The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser.
London, England, 1825-01-14 00:00:00

THE COMBINATIO.V LAWS.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE BRITISH PRESS.

(Continued from our Paper of yesterday.)

When the cotton-spinners struck work in Lancashire
and Lanarkshire last year, the average wages of good work-
man were YSs. weekly, those of inferior 16s. to Iss., and
those even of women from Bs. to 10s. When the colliers
!told out for an advance in the west of Scotland, at the
same titre, and on the approach of winter, the average of
their wages was 30s. weekly for good pickuien. The wages
of the cotton weavers, I admit, were not so promising. But
from the numbers of workmen of every shade and degree
of merit in that trade—from the different and opposite de-
grees of attention, labour, and talent, which the various
cotton manufactures require, it is extremely difficult to tell
the exact average wages of the weavers. And even this
average, if it could be ascertained with perfect accuracy,
would give us but an uncertain estimate of the wages of
good workmen. Of all the trades under heaven, there are
none so easily learned as some branches of the cotton-
weaving, and none so difficult as others. From the ex-
treme of the mere machine to that where superior mental
and manual skill are requisite--from the rude strength and
attention of the lazy lubberly boy, up to that of a man in
the prime of life, of steady habits, and indefatigable appli-
cation, there is corresponding employment for all. Hence,
when an average is given, there mt.st unavoidably be in.
eluded in it the long hours and close application or the in-
dustrious, with the half days and weeks of the indolent,
and the misepent tune of tlie truant and playful boy, not
forgetting also the time devoted to other employment,.
There are many weavers who do anything but weave con-
stantly. Some keep shops, and vend small wares; others,
in country villages, plant and dig their own roots and pot-
herbs, and assist in the harvest. Many, since the pewee,
are pensioners of Greenwich and Chelsea; and there are
not a few who, no doubt from superior " intelligence" and
political sagacity, do at all seasons prefer a stinted allow.
slice of food and clothes, and a more liberal portion of idle-
ness, to better cheer and harder labour. Consequently,
when we see average rates of wages of weavers, we ought
to make ample allowance for the discrepant nature of the
t-aterials of which they are composed, that so we may pre-
cisely understand the reasons why that average is generally
lee, than that of any other class of operatives.
But whatever might be the average rate of wages to good
cotton weavers, one thing is plain, that on this last occa-
sion they did not combine to defeat any combination on
the part of their employers. Whatever their wages were,
they might be low from a redundancy of manufactures,
from the cheapness of provisions ; or they might be low
when compared with the high price of provisions—but
whatever they were, they were clearly not depressed by
collusion on the part of the masters. To prove this, it is
only necessary to review their conduct towards an em-
ployer in Glasgow, of the name of Hutcheson. The very
fact that this individual paid a lower rate of prices than
others in the trade did, or were said to do, was of itself
conclusive that no combination among masters existed.
Wherever there is collusion, the equality of prices among
the body of employers would be evidence of it.
But while much blame it attributable to the workmen,
it must be confessed that the conduct of the masters has
not been altogether unexceptionable. I do not allude to
any collusive acts on their part to reduce wages, for I
believe this to be altogether impracticable; but to the
many and oft-repeated conferences with the operatives to
discuss and adjust the matters in dispute. Such modes of
inducing the men into obedience, have a suspicious appear-
ance, and must have a tendency to persuade them, that the
masters are ready to acknowledge the fairness of their
demands in principle, though from interest unwilling to
admit them in practice. The operatives claim not only a
higher rate of wages, but they also demand a Standard of
Price:. In small communities, where a fancy trade is
carried on, by a comparatively limited number of work-
men, fcr he produce of whose labours there is a steady
demand, a standard table of prices, arranged according to
the various kinds of work, may practically be adopted and
adhered to. The principle, nevertheless, is bad, except
among a very scanty number of hands, and even among
these, such a law is neither more nor less than a combina-
tion by their: parties against the rest of the community.
But it is vain to attempt to make any such table or standard
applicable to cotton manufactures generally. The very
inclination on the part of masters to listen to such a
plan, or give effect to it, shows that they are themselves
ignorant of the principles by which their trade is regu-
lated ; cr, if they are better. informed, they are only
cajoling the workmen.
Nom ithstanding this, it appears by the Newspapers that
a meeting took place recently in Paisfey, a town containing
nearly fifty thousand inhabitants, all weavers, or de-
pendent on that trade, at which meeting the Chief Magis-
trate was in the Chair, when certain resolutions were
adopted to facilitate the plans of the operatives—that is to
say, to temporise with them, and induce them to postpone
their exactions pro loci et tempore. I say this was likely
to be the real interpretation of the resolutions, because I
am unwilling to believe those gentlemen to have been in
earnest ; but if they were sincere, then certainly there
was unfair collusion against all employers who dissented
from the sentiments of the meeting; for, unless the whole
body of masters resident in that town had acgiiescd in
the resolutions, the object must have failed, awl the acts
of the meeting would have been act: of conihination and col.
lusiou to the prejudice of the dissentients. Is the compact to
be all in favour of one side only ? Is combination only to
be tolerated when it is favourable to the " intelligent
classes ?"—and because certain of the masters, for certain
ends, are pleaied to sanction and adopt their plans, is every
employer who secedes, and yet cats find workmen willing
to accept his terms, to be excommunicated by the orator of
a manufactory, and held up to popular indignation ?
Upon the whole, the repeal of the combination laws is
a measure which will require in the ensuing Session of
Parliament to be reconsidered. For the last six months
and mare, they have led to distressing results in Scotland.
Thousands of families have been reduced from comfortable
circumstances to the utmost want and privation. Hundreds
of well-dispased and industrious females, who were able to
earn a subsistence, have been forced to seek relief in public
charity. It has been injurious to the workmen themselves
as a body, and to their families ; and has led to numerous
breacpes of the peace. It has produced strife and heart-
buntings between themselves and their t maloyere, without
any cause. and has even engendered much ill-will amongst
one another. The public peace should net he thus ilia-
turbed; the industrious should not be thus interrupted in
the earning of their bread ; the vitriol regime should be
abandoned ; and of course all confederacies for enhancing
the rates of wages should be again declared illegal.
London, Jan. 10, 102.:. 111*

