The Sun.
London, England, 1854-04-03 00:00:00

WAGES.

(Front the Weekly Dispatch.)
The sentence pronounced on our first parents has been
called the first curse. It is the greatest of blessings. Idle-
ness is the mother of the vices. Could men eat bread
without any expenditure of brain-sweat, no work would
ever be done ; while distempered fancies and diseased
appetites would take the place of natural wants, healthy
desires, and instinctive longings, to gratify which
the best energies and highest faculties are called into
activity. It was our frequent reflection, during the
agitation of the free-trade question, that the doubt of
the result of the repeal of the corn laws was not whether
prosperity would reward that great act of social
justice, but whether the intelligence and moral at-
tainment of the people would be found capable of
sustaining with moderation and wisdom the tide of good
fortune that was sure to follow. The issue has verified
our forebodings. Employers in all trades have
raised their wages ; and all complain that they
daily get less work done for money paid. Wages and
profits are of use solely as they stimulate reproduction in
the employed, and invention, enterprise, and skill in
the employer. Wages which bribe a man to produce
less are a positive evil—a social nuisance ;if they, in
addition, form a fond solely to consume more, without
replacing the consumption, the end must be national
bankruptcy and social chaos. We say this essentially in
the interest of the working classes. It is they who are
the first to suffer from the pinch of national adversity—
the last to be relieved from the calamities incident to
commercial pressure. If they receive so much remune-
ration as to be thereby tempted to work less—to in-
crease their profusion and consumption—to squander
and dissipate, without replacing the waste—nothing but
ruin and misery can be the issue. Suppose they had
the realisation of their secret dream and desire—the
profits of capital as well as the wages of labour—what
would they do with the proceeds ? Can they lay their
hands on their hearts and honestly say that they would
be frugal, saving, and provident? Why are they not
so now, when they have greater need ? Is it because
the smallness of the existing surplus offers no encourage-
ment to the attempt ? He only who is faithful in a few
things carebe lord over many—the fewer the talents
the less reason for hiding them in a napkin, or burying
them in the earth, It matters nothing to society at
large whether the profits of production are enjoyed by
the capitalist or by the operative. What really does
concern the public is, that profits, by whomsoever re-
alised, should be economised, not squandered without
replacement—should be accumulated as a future labour
fund, tollerace the sinews of fresh enterprise, and to
afford the means of opening up new sources of produc-
tion. What would really become of these profits, or of
an amount of wages greater than the intrinsic value of
the work done for it, need not be difficult of con-
jecture, because we see before our eyes the applica-
tion made of surplus wages by their recipients.
So long as the operatives can afford to keep a Saint
Monday, all the talk about the " down-trodden song
of labour" and " the grasping capitalist" is mere fudge
and cant. But is that the only saint's-day of labour ?
A clerk in our employment was, about 18 months ago,
appointed accountant and cashier of a large colliery and
iron mine in Staffordshire. For a great many years it
had entailed a very heavy loss on the proprietor. Wages
averaged 3s. 6d. per day. Notwithstanding the great
deficit suffered by their employer, the miners and col-
hers, by striking or threatening to strike, screwed up
the wages by 3d. at a time until they have managed to
extract an average rate of ss. per day—thus leaving the
proprietor to suffer all the loss, and bearing off his recent
profits by raising their wages to the extent of his gains.
What is the effect ? Not one man ever appears on
Monday ; a very few on Tuesday ; not a great many on
"Wednesday. Many are entirely idle three days out of
every six ; they spend all their surplus earnings on their
lowest appetites ; they raise thereby, to their own class,
the price of coals,, iron, and corn ; and they waste on
their craving maw what the capitalist would have saved
for reproduction. It is high time these men should be
assured that the country cannot afford to keep them in
this state. If the middle classes or the employers were
to allow themselves similar leisure, or such indulgences,
they would be ruined in a month. It is very clear that
wages which can afford the means of idleness and dis-
sipation for a third or a half of the ordinary hours
and days of labour are not only adequate, but greatly
above an equitable reward for the value of the ser-
vice. The fact is, the more men in such an inferior
state of moral and mental attainment get for their labour
the less they will produce, the greater will be the fund
for bribing them to dissipation and debauchery, and the
more rapidly will the capital or labour fund of the coun-
try be reduced without any;process of reproduction. But
we have no need to wander from Preston in search of
materials for discussing the question, every day becom-
ing more important, at issue between employers and em-
ployed. Mr. Cowell himself unconsciously groped and
stumbled his way into truth, when he told the Spital-
fields' weavers that, if they succeeded, their satins and
silk velvets would find their best customers in thefactory
operatives. Mr. Lowe, the Lancashire correspondent of
the Leader, the great advocate of the Lock-outs, tells us
that—

