The workingman's advocate. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1864-1877, 1876-08-12

q 'uitinutd Tf0m last 'Cctk.)
The Trades Unions copied several other
ancient provisions, such AS the rules against
systematic overtime. The guilds also for
bade a member 70 work with a non member
no member was to instruct another, and
mo person Of the mystery was to hire him
self to person Of another mystery where
greater wages were offered ''Rattening"
exactly similar to the Sheffield system,
With the exception that in the old times it
was legal, and now 1t is not) was practlsed
against those members who neglected to
pay their subscriptions. The guilds had
also their black lists, and the word
donation" now applied to the money
gwen to men ION tramp is a translation
Of ''Geo-chenk, the word gwen by the
old German guilds to the workmen who
were similarly tramping. These and other
rules were copied INTO the codes Of the new
Unions They are rapidly becoming OBJ
sulete, and are not enforced at all IN the
iron industries. In these Industries no fixed
period of service is imposed upon appren-
tlces, nor is their number limited. The
Union men do not refuse to work with
non-Union men, and 'rattening" Is not al
lowed
Ii remains to be added that com mbinations
began, not amongst the wurkmen, but
amongst the masters. The employed
merely followed the example Of their en-
pluyers. II was, and still Is. the practice
uf capitalists to combine to keep down the
price Of labour, instead Of competing with
each other, and so raising wages to their
Legitimate rate, as II Is called. Until
3 IL.
been directed to great e1tentAgainst poor,
ignorant, and disunited men, and on that
account the capitalists have generally been
successful This state of things Is nov
changed.
It is seen, then, that Trades Unions were
not improvised. They are not sudden and
lmpulslve combinations, carelessly formed
to be hastily abandoned. They are the
natural outgrowth of natural laws. Work
men soon perceived that all the extra pro-
tits arising from improved appliances went
into the pockets of the capitalists, and
that a great deal Of additional misery and
suffering were imposed upon themselves.
They saw that the hardest fare and the
most work always accompanied each other,
and there were complaints loud and deep.
Indeed, Trades Unions have always been
forced" INTO existence by the oppression
| Of the masters and when attempts have
beeI. made by the men to establish a union
in the absence of pressure from above they
have always failed At this distance Of
time we can now clearly see that the EN-
ployers of Nottingham must be blamed for
the fact that, in 1872, half Of the popula-
ton Of their own town lived upon public
relief. To destroy loom was punishable
With death, and it was then that numerous
associations Of workmsn sprang into exist
ence. These associations developed into
Trades Unions as soon as the law permit
ted them to do so. 1t can hardly be
doubted that the indictment, hfty-seven
yards long, charging some mechanics in
/ $40 with cOnspIring to get mp a strike,
and with some thousands of misdemean-
ours, was the beginning Of the now large
association known as the Amalgamated
Society Of Engineers, and if its success
!. as at all doubtful the conduct Of Messrs.
Platt in 1892 established its basis ON a
rock. 1t was the violation of l3 George
IN, c. 63, by the masters, In favour of
themselves and against the interests Of the
men, which led the Spitaltield weavers TO
form their association. The oppression
of the miners led to the formation of the
[ Mon in 1881 while the cloth workers,
the hatters, calico printers, the Scotch
bakers (who in 1876 were little better than
slaves), and all the new, as well the as old
societies, have been forced into existence
by the injustice of the employers. Indeed,
the men have generally shown reluctance
to combine. II am no lover Of Trades
Unions, says the Bishop of Manchester,
but they have been forced upon the
working classes by the inequita5le use of
the powerc Of capital"
Wherever there has been intelligence
there has been combination. Professor
Fawcett pointed out in 1871 that there was
no combination amongst the agricultural
labourers because they were ''too ignor-
ant. and because there Was "want of
intelligence" They quietly submitted in
North HerefOrdshire to q pittance of 9s.
lOd. a-week, while their rfellow-labourers in
Warwickshire were getting l2s. a-week,
and probably they we're so Injured to suf-
fering that they would never have COM
planned had they not been perslstently
subjected to pitiless, relentless, anc OBJ
jectless cruelty. 1t is a fact that the most
intelligent Of our artisans are the most ear
nest advocates of Trades Unions, and these
we're not slow to instruct their less fortu-
nate brethren of the advantages of union
ism and although the way in which the
recent dispute has ended may not be salts
factory, still the Union is established, and,
it is to be hoped, will yet accomplish it'
end.
1t has been shown how, in the natural
order Of things, the early Trades Unionist'
selected rules which they now ignore
They also showed at times more OF the
blgotry and narrow w-mindedness OF by
gone age than one likes to see now. There
have been intolerants in every creed, anC
it would be strange if Trades Unions haC
furnished an exception, Even the mos
partial inquirer will fail to detect any mort
intolerance in Trades Unionism than car
be found in the society which was presided
over BY the Duke Of Cumberland, or in
deed any other combination. 1t would
however, not have been surprising if in
tolerance had reached its eliminating poin