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

1t is pleasant to observe the growing feel
ing in England in favor Of the working
classes. Time was, when for q aan 10 join
in strike, or to become q member of q
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 legaliz
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-
oided change for the betterin public opinion
in regard to the proper relations between
capital and labor But the proposition Of
the Parliamentary committee does not 20
far enough for some advocates of the rights
OF workingmen, and the London Spectator
makes vigorous attack upon the report
1t says:
Nothing 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, whom
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 ii so, why is the disposal of
this commodity to be specially regulated and
restricted?"
And it goes on to combat the haokneyed
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 If 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 mono
but such; no piece-work labor, or none but
such; no unlonists' labor, or none but such; to
use machinery nowhere, or everywhere; to pro-
scribe all sub-c ontracts in his business, or to
let out all his business upon them; to refuse
all help 10, or share his whole fortune with,
labor buyers in dispute with the labor sellers
why arc 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 ?"
l. 1t also makes the following forcible argu-
ment in favor of some Of the more unpopu-
lar regulations Of Trades Unions:
Take 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 at the ex-
clusicn OF non-unionists from fellow work (the
ruling etiquette Of the bar, &c.); if labor be q
mere commodity, in what do they differ IN
their legal or scientific effect from the case of
the brewer imposing upon publicans the obi
Agation Of taking only his own beer? What
princlple Of law hlnders the seller from making
it condition with the buyer that he shall deal
with no other seller of the same commodityP
The thing is of everyday occurrence. Where
ever any article. by it's rarity. it's excellence,
its mere name, however undeserved or fraud
u.ently 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 make agreements with dealers for the
exclusive use Of such article"
The writer concludes as follows:
"The more this question is looked into, the
more it will be seen that the very principles
OF economical soience.' to which the commits
sioners appeal, I. e., those OF the now ruling
school Of competitive plutonomy, require that
the sale Of labor and 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 all oombi-
nations relating to such purchase should be
subject only to the ordinary restraints of Jaw
upon abuses incident to the relation Of buyer
and seller"
In this country the workingmen, as a
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 an extension
of the suffrage, that there should be gem
eral feeling in favor of policy which shall
secure to the working classes the pro:ec-
ton and privileges which capital can OBJ
tain by means Of combination and concen-
tration. The working classes do not desire
to become the dictators Of their employers.
All that they ask is fair play, and this they
seem likely to receive.