in their own district con-
sidered that they had shown the white feather. How could
the South Staffordshire Association make those of
North Staffordshire resume work when they had funds to
support them, and therefore they could not look upon the
conduct of the iroornasters in any other light than
absolute tyranny. He could inform the meeting that
even if no aid were given by other trades' SIROCIStiOIIe they
bad money enough to keep them out as long as in 1863.
They now came for sympathy and support to their fellow
workmen, having subscribed 2,0001. in their time of pros-
perity to relieve other branches of trade. It was the opi-
nion of • great many that the real object of the Masters'
Associatioa was to abolish the mire, but it would only
make it stronger.
Mr. Dane, the treasurer of the Brierly-hill Fund, said
that the real reason of the resistance of the men was the
desire to put an end to the sliding scale, which was an
abomination to them. They wished to live respectably
on repeatable earnings ; and he did not think that 25e. •
week, which he had earned for many years, sufficient to sup-
port a man and his family respectably.
The CRAILIWII reed a letter from Mr. J. Bans, which
stated that, in nonce of the lock-out in the north, he
was preveuted from ing present. They had at present
upwards of 4,000 of their members ranging from Sheffield
to Newoutle-on-Tyne. A deputation, formed of one dele-
gate from each large work in the north, had had a
lengthwisd interview with the iroorriasters to-day, which bad
been adjourned till Friday next at York, sod it wee neer
sary for him to remain at Gateshead, to receive delegates
from Smith Staffordehire. Should the lock-out continue, it
would require the assistance of every true unionist.
Mr. BIDDLISTONI, • delegate from the Millmm's
Assoeis-
tion, West Bromwich, said that up to the present the mill-
men had bad nothing whatever to do.with the struggle, either
in itscrigin or proper, but were suffering greatly from the
lock-out.
Mr. Libros, mother delegate from the milkmen, stated
Outdor many run the milkmen's wages were governed by
that of the peddlers, but when the puddler. got
the advance of Is. per ton, the Dusters said
that they mast do the beat they could with respect
to the milkmen which led to the formation of the association
of miller°. The puddler., however, had their entire sym-
pathy. They had no intention whatever to cause • general
lock-out. As million they would act honourably to the
masters and themselves. With refereoce to the cause of
the look-out the body of delegates at Brierly-bill had done
all they could to conciliate the masters on the 14th of
January. and on the next day the millmea of West
Bromwich held • meeting and agreed to accept the
teems of the paddlers. They had been
lcoked-
out from no cause whatever, but they wished tomes.
, to every body of men eodeavoarieg to maintain their rights,
and to raise themselves from serfdom. They felt sympathy
with the puddlerv, and would stand by their side in every
legal proceeding they might adopt. They viand everyeree
.to bettor his position. The man who laboured ought to
have a proportionate share of the (rite of his labour. and
he was quite sore the men had their umpatby, and trusted
that soon a brighter day would dawn for Disked's work.
. mm. (Cheers.) He sionsluded by saying that 1,800 mill-
uses bed been thrown out of employment by the lock-out.
Mr. THOMAS CONOLLT, of d
mend :—"
the,etire StOGIMII/0111/,
That this meeting el legate from the Lee-
dom trades' societies, having baud the statements made by
the deputation. from the executive council of the National
Aesociation mf Ironworker, and from the IlMmen's Ara
elation, Lot opinioo that the efforts made by the councils
and beleptes of the irooworkiere to avert the threatened