The Liverpool Standard, and General Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1854-07-18 00:00:00

MEETING OF THE OPERATIVE SAILMAKEER

Yesterday, a meeting of the Operative Sal."makers'
Association was held in the Assembly-room, Circus...street,
for the purpose of considering the resolutions adopted at
the above meeting. The chair was occupied by Mr.
William Hewston, president of the association, and the
meeting was numerously attended.

The CHAIRMAN explained that the present meeting
had been called in consequence of what professed to be
the report of a meeting held by the master sailmakers in
the Clarendon:rooms, on Friday last, and published in the
Mail of the following day. The purpose of their meeting
was to show to the merchants of Liverpool that the
statements there made were false And totally groundless.
In that report the journeymen sailmakers, as a body, were
charged- with being disorderly drunigards—as coming to
their work with aching heads, unsteady hands, and inso-
lent tongues. That statement was as untrue as it was
unfair; but he deemed it only right to say the Mail was
not chargeable with its untruth. In fact, the statement
was not in reality a report at all, but had been prepared
by Mr. Gladstowe in his office, and by him transmitted to
the Mail, the editor of which had had his mind prepared
to receive it.

Mr. HENRY Y.4.TES then said he had been requested to
propose a resolution, pledging the meeting to oppose the
intention of the masters to take into their service as many
apprentices as they pleased. Before doing so, he would
read the resolution, which was as follows :—" That it is
the opinion of this meeting, that an unlimited number of
apprentices, desired by the masters, would be destructive
to the men, injurious to the masters, and unjust to the
shipowners; therefore, it is our determination to resist
them by every lawful means in our power." He thea in
a lengthened address proceeded to argue that, if the mas-
ters were permitted to have as many apprentices as they
choose, it would be the means of enabling them to drag
down the working men to a state of thraldom approaching
misery,' by lowering wages, while the shipowners would
not only not receive the advantages of the reduced wages,
but would actually be worse off by having inferior work
put into their hands. It was, he said, quite easy to fill the
shops with dashine, young apprentices, with showy whis-
kers, but could they be expected to put work out of their
hands equal to that of men who had had great and long
experience ? He then went on to combat at great length
the averments of 3lr. Gladstone, that the men were ill-
behaved, and expressed a hope that no one at that meet-
ing would so far forget himself and gratify Mr. Gladstone
by roaring at the masters ; but he sincerely hoped they
would offer a quiet, though so resolute a resistance to his
attempted blow at the principles of their association. Mr.
Gladstone, and those for whom he professed to speak,
appeared to forget that the journeymen were not the
drowsy, drunken, idle men they were represented to be, but
men trained to their trade—men who could measure a
ship and draft her sails, and make them. (Cheers,) Could
any one say as much for Mr. Gladstone and the other
masters for whom he professed to speak ?. (Cries of No !
No !) He next argued that if the masters were successful
the mews wages, they would pocket the

saving

fact the whole question with t

Mr. WILLIAM HUGHES seconded ti

sailmakers w

ficiency in the labour marGt

or that there was any 4

The resolution was put from the chair, and unanimously
caried.

Mr. R. CASEMENT moved the second resolution, as fol-
-" That it is the opinion of this meeting, that the

reductioi

offered by the masters, would not be to the advantage of
the trade generally." In moving the adoption of this
resolution, he said the remarks of Mr. Gladstone at the
meeting on Friday last represented the reduction of
two-pence halfpenny per hundred as a nominal reduc-
tion, and accompanied that representation with the
statement that the men had promised on a late occasion,
if they got their wages increased to the sum which was
then agreed on, they would not seek any rise in future.
This he denied ; no such promise had been made, and no
one was entitled to make it. He next adverted to an
allegation on the part of Mr. Gladstone, that the men
were able to earn £4 per week. (Cries of "Oh ! oh !")
This also, he need not tell the meeting, was not true, but
far from true. (Hear, hear.) The men were well dis.
posed towards their employers, and as an evidence of
that, he said, they cheerfully performed whatever kind
of work they were put to, taking that which was well
paid for along with that which was ill paid, (Hear, hear.)
Mr. Gladstone also said that a threat had been held out
that the men would demand £1 per day. He (the speaker)
felt assured that no one had ever used such a threat to=
wards Mr. Gladstone; but if some one had been so unwise
as to make such threat to some one, were all the men to
be branded with the foolishness of one? (Cheers.) A
struggle (he said) was about to be commenced against the
men by the masters about the apprentice system. That
system had been originated by the masters themselves ;
amA he maintained the masters had no right to take the
work from the men who are here and give it, he might
say, to foreigners, whom they might bring to the town.
In conclusion, he urged on the meeting to resist this at-
tempt of the masters to break down the rates of remune-

