The Sun.
London, England, 1853-10-26 00:00:00

•
On Monday morning last the unemployed opera-
tives assembled at Preston to the number of several
thousands, and passed certain resolutions respect-
ing their position and duties. Most readers are
probably aware that these, in common with many
other workmen, have " turned out," or, in other
words, have ceased to labour, with the view of thus
coercing their masters into the payment of wages
greater by 10 per cent. than those heretofore re-
ceived. Their presumption is that employers,
rather than forego the entire profits of business,
will come into the terms of the operatives, but as
the operatives also must be foregoing at the same
time the profits of their labour, it is obvious that
the trial of endurance must be the same to both
parties. The workpeople having all made common
cause, are aiding each other to subsist by common
contributions. The masters have likewise made
common cause, and will, no doubt, play as far as
possible into each other's hands. The two parties
are thus fairly pitted. In the end either one of
them must give way from sheer pressure, or they
must come to some better understanding by mutual
agreement. We acknowledge that we should be
sorry to see the former result, whichever might be
the successful party. Neither masters nor men,
we fear, would be altogether likely to use their
victory temperately, and, as the contest, while it
lasts, is not only oppressive to both, but pr,e.ilcli-
cial to the interests of the country at large,.'-4
should be glad to contribute towards its settle-
ment.
We admit, to begin with, that the workmen are
lawfully competent, not only to ask for higher
wages, but to ask in a body, and to make their
return to work contingent on the satisfaction of
their demands. In other words, they have a fair
right to " strike" if they please. The only insuf-
ferable feature about these transactions is the
coercion generally put upon many members of the
trade who would work if they were permitted. As
to demagogues and agitators, no doubt they are at
work in their usual way, and with their usual false
and selfish spirit, but this cannot be helped. Bodies
of men must have leaders, and if these leaders think
more of themselves and their gains than of their fol-
lowers and their cause, it is no more than maybe said
of higher classes than Preston weavers. But the
rights thus acknowledged are indisputably common
to masters as well as workpeople ; nor should we
think, indeed, of asserting so self-evident a fact
had we not observed a disposition among the men
to question it. They speak of the Masters' Union
as something ill-meant, overbearing, and tyranni-
cal, forgetting that it is only a counterpart of their
own, and caused, in fact, by their own example.
The scheme of the operatives, like that of the amal-
gamated engineers some time ago, was to " strike"
by piecemeal—that is to say, to " strike" in one
.establishment only a time, so that the workpeople
of all the other establishments, being in full em-
ploy, might be able to sustain the " strikers"
against their own particular employers until the
lay was gained, after which the same operation
would be conducted against another firm, until all
had been conquered in succession. To encounter
such plans as these the masters were evidently
compelled to unite themselves, and to close their
mills at one and the same time until the dispute
W S ended.

We need not say that we have no to the
operatives, and that we do not speak with any par-
tiality to the employers. We take a fair position
between the two, but we are compelled to add that
the workpeople have hitherto failed in the very first
point we have a right to look for. They demand an ad-
vance oflo per cent. in their wages—on what ground ?
We have read many speeches and handbills of the
" turnouts," but we have never seen this important
fact stated at all. No doubt, it would be very
convenient and agreeable to them to get 11s. in-
stead of 10s. So it would to us. So it would to
most people living by their labour, or, indeed, by
Any other means. But where is the extra money
to come from ? If it is not fairly provided for by
some extraordinary source of profit it is not only
not fairly due, but can never long continue to be
paid. The only ground on which the workpeople
can justify their demand is such a change in the
state of trade as to warrant the payment of 11s.
uow -where 10s. were paid at the beginning of the
7pAr. Possibly thii 'change has occurred, but it
has never been proved or shown. If the work-
people are not convinced of the fact, they are not
justified in " striking;" if they are, they should
give a plain account of their convictions. To meet
together and say merely that they " will never re-
sume labour until a full and unconditional 10 per
cent. has been conceded" is to act in a manner
which can never be approved by public opinion.
On such a principle they might just as well ask for
20 per cent. as 10, and, when they had obtained it,
demand 30 per cent. more. We want to hear the
grounds on which this demand is made.
The "strikes" are certainly not traceable to the
price of provisions, for they commenced before prices
had sensibly risen, and, even if this had been the
origin of the dispute, the case would not have
been defensible. If the receipts of an operative
are insufficient, owing to high prices, to procure
him what he needs, he deserves both sympathy
and assistance, but it does necessarily follow
that his employer can increase his wages, for
wages depend on the profits of the trade, and
not on the cost of provisions. Very likely the
diminution of supply in the labour-market may
improve the value of labour, but this can certainly
have nothing to do with the " strike," for it is a
matter which would very soon settle itself without
any such aid. No employer can ever procure
labour cheaply when it is really dear. Perhaps the
influx of gold may in time affect the currency, and
therein the scale of money payments, but this has
not occurred yet. What is it, then, which has oc-
curred to justify the present " strikes ?" If the
workpeople have a substantial case let them plainly
state it, and we will take care they shall be
heard. _ _ -

"The cotton lords," said Mr. G. Cowell in his
address to the Preston meeting, " have their ser-
vants to wait upon them, and their wives luxu-
riating in silks and satins." But would working
people be any better if servants were not wanted
by somebody ? Is not a good place with good
wages a very comfortable thing for a working man's
son or daughter ? As to " silks and satins," how
could Mr. Cowell talk so like a fool ? Why, what
would become of all the Spitalfields weavers if some-
body or other did not wear silks and satins, in-
stead of " miserable cotton dresses ?" Don't we
constantly have complaints from these quarters
whenever silks and satins are going out of fashion ?

And isn't the Queen constantly solicited to give a
great ball, in order that the trade may get a little
brisker ? The Preston weavers, as well as the
other operatives, will be quite able, we are sure,
to understand what we now write, and to see the

truth of what we say. If they have any reason to
believe that the state of trade can afford 10 per
cent. higher wages, or the state of the labour-
market entitle them to ask the advance, let them
prove their case, and they will have the public
with them ; but, if they have merely an idea that
is a good time to " strike" for more pay, and if
they have no better ground for so doing than be-
cause they think they should like the increase,
they will get no support from without, and their
position must by-and-by become worse than it was
before.

(From the Morning Advertiser.)

No one who is interested in the social prosperity
of this country can contemplate without much pain
the misunderstandings and unnatural alienations
which are growing up between the various classes
of operatives and their employers. The present
logs to both classes is enormous, while to indivi-
duals it must prove in many cases, if not absolutely
ruinous, certainly the means of crippling their re-
spurces for a long time to come.

In Preston about 20,000 of the best work-people
in Lancashire are in the streets, and it will be seen
that while it is most properly asserted that they
are not idle and dissolute characters, there are
-lose approaches to disorder which call for magis-
;erial interposition ; and although by great efforts
money has been obtained to keep up the strike,
there are sufficient indications that before very
long the sinews of war will fail.
In reviewing the strike at Stockport, and which
lasted twelve weeks, it appears, although the ope-
ratives have been successful, that seven months of
industry at the advanced wages will not be suffi-
cient to recompense the men for the loss they sus-
tained during the strike. How prejudicially this
method of adjusting matters operates against the
men, is sufficiently evident in noticing the helpless
condition in which the turn-outs frequently find
themselves placed. As the result of the turn-out
of the dyers in Manchester, about 1,600 men are
:eft out of work, their places being filled by new
hands, and similar painful consequences have been
experienced elsewhere.
We subscribe ex animo, as we think every one
must, to the judicious observations madeonthis sub-
ject by Mr. T. B. Addison, in his address to the