The Sun.
London, England, 1860-05-23 00:00:00

THE BUILDING TRADES.

(From the Times.)
We regret to hear that the strike which crippled
the building trades through the autumn of last year
has not been so completely terminated as was hoped
and believed. The men, if at peace with their mas-
ters, are at strife with each other. Not only are the
unions maintaining their old system of persecution,
but the recollections of the late struggle are still
allowed to create discord and conflict. We cannot

chair.

say how far things have actually gone, or what may
be the present designs of those agitators who aim
at controlling the "destinies of trade." We hope
they have learnt wisdom from their late defeat, and
that the resolutions of renewing the contest which
they vauntingly proclaimed meant nothing more
than the ordinary cries of a losing party. If, how-
ever, matters should be otherwise, and the societies
are really organising any fresh disturbance, we ear-
nestly ask the attention of the workmen for a few
brief remarks. We can tell them better than they
know themselves how they stand with the public,
and what results any renewal. of the late struggle
would be likely to produce.
There is no objection taken to fair combination,
even for the purpose of raising wages. The law
recognises, and the opinion of the public fully
approves, these rights of the working classes. If a
number of masons or joiners agree among them-
selves to sell thoir labour only on certain conditions
they are perfectly entitled to do so ; anti it
strength created by this union is sufficient to
affect the prices of the labour-market the benefit
will be their own. As a natural consequence from
these admissions, they may organise their unions,
have their presidents and secretaries, and pay them
such salaries as they think fit. Nobody wishes to in-
terfere with them in these respects, or to circum-
scribe their freedom of action in turning their own
property, their labour, to the best account. Nobody
wishes to see them overborne by the masters. The
single condition which public feeling exacts, which
the law demands, and which the Legislature, if need
be, will undoubtedly insure, is that their rights
shall not be exercised to the injury of others. A
trades' union may make its own laws for the gover-
nance of its own members, but beyond that circle it
is powerless, and its action, when exerted against
those who do not belong to it, becomes absolute
tyranny. Unionists may resolve to work only for
certain wages or certain hours. They may agree,
in default of such conditions, not only to quit their
work, but to quit it in a body, provided they do not
violate the terms of any existing contract. When,
however, they proceed to dictate to others, and re-
quire of independent workmen that they also,
though not members of the union, shall obey its be-
hests and fall into its views, they are guilty of un-
justifiable interference with the rights of indi-
viduals. This was the kind of conduct alleged in
the charges, whether sustainable or otherwise,
brought before Mr. Paynter on Friday. We aretold
that the " society men" engaged on the works of the
new Westminster Hotel presumed to demand that
some 20 workmen should be dismissed, and a com-
plaint was also made by one of the workmen at
another establishment to the effect that he had
been incessantly insulted since signing the " docu-
ment" last Christmas. All the allegations, in fact,
went the same way, and tended to show that, not-
withstanding the nominal termination of the re-
cent struggle, the unionists were still bent upon
coercing or intimidating all who stood aloof from
their body. Now, that is the very system against
which public feeling rebels. We warn the men that
they will not be able to maintain it. If they persist
in thus abusing their privileges, they will very
likely see them curtailed. The laws against com-
bination were relaxed because it was thought that
working men ought not to be deprived of that
strength which union confers. It was intended to
put them on a fairer footing as regarded their em-
ployers ; but if they turn the privilege to the in-
jury of their fellow-workmen and to the destruc-
tion of private rights, the matter will be looked at
in a very different spirit. This feeling was very
evident throughout the course of last autumn. It
cropped up repeatedly in Parliamentary discus-
sions and the speeches of public men. The country
will not tolerate a system of terrorism in any trade
or calling. Every workman is free to dispose of
his labour as he thinks best. He may make his
terms on his own private account, or adjust them
after conference with others exactly as he pleases,
without being subject, either in the one case or the,
other, to obloquy or persecution. We could not
quite approve the masters' conduct in exacting an
acceptance of the famous " document," but the con-
duct of the Unionists in persecuting those who did
accept it was less allowable still, and, if the men
persist in requiring that all who have not joined
their Society shall be dismissed from their work,
the masters will have no option but to reproduce
the " document," or some equivalent guarantee
against such tyranny and disturbance.
Unionists must speak for themselves only, and
leave others alone. There is the condition on which
they must work. It is the condition, in point of
fact, by which at this moment Unions exist under
the law. Lord St. Leonard's has explained this
thoroughly. Every man is free to combine with
others, and to act in such combination not only with
a view to mutual support in sickness or age, but for
the purpose of enhancing the value of his labour.
It is only, however, within the limits of the Union
itself that its resolutions or its power can be en-
forced. Its decrees can bind its own members
alone, and when the Societies attack those who
decline to join them, or who take a different view
of the terms on which work may be performed,
they not only offend public feeling but they violate
the law. We know full well that they make a
stand at this point. They see that their power is
diminished by the recognition of independent
rights. They feel that their ability to coerce their
employers is proportioned to the extent of the sway
they can get over the whole trade. If at the bid-
ding of the Union every workman in the trade,
without exception, had to leave his work, the
masters must needs be beaten ; it is only through
the nun•unionist or dissentients that they hold out.
The Societies, therefore, would fain intimidate
every single man into submission or combination,
but this is precisely what they will not be permitted
to do. They must content themselves with their
own power, and with the influence they can exert
through their own nurnbero. Directly they are

