New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1855-10-03
THE BRITISH LABOR MARKETA

THE BRITISH LABOR hASnc>
The war, following so speedily on the decisa- |
ton by famine and emigration of the great lr@ !
labor market, is beginning to tell senslbly oN
the present wages and future prospects of the
British working clas-. The time is manifestiy
coming when their strength will find higher
appreciation, and their influence greater
weight. Even from the bitter fountain ef war
are distilled some cOmpensating drops Of good.
The first effect Of the war has been, Of cour.e,
TO Increase the value Of labor. Following Oh
the famine and emigration, enlistment has nstu-
rally told heavily upon the numbers OF those
available for productive work; and the farmers
are finding the greatest difficulty in procuring
the hands necessary to gather in their harvest.
This is not confined to England alone, as even in
Austria the army corps have been disbanded
to supply tie demand for agricultural labor, and
there is ,tn cry throughout the BREATH OF
Europe for more hands. In England the current
market wsges for the full-gro~n labcrer in the
agricullura districts is seven of our shilling'a
day, END for boys three, with in both cases board
and lodging provided. In Ireland still hap
pier reign is being iaaugura.ed. Those gloomy
Bsstiles which reared their dark yisages every
few miles over the land-to confine as cri ninals
those whose poverty was necessity, not atsult-
a,e becoming deserted. In one pOor'heuse.
which we Sc ect as an average specimen cut OF
the batch, that Of AthlCne, the central point oil
Irelsid, where by the returns of he ID of August,
1852, there were confined 5000 paupers, there
we're BY the last returns but Alb; aud in some
,;s;a Ia had fallen from
six shillings and seven shilliDgs in the pound to
four perez. In the agricultural districts reap
ers are getting six Of our shillings day with
out board, and in some cases tweye--instead OF
90 many cents, which was their " gees some few
years since.
With this change in the material condition there
must also come for a time at least, change IN
the mental condition Of the worlinsman WITH
increased means he will attain better education,
higher civilization and some nOber sense OF his dig
nifty as man. Hence the value of the laborer VIII
also rise in the political market. Coming, by his
increased means, within range OF the income tax
and other imposts which the war has made neces
sary, and which will every day require to be ex-
tended over still wider level, he will naturally
LOCK LOT lDdt WHICH even luC
pretends to guaranteea voice in the imposition oil
the taxes be is made to pay and in their ad'
mipi,tration. Even at present, though not fully
recognized, we see glimmerings OF this dawnlng
power in the obedient Difference with which one
English Government was driven reluctantly into
the present war, and another was forced from
rather hesitatng zeal into energetic action 1t
NAV. too, be detected in the increased pay given
to the soldier and the sensibly larger proportion
which The British Gazette each week contains OF
men raised from the ranks TO commissions in the
army.
But there is yet another result which this scar
city Of labor is working, which promises to be even
more beneficial to the aborer, and at the same time
greatly to promote the comfort and happiness OF
mankind Finding that sufficient hands cannot be
obtained farmers are beginning to discover that it
is possible to do much Of the rough brute labor By
mst,sery. and in go doing to elevate the workman
to the rank of skilled laborer For instance in
Norfolk and few other counties they have begun
to find that by means Of an American reaping ma
chine harvest work may be done ID much shorter
tine at FIVE English shillings per acre, which, on
tie old handbook principle, cost twenty. Nor
does the use Of the machine, as we find in the re-
port of the Norfolk farmers meeting at all dsplace
the regular and permanent farm lsbOrer 1t merely
removes the necessity for the irregular and vagrant
workman, whose labor is universally admitted to
be curse alike TO him who gives and him who re-
ceiyes. The effect of the introduction of machinery
into agriculture will be exactly that which il has
been in manufactures. Every grain and speck Of
earth will be accounted for, as is now every fiber
Of cotton; certainty and economy Will be in
sured; food will be made cheaper and mere
abundant laborers will be skillful and Of higher
class, and the rate of wages increased as was the
case on the substitution Of the spinning jenny for
the hand-loom. Leave the brute coarse labor TO
the great iron wo .kman born out Of mans brain,
which in relieving bis bases enlarges his nobler
powers.
This is one result Of the war aud may indeed be
some compensation for the many sacrihces and
suferings it imposes upon the people OF England
There is reason too to hope that so far az the labor
ers are concerned the reaction which must follow
the conclusion Of peace will not restore the old
condition Of weakness and degradation, but VIII
| rather be made to bear upon the upper crust OF
loafers, royal, civil and ecclesiastic, who press
down the sinew of industry ard Ion luxuriously on
It's struggling strength.
A rather shrewd hoax in defense Of tue Chief