From one cause or another it may be safely estimated
that, even in the best of times, one half of the operative
population are in debt, and how far they are excusable in
being so may be imagined from the following case, which
is by no means exceptional. A single family in Preston,
consisting of a father, twa daughters, and four lads, takes
home weekly at the mill at which they work 85s. 61. The
sum is made up thus— s. d.
Father, a spinner
Two daughters, in the card room, 11s. 3d. each
Eldest daughter, a piecer ll 0
Three lads, in the card room, ss. 6d. each

85 0
Yet this family is in debt to the extent of more than 501.
Let us not be accused of partiality or exaggeration. Mr.
Lowe no doubt states that the case "is by no means ex-
ceptional," and then in his next letter says that it is ex-
ceptional. An income of 2211. ayear for a family of thrum-
sters certainly affords no very promising material for the
poetry of those who call weavers " white slaves," and ma-
nufacturers "blood suckers." The writer declares he takes
the statement of earnings of this family from the mouth of
the manufacturer who now employs them. But Mr. J. B.
Horsfall, of Roy ton, takes him to task for exaggeration,
and gives his own version thus—
The case, when fairly stated, should stand as follows :
s.
Father a spinner
0
Eldest lad, a piecer ll 0
Two daughters, in the card-room, Os. each lB 0
Three lads, at 3s. 6d., 4s. 6d., and ss. 6d l3 6

62 6
To the above may be added the mother and three children
who have no earnings; making in all ten persons who have
to subsist on 625. a week, a trifle over 6s. each, which goes
in the following way :--

S. d.
Rent of house, which belongs to master (worth 35.) 4 0
Coals, candles, soap, soda, &c 3 3
Clothes, sloes, hats, caps, stockings, bedding, and
everything in the wearing line for 10 persons l2 6
Taxes, medical foes, schooling, books, &c.
Assistant washerwomen to the family (one day) 2 0
Sundries, which every housewife knows 1 6
Loss of work, through sickness, holidays, break-
downs, &c.

5 0

30 9
Thus you see, nearly one-half of the entire income is ex-
pended before a bite of food can be bought.

