The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1854-12-11
Reduction OF wagvs.-Besinna~g Of the Re
vol utsoss.

Reduction of Wagvs.-Eeginnasg OF the Re
vol utsoss,
u is understood that TIE owners OF steamship,
ply ing to and from New York have resolved to
reduce the wages of coalhe vers and 6remen to
rates were accepted by the crew Of the Black
Warrior which sailed on Sat rday, and would
doubtless have been adopted by the proprietors
Of The Baltic, Knoxville, and jam Adger, had
IL not been for timorous apprehension f vio-
lerce from the men. We presume that no
imaginary dangers or obstacles will interfere
with the general establishment Of tee ne rate
this week and hereafter; and thai henceforth,
the regular wages of cvalheavers will b. $40,
and those Of firemen $50 q month. The
change will of course be distasteful to
the latter but they must rem mber that
the last alteration, which added ten dol
lars per month to their wages, was quite
as unacceptable to their employers, who never
bheless acquiesced in its necessity. Principle
as well as prudence now enjoins peaceable sub
mission to a reduction which the state of the
times has rendered absolutely imperative.
But there is something higher involved in
this movement of the shipowners than the in
terests Of a few operatives. Workmen employ
ed on board ship, whether as firem n, Triggers,
or stevedores, have always been the first to set
the example of striking for higher wages.
The absolute dependence of the ship
owners on their o-Operation-the magn-
tade of the interests involved--and The
mn 10 ctrpu INT ffi ha Io1u IN uylio how
beloDg-have, in all countries, forced them into
the van of the party which has exacted from
capital the full reward for labor. Whatever in
ustices may have been silently endured by other
classes of operatives, those who work on board
ship have always asserted and obtained their
rights: sometimes peaceably, sometimes after a
struggle Of greater or less severity: but invaria
bly, without compromise or surrender of any
claim that was worth maintaining When,
therefore, we find these men submitting to so
large reduction as ten dollars per month in
their wages, we may safely assume that the
time for general fall in labor has arr we'd. The
inference is irresistible that the imitation of the
last year or two has ceased, and that the reac-
ton has fairly set in
A few years hence, we shall see these things
clearly, and it win appear singular that we
should ever have Inexperienced their true
character. As far back as five years ago. wise
men foretold that the discovery OF California
gold would be fraught with incalculable injury
to the world, by causing an imitation of credit
and unduly enhancing all other representatives
of value. Their voice was UNDECIDED: when was
Cassandra ever believed? The consequence
was that real estate, merchandise and labor as
sumed grossly exaggerated money valae; and
that capital, though itself deprecated, served
as the basis of paper and commercial credit,
which was swelled beyond all rational limis.
This last was the first Of the symptoms of the
change wrought by the gold discoveries. New
banks were established, new loans contracted,
new enterprises started on every side Resources
which had been allowed 10 lie idle for want of
means were developed in haste, and in
reckless improvident manner: merchants traded
beyond their means private individuals ex-
ceeded their incomes; public enterprises
launched forth into fraudulent finance; al
dependent on, and waiting for . period Of il.
nary one they saw before them. Real estate
and merchandise followed. Goods rose to
fabulous values, and houses were sold aud
leased st such exorbitant rates that half the
residents of the metropolis went to live in
lodgings. Finally, labor was carried upwards
with the stream. Strikes among the workmen
were attended with serious inconvenience for
time, but capitalists were eventually compelled
10 yield, aud operatives obtained oil they
asked. This is the history Of the upward
movement. 1t began with the rise in price of
fancy stocks at the exchange, and ended with
the strike Of the journeymen hatters.
The reaction is pursuing the very sam
course. Depression began on the stock ey-
change, when Erie fell from 80 to 80 in a few
months, and Dineteen-twentieths of the mining
and other trashy stocks were swept out of ex-
istence. Dry goods aud hardware, sold at
auction at loss of thirty per cent, followed
next and then fell real estate, in spite of
sham Sales and every contrivance, fraudulent
and otherwise, to maintain it, Finally, the
strike-for we may call it so-of capital
against labor, of the shipowners against their
crews, indicates the commencement OF the
closing scene Of the downward movement
Nothing can hinder its progress. Wages mu st
fall not among the ship hands alone, but in
every department of labor, and every vocation
in life Meanwhile The worst leriod of tn
crisis for merchants, railroads. and capitalists, is
close at hand.
The time for warning has past. We have
filed the cup, and we must drink it to the
dregs: the sooner and the more boldly the bet
ter. Even retrencbment and economy would
now come too late. Such remedies were
suitable two years ago, when the whole world
was mad in the pride and exultation Of pros
perty; they are futile at this hour. There is
nothing to be done but to bow our heads to the
storm and learn wisdom for the flu ure.