Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, Va. [W. Va.]) 1852-1859, 1858-08-11
fFFom the Richmond DIspatch.I
In HE Gyou;I1tIon ~ VVorI,Tv q

men.
We lately noticed as an suspicious sign
of progress in Great Britain the spectacle lately
presented at Birmingham, when the whole pop
ulation celebrated theinaugu by the Queen
of the Peoples Park and Museum, a splendid
mansion and estate purchased for purposes of
intellectual and physical Improvement by the
combined resources of the manufacturers and
workmen of that great hive of mechanical in
dustry, an enterprise with which, in the Lam
guage ola London paper, "the Queen herself
| felt pride in being associated" The same jour
nal says, that of late years the workingmen of
England have learned their own Importance as
a body, and that no section of tho community
has more largely benefited by the spread of
leducation, or made such rapid advances in in
ltclectual progress. We call the attention of
our own mechanics TO theremarkable movement
now making by the workingmen of England
for their intellectual Improvement and to the
fact stated by the London journal from which
we quote, that 'sthe operatives are no longer
hands, but intelligent men, with cultivated
minds and Practised reasoning powers, and
employers have ceased to be mere task
masters On both sides there is clearer
perception of their joint and several inte-
rests thar prevailed in the last generation or to
speak more correctly, there is q mutual consent
that they have but one and the same interest"
striking result of this improv ed state Of things
was manifested in the financial and commercial
VI
which England as well as this country has lately
passed. The wide spread distress which has
fallen heavily on the mining and manufacturing
districts has not produced the slightest distur-
bance of the public pence, in region where,
thirty years ago, similar state of things would
have led to dangerous riots. The English ope-
ratives have acquired knowledge enough to
satisfy them that a war between capital and Ia
Dor must be mutually destructive, and also to
perceive the true causes of a calamity in which
all classes were involved. This subject is worthy
the attention Of the capitalists and mechanics of
America, and we ask the former especially,
when they are called upon to contribute their
aid towards Mechanics Institutes, to initiate
the wise and liberal encouragement given to
such enterprises by the Queen and nobility of
England, and to reflect whether the interests of
all classes are not equally advanced by every
measure which has in view the intellectual and
moral elevation of working men?
The London Weekly Times states that the
carpenters and ioiners of London recently held
a meeting at Exeter Hall, at which it was re.
solved TO request the master builders and other
employers in the trade to reduce the hours of
labor from ten to nine hours day, without re-
ducing the existing rates of wages. The Times
advocates their cause with ability. The memo
rial urges that the increase of population and the
introduction of machinery require new arrange
ments and "a better equalization of the hours of
labor" They urge that the benefits derived
from the extensive use of machinery ought to
be shared with the working classes, and be
made to exercise a civilizing influence by afford
ing some leisure to the masses to promote their
intellectual, social and moral Improvement
The Times recommends the workers in all trades
and occupations in England to join in the short
time movement and says it is impossible to
over.cstimate the increase of happiness to the
whole.