Worcester daily spy. [volume] (Worcester [Mass.]) 1850-1888, 1872-06-26
WEDNESDAY. JUNE 80. 1879.
Thc Lnher Quc.t,on.

The London Times, speaking of the agitation
Of workingmen, in England, for an increase
of wages, says: at viii incredibly increase the
price of products with which England supplies
the world, and be vast loss to Great Britain;
it win make coal and iron dear. and England
will lose her present advantages in the matter
of industrial production. This is clear confess
sion, that il is the seri-like English system of
dealing with labor, which makes English manu-
fac;ured goods cheaper than ours. Should
workingmen be paid there as they are paid
here, England would lose her present advan-
tages." But would there be no gain to Eng
land, in the greatly improved condition OF
majority Of her people, who now live constantly
on the verge of pauperism? Certain classes in
England might lose a portion of their present
advantages; but, for England herself there
would be great gain. Such a change might
bring something like an industrial and perhaps
a social revolution; but it would bless the peo-
pie and cxalt the nation.
Foreigners come TO this country Englishmen,
Frenchmen, and Others, fresh from the trades
union" and ''internationale" operations of Eu-
rope, and assume that the labor question needs
TO be dealt with here as these organizations un-
dertake 10 deal with it there. In some of them,
egotistical pretenson and desire TO figure in
some noticeable way, are quite equal to their
ignorance of the country to which they come
1t is true nevertheless, that the organizations in
which their notions of labor reform have taken
shape, cannot flourish in this country, because
there is nothing in the country to furnish o-ca-
sion for their existence here. The condition and
social possibilities of workingmen 10 the United
States, are not like those of workingmen in Eng
land. They are much better paid, better provided
with means for making life pleasant and respecta-
bic, and, unlike those in England, they have the
freedom of all social possibilities Character in
dustry, and intelligence, furnish the only titles
to nobility recognized by our institutions.
French communists can not understand this.
The English trades unionist may not understand
it until he has had considerable experience of
the country. But American mechanics and 9th
CT workingmen should be able to understand it
without difficulty. While seeking such changes
as may be necessary, they should appreciate the
fact that their condition is in every respect vast
ly superior to that from which European work
ingmen escape, when they come to this country
The statement Of the London Times relative to
the effect of an increase of wages on the cost of
English production, should be commended to
American free traders as useful '1esson for
the day." They will be likely to learn some
thing important, if they can be induced to
study it carefully and honestly. The cheap
production which gives the English mauufac-
1urers advantages" in the markets of the
world, depends so entirely on their system of
pauperized labor, that it would be destroyed, if
there should be a reasonable increase of wages.
1t would cost as much TO manufacture goods in
England as it costs here, if wOrkmen shonId be
paid as well there as they are paid here The
English seek to break down our system of in
dustry and maintain theirs unchanged. There
fore, they and their agents attack our protective
system and preach free trade. What they ask
is not likely TO be granted; for our system not
only protects American labor, but also works
effectively in behalf of the workingmen of other
countries