The Sun.
London, England, 1853-09-10 00:00:00

THE STRIKE MOVEMENT.

.
'• ',--
(From the Times.) ''
/4.,.."1.-:= ''4.10,t,„. )
For some months past the labouring clalges4it;.; „.....
this kingdom have been engaged in controveriu.-ek v tl:Siiiati:
with their employers on the subject of wages.
These transactions have been generally compre-
hended under the designation of the " Strike
Movement," but the phrase conveys no very accu.
rate idea of the proceedings.. In the list of remon-
strants have been included on this occasion many
classes of not persons usually ranked as "labour-
ers," while their representations have not, in all in-
stances, been accompanied by those menaces which
characterise what is called a " strike." Bodies of
men under some degree of discipline, such as the
police, and in the receipt of good regular salaries,
have made formal applications for an increase of
these salaries ; and throughout the country gene-
rally there seems to have prevailed an idea that
everybody was entitled to something more than he
possessed. At the same time, these manifestations
have been likewise attended by strikes of the genu-
ine old description, and large numbers of men in the
manufacturing districts are " standing out," as it
is termed, at this moment. We may say, in short,
that a period of remarkable prosperity has been
distinguished by many of those social disputes
which have heretofore been contingent upon finan-
cial embarrassments or stagnant trade.
We do not mention this as any remarkable
phenomenon, because everybody is perfectly aware
of its nature and its origin. It is from the very
excess of national prosperity that the demands in
question have arisen. They have not been sug-
gested by any suffering or pressure, and, although
the prospects of the harvest have excited some un-
easiness, nothing like scarcity can yet be felt or
even predicted. People seldom murmur by antici-
pation, and the fault indeed of the working classes
lies on the side rather of improvidence than over-
anxiety. The very circumstances of these proceed-
ings indicate the novelty of their character. Not-
withstanding numerous "strikes," we have had no
kind of disturbance. There have been no monster
meetings—no street riots—no seditious harangues
—no tumultuous processions—no appeals to popu-
lar sympathy—no cries of " Bread or Blood !
no musterings of troops—no sanguinary collisions.
Some thousands of looms, we are told, are even
now stopped in the neighbourhood of Manchester
alone, and yet, with all these hands on the turn-
out, the manufacturing districts are as tranquil as
the Brighton Downs. The truth is, that the work-
men are taking the upper hand. Instead of being
overborne and straitened, they are experiencing,
or at least assuming, such an improvement in their
relative position as induces them to demand better
terms for themselves. They think there is more
money in the country than formerly and fewer
men, so they make the most of labour against
capital, and compound a good case, as they ima-
gine, out of the scarcity of the latter and the abun
dance of the former.
Nobody will deny that operatives ought to par-
ticipate as fairly as cap
italists in the results of
commercial prosperity, but these things are all
regulated by immutable laws, and are beyond the
power of either Emperors or ?Unions. No despotic
decree, whether emanating from an Imperial Cabi-
net or a trades' committee-room, can permanently
affect the remuneration of labour against the laws
of trade. There are two conditions under which
wages can be advanced—that is to say, either when
a larger amount of profit is divisable among the
same number of recipients, or when the same
amount is divisible among a smaller number of
recipients. In either of these cases wages will rise.
An abundance of gold may indirectly operate to
bring about the former condition, but, taken of
itself, it affects the question but little, nor does it
benefit a workman to receive two sovereigns in the
place of one, if those two will only do in the way of
purchase what one did formerly. Similarly, a
scarcity of money or provisions may bear very
hardly upon the operative, but it would not neces-
sarily give him a title to an increase of wages. This
increase can only come out of profits, and if the
workman's share of such profits happens to go a
less way than usual in the purchase of necessaries,
that is no fault of the trade.
Now, at present can it be said that either of the
two conditions required foran advance of wages have
been actually fulfilled ? Have profits become larger,
or workmen become fewer ? There is no doubt
that trade has for some time past been generally
thriving, and the first result of this prosperity--
that is to say, abundance of employment, has been
everywhere seen. But can this employment com-
mand higher remuneration ? In some cases perhaps
it may. It is not quite safe to argue from conces-
sions made to this effect by employers, for they
occasionally yield against conviction rather than
incur the risk of immediate stoppage, though such
a proceeding in the end can only injure both ipar-
ties alike. Stil, upon the whole, we may conclude
that some, at any rate, of the arrangements to the
advantage of the operatives have been justified by
the profits of business. On the other hand, there
can be no question but the steady stream of emi-
gration to the gold fields must have thinned in soma
i degree the ranks of most classes of operatives, and
rendered their labour of higher market value in
proportion to the decrease o fsupply.
We are, nevertheless, disposed to conclude that
these causes, though fairly at work to a certain
extent in producing the movement referred to,
have been considerably less influential than a
species of vague persuasion without any warrant at
all. We believe many demands for increased
wages have been made on the mere ground that
they had been made by others, and on the general
supposition that it was everybody's time to get
more than before. Class after class has preferred
its requisitions exactly as the operatives of Paris
did during the brief ascendancy of M. Louis Blanc
and his "Ministry of Labour." Without any par-
ticular grievance, or any very definite aim, each
trade and community in turn borrowed a drum
and a flag, and marched off to the Hotel de Ville,
or the Luxembourg, to get its share in what was
imagined to be a redistribution of worldly advan-
tages. We are afraid many English work-people
have been doing much the same, for it is impossible
to assert that, as yet, provisions have become se-
riously dear, or gold ruinously cheap. On the
contrary, corn is even now below what ten years
ago was thought the lowest endurable price, and
money is actually scarce instead of plentiful, as the
proceedings of the Bank of England have shown.
Certainly a sovereign will go at least as far as ever
it would within recent times. We are compelled
to believe that strike after strike has been made for
no other reason than because everybody was " strik-
ing," and because an idea was thus spread abroad
that something was to be got.
What, then, is to be done in such cases ? We
think the best and most effectual course was
pointed out in some excellent observations which
we transcribed the other day from the Manchester
Guardian. Masters should put themselves in
readier and more amicable communication with
their men. An Englishman is so open to plain,
straightforward reasoning, and the truth in all these
cases can be made so clear, that misunderstanding
must almost always be the result of misinformation.
It cannot be too earnestly impressed on operatives
of all descriptions that their wages flow directly
from the capital of their employers, and that if
this capital is absorbed or driven away' their wages
must inevitably cease. In reality, the rate of wage
is not an optional matter with employers ; within
ecertaincep t a
t limits
theiri o
it can
l neither be lowered nor raised
x
n peril.
The employment of
labour depends upon the demand for it ; its price,
upon the supply. If the quantity of labour in the
market gets less,
its value will get greater, and this
additional value will ultimately be paid by the
public in the increased Cost of the article produced.
But to bring about this natural result there is no
need of a "strike." It will come surely enough
of itself, and could not be retarded by employers,
even if it were their interest to retard it. The
whole subject, in our opinion, affords remarkable
evidence of the deficient understanding between
the two classes engaged in production. In reality,
questions like these are perfectly within the
com-
prehension
of operatives, if they are openly and
temperately argued—indeed, we
have seen in the
iron trade how agreeably differences of this kind
could be adjusted by mutual and candid explana-
tion. In such a course we are convinced lies the
only road to safety, for indiscriminate concession,
tend to ruin both parties together.
no less than indiscriminate resistance, can only

