The Sun.
London, England, 1856-08-19 00:00:00

DETRIMENTA.L EIPPECI.S OF .." STRIKES."'

It is curious to observe in the sea eral epochs of a na-
tion's history the recnrrecce of the 'same passions under
different guises, and the same attraeitione or repulsions
under different denominations. At one period the recol-
lection of a victorious aggression pits the representatives
of the conquerors and conquered against each other in
the constant antagonism cf race. The names of the ori-
glee' distinction remain long after both nations have
been sie.jrc'.eil to one sway and blended under one law;
and when, at last, the distinctive appellation has become
obsolete or unmeaning the division is still kept up by
be intrusion of other jealonsies and the substitution of
otncr names. In the 11th century the usual and popu-
lar cry of the Saxon-English was " Down with the Nor-
:Lens." In the 14th century that cry is heard no longer;
in its stead resounds the shout, " No gentleman !" and
three centuries later it was "No more proud Lords
and rotten-hearted BiskoPs 1" A century later heard
anathemas against "Hanoverian rats "
and "German
cormorants ;" while the present century at different
period had listened to outcries against Lords,
Bishops, and powers in generil, and among these
powers the capitalists, the 1/IWe-4-flees, and the class
of employers as a body. Thug, by right of descent,
the master manufacturer has come to fill in the
popular mind, so far as a great change of circum-
stances will permit, nearly the seine obnoxious place
that the Norman Baren, the Plantagenet Lord, or the
Stuart Peer filled in the minds of the commonalty cen-
turies ago.
The contemp'ation is a curious one. It suggests not
only commonplace reflections on the identity of htlErla.‘
nature, but also others not less striking on the muta-
bility of classes and the progress of individuals. The
outcry against capitalists and employers is a variation
of the same strain that- has been sung since there were
great and little, rice and poor, in the world. It is
the consolaion aike of oppressed poverty and queru-
lous envy. But the accidents which provoke it and
the accompaniments wbioh co:our it are peculiar to our
age, and almost peculiar to this country: The object
of the bitter complaint, the stern remonstrance, the
cynical depreciation, er the arbitrary combination is
neither invested with the exclusive privileges of a feudal
caste nor raised on the pinnacle .of courtly grandeur.
He is neither armed with the prestige of a dominant
race nor decorated with the splendours of regal favour.
He is just a man of the same origin, the same pedi-
gree, the canoe name, and, in some cases, the same
educaeion, early habit', and training, as the men who
juege him, or dislike him, or envy him. He is just
a Smith or -a ThompL.n, a Brown or a Jones, a
Wilson or a Pattisen, like the men who work at
his forgo or his jenny, in his pottery or his
foundry. The only difference between them is, that he
is the employer and they are the employed.' And what
has caused this difference ? In some cases, indeed, the
accident of inheritance or bequest ; but in the majority
of cases it is labour. The master has begun life in the
same condition as that of his labourers, or in a condition
but sightly elevated above it. His position is due to his
industry, his economy, his common sense, and perhaps,
Li some degree to that good luck, a share of which inva-
riably attends every person whose antecedent conduct
and character enable him to turn favourable opportuel-
ties to advantage. From a ceorkman he has become a
middleman ; from a middleman a small capitalist ; from
a small capitalist a large one; and, finally, an employer
of hundreds of his countrymen.
A man who has so risen cannot have effected his sue.
cess without severe struggles and frequent risks. Of
these his workmen, of course, know nothing. Of the
difficulty with which he has amassed his capital, or
of the anxiety which besets its investment, they are
ignorant. They only see the outward and visible
signs of attained prosperity—the working engine, the
crowded factory, and the abundant productions. Of
the variations in the market—of gluts—of falling prices
or failing credit—of the harassing cares which they
cause—the men have only an imperfect notion. They
see a man " no better than they are themselves"
enj ,ying, as they suppose, luxury and wealth earned by
their toil, and unembittered by solicitude ; and, without
reflection, they demand a larger share in the products of
their own industry,. or they threaten that which to an
employee is'almost ruin—" a strike."
This is one class of "strikes." Were it the only one, it
would amply justify the re-enactment of the repealed
laws against combinations. It would- be intolerable that
men should combine to extort from their masters an
amount of e ages which the current prices or the average
of profits prevented them from giving. A systematic
appeal would crush all enterprise and destroy all capital
throughout the country. It, would, in a very short time,
reh,e up foreign and rival competition on the ruins of
English industry. But this is not the only kind of
"strike." As far as the evidence given before the
Committee of the Commons on Operatives and Masters
gime that class of "strikes" which is begun and con-
tinued by ignorant and envious workmen against just
employers is exceptional. We are glad to encourage
this belief ; we are glad to believe that English workmen
do not bring the fearful alternative of a " strike" to
beer against their masters merely under a false impres-
sion or an ignoble envy of the means possessed by the
latter.

Holding this laelfe, we cannot but regret that too
many <-mployPrs give cause f.)ctLe discontent of their
wort- men by their false economy and false pride,—false
. .

