The Express.
London, England, 1867-05-22 00:00:00

[BTAMPKD, U. ALDITIONAL. ]

a restriction in wages, as lung as capitalists were
making, as many of them were, 100 per cent. AU
that would happen if a fifth were taken off the
working hours, would be that the enormous gains
of tho employers would be slightly diminished,
while the condition of the whole working class
would be greatly improved. The argument drawn
from these large profits—which was really the only
one worth a moment's attention—has of course
since lost all its force. The large profits, out of
which the working man's increase of leisure were
to be taken, have disappeared, and it is patent
to everybody that a diminution of two
hours in the day's labour would mean
a diminution of one-fifth in the production
of the country, and consequently an increase of
prices. But, unfortunately, by the time this
demonstration of the absurdity of the movement
was ready, the rank and file of the Irish and other
foreigners, ignorant and bigoted, had entered into
it with zeal ; politicians had got committed to it,
and it has raged on without rhyme or reason, until it
has at last got an act passed in Illinois, and has come
near doing so in Pennsylvania and some other
States. The act, however, considered rata boon to
working men, or in fact as anything except so
many words or so much paper, is utterly worthless.
It simply declares eight hours to be a legal work-
ing day in the absence of any agreement to the
contrary ; but, of course, no employer will now
ever engage men without a special contract
as to the time. Moreover, it exempts
agricultural labourers from its operation,
and as those comprise in Illinois nine-
tenths of the whole working population, of
course it can hardly be said to include or to
affect the working classes at all. Neverthe-
less it has led to disturbances amongst the
Irish labourers in Chicago, and has unsettled the
minds of workmen in other places, diffusing a
vague feeling, which nobody can either analyse or
account for, that something very fine is going to
happen. The value of the State system of this
country in affording an opportunity of contrasting
different kinds of legislation, and as affording an op-
portunity for the trial of different experiments in
legislation on a small scale, has often been com-
mented on, but I do not think I ever saw it so
well illustrated as in this instance. if the eight
hour movement, or any other cause, were to get
hold of the majority under a constituted
government like that of France or England, and
resulted in legislation, the whole country would
be convulsed by it, and general derangement of
industry produced. But hero the experiment is
tried first on a small scale by one State, so that all
the others are able to see its effects on capital and
labour. It would be difficult to persuade workmen
who know as little of the laws of politital economy
as the mass of the eight hour men do, that
legislative interference with the freedom of con-
tracts would drive capital out of the country.
The process of driving it out would necessarily
be a slow one ; manufacturers do not readily emi-
grate to foreign countries, and the movement,
when diffused over a whole nation, would at any
one point be hardly perceptible enough to
make much impression on the popular mind. But
an act is passed in Illinois, and its effects are, as
it were, concentrated and displayed in such a way
that everybody can see and understand them. The
capitalists move over the border, if too seriously in-
convenienced ; the derangement which the arbitrary
limitation of the hours of labour works in industry,
and its exact effect on the condition of the working
classes, are 'teen displayed on a small scale by the
rest of the country, and the delusion is exploded,
and similar follies are prevented elsewhere. lam
quite satisfied, in fact, that the Illinois enactment
has given its death-blow to the eight hours agita-
tion, that it will now gradually die out in the
other States, and that this will prove the last at-
tempt to interfere with the natural working of the
laws of trade.

THE INJURED ATLANTIC TELEGRAPH

CULILE.

[TWOPENCE

ftlusu.

PHILEIARDIONIC SOCIETY.

The fifth concert took place on Monday night,
when the following selection was performed :

PLOT I
Two unreal/Me of an unfinished =mainly In B
minor
Aria, " Vedral cariao" (Don Giovanni), Mdlle
Demenc-Lablache
Concerto. violoncello, Herr GrOtestarker
Aria, .• La MIS laden" (I Losibard), Xr. T
Hohiar Verdi.
Casten :Der Preischute. Mlle. Nalco Weber.
Concerto in 0 minor, plashatorte. Kerr

PAW IL
Ilyinplroy pastersle
Duo, Ebben per nits mounds" a. Gem
Laths). 314111 e. Shako anal %We. Donnsele-Ln
blache
Overture. " Anacreon" Cherubim'.

At the next concert Mr. Benedict's new pianoforte con-
certo is to be performed by Madame Arabella Goddard,
and a manuscript overture (" Marsden "), by Mr. Arthur
Sullivan, will be given.

MADAME SAINTON•DOLBY AND M. SAINTONS

CO&CIRT:

Theme eminent professors gave their annual con-
cert at St. 'James's-hall on Monday, when a long and varied
entertainment was provided, consisting of a miscellaneous
selection well calculated to pleas* a general audience,
but presenting little subject for critical comment. The
programme, which was of the usual extreme length of this
class of entertainment, include,' the names of
Licbhart, Enequist, Madame Vilda, Misses Louis► Pyne,
Edith Wynne, Signori Eaudin, Ciampi, Garcia, Messrs. G.
Perren and Weiss, Sc.