SUPPLY OF BRE4,D TO THE FRENCH ARMY.—The Con-
stitutionnel has a long article on the recent regulations
of the war department for the improvement of the qua-
lity of the bread made for the army, by carrying the
bolting process to a greater extent, and thus depriving
the flour of a larger quantity of bran than has hitherto
been taken from it. Our readers will recollect that some
time ago an order was issued that the soldiers should be
permitted to purchase bread at the bakers' shops, an al-
lowance being made to them for that purpose ; but this
has been found inconvenient, as it would be necessary to
vary the pay of the troops according to the variation in
the price of bread, and the system of baking for the
army has been again resorted to. The Constitutionnel
approves highly of the last orders of the war depart-
ment, and says that by reducing the quantity of bran in
the flour, the bread becomes more digestible, and con-
sequently more wholesome. It is a curious fact, that a
very different opinion is entertained in England. There
physicians frequently recommend coarse bread to dys-
peptic patients, on account of the larger quantity of bran
that it contains, and which they contend is favourable
to digestion. We have no doubt, however, that the
Constitutionnel is right in principle, and it mentions one
fact, which appears conclusive. It states that the bran
absorbs a large quantity of water, which is not driven off
by the baking process, and consequently the nutritive
properties of bread containing an excess of bran are di-
minished.—Galignani.