Star.
London, England, 1819-10-29 00:00:00

WORKMEN'S WAGES.

The subjoined Letter on this subject, from a respectable 'Manu-
facturer in Manchester, has Ist.en in our possession for about
ten days, and would have appeared sooner, bat for the presi cf
temporary matter. The subject is most important, and de-
serves the serious and continued attention of every genuine
friend to our common country.
" SIR—In the present distressed and distracted
state of most of the manufacturing districts—arising'
chiefly from the extreme depreisign of wages, any
attempt, howeverfeeble, to place ttle subject in a
proper light, deserves encouragement. if the fol-
lowing remarks meet your views, I have no doubt
their inset tion in your highly rApectable and impar-
ti.tl Journal, will prove acceptable to many of your
Readers.

" The greatest evils that have attended the cotton
trade, for some years past, have been occasioned by
the unreasonable reducti,•ii of the prices for weaving.
Though the weaver is the first victim of this inhu-
Milli practice, yet it is equally injurious to manufac-
turers and merchants; to wholesale and retail dealers.
I am glad to find this sentiment is gaining ground,
and have no doubt, that if it becomes generally pre-
valent, it will at length produce a bettertstate of things.
" One circumstance which has had considerable
weight in inducing the manufacturer to make so
great a redaction in the price of labour, was a mis-
taken notion of %slut would be for his own benefit.
Ile unfortunately supposed, when his stock became
too large, that the only way to remedy the evil would
be by lowering the wages of his workmen. The
measure produced an effect the reverse of what was
intended and expected. It has proved the source of
a two-fold evil, viz. the increase of his stock, already
too large—and the diminution of its value. He
imagined he should be unable to dispose of the sur-
plus of his goods, if he did not get them made at
lower prices ; but it was soon found, that whilst this
measure did not materially increase his sales, it greatly
augmented his stock, and in the end obliged hint to
sell at a loss. "His true policy would rather have
been to increase the price of weaving, and then, if he
pleased, to have restricted the quantity manufactured.
It might be expected, that whilst the maxim, that.
the labourer is worthy of his hire,' is disregarded,
numerous evils must ensue. If a man, in addition
to what he gains during twelve or fourteen hours a
day, is obliged to have recourse to parochial relief,
to make up the deficiency of his earnings, the conse-
quence must necessarily be injurious both to himself,
his employer, and to society. As it respects himself,
it serves to lessen the sense which, in common with
every individual, he ought to possess of his own im-
portance in the scale of society ; it relaxes his religious
and moral feelings, by taking away the impression
of his responsibility for the maintenance of his fa•
rrtily ; it deprives him of the heartfelt satisfaction
arising from the discharge of relative duties; and
thus he becomes degraded in his own estimation, and
instead of being useful to society, falls a heavy bur-
den upon it.
" In justification of that inconsistent and ruinous
course of conduct pursued by manufacturers, which
has produced such an unparalleled depression of
wages, it has been urged, that by this method alone
our foreign trade can be secured. This, at first view;
may appear plausible; but if we examine the facts
with closer attention, we shall find that the idea is
totally unfounded. Admitting, however, that this
were the case, we had surely better relinquish the
trade altogether, than continue it at a loss. As the
poor-leys (rates) are never reckoned on the cost of
goods, by continuing the trade on this principle, the
Nation sustains a loss on every package sent out.
Many descriptions of the cotton goods we export are
not made abroad; and in those that are, we need not
fear a competition for some time hence, at least within
15 to '2O per cent. of our present prices.
It is worthy of remark, that almost every kind
of cotton goods were 15 per cent, higher a year ago,
than they are now ; yet this did not in the least di-1
minish the quantity of exports, ner would it if those
prices were still continued. Several merchants, en-
gaged in the export trade alone, have repeatedly as-
sured me of this fact, and also of the heavy losses
they, as well as ourselves, have sustained by the ex-
treme reduction of the value of their stock in hand.
It is likewise the sentiment of all the respectable
London purchasers, that not a piece less would have
been sold, had they been 10 or 15 per cent. higher.
" Now, since it is so generally allowed, that a con-
siderable advance in weaving is desirable, why is it
not accomplished ? The price of the raw material
is now particularly favourable. It is true, our ex-
cessive taxation is a bar to high wages, but there is
still room for a considerable advance. The pernicious
effects of the existing system extend themselves in
every direction. They are severely felt, as greatly
diminishing the circulation of money aniongsrall the
trading classes. As, for instance, suppose 200,000
or 300,000 people having only seven or eight shillings,
instead of fahrteen or sixteen shillings, to expend 1
weekly, what a drawback must this be, not only on,
the comforts of the workmen, but on those tradesmen
who are chiefly dependent on them; and at no time
has the evil been so great as at the present, arising,l
in a great degree, from its long continuance. This
needs no comment. The following conversation will
illustrate the preceding remarks.
" A Gentleman, who is both a farmer and a manu-
facturer, stated to me, that he had never reduced
the wages of his farming servants, in consequence of
which they were able to purchase the same quantities
of butter and milk as formerly, but that with respect
to his weavers, the case was widely different, their
income being so much reduced, that they are not
able to buy any butter, and but little milk and pota-
toes. This alteration, as he feelingly expressed, does
not arise from their not wanting the same quantity
as before, but from their incapacity to obtain it. It
is in fact impossible to describe the privations and
sufferings of this class of the community. The sight I
of a number of weavers, briaging in their work, pre-
sents such a spectacle of poverty, as must be exceed-;
ingly distressing to the feelings of all to whom cus-
tom has not rendered the scene familiar; in many
poor families, their looms arc never at rest, one part
of the family occupying them through the day, and
the other taking their place at night—thus one loom
is made to produce the quantity for which two ought
to be employed. It is not fanciful to say that the
forcing so much labour 014 of the weavers hands, by

