The Sun.
London, England, 1859-08-24 00:00:00

THE B UILDERS' STRIKE.

It would appear that, through some misappre-
hension of the plan on which the payments to the
"lock-outs" was to be made on Monday, a consi-
derable number of labourers did not apply at the
proper places, and consequently did not receive the
allowance made by the conference of the United
Building Trades. Considerable discontent arose
among the unpaid labourers, and yesterday, about
midday. a crowd of them assembled outside the
Paviors'Arms, wherethe conference hold their daily
sittings, and with much violence of manner de-
manded to be paid. The secretary of the confer-
ence was especially and loudly called for by name,
and the angry men were certainly more energetic
than elegant in the epithets they showered upon
Mr. Potter and his colleagues, who have the arduous
task of conducting the affair on the part of the
operatives. Threats of personal violence, and of an
assault upon the committee•room, were frequently
uttered, and at one time there appeared every pro-
spect of a serious riot. - Mr. Potter, however, soon
made his appearance at one of the windows of the
club-room, and asked the labourers what they
wanted. The reply from a score of voices was—
"We want our money." " You have had it," was
the reply. " You're a—, we have not had it ;"
and the clamour grew so great that for some time
Mr. Potter in vain attempted to make himself
heard. When comparative silence was at last re-
stored, he said that £175 had been given to the la-
bourers' delegates to pay them with, and that if
each of the labourers present had not receives
their quota of ls. Id., they would do so on applica-
tion at their respective branch houses. To this
statement some replied that they had applied, and
had been told that there was no money for them, as
the conference had only paid their delegates £4O,
the whole of which had been distributed. On this
statement Mr. Potter produced a receipt for £175,
signed by the labourers' delegates, Messrs. Gresham,
Johnson, and O'Mara, and for a short time pro-
duced something like order, but the uproar again
broke out more loudly than before, and language
of the most threatening and violent character
was applied to the members of the conference.
In the midst of the riot Mr. Noble (brick-
layer) appeared at the window with a paper
in his hand, and the crowd of angry and
excited men below became somewhat more orderly,
in the expectation of receiving some further ex-
planation. Mr. Noble said—Fellow-workmen, I
will tell you exactly what we have done with the
money we have received. The sum we sent to pay
the bricklayers is. id. a-head, which was all we
could give, was £5B. To the masons we seat £29 ;
to the painters, £l9 ; to the plasterers, £33 t to the
carpenters and joiners, £152 ; and to the labourers'
committee, through your delegates—Gresham,
Johnson, and O'Mara—Xl7s. In addition to this,
we paid the Woolwich men, 557 in number, the
stone-sawyers, smiths, and plumbers, and to Trol-
lope's men alone we paid £l2O. (A Voice, " Yes,
they got it all, and we got none.") Steady, my
friends. Why they are the med you called out for
the nine hours, and they must be maintained.
(" Aye, aye, that's right enough.") We paid to
those men a dividend of 12s. for the mechanics, and
Bs. for the labourers ; that amounted to between
£6OO and £7OO, which was the whole of the money
that was collected. There was no more. It was
equally divided among the whole lot, labourers and
mechanics alike, and the amount that each received
was ls. ld. a head. If you want anything more
plain and straightforward than that, perhaps you
will tell me. I see that my words are being taken
down • but you call upon me to make an exposure,
and When you come in this way to test the integ-
rity of those who are trying to do their best for you,
it
aisdenkeeneoswsanrytothyaotu,ouarnpdoswiteionfeasrh
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have had ample money to carry out the
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locked out many thousands
rio youguaranteeknyoowu anythinghow
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os
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we should want to give you anything like a tan-
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uP
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gible amount? Why, £20,000 or £30,000 a week.
The fact of the matter is, my friends, that this is a
question of principle against capital, and if you are
not inclined to stand for a wi ek or two against the
oppressive means which the masters are using
against you, why then the working man must fall.
But the country is only just now being aroused, and
to-night the trades' delegates are to meet, to see
what assistance they will give you. They met
last week and adjourned until to-night, in order
that in the meantime they might take the opinion
of their several societies, and to-night we shall
know
a‘n,ed have
ahv:e•ht these
xa2o
received
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h e e
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equally
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divided among you all, and those of you who have
not got their proper quota will do so on applying
rt your proper houses. Then, again, we have six
delegates going round the country,' but there has
not been time yet to get any funds from them. To-
morrow, no doubt, the masters will open
their
shops, and will
present you the document to sign.
Now, those of you who are prepared to act like
men, you will not sign, and they will be obliged to
open their shops without it. I repeat that this is
a question of principle against capital ; if you do
not act like men you will lose ; if you act like men
you will win. (A Voice—" We want our rights.")