The Charleston daily news. [volume] (Charleston, S.C.) 1865-1873, 1869-04-16
Tho Working Glasses.

Il no w OFE1u8 OiaSscS.
1t is pleasant 10 observe the growing feel
ing in England ir favor Of the working
classes. Time was, when for man TO- join
in strike, or TO become member of
Trades Union, was an objectionable crime
in the eyes of the employer. Yet recently
commission appointed by Parliament has
actually reported in favor of law lcgal;z
ing, under certain restrictions, combina-
tions among workingmen to regulate wages
and hours of labor. This is an acknowl-
edgment that it is better to direct than to
oppose, and, in connection with the efforts
which are making to give the working classes
cheap and rational amusement, shows de-
cided change for the better in public opinion
in regard to the. proper relations between
capital and labor. But the proposition of
the Parliamentary committee does not 90
far enough for some advocates of the rights
of workingmen, and the London Spectator
makes vigorous attack upon the report.
1t says:
ssNothipg is more habitually dinned into the
ears of workingmen by the plutonomists OF
the day than that labor is commodity The
commissioners visibly adopt this view, when
they use such terms as the supply of labor,
the labor MARKET the disposal Of labor bar
gaining as to the terms on which it is to be
disposed OF. But if so, why is the disposal OF
this commodity to be specially reg aIated and
restricted?"
And it goes on to combat the hackneyed
allegations that Trades Unions attempt to
create monopoly of labor, by showing
that dealers in goods and merchandise may
combine to monopolize the market without
interference from the law, and that employ
ers or labor buyers may do the same.
'But IL there is to be no law for restraining
the labor buyer, be he one or many. whether
he choose to buy no apprentice labor, or none
but such; no piece-work labor, or none but
such; no unionists' labor, or none but such; to
use machinery nowhere, or everywhere; to pro-
scribe all sub-contracts in his business, or to
let out all his business upon them; TO refuse
all help to, or share his whole fortune with,
labor buyers in dispute with the labor sellers
why are these last to be excluded from the
benefit OF the law for alleged violations of eco
nomic science which labor buyers may freely
commit, and enjoy all legal protection ?"
It also makes the following forcible argu-
ment in favor of some of the more unpopu-
lar regulations of Trades Unions:
ssTake the instances which perhaps appeal
most to the moral sense, those OF society
aiming at limiting the number OF apprentices
"a practice, be it always remembered, hold per-
fectly justified among attorneys); or ut the e1-
clusion OF non-unionists from fellow work (the
ruling etiquette of tho bar, &c. if labor be
mere commodity, in what do they differ IN
their legal or scientific effect fIcm the case of
the brewer imposing upon publicans the obli-
cation Of taking only his own beer? What
principle of law hlnders the seller from making
it condition with tho buyer that he shall deal
with no other seller Of the same commodity
The thing is of everyday occurrence. Whore
ever any article, by it's rarity. its excellence,
its mere name, however undeserved or fraud
u.enty won. seems capable of enjoying more
or less qualified monopoly of the market,
efforts are at once made to secure that monop-
oily by sending travellers throughout the coun-
try to mako agreements with doalors for the
exclusive use OF such article"
.rns writer uvrvfrs,auu q, fottoWS :.
"The more this question is looked into, tho
more it will be seen that the very principles
Of economical SCIENCE TO which the commits
sioners appeal, I. e., those OF tho now ruling
school OF competitive plutonomy, require that
the sale of labor aud all combinations relating
to it should be made as absolutely free, not
only as the purchase Of labor. but that OF every
other article of commerce, and that oil combi-
nations relating to such purchase should be
subject only to the ordinary restraints Of law
mon abuses incident to the relation Of buyer
and seller"
In this country the workingmen, as
political power, have been free in the main
from oppression; but it is an agreeable
sign Of the spread of liberal opinions in
England and of the effect Of On extension
of the suffrage, that there should be gen.
eral feeling in favor Of . policy which shall
secure to the working CLASSES the prcsec-
ton and privileges which capital can OBJ
tain by means of combination and ooncen-
tration. The working classes do not desire
to become the diotators Of their employers.
All that they ask is fair play, and this they
seem likely to receive.