Now, what we desire to ask, not, indeed, of Cowell and
his corps, nor of those cotton spinners who appear to
think that nothing is good enough for them, but of
the neutral public, is, does this case, as stated
by the operative champion himself, afford any pretext
or apology for a strike, or a demand for an advance
of 10 per cent ? Is there any such great witchcraft
in spinning and weaving, or rather, in looking on while
the machinery of the capitalist spins and weaves, as that
a family of operatives should be regarded as ground
down and oppressed by an annual income of 1621. 10s. ?
Pray, how many well-taught clerks or shopmen get so
much? What are the average incomes of our dissenting
parsons, or working clergy ? Take a solicitor or bar-
rister, from the time of his admission, through his whole
career, do the class on an average, from first to last,
make more ? Is there anything so unendurable in 31.
2s. 6d. per week, as that a set of psalm-singing pietists
should raise hymns to the apotheosis of 10 per cent.,
and glorify God by the assurance that his angels look
down in smiling satisfaction upon a call for 3s. lid.:
from hard-hearted railloerats, to sainted carders and
martyred piecers ? These men have just six times
_la.
income of the average wages of our agricultural poipuilia
lation—three times the average of our shopmen a
clerks—twice th.at of our curates and Dissenting
preachers--more than twice that of our
tschooltnasters.
Nay, nobody pays school fees or pew rents more grudg-
ingly than these 10 per cent. Gracchi—as o much do
they grumble at the living of the poor hdopmen, that
they are the great projectors of co-operative stores, to
save in the prices of their purchases
fallacy which deceives both
. the salaries of the
poor " counter-jumpers.
workmen and the public isthat operatives should be
paid according to age and sex, not according to what
they produce. What they really want is, the pay of
skilled able-bodied men for work that can be quite as
well done by women and children, and, with very slight
tuition, by common labourers. Well dces Mr. R. thus
appeal to the Leader
I am the father of a family equal in number with those
in the case stated by Mr. Horsfall. I carry en a business
in one of the main streets of a city, and am engaged almost
incessantly behind my counter, from 7 o'clock in the morn-
ing till 9 at night, with the 'help of my wife and eldest
daughter. My yearly profits do not subject me to the in-
come tax ; and the rent being left out of the account, I
ducati
may put my weekly gains for all household expenditure,
e of my children, &c. &c.,while Mr.
Horsfall's, with a deduction of his rent, lewil tand at 585..
gal Now, considering the difference which necessarily
arises from our different positions as to appearance, what
can his privations be to mine ? My eldest ison is bound
apprentice with a premium, and only ono of my children
earns any thing. My case is only a sample of millions in
this country among the trading classes, who have their
lives wcrried with the labours, the uncertainties, the vexa-
tions and cheatings incident to business ; and yet these
grumbling factory operatives, who have no trouble in mak-
ing out bills, or giving receipt stamps, but only once a
week to hold up their hands for their wages, think them-
selves the harshly-treated and ill-used victims of capi-
talists !

Messrs. Scott, Richmond, and Co., in their trade cir-
cular, state that 1,000 new hands have been imported
ir.to Preston, who acquire the art with great quickness
—that many of the old hands have fallen away from the
strike, and that most of the mills are running. In these
circumstances, with victory in their hands, why have
the masters had the folly to convert discomfited plotters
into martyrs, by committing the leaders of the strike for
conspiracy ? The step is false, unwise, unjust—what-
ever the law may be. For the law itself, we think it
very doubtful—as the judges of the land themselves do.
Confident in the certain failure of thy absurd principle

advocated by Cowell, we desire to see both parties fight
the case out without the aid of the law, or the petti-
fogging of attorneyship—assured that the principles of
political economy will vindicate themselves. If they
can not, we would give them up.

SPORTING NOTES.

THE METROPOLITAN STAKES.
The race for the Northamptonshire. stakes exercised
little material or perceptible influence over the betting
on the Metropolitan. Still speculation was marked by
several significant incidents. Royalist received increased
support, and the running of Rataplan and Defiance oc-
casioned a still stronger desire to " get on". Jonathan
Martin. The demonstration which was made in favour
of Royalist has been sustained with spirit and effect, and
no movement, however well directed, is likely to drive
him from the position to which he has been advanced.
Report states that Royalist has been most highly and
satisfactorily tried, and the betting seemingly attests the
truth of this rumour. This circumstance, and the light-
ness of the weight at which he is handicapped, induce me
to estimate his chance more favourably than his public
performances warrant. Indeed, were his pretensions to
success founded solely on his running last season, they
would be of the slenderest and most insignificant cha-
racter. Still, notwithstanding the boasted improve-
ment in his form, I regard doubtingly Royalist's ability
to achieve success.