. ,
,conomy wi ich degenerates into meanness, and false

pride which hardens into obstinacy. The rate of wages
should nsver seem to df pend upon the I o e er of combina-
tions, whether on the side of the men or their employers.
It is, in fact, soenrr or later, determined by other laws
which are more fair, end therefore more favourable to

!loth pattleis, that, :my elnibinations, however strong,
can be. When trade is brisk ail craft= fi el the genial
influence, and the expaiding 11,1,1 of employment opens
fiir the mechanic a curer prospect of augmented wages
than any union could 'effect ; when trade slackens the
competition of unemp:oyed workmen and the fall of

profits force a reclucti-onof wages which no, union can
resist. In the former case it is foolish parsimony or
foolish obstinacy which makes a master delay a change
that circumstances are bringing about independently of
his volition ; iu the latter it is an unreasoning injustice,
which seeks to effect by numbers and menace that which

the state of the labour-market does not permit. But the
former is the wore case of the two, because the master is
supposed to be better educated and to understand the

signs of the market tatter than his men ; and any niggard
par: mony on his part provokes a retributive combination
os the part of the men. And when obstinacy in the matter
of wages is generally complicated with petty acts of despot-
ism, small nieannesses, an-I questionable cripplin,s, the
disposition to combine evinced by illiterate workmen,
whose toil is their cniiital, is williated, if not justified.
Toe wont of it is, these c nabinations provoke counter.
s om',irattons. If workmen' may unite to force up the
rtte of rages when they think times are prosperous,
what is to prevent masters from combining to lower
wagos Wien prefit,s are tesitlitrg to. zero? There is
nothing more ut:just ter imps, Bible in the latter than in
the former hypotis.sis.

To be sure, each course is, on grounds 'Of public
policy, dangerous and to be deprecated. Anything
that would prevent its occurrence or its frequency is de-
sirable. But whir, will have this effect ? Toe witnesses
before the committee elyttat Vie men generally have a
horror cf appealing to magisterial tribunals. It implies
di-grace, and we ate glad to record even a prejudice
e hich denotes sell-i•espt-ct on the part of the English
weeimau. Again—and this is a more material objec.
tien—in the distririts \ldler° these disputes occur too
many of the magistrates aee master manufacturers, and,
even with the best intentions, side with their own
class. What is to be done ? Many witeesees suggest
local Boards, compesed equally of workmen and em-
ployers. But it requires very little knowledge of
human nature t ) predict the division of opinion where
• the appellants are employers and employed. And to
whom is the ultimate appeal ? Two suggestions are
made; • one gives a professional and stipendiary oisir-
man, with a casting vete, to the court of appeal ; another
crea'es a seeoriti court of appeal, consisting of operatives
ant ma,turr of every craft. Both these suggestions
seem to us impractica,lrlo. Ho ,v is a legal or lay chair-
man to uederstancl all the details relating to the crafts of
machi aIS tS, t brassfounders, wire-
workers, cutler?, ealende!er,, calico printer's, cloth
ma.,ulierurers, papsr manufacturers, weavers, lace
wi,rl:cra, glass workers, alkali workers, alum workers,
wheelwrights, carpenters, and joiners, &I. And yet he
might have to give a eastine. vote in disputes arising
from vexed questi ns on the details of these employments.
At for a court cotitainirg one representative of each of
these trades it would te simply useless. We can see
only one solution of this difficult problem, The lessons
of education, of bitter experience, and of a sound con
science must teach masters and men to trust more to the
-enial sympathies of mutual confidence and common
t than to tie resources of combination and the
artillery of "strikes." Till this happy change be effected
we shall have sad repetitions of the Preston "strike,"
tens of thousands of pounds misspent by the workmen,'
hundreds of thousands lost to them as wages, and mil-
Hoes of profits foregone by emplover-,
fir want of
mutual confidence and timely confcrel.:;o!—Titnes.

intere

EXTENSIVE SEIZUP.E OF UNWHOLESOME GRAIN.—
A 1 gantietpan passing by the wharf of .111 r. England,
eon! merchant, Warehouse-hill, Leeds, on Thursday,
observed a number of men engaged in unloading a pecu-
liar-looking wheat from a boat moored to the wharf.
tie curiously took a handful of the wheat and inspected
it ; and he then found that tha peculiarity (I the grain,
by which ho bad been rtruck, was Owing to its
_
stage of decompesitionaatird classscorreu dptiino onia.EdlgatymliTpt
place,
ci
wheatian depn evidently
been at one tnneaenvv eiicu
superior
bbiubt!yfrfryoomheaavrig be
it had become a dense mass Of animated.
at the police-office,
corruption. Inforinationsrladsggiven
and.the attention of .Mr.
which he Inspectorl of Nuisances,
whereeeized
it
tnids
cdoirnevtyededtointhseaecgirtos.int,o
Courthouse-yard,
at present &plaited. Altogether there are 42 sacks of
the wheat. An information under the Nuisances Re-
moval Act has been preferred against Mr. England for
having the grain in his possesgiuu, and the case was to
come on for hearing yes,irda,y at the Leeds Court-
heuse.—Manchater Guardian.

LATE FIRE AT .TIESSRS. :BROADWOOTYS.—Net-
ch;;tanding the heavy loss F.:tiqained by the above firm
cot: vritienee. of the calamitous tire, Mr. Broad:
veed, on 83turday, in syleptithinin,t; with those em-
ployed in his 'e,taWislin'wut, very I:tie:ally presented
each of his workmen with n s;iverei,e, and every boy
with 10s. We are gratifiedin being el:Wet:lto state that
cothinittee has been formed for the purp.r,,se of raising
fund to iemnuerate the workmen for their great bouts.