low wages, has had its share in keeping up the price
of cotton, by creating a demand for this article, of
one-third more than was actually wanted ; this, aided
by most unwise speculation, has ended in the total
ruin of many respectable firms.
" Much is said by those who are the most forward
in withholding from the labourer what is his due,
respecting their loyalty—let such prove their own
attachment:and love to their country, and its admi-
rable Constitution, by hastening to do an act of jus•
tice to that part of our population, o❑ which so much
of the prosperity and peace of the State depends. If
the working classes are not able to support them-
selves by labour, it is plain the State is diseased, and
it surely becomes.the State Physicians, as well as its
Manufacturers and Merchants, to try to discover the
disease, that they may apply a suit :Me remedy.
" Mr. Ilolt, to the benevolence of whose heart and
good feeling I pay a most willing testimony, says, that
m the letter he has received from the Earl of Derby,
his Lordship expresses himself with much humanity
upon the sufferings of the manufacturing poor; but
why, I would ask, are his sentiments on such a sub-
ject to he kept secret? There would not, I presume,
be any impropriety in his Lordship's affording a more
public procf of his feelings ; many persons of rank
and influence, have come forward in other places
with great effect, and it is certainly the duty of every
loyal friend to his country, to use his efforts at this
important crisis, and to render what assistance he
can, in averting the evils that threaten us. Legisla-
tive interference with trade, must ever be considered
an evil, but since it appears evident that no other
method will prove efficient for the protection of the
weavers, of the two evils we must chase the least—
to this it is objected, that labour, like all other dis-
posable commodities, will ultimately find its own
level, which would probably hold good, if every
other at ticle were left free; but whilst effectual means
are taken to keep up the price of corn, and other ar-
ticles absolutely necessary to subsistence, the case is
different, and the withholding such interference be-
comes injustice on the part of the Legislature.
" When, at some periods of the late war, we pos-
sessed in certain branches almost the exclusive trade
of Europe, the pike of provisions was not of so
much importance; but when a general peace took
place, and a competition in many articles commenced
with other nations, we find that the price of food, Ste.
must bear some proportion to that of other countries,
or that we must, in a great measure, lose the trade
in those articles, or otherwise oblige our labourers
to work at prices that must greatly oppress them ;
it is true our machinery and industry will give us
great advantage for years to come; but if the im-
mense amount of our taxation is not lessened, and
our-Corn Laws are continued in operation, we shall
find, and probably at no very remote period, many
branches of our manufactures not only rivalled, but
completely ruined.
I beg pardon for so long a letter, but it is only
by the subject being placed In different points of
view, and discussing its merits, that it can be pro-
perly understood. I hope persons of wealth and in-
fluence will step forward before the winter sets in ;
measures of this nature will do more to tranquillize
the public mind than any other. lam well satisfied
' that in the great majority of the working classes,
there is as predominant a portion of good feeling and
love of country as in any other class of society, and
; it behoves all who have it in any degree in their
; power, to do what they can to cherish that feeling,
; by rendering their situation as comfortable as possible.
" A MANUFACTURER."

