The Sun.
London, England, 1833-11-27 00:00:00

ON CONII3INATION.—No. 1.

The attention which the press has latel
bestowed upon combinations is another sign of
the times, and an indication that the interest anti
power of the common people are becoming better
understood. The misfortune which has atfender'

other discussions is equally apparent in this—
namely, that one portion of the press are strenu-
ous and uncompromising advocates on one side
of the question, and another equally strenuous
and uncompromising advocates on the other ;
so that the public, like the ass in the fable (we
beg pardon for the simile), stand between the
two bundles of hay, each apparently inviting.
and turns its head from side to side, unable to
determine which must have the preference. Is
a question like the present, which political
bias ought not to interfere, this division of opi-
nion can arise only from a want of competent
knowledge, and this is the more to he deplored,
as the period is rapidly approaching when action,
and not discussion, will be required ; and our
object is to show in its true light combination,
whether amongst masters or men.
Combination, in the general sense of the
word, includes most of the companies and cor-
porations in existence. Insurance, Canal, Rail-
way, Mining, and Trading Companies, however
designated, are combinations—that is, a union
of parties for the attainment of certain real or
imaginary advantages, and the various chartered
incorporations are the same. Indeed, if we
trace many of these to their origin, they present
a very striking similarity in the circumstances
attendant upon their first formation to those now
at issue between the masters and their hands. *
In many parts of the Continent guilds or crafts
have been in force for many ages, the object of
which is to watch over and preserve the rights
and prosperity of each particular trade ; but in
these instances, generally speaking, masters anti
men are equally united, and in so far they differ
widely from the combinations, as they are
developing themselves in England, France, and
the United States, in which masters and men
stand in hostile array to each other.
During periods of prosperity in our manufac-
tures, the seeds of union among the operatives
have remained dormant, hut in times of difficulty
with masters, whether arising from changes of
value in price of the raw material, or gluts in
the foreign or home markets, they have for
many years never failed to display themselves.
As our population has kept increasing, and, since
the application of steam power, requiring for its
profitable employment certain local advantages,
has brought men into dense masses, and in in-
timate communion, the nature of combinations,
and their formidable character, have forced them
on the public attention. A scattered population,
like the agricultural,never emersinto these unions,
and hence one cause why this population has
never been able to withstand the sweeping
destruction which has already produced such
lamentable consequences to it. The extension
of education, the teaching men their rank as
social beings—the facil.ty of intercourse be-
tween great towns—the gradual condensation of
workmen in particular districts—all are causes
tending to strengthen and extend comleinations ;
and at the present time a careful examination
will demonstrate that the hands in all our great
branches of manufacture are in very close union,
and should a favourable crisis arise, have it in
their power to paralyze the springs of industry,
to drive out capital, and ruin themselves, their
employers, and their country.
It thus becomes of the utmost importance that
the contending parties should understand the
ground on which they stand, and the public,
whose interest is so immediately connected with
our national welfare, should have in its posses-
sion means of judging between them. The
little practical knowlege displayed by our legis-
lators on the consequence of intermendling
on a subject of vastly more consequence than
the East or West India question, makes us
fearful that all appeals to them wilt only lead to
confusion worse confounded. The happiness
and comfort of millions of our countrymen are at
stake—they exist in the very heart of the nation,
and upon their labour is dependent the profitable
employment of an enormous money capital,
which has only to be freed from its fetters to
diffuse its blessings, like an invigorating stream,
over the whole kingdom.
In the further examination of this momentous
question, for the sake of simplicity, it will be
desirable to confine our attention to one particu-
lar branch of manufacture. It signifies nothing
%%nether we take the woollen, the silk, the iron,
the coal, or the cotton trade—the same circum-
stances pervade each ; but being situated in the
centre of tile principal cotton and silk trade, for
the sake of perspicuity, we shall confine our
observations to these, premising that our remarks
are equally applicable to all.
The exact meaning of combination amongst
workmen is this—an union to keep up
wages to a certain standard. Besides the general
definition, there are some minor points cot -
tended for, such as regulation as to hours of
labour, modes of measuring work done, em-
ployment of particular persons, &c., &c.; and to
effect these objects, the men bind themselves by
certain laws—raise funds by stated allowances—
and refuse to permit any but those entering into
their plans to work.
Morally speaking, the men have an undoubted
right to combine, and there is no law now in
force to prevent them from so doing. The phy-
sical strength and mechanical skill necessary for
labour are the property of the persons possessing
them, they constitute their disposable capital, and
as such are as much articles of barter as com-
modities of any other kind, or of money capital.
In labour, or natural capital, as it may be
termed, is a more inalien species of property
than any other. Like other kind of capital,
its exchangeable value must, however, depend
upon a variety of causes—and in so far, there-
fore, the men err in fixing upon a standard of
value, without taking into consideration the in-
evitable fluctuations of produced capital, or the
fund accumulated for its payment—the price of
food—the condition of the markets—the effects
of competition—necessarily involve the accu-
mulated fund in constant changes, and, most
assuredly, labour, or natural capital, must sub-
mit to the same variations. It is here that the
labourers, from their want of general informa-
tion, and from the impossibility of their knowing
all the various causes which depreciate money
capital, forget the interest and equally undoubted
right of their masters or employers, who should
not be expected to expend their accumulated ca-
• Adam Smith, in speaking of the granting of charters
to cities, &c., during the feudal times, says, " The in-
habitants of cities and burghs, considered as single
individuals, had no power to defend themsel►es against
the tyranny kind overgrown power of the barons and great
lords ; but, by en ering into a league with their neighbours,
they were cap4ble of making no contemptible resistance. The
barons devised the burghers, and the burghers hated anti
hared the barons. The king, by granting them charters,
gave them a great means of security and independence."--
Book 111. See also Robertson.

pital in the purchase of an article which would
entail a positive loss upon them: for by so doing,
•hey would speedily put it out of their power
to benefit their hands, by an exchange of one
,necies of caiital for another—an exchange
meant to be mutually beneficial. On the con-
trary, the maters, who stand as middle-men,
between producers, on the one hand, and con-
,uniers (the public) on the other, are bound, as
in all other business arrangements, to pay to the
labourers or producers their fair share of profit,
constituting the marketable value of their com-
modiiy, and to supply the consumers or public
with the production on such terms as will enable
them to secure a trade gain upon their outlay of
money cipital, such as proper interest of money,
dlowance for ri,k, wear and tear, and credit.
This is the position in which the parties stand
with regard to each other, and to the public. lit
•ntr next we shall enter more minutely into the
influence of combination upon the wages and
condition of the operatives, and show in what
hey are advantageous, or ocher ways to their
promoters.