New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1875-09-16
THE BRITISH ASSOCIATION.
rurIAsr DAYS PRoCEEDINGs.


THE LAST DAYS PROCEEDINGS. = *
REPORT or TIE COMMITTEES ON COMBINATION OF
CAPITAL AND IApoR-THE QUESTIONS WHICH III
CoNsIDERED-sIR JOHN HAwKsHAw ON UNI
FORMlTY OF wAGEs-GEN CARRISGToN ON TIM
INDIANS OF THE SoRTH-wEsT-siR II. Chhisi-
son TO BE THE NEXT PRESIDENT 80,
(PRoM THE REGULAR CORRESPONDENT OF THE IhibuNh'I
BRIsToI, Sept. 1.-The edge OF curiosity ABOUT thc
Arctic letters promised In the Geographlcai oec''oh
yesterday had been taken on by the copiouS ~.
counts arriving in the London papers; stu, TINS
was the popular meeting of the day. ana the pro-
ceedings were fun of interest. A more important
meeting really was that of the Economic Section,
which not even the extraordinary performance OF
Monday had deInoralzed. Prof Leone Lew read the
report Of the Committee appointed TWO years ago OH
Combinations of Capital and Labor. The mem
bers of the Committee were Lord Houghton NOW Ill
the limited States) Lord Ofagan, Messrs j. Behrens,
Thomas Brassey. NJ. p, 4. 2. Fellowes, Archibald
Hamilton, A. j. Mundella, NJ. T., WIN. Newmarch,
r. j. Inglis Palgrave, Prof Thorold Rogers anu
Prof Leone Levi. This is strong iist Oh names
and the report, drawn up and read by Proi' Lew IS
valuable one, though whether the practical encc'
of it will be great may be doubted IL lacks POSITIVE
ness. and it lacks the efficacy which strong dele
cation of workingmen, trades union leaders might
have given it, could they have been induced to ad-
of sanction the workingmen are not likely to pay
much heed to it. None the less is 1t another proof
that the Association can turn its hand to practical
work. 1t gave the most brilliant Illustration of its
ability last year at Belfast by bringing about the
termination of the strike which had ragged i'll that
town for some six weeks before its coming.
The questions the Committee set out to answer
are the following 1. What determines the mini
mum rate of wagesi q Can that minimum rate be
uniform in any trade and can that uniformity been
forcedi 8. Is combination capable of affecting the
rate of wages whether in favor of employers or em-
plOyedi a. Can artificial restriction OF labor OF
of capital be economically right or beneficial under
any circumstances Their answer to the first ques'
ton is little vague possibly because the question
does not admit Of different one Prof Rogers fixes
the minimum rate of wages as the Darest
possible amount upon which man can
be maintained, but comedies that nobody would
submit to this who could help it, One OF
the representatives of labor-apparently in
reply to question put to him by the Committee
defines this minimum systematically as THAT
which under the worst circumstances the worst
workman gets from the worst master" Enough
to keep a man alive is another proposed so
luton which the Committee reject partly because
necessaries cannot be defined partly because he can
emigrate to country where he can do better-omit-
ting TO explain how man is to save the price of his
passage out of wages just sufficient to keep him from
starving. They think the relation which wages bear
to the labor market better test OF Their sulClehcy
(which is not the point. Tested by that standard
the minimum rate of wages which wOrkmen are at
any time prepared to accept is the least which they
think they are entitled to have under existing cir
cumsances the trades unions guiding them as to the
state of trade and the value of labor at the time.
In palmer words, men will get much as they can.
and that is about what the long debate of the Com
mittee comes to. Ii is mainly worth nothing as an
illustration of the difficulty OF reaching either scien
tiic exactness or any beneficial result i'll the attempt
to define an arbitrary term.
Can this minimum rate, whatever 1t be, he made
uniform in any trade and uniformity be enforced
This is much more practical query. The Committee
affrms that in the opinion of many trades unions all
workmen of average ability in any trade should earn
the same wages, the average ability of each man
being understood to have been determined IN adj
vance by the fact Of his being admitted as member
of the union. But this (which never heard doubted
before was denied in the discussion following the
report by one OF two of the workngmen who had
been invited TO come in and talk the matter over.
Assuming il to be true, the conclusion of the Com
mittee is a sound one They do not believe in the
guarantees of average ability supplied by the trades
uniOns-each lodge being always at liberty to
accept or reject a man as 1t likes, ana
being unlikely to take the employers view
of fitness The Committee withhold their assent,
therefore, from the proposition that all woTkinen
should be entitled to uniform wages on tue ground
of uniform ability Sir John Hawksllaw, who has
employed directly and indirectly as many workmen
"A ANYBODY living gave an emphatic opinion this.
The principle would have most disastrous effect on
the country and he reminded the worklngmen that if
- IaI pnpIp rIu
should be-to every branch of industry engineers,
mechanics and the rest would be brought down to
one dead level. Mr.. Cawsey, Chairman of the
Trades Council Of Bristol, could only say in reply
that the employer could always discharge the in
ferior wOrkman-whch is not true, since the right
of discharge is precisely Of the rights the unions
frequently strike against-and would not be an
answer if it were.
But if uniformity Cannot he enforced experience
happily proves that il cannotl, can combination af
feet the rate of wages, and how fart Here the
theorists seem to be side and the facts
on the other as has happened before. Political econ
omy says the law of supply and demand is stronger
than cOmbination--that whenever profits trench
unduly upon wages fresh capital is sure to come in,
and this insures raising of wages. The employed
say that as a matter of fact they have repeatedly
got higher wages by combining. and that the in
CREASE IL, OIL tno "hoc, pei ahch' iioi ho'i otePo
between the two, admitting that combination has
often proved a useful means of accelerating the
operation of economical laws but denying that
the rate of wages can be affected permanently by
such means. His objection to them is that they Oc-
cason state of irritation which often checks pro-
ductOn.
The final inquiry Of the Committee is whether an
artificial restriction of labor or of capital can be
economically right, under any circumstances
beneficial Instead of the decided negative which