FENIALE COAL4SEARERs,—Mr. BALD, an intelli-
gent and experienced Engineer, in a small Work,
published some years ago, on the Coal Trade of
Scotland, gives the following description of the mi-
serable condition of the Female Coal-Bearers:

" The bearers are generally the wives and daugh-
ters of the colliers, but sometimes other women are
hired. They leave their house about two in the
morning, the mother having previously wrapped up
her infant child in a blanket, and committed it to the
care of an old woman, who for a small gratuity keeps
three or four children at a time, and in their mother's
absence feeds them with ale, or whiskey mixed with
water. The mother and grown-up daughters then
descend the pit, where their occupation is to carry
immense loads of coals on their backs in baskets.—
In carrying their loads, the mother sets out first
with a lighted candle in her teeth ; the girls follow,
and in this manner, they proceed to the pit-bottom,
and with weary steps and slow, ascend the stairs,
halting occasionally to draw bread', till they arrive
at the hill or pit-top, where the coals are laid down
for sale ; and in this manner they go for eight or ten
hours without resting. It is no uncommon thing to see
them, when ascending the pit, weeping most bitterly,
from the excessive severity of the labour ; but the in-
stant they liAve laid down their burden on the hill, they
resume their cheerfulness, and return down the pit
singing. The work performed by a stout woman in
this way is beyond conception. The author has seen
two tons carried in this way in a day, by burdens of
170 pounds or upwards, or even as high as three
hundred weight, first 150 yards up the slope below
ground, then up the stairs of the pit 117 feet, and
lastly twenty yards on the hill. The wages paid
them for this work are eightpence a-day, a circum-
stance, as Mr. Bald remarks, as surprising as the
work performed. The women begin their labour
generally at seven years of age, and continue it till
fifty or even sixty. It frequently happens, that the
mother of a family continues to bear coals even to
within two days or twelve Lours of her in-lying. This
practice is unknown in England ; has been discon-
tinued at Glasgow ; and prevails chiefly in the neigh-
bourhood of Edinburgh, and some other limited dis-
tricts; but we understand some families in Edinburgh
have resolved to take no Coals from Collieries where
female bearers are employed ; and there is no doubt,
were this resolution acted on to any extent, the prac-
tice would soon be entirely given up."

CORN MARKET, MARK-LANE, OCT. 29.
Having but little fine Wheat and Barley'at Market
this morning, rather better prices were obtained for
prime samples; but the middling qualities of each
of the above articles still contiivie very dull in sale,
although offered on Muaday's terms. Oats are Is.
per quarter lower than on Sionday. In Beans and
Peas there is no alteration.
SMITIIFIF.LI) MARKET, OCTOBER 29.

(To sink the offal ; per state of bibs.)
Beef 49 01 to 5s 4).1 I Veal ss Od to 6s 64
Mutton ....4s Od to .is Pork
Brou 740....ta1ve.;;40--Slteep and Lwtbs 5,4501)--15‘91:8111

.I

A

II

.

-;

1.

'~~~~

!;ll

~,

.N

1
I
,
,
.j

1

Nog

1!

111

i • ,

I

1
A•

I.(.

e
~,

t
t

POETRY.

THE AULD MAN'. FAREWELL Towns WEE HOUSE.

, V7/'