The workingman's advocate. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1864-1877, 1868-04-18
MINUTES OF EVIDENCE.
TKEi
ROvRl Commission appointed 20 Inquire
into Trad - Unions.


hOTAt commission hppcAhtSu 70 inquire
into Trades Unions.
PRKsKNr:
The Right Hon. Sir WILLIAM EELE In the Chair.
Th- Blight Hon. the EARL o. LIoEFmLD.
Lord ELCHo, NJ. p.
ne Right Hon. ST. Edmund wALESA- HSAD.. Bart.
Sir DaSIEI GoooH, Bart, MP.
HsaHAx MEEIvlLE, &C B@
JAAKs BUurH, Esq. @, b.
THoNAs HrGHks Esq, NJ. z.
FKKpRIcE HARRISON, ksq.
Mr. Robert APrLEGARFH examined.
lcoSTSUED.l
Sir D. Gooch-There Is net much actual
labor 'aa mill dare say you have been in
4 Hour mill and know the kind II work the
men have theref--Of course. ! am not going
y say the men are skilled by the amount Of
work they do, but do say this, that millers
ere lust as liable to have large families as
other men, and they require sufficient wages
To support them, which they do not get at
present. To take the extreme difference !
end that Ia those towns where millers are
81 union compared with those where they
are not, the extreme difference is in favor
az the society men to the tune OF l2s. per
week and 25k hours. Now so far as tan
ners are concerned, who work at about as
hard work as brickisyers' laborers, out a
more Objectionable kind Of work than theirs,
they do not receive on the average so much
az the Iricklaycrs laborers do, and they
work more than go hours on the average.
And taking the extreme difference between
those that are in the union and those that
are out Of the union among the tanners,
there is an advantage on tie part of the
society men to the extent Of lis. week, and
IA hours in the week. | have here a state
ment in the schedule in regard TO the cur
riers also, a trade intimately connected with
tie tanners. I find that their wages run
PAS, 26s., 28s., and S0s. Per week, and the
working hours vary from Sc to 63. Their
labor is about the same class of labor as
the tanners. You may say that there is a
little more skill in it. have some impor-
tant results which have collected in these
schedules In Droylesden brickIayers' la
borers have no union, and as a consequence
the wages vary from l5s. to POS, whereas 10
Manchester, four miles distant, they get 24s g.
Der week and at Ashton, two miles distant
thev get 22s. per week, that Is to say, two
miles further of where they have union
they got more money at DOncaster the
hand loom weaveTs not in union earn l2s.
81 As. Der week Of so hours. Build ers'
laborers in union earn 20s. per week O. 55t
hours. Liverpool portmanteau makers have
been many years in union, they earn from
B5s. "a 40s. per weea. Curriers' not in
union earn I9s. Dc. week. Ship carpenters
in union earn 42s. per week Society coop
ers earn 9Ss. per week, and non-sOciety
coopers 24s. In Lynn the bakers have 10
society, and they earn &c. per week Of 70
hours. Curriers' in society earn Sos. per
week Of 81 hours. Engineers 10 union earn
SOS. Per week Of SCI hours, and engineers
not ia union earn 23s per week Of 60 hours.
Do you see that there are those differences
in the same town between the society and
the non-society men among the engineers ?
Yes, | have received that information
amongst other statements which ! take il are
Just as reliable as any evidence that has ever
been handed in BY Mr.. Mault as to matters
that be has not been personally connected
with. His are statemants from the master
builders, and he is their secretary, and these
are statements from the men TO me as their
secretary. I believe that as far as the men
know land they la made many inquiries)
they are correct.
Earl Of Lichfeld-What place DO you
refer to as showing that difference in the
engineers p Kings Lynn in Norfolk. Then
in Sheffield the table-knlfe cutters were
disorgAnized at the beginning Of this yeer,
and have suffered a reduction Of from 10 TO
80 per cent. Some ta0le-knives tn. wele
50. Cd. are now lie. Cd. per dozen.
Mr. Roebuck-Do you know the state Of
the tab , knife trade at the present time ?--I
do not think 1t has down one-haH
IL is 50 bad that nobody can make any
money BY I'LL think the men have met
the state Of trade very fairly if they have
gone down 90 per cent These papers be-
fore me contain q mass Of very useful infor-
nation, and if it is thought proper / will
place the schedules il the hands Of the sec
rotary along with these statements, and
whatever you think Of Importance you can
make use Of it. Mr. Mault, in one Of his
answers about the hour system, says that the
employers would be quite willing to make
other concessions If the men would consent
10 eccept The hour system. can only say
that my experience goes 10 show that the
men are equally willing 10 accept il. but the
employers seem divided whether they will
have ii. ! have communication here
which was issued short time ago by one Of
our branches 1.-THE Reigste brauch), In which
thev say this to their employers, in taking
into consideration the hour system they
think it will be beneficial both to the EN-
plOyers and employed, as the same is adopted
IN al the principal towns in England" To
get the hour system the men had to strike
in this instance, as tie secretary says, II
am happy to say that our dispute has come
TO close, and also to say that we have
been successful in getting the hour system
IN three Of the larger firms" II the en-
ployers viii give the men q guarantee
that they do not want them to work half
time in the winter. and thus reduce their
earnings one half, when they need it the
most, there would be little difficulty in max
ing the hour system general, if he employ
ers as rule desired its adoption. | may
say that Z know of many instances in Lon
don where the woIkmen have petitioned
their employers to have the hour system.
The frst time was examined spoke about
strik, at Hull, about the long notice that
the men mad given 10 months before, and
yet bad no strike. 1 will just say that the
employers proposed the hour system then,
and sae men accepted, and yet after being
accepted masters who composed q pert OF
NE loinerB society there, actually refused
70 hnys the hour system, so that men, il
they DO Object 70 the hour system in some
instances, are not to be blamed for II, be-
eauss the employers deal with them in such
AZ uncertain way, and in such different
way In some localities from what they do In
otheTSs Here is q case which would desire
60 hame, 10 show the operation Of the mas
tsrs' association when they think that it will
be 70 their advantage 10 do anything of that
kind. When the men struck 10 Manchester
ar wer9 lOosad out Kit Wag both et1ikp "a