Jonathan Martin has received almost equal support
with Royalist, and their recommendations to notice are
somewhat evenly balanced. Both horses belong to
" stables" that seldom make a mistake in their calcula-
tions, and both have been backed with a spirit and fre-
quency that indicate extraordinary confidence on the
part of their respective supporters. But of the lightly
weighted division, notwithstanding the growing popu-
larity of Royalist and Jonathan Martin, I deem St.
Clair the most fairly entitled to notice. The manner in
which he won the Spring Cup, at Liverpool, is sufficient
to warrant high expectations of his chance.
From the top weights I shall select Muscovite and Rao*
to represent my interest. Of late many heavy invest-
ments have been made on Muscovite, who, it is said, is
about to fulfil the expectations which have for some time
been formed of him. Soon after the publication of the
weights, I expressed an opinion that he was handicap-
ped on advantageous terms, and stated that if intended
he would prove a formidable competitor. Circumstances
have confirmed that opinion, and, with Flatman's assist-
ance, I shall expect to see Muscovite figure prominently
in the race. Haco has been carefully prepared for this
engagement, and since last autumn a marked improve.
ment has been effected in his form. His owner
has backed bim for 400/. and calculates with con-
fidence upon the ultimate profit of his investment.
Annie Sutherland was advanced prominently into
notice during the recent meeting at Northampton,
and her alleged pretensions to support are not incom-
patible with her public performances. She has frequently
displayed racing merit of more than a second class order,
and the comparatively favourable weight at which she is
handicapped will doubtless enable her to show to advan-
tage in the encounter. The chances of the other ani-
mals likely to compose the field I shall not now bring
under notice. I have merely confined my remarks to
those horses whose titles to consideration I deem the
soundest. Muscovite, Haco, Annie Sutherland, and St.
Clair are, in my opinion, those whose chances to success
appear to be most formidable. To-night I start for
Croxton Park, whence my final selection shall be com-
municated. There, among the "gentlemen riders" I
may hear of something to my advantage.
The City and Suburban Handicap is likely to occasion
an encounter of perhaps more enduring interest than
that for the Metropolitan. The field indeed is likely to
be numerically stronger, although speculation on it may
be less actively pursued. On examining the list of ac-
ceptances, the eye is attracted by the following names :
Orestes, Adine, Catspaw, The Friar, Itch, Merry Monk,
and Lysisca ; and these horses appear to be the most
favourably weighted. From the lot I shall select
Orestes, Itch, and Lysisca to occupy the foremost places
in the race.

At present I shall not extend my remarks to either
the Railway Plate or the Two Year Old Stakes ; indeed,
so little is yet known about the probable starters for
either event, that it would be ridiculous to attempt to
select the winners.

The Croxton Park Races will commence to-morrow,
but the approaching "doings" of the club have yet ex•
cited no attention among betting men. Bourtoa seems
likely to follow up his recent successes by winning the
Granby Handicap, although his defeat by Titterstone
would occasion me no surprise.
April 3.

A FRESH MAN.

SERIOUS FIRES IN THE METROPOLIS.

Yesterday morning, about one o'clock, information
was received at the fire-stations, that an alarming fire
had broken out in a range of premises, let out in tene-
ments, situated at 15, Tottenham-place, Tottenham-
court-road. To that spot the engines of the parish,
London Brigade, and West of England started, upon
reaching which, the firemen found that the whole of the
upper portion of the building was in flames, and the fire
was rising so high through the roof as to illuminate the
surrounding districts to such an extent as to draw some
thousand persons to the scene. Fortunately, an abun-
dant supply of water was at once procured, and no time
having been lost in setting the engines to work, and the
help afforded by hired assistants„ he water thrown upon
the flames soon began to tell wnh amazing effect, and
in less than an hour the conflagration was entirely ex-
tinguished, but not until the upper part of the premises
was entirely destroyed, and the lower part seriously
damaged. The origin of the fire is enveloped in obscurity
and unfortunately the sufferers were not insured for a
single penny.
A fire also happened in the premises of Mr. John
Jones, architect, No. 24, Margaret-terrace, Oakley-
street, Chelsea. It commenced on the ground floor, and
rapidly extended towards the upper floors. At the time
of the outbreak the inmates were in their beds asleep,
and it was a work of no little difficulty that the parties
were enabled to effect a safe retreat. The engines of
the parish, London Brigade, and that of the West of
England Office, attended as early as possible, and a
plentiful supply of water having been procured, the fire-
men and parish engineers managed to confined the de-
structive element to the premises in which it originated,
but not, however, until a serious amount of damage was
done to the premises and their contents. The origin of
the fire is unknown. Fortunately the sufferer was in-
sured in the Manchester Fire Office.

Another fire broke out in the premises of Mr. Kaber
(private), 37, Whitecross•place, Nelson-street, Finsbury,
but, owing to the timely arrival of assistance, the damage
done was not very extensive, which was fortunate, as
the sufferer was not insured.

