The Sun.
London, England, 1848-09-04 00:00:00

FRASER.

Fraser has done the cause of truth much service
this month by his eloquent and logical defence of the
science of political economy, against those who abuse
the professors of the science, and by appeals to the
prejudices of the unlearned and ignorant endeavour
o oppose seminsacit ie
of
dissemination
Copernicus
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a of political economy is now in nearly a similar posi-
tion to that
tht the
"the
whichdis
systemthe
when Galileo was compelled by the Inquisition to
declare
damn-
able heresy," but as surely as the world goes round
the sun, so surely will the day come when the
Galileos and Copernicus's of political economy will
be the honoured of all mankind, and when protec-
tionists pseudo-humanitarians et hoc genus nine,
who now raise a hue andcry
who proclaim its truths, will
be classed by
an enlightened posterity in
the same category
with the pur-blind bats who incarcerated Galileo in
the dungeons of the Inquisition. The notice of Mr.
Mill's recently published work on Political Economy
with
with which the present number of Fraser opens, is a
masterly review of a masterly work. Of all the
politico-economical, or more properly speaking, social
problems of the day, by far the most important, and
at the same time the most difficult, is the equitable
adjustmentiof the respective cl • •
aims of capital and of
labour. Until this problem is solved there can be no
peace in the world. In France and in
Germany
the non-solution of this
problem has produced
revolution and bloodshed—revolution and blood-
shed that must be of periodical recurrence
until the solution of this problem shall be arrived at.
That solution in those countries can scarcely, from
the exasperated state of men's minds, be ex-
pected to be arrived at save by force, the
bigotry of the Communists on the one hand
and of the propertied classes on the other,
forbid all hope of any amicable adjustment of this im-
portant question in those countries. In this country,
however, matters have not yet proceeded to extremities,
and we !may, therefore, fairly indulge the hope
that, as England was the first to set the example to
the world of constitutional liberty, so she will be the
first to solve the great problem of the equitable ad-
justment of the rights of labour and of capital. In
the present number of Fraser, in the " Current His-
tory of the Month," under the head " The Anta-
gonism of Capital and Labour," we and laid down
certain great principles, on the due observance of
which the solution of this great question appears to
us to depend. In allusion to the dispute which has
recently arisen between the Northwestern Railway
Company. and their engine-drivers, the writer ob•
serves :
" The great difficulty of the age seems to be how to
settle the relations between capital and labour. A con-
fusion of ideas prevails. Capital, in order to secure pre-
cision in its operations, desires to exercise an almost
military despotism over labour. The argument is, that
subordinates must never dictate to their superiors. This
involves the important question of combination. For the
good of society, and for the benefit of the working classes
themselves, combination must be discouraged, just as
agitation or resistance to the law should be discouraged.
But it is a question whether this rule should be carried
so far as to preclude labour from, at any time, asserting
its own rights. Without some sort of combination—at
all events, without that unanimity of feeling which is
tantamount to combination—it is, in the main, impossible
for the working men to sustain themselves against an un-
fair pressure. The moral right must be judged of by
each individual case; but great care should be taken in
laying down the abstract rule, lest a temptation should
be offered, either to undue oppression or undue resist-
ance. The whole difficulty lies in a confusion of two
distinct propositions. As to the performance of duties,
the authority of the superior must be supreme; but it is
wrong to defend the same despotic power where the
question is one of rights. It is beyond doubt that a
labouring man has a right to put his own price upon his
labour. The law of demand and supply is quite sufficient
to bring him speedily to his senses.
" This dispute, now happily settled, serves as an index
to the evil and a guide to the remedy. We cannot find
i
words to express our satisfaction at the manner n which
Small
as business has been conducted and concluded.
as it may seem amidst the exciting political events of the
hour, we regard it as the commencement of a new era in
one branch of our social history. The wealth and power
of the company, on the one hand, and the conduct of the