found conspiring to the injury of others they will
become amenable to the law, and public opinion
will side with those who resist their encroachments.
Let them beware of this error. As long as they
only haggle with their employers they may have
their own way. The public may think them foolish,
or extravagant, or misguided, as the case may be,
or it may possibly concur with their views, and
wish them success ; but the instant they overstep
their proper limits and begin to meddle with the
rights of others they will find the whole country
against them, and will, they may be very sure, get
the worst of the struggle. This, in a few words, is
the position in which they stand. The workmen
have done themselves no good by the " Strike" of
last year, which was conceived on unjustifiable
principles and directed to preposterous ends. They
did, however, find some support when the masters
attempted by the introduction of the " document"
to curtail those privileges of combination .which
the law allowed, but if those privileges are still per-
verted to the injury of independent workmen and
the destruction of personal freedom they may de-
pend upon it they will find themselves utterly
without sympathy in any second contest.

RAILWAY INTELLIGENCE.

GREAT NORTHERN.

The adjourned extraordinary meeting of this
company was held yesterday at the railway sta-
tion, King's-cross, Mr. G. H. Packe, M.P., in the

The CHAIRMAN stated that the extraordinary
meeting held a fortnight ago had been adjourned
to that day for the consideration of the remaining
bills on their list, in compliance with the standing
orders of the House of Lords. The only bill he had
to submit for their approval was a bill for establish-1
ing railway communication between Bedford and
Cambridge, and for other purposes. The bill was;
promoted by an independent company for power to,
construct a railway from the London and North-
Western line at Bedford to Cambridge, and to form
a junction with the Great Northern Railway at
Sandy ; also to authorize contracts to be entered;
into between the proposed company and the Great'
Northern and other companies for working the
traffic, and for the interchange and forwarding of
traffic, and the division and appointment of the re-
ceipts arising therefrom. It was a railway in which
they were in no way interested except as to its
passing across their line at Sandy, and forming a
junction with it.

Mr. Leech, the solicitor, read the heads of the
bill and the clauses relating to the Great Northern,
London and North-Western, and Eastern Counties
Railway Companies. The company were to have
power to purchase a short railway made by the late
Captain Peel, and to use the Bedford station of the
London and North-Western Company, and the Cam-
bridge station of the Eastern Counties Railway,
Company.
A formal resolution approving the bill was car-
ried unanimously, and the meeting separated.