The parishioners of St. Giles. Cripplegate Without,
assembled on ‘Veltiesday, to take into consideration the
propriety of acting with the City of London, in the 1-I.om-sl-
ings upon the Bill intended to be brought into Parliament
to put a stop to the exorbitant claims of the Clergy, now
made in some parishes, by virtue of the Act of the 37th of
Henry VIII. Mr. Newell proposed several Resolutions,
tending to co-operate in the proposed purpose with the
City of London, hut many gentlemen thought them too
strong. The discussion terminated with the unanimous
adoption of a simple Resolution, accepting Cu.. offer for the
City of London, to co-operate with the other parishes in a
general Bill.
RAI: WA necessary steps are now taking,
spiritedly but deliberately, for the establishment of a con-
tinuous line of railway communication between Liverpool
and Hull—from the Irish Sea to the German Ocean.
These great public works will be tfFected by three Com-
panies—the Liverpool and Manchester, the Manchester
and Leeds, and the Leeds and Hull Companies. The first
of these bodies has been formed several months, and they
will have the honour and the trouble of contesting the
point in Parliament with the fourth estate of the realm. by
which name the inland Navigation Companies, from their
immense pat liamentary influence, has sometimes been de-
signated. The contest will doubtless be arduous, but of
the final result we have uo doubt ; we say the final re-
sult, for it is quite possible, we will add not improbable,
that the Bill may not pass into a law during the next
Session, though the approaching dissolution will* in its
-our.—L: ecrpeol AdVerti4Cr.