ration, and to do away with the agreement restricting the
number of apprentices. (Cheers.)

The ell-111-MAN reminded the meeting that it was pro:
posed that the men should not remain idle, in their

opposition to the encroachments of the masters, but that
they should work for the merchants and shipowners of
Liverpool; reminding them also that, if they were so
employed, they could work cheaper than the masters, and
yet be gainers by the proceedings.
Mr. GEORGE SMITH seconded the motion for adopting

the resolution, and at great length went over similar
ground to that taken up by the previous speaker. In con-
clusion, he urged them to be calm in whatever was done—
to maintain friendly feelings towards all ; and to remember
that too many labourers in any field was injurious to all.
The resolution was unanimously carried.
Mr. MARE MULLEN moved as the next resolution
" That this meeting decidedly denies the statement
made at the masters' meeting, that the journeymen sail-
makers of Liverpool want monopoly, or attempt to pre-
vent that full supply of labour which the town requires."
In urging the resolution on the attention of the meeting,
he adverted to the absurdity of saying that the number
of sail-makers was decreasing, while the work was in-
creasing. During the years which have elapsed since 1846,
the association had been increased in numbers by 200
members, and last year 45 new members had joined it.
Did that, he might ask, look like a decrease in the num-
ber of the men ? If Mr. Gladstone's assertion was met by
that, it would be seen that it was refuted. (Cheers.) Not
content with the monopoly which he himself enjoyed, Mr.
Gladstone went round, in what he might call a patent
safety cab, endeavouring to induce the other masters to
join him in his endeavours to fill the shops with boys. He
trusted this attempt of Mr. Gladstone's would be firmly
resisted. (Cheers.)

Mr. JOHN CROOKS seconded the resolution, and in
doing so said he was himself a living evidence of the
liberality of the association, as he had served his appren-
ticeship in Scotland, yet he had been received with the
utmost cordiality, and admitted to all its privileges. In
this instance he maintained the masters were the real
aggressors. The men merely desired to remain in the
position they had already attained. They were accused
of seeking to raise the price of their labour by taking
advantage of the state of the market; but in doing this
what did they do which was not done and justified by
others ? Did not the corn-merchant, the cotton-broker,
and the ship-owner all take advantage of the state of the
market in raising their demands ? (Cheers.) If a man
is to be reduced to such a condition as that, in times of
prosperity, he is only able to make a bare subsistence,
what is to become of him in times of depression ? (Cheers.)
He ridiculed the idea of men going to sea in times when
wages were high, and said his experience led him to know
that the higher the wages the more likely were men to
remain at home. (Cheers.)

In answer to a qUestion from Mr. Irvine,
He said he had been a member of the -association for
nine years, and when he first joined it in 1846, there were
but 269 members in it ; in July of this year, it consisted
of 457 members. Did that, he might ask, look like the
decrease talked of by Mr. Gladstone ? After all the
casualties occurring from death and other causes, the asso-
ciation was now stronger by 188 members than it was in
1846. He concluded by cordially seconding the resolution,
which was unanimously adopted.
Mr. BARRY then, at great length, argued in favour of
the resolutions, and reviewed many of the discussions
between the masters and the men, in all of which, he
maintained, the masters sought to encroach on the
privileges of the men.

The CHAIRMAN cautioned the small masters

joining in t

le movement of the large ones, as the latter,
-"Teat number of apprentices, would be