The Express.
London, England, 1867-03-27 00:00:00

THE EXPRESS, WEDNESDAY EVENING, MARCH 27, 1867.

' hours of work the directors were in the wrong, and it can
hardly understand the reluctance with which they eon-
ceded the terms required. The work as now defined is
quite as Much as could be exacted from a man with justice
to himself and safety to the travelling public. As regards
the rate of pay, the Times thinks the case less clear. Cer-
tainly it may be thought that ten hours of good engine-
driving, with all its strain on mind and body, would not be
oserpaid with is. td.„ but then the men had better have
said so plainly,suid asked for a Bailee( wages rising from this
point, in.tead of demanding that all distinctions of ability
and experience shall be abolished at once. There must surely
be gradations of skill and merit in this as in all other
callings, and the men have done unwisely in leaving their
employers with the advantage of so evident a proposition.
It was open to them to say that 7s. la was none too much
for the youngest engine-driver qualified to drive a train,
and that for drivers of greater experience it was too little.
They has e not quite ventured upon this straightforward
demand, and their case is all the weaker for it. As they
have put it, they must either hull that all engine-drivers
are eqtr.l, "hick the public will nev, r believe, or they
must intend to get the inequility recognised again by.
and-bye. thouch denied for the time, which would be
neither aii ingenious nor a popular course of action.

The Til•yr,,ple hopes to nee a spirit of conypmmise on
the part of the engine-drivers and the firemen. Hitherto
all the concessions hav, been made on the side of the
directors. Should the strikes succeed—for it is under-
stood that the course now taken by the Brighton servants
will he adopted by those of other companies in niece:4on -
we can hardly expect that railway shareholders, already
in sore tribulation, will consent to sacrifice the small
margin of the earnings which admits of the payment of a
dividend. They will rather seek, by revising the scale of
charges, to levy from the public the additional cost in-
curred by an advance in the wages of their men ; and to
that alternative the nation would ho obliged to sul •t.
The .Starr, without pronouncing any judgment at this
stage on the propriety of the demand of the men, thinks
the directors have shown that they had hardly any accu-
rate knowledge of the amount or kind of work performed
by their servants. The point upon which neither the
directors nor the men would yield seems sufficiently
paltry, considering the enormous inconvenience to the
public and loss to the company caused by the strike.
Meanwhile it is surprising the directors were not better
prepan.4 for the emergency after the very formal notices
had been given by the men.
The Stamford says it is palpable the men have the
power in their own hands, and the directors must re-
cognise the fact. If the men will only ask that
which is reasonable they will be sure to gain
their point. But even if they ask more we are
at a loss to see how the directors can help themselves.
The question is one of supreme importance, and now that
the mischief has shown itself attention will be doubtless
directed to the existence of so great and constant a peril.
Perhaps being thus forewarned, the directors will in future
be found forearmed. To submit to a strike without the
means of meeting it, is a policy—or rather an absence of
a policy—which Inuit not be allowed in the case of a rail-
way board. The public will bear with a little incon-
venience if they believe the directors to have some good
ground for their resistance ; but a virtual suspension of
traffic is fraught with such ruinous results to outsiders
that scarcely anything will be held to justify it.