Between ten and eleven o'clock yesterday forenoon a
fire happened in the premises of Mr. John Hamblin,
carpenter and builder, 14, Bartlett's-buildings, Fetter-
lane. It commenced from some unknown cause in one
of the workshops on the first floor, and, owing to the
inflammable nature of the contents, a fearful contiagra-
tion was at one time expected. The engines of the
London Brigade and the West of England Office were
soon in attendance, and, owing to the exertions of the
firemen and neighbours, the flames were extinguished,
but not until that part of the premises in which the dis-
aster commenced was all but burned out, and the re-
mainder of the building greatly damaged. It is un-
known at present whether or not the sufferer was
insured.
Last evening (Sunday), just as the parishioners were
proceeding to church, the neighbourhood of Pitfield-
street, Heston, presented an unusual scene of bustle
and
confusion, in consequence of the cry of fire being
suddenly raised. It was soon ascertained that a fire, of
rather formidable character, had broked out in the
premises belonging to Mr. Henderson, a fancy bread
and biscuit baker, carrying on a large business at the
corner of Queen-street and Pitfield-street, nearly adjoining
Mr. Alderman Lawrence's extensive timber-yard and
stores. The outbreak commenced in a flour store, over
the bakehouse adjoining, but at the rear of the front
premises. Owing to the valuable contents of the sur-
rounding buildings, messengers were at once depatched
in sundry directions for the engines, to prevent, if pos-
sible, the conflagration from extending to the contiguous
premises, in the course of a few minutes the parish
engines ittended, followed immediately afterwards by
Mr. Baylis, the head engineer, with the Whitecross-street
engine and firemen. Several other brigade engines, and
also that of the West of England Company, arrived in
rapid succession, and owing to the exertions of the fire-
men, under the superintendence cf Messrs. Fogo, Con-
norton, and Baylis, the fire was, in the course of an
hour or so, subdued, but not until the flour store in
which it began was burnt out, the roof destroyed, and
an adjoining store damaged by fire and water. Fortu-
nately the sufferer was insured in the Imperial and
Legal and Commercial and Manchester United Fire-
offices. The damage done, however, it is stated, will
not prevent the business from being carried on as here-
tofore. The misfortune is attributed to some childrea
playing with some lucifer matches, and who had a
narrow escape from being burnt to death.

ROYAL COLLEGE OF SURGEONS.—The following gen.
tlemen having undergone the necessary examinations for
the diploma, were admitted members of the college at the
meeting of the Court of Examiners on the :31st ult. ;
Messrs. John Dixon, Hemsworth, Yorkshire ; James
Robert Moriarty Pomery, St. Erne, Truro, Cornwall ;
Richard Buswell, Northampton ; George Stratten Syni
mons, Sloane-street, Chelsea ; George Mainwaring Past,
army ; Thomas Dickinson, Sloane-street, Chelsea ; Ro.
bert Henry Moon, Ilfracombe : W illiarn Waddel nizzed,
E.I.C. Service ; Gerrge Borwiek Mead, Ramsey, Hunt.
ingdonshire ; Christopher Bulteel, Plymouth, Devon ;
Robert Boxall, Guildford.
CAPTURE OF A RUSSIAN VESSEL.—_
Waterford harbour,
Yesterday (Thurs..
Orftorand captured. The
(wi aays) fiar eßduasts ifarno vn e sis)eul
n, inea
nntiirtokni nf
master and crew were totally ignorant of the declaration
of war. The vessel, which Was corn laden, from the
Black Sea, three months out, is at present in Water-
ford harbour, and the master and crew have bean com-
mitted to gaol as prisoners of war.—Dublin -4fercantile
Advertiscr.--tnder the head of "The first Prize,"
the Water' Ord NOr 3 has the following paragraph
The Russian bhip :Norden, which arrived in this port
on the 27th from Odessa, with 2,550 quarters Indian
Corn, and 800 quarters wheat, was sold on Wednesday
to Messrs. White, Brothers, for 2,0007., the captain
being under the belief, probably, that a seizure would
take place when war is declared. The Norden is 486
tons register, said to be only five years built, and in
pgd Failing order,"