The Charleston daily news. [volume] (Charleston, S.C.) 1865-1873, 1870-02-02
Dull Times for yyorkinsmcn.

Dull Times for WorkinSmcn.
It is not in Charleston alone that the work.
ingmen find it difficult to obtain work, and
more difficult still to secure any advance
whatever in the present rate OF wages. The
complaint of hard times is heard all over
the country. In Europe there is the same
cry of want and destitution. And the en-
deavor Of the workingmen everywhere is to
hold their own, to keep at work, until trade
revives and labor is more in demand.
In New York, the Mecca to which the
Southern workingmen usually turn, business
is stagnant, and the mechanics are suffering
greatly This is not confined to any partic-
uar class of trade. The New York Star,
the able organ Of the workingmen, says that
the manufactures and workshops formerly
lively with the hum Of voices and clatter OF
machinery, are now as still as death. Among
the members of the building trades, the
complaint is particularly widespread. Com
paratively few buildings are now erecting,
and consequently carpenters, bricklayers.
masons, plasterers, laborers, plumbers, pain
ters and stairbuilders are alike suffering
from the paralysis OF trade. The various in
stitutions for the relief of the poor are taxed
to their utmost capacity to afford relief for
the thousands who are constantly applying
for aid while the intelligence Offices and
labor bureaus are daily overrun with appli-
cants for situations. At recent meeting OF
the New York stairbuillers, it was asserted
that nothing like the present dullness i'll this
business had ever before been experienced
in the city, while the cabnetmakers affirm
that fully one-half OF the men employed in
that branch of the trade are ut present walk
ing the streets, idle. A general cutting
down Of hands by the cigarmakers has been
in progress for several weeks past, and in
many OF the shops where from twenty to thirty
hands were formerly employed, not more
than one-half OF this number are now to be
seen.
The government has done its part in swell
ling the tide of distress. In Norfolk GOO
workmen have been discharged, in New
York 500, in Philadelphia HOO, in Boston
1900. In oil, $500 workmen, representing
more than fifteen thousand men, women and
children, have been turned adrift by the Re-
publican official, to increase the general mis-
cry. And, all the while, the influx of me-
chanics from abroad continues, and each
day adds scores TO the number of our unenl-
ployed poor.
From England the intelligence comes that
there is much suffering at present among the
working classes throughout the country. 1t
is reported that on Christmas day there were
l5O, ,4o2 men, women and children in the
twenty-seven parishes of London receiving
public relief, and who without this aid would
starve. In Woolwch, where operations in
the government dockyard ceased on Septcm-
Der Is, there are at present 5000 paupers in q
population OF $4,000, and 100 houses arc
empty. The condition of Deptford is re-
ported to be much more deplorable.
This condition of affairs at home and
abroad has played sud havoc with the rules
of many of the Trades Unions regulating
wages and the hours Of labor, rs many OF
the Northern socicty-men are compelled, by
outside competition to work for almost any
price the employers may see fit to offer.
Strikes being of little or NO avail under eX.
isting circumstances, the workmen, in most
instances, submit TO the terms Of the en-
ployers, and an1iously await the advent OF II
more auspicious season, when the revival Of
trade will enable them to successfully de-
mand wages commensurate with the times.
We must, all Of as, bide our time. The
low rate of wages will increase the demand
for commodities of all kinds, and the de-
mand will, in turn, stimulate the supply,
which can be increased largely only by pay
ing better wages to labor. This chain OF
cause and effect is as unvarying as the rising
and setting Of the sun. But while we are
awaiting the coming OF better times, we may
clear the dead wood and rubbish from our
path, We may, in word, kill this Infamous
South Carolina Radicnlism Which oppresses
workingman and employer, and, in the name
Of Progress! plumbers and iujures every de-
cent man in the State.