The Sun.
London, England, 1867-01-21 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.

TimEs.--Two letters in our yesterday's columns
have so important a mutual bearing that it is im-
possible not to place them in mental juxtaposition.
The one was from the Bishop of London, informing
us of the measures taken under his auspices to meet
the present "appalling distress," as it has been
found to be, in the east of London ; the other was
from the managing director of the Thames Iron-
works, Shipbuilding, Engineering, and Dry Dock
Company, announcing the refusal of the working
shipwrights of the Port of London to work for less
than 7s. a day, even though a reduction of Gd. a
day would enable the company to take a contract
for steamers from a foreign company which, on this
refusal, the company is obliged to decline. Profit,
Mr. Ford says, is out of the question. The corn-
pany only wish to keep their works and their work-
men employed, and cannot offer more, as it would
be so much actual loss. The shipwrights fully
understand all this, and there is little doubt that
they would take employment on these terms were
they really their own masters—that is, had they
really the disposal of their own labour. But they
have not. The Trades' Unions prohibit them from
taking less than 7s. a day. Accordingly, many of
them, and a vastly larger number of labourers and
other persons depending on the shipwrights being
in work, are added to the mass of " appalling dis-
tress," and compelled to ask charitable relief. The
shipwrights state their case, which necessarily in-
volves some particulars that require professional
knowledge to estimate them fully. But, unless the
alleged deductions to be taken into account are very
large indeed, we cannot be far wrong in saying that
these men are refusing wages which, in the agricul-
tural districts, would be sufficient to maintain three
labourers with average families. On wages which
at the best are 425. a week, and, allowing for inter-
ruptions from weather and other causes, might
fall as low as 365., the shipwrights declare that they
cannot meet necessary expenses and pay their
way without falling into debt. Though we may
not know the probable average of the loss by in-
terruptions, some of the considerations urged by
the shipwrights are not peculiar to their class.
They mention the present high rate of house rents,
taxes, food, and all other necessaries of life. But
even if a shipwright has to pay Gs. for house rent,
that will not be a larger percentage of his weekly
income than in the case of the labourer, who
cannot so easily afford ls. Gd. a week as the ship-
wright can four times that sum. Food, we all
know, is high just now, and therefore we all expect
everybody to bear his share of a common infliction.
We have all long repudiated, as an economical
heresy little short of treason against society, the
doctrine that any one class is to be specially com-
pensated for a burden common to all. When any
one class inists on being paid high prices or high
wages on account of some universal infliction and
burden, that is equivalent to demanding that all the
rest shall suffer more in order that one favoured
class may be exempted. So much for high rents
and high prices. As to the " taxes," we have never
heard of any particular financial burdens pressing
on the shipwrights. None of " the necessaries of
life" are taxed at all, and the comforts of life, such
as beer, spirits, tea, coffee, and sugar, are not so
highly taxed but that a family may get a fair allow-
ance of them out, of the wages refused by the Lon-
don shipwrights. But it is evidently of no use to
go into detail with the shipwrights, who only do as
they are bid, and can hardly be said to have a mind
of their own. The trades union speaks through them.
In the main it is impossible to dispute that wages
are a fair matter of bargain between one man bring-
ing his labour to the market and another man bring-
ing his capital. It must also be admitted that the
possessors of labour may co-operate lest they should
he beaten in detail. But this evidently is not the
whole of the case, for, as we see in the example
before us, the London shipwrights act under an ad-
vantage and a disadvantage, both most important,
and making it a very different sort of bargaining from
that between ordinary dealers and customers. Their
special advantage is that, if they do not obtain the
termsAey stand out for, they can throw themselves,
their families, and an immense mass of auxiliary
labour on the Poor-laws, or on such bodies as the
Metropolitan Relief Association. What relief they
may expect from the Trades' Union we do not
know, but the British public can always be appealed
to, and with such instances as that before us we are
not surprised at the anxiety shown to equalise the
rates of the metropolis, and make the West-end pay
its proportion to the support of East-end "strikes."
It is a very peculiar and exceptional bargain where
one party is able to say to the other, "If you don't
agree to my terms, I will go to the relieving officer
and make you maintain me and my family in idle-
ness." Of course the disadvantage under which our
shipwrights labour, and of which they do not seem
sufficiently aware, is one they share with the em-
ployer. It is that in case negotiation fails the con-
tract goes to another country. The foreign company
which Mr. Ford had to do with will now be obliged
to get their steamers built abroad, and our ship-
-4*rights will hear that their Continental rivals can
manage to maintain themselves and their families
on 6s. 6d., or Bf., a day. Every such transfer of
work to another country contributes to the estab-
lishment of foreign industry, the improvement of
foreign skill, and the increase of foreign capital.
The result will be that the foreign competitor will be
able to take the next contract on still lower terms,
having larger resources and better appliances.
Unless, then, the Trades' Unions can make their
edicts run a good deal further than the Queen's writ,
they will find it impossible to command the market.
This, of course, is the weak point of their system,
and they are naturally attempting to establish
throughout the world a sort of Universal Labour
Unity. They will find some novel and rather con-
siderable obstruction in the way, but, as success is
absolutely necessary to them, they may be excused
for making the attempt. The present is a fair op-
portunity for the trial of their power. These
steamers, which they will not assist to build on the
terms offered, will be built in another country, and,
of course, at a lower rate of wages. Let them
stretch a long arm, and try to stop the execution of
a contract which is so much employment and wages
taken away from themselves.

SAD END OF A PROMISING STUDENT. —Great
excitement has been caused throughout Holland by
the death of a cadet, named Mesting, in the Military
School of that kingdom. This young man had greatly
distinguished himself in his studies, and had carried off
the first prize, and for a long time had been the object of
the dislike and jealousy of his schoolfellows, as well for
that reason as on account of his humble birth. Some
time since, during the hour of recreation, he was stripped
by the other pupils in the playground and subjected to the
most ignominious outrage ; and, driven to desperation, he
poisoned himself. Eleven of the pupils have been placed
in confinement, and the master of the school has been
dismissed.

FATAL GAME WITH A CAT.—An inquest was held
at Doncaster a few days ago on the body of a little
girl named M. E. Clapham, who died from severe scalds
which occurred through playing with a cat. it appeared
that the deceased had been playing with a straw to amuse
the cat and by accident was upset backwards in a vessel of
hot soap suds. She died next day from the severity of the
injuries sustained. The jury returned a verdict of acci-
dentally scalded to death.

The late Miss Sarah Browne, of lliglibury, has
left the following charitable bequests :—To the
British and Foreign and Church Missionary Socie-
ties, each £5OO ; the Religious Tract, the Colonial
Church and School, and the Church Pastoral Aid
Societies, and the Society for Promoting Christianity
among the Jews, each £2OO ; the Society for Assist-
ing Poor Pious Clergymen, £lOO ; the Prayer Book
and Homily Society, the Society for Teaching Deaf
and Dumb, London Orphan Asylum (Clapton),
Orphan Asylum (Wanstead), Church of the United
Brethren among the Heathen, London Missionary
Society, Female Penitentiary (Pentonville), and the
Idiot Asylum (Redhill), each the sum of £5O.
A hatter in Berlin has posted up in his shop the
following question and answer :
" Who is over head and ears in dobt ?"
"Ile who has not paid for his hat."