The Charleston daily news. [volume] (Charleston, S.C.) 1865-1873, 1867-06-06
TRADEs'-URION.

Just now there seems to be considerable agl-
tation in this country and abroad in reference
to the conflict between capital and labor. The
working classes have become completely organ
lied in the Northern and Western States, as also
in England and France, and are bringing heavily
to bear the powerful influence they can wleld'
both for good and for evil, by combined effort;
But few weeks ago all London was thrown
into ferment by strike of the engine drivers
of one of the largest railways operating from
thst populous commercial centre. For nearly
q week the entire current of trade was oo-
structed on the particular line in question. The
value Of its stocks declined in the market, and
there were ominous indications that if the points
in issue between the engine drivers and the
railway company were not amicably adjusted,
the engine drivers of other lines would soon
take similar course. A compromise was, how
ever, effected to the satisfaction OF both parties
and the trouble passed over, at least for time.
The apprehensions Of what may occur IN the
future have not, however, been entirely allay-
ed. The startling fact was forced upon pre-
eminently commercial community that by act
ing in concert the engine drivers Of England
can seriously derange the trade and commerce
of that country for an indefinite period AL
though comparatively few in number, they are
skilled in their profession by long training, and
it was found that it would be impossible to re-
place them adequately if from any cause of diff
ference with their employers they should COM
bine together to break off work.
But the trouble does not end here. Every
branch of trade or manufacture in England
has its Trades Union, and its affiliated socie-
ties. These organizations have their ramifca-
tions in oil parts of the kingdom, and, conf
dent in their numerical strength, they under
take not only to regulate the rate Of wages,
but to exclude from employment every man,
however skilled workman he may be, who
refuses to join the association. Latterly these
combinations have assumed an international
phase. The workingmen Of England send
greeting to the workingmen of France, encour-
age them in their strikes for higher wages,
supply them with funds to carry on their resis-
tance, and actually, as in the case of the tall
ors' strike in Paris, enter into treaties Of slli-
ance offensive and defensive with them, as be-
tween Potentates engaged in common cause.
In the North and West we notice that the
workingmen's unions have become nearly, II
not quite, as dictatorial, and, by making the
questions of wages and Of hours of labor po-
litical issues, exert even o more powerful in
Ausnce than their foreign compeers. In Chi
cago they have carried their measures to such
an extent as to produce serious riots, and the
Chicago Tribune estimates that for weeks from
six thousand to ten thousand men had quit
work in that city, demanding more pay and
less hours of labor. That these combinations
may be beneficial, in some respects, to the
classes whose rights they were originally de-
signed to protect, no one will venture to deny.
But, when they assume to control the capital
Of the country, and to say what the master
workman shall or shall not do; when, above all,
they undertake to shape the laws of the land
in their own interest, they do but repeat the
pernicious errors of the Protectionists in an
other form and on another scale.
The ultimate consequences must be to pre-
vent enterprising men from undertaking i'm
portant works, by contracts, involving stipu-
lated sum, and by introducing the element Of
uncertainty into all such engagements, to di-
vert the surplus capital of the country from
building and manufacturing purposes, into
channels where the investment will draw
stated annual interest, and from which the
workin gmen will derive no benefit whatever.