The workingman's advocate. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1864-1877, 1877-10-13

! ploy Dau NOrkmen AT low wages. III
strange, however, that in another argumeE
! the Professor overlooks that admissld
He places the power Of trades union
a lower point than any economist who n
!. given them word Of praise. He stat
that all a union can do is to enforce n
when it should take place-and not alwa
then but he thinks them incompetent
obtain a rise when the economic conditiot
do not warrant rise. Surely Professl
Cairns mlsunderstands the object of
trades union, if he thinks part of
programme be to attempt to obtain ri
when economic conditions do not Marraa
such rise. Failures would be certain
follow such policy. The differences b
tween employers and employed do not arid
from any such notion, but from the generi
policy OF the masters in Systematically n
fusing 70 acknowledge that the economi
Aeonditions are ever such as to warrant
rise. As Professor Cairns says, the que.
tlon 10 ~ there 4 margin of wealt
which wurkmen by a combination can COZ
querf The men think there is, not
margin, but vast territory to which the
are entitled, and the experience of tk
past hll them with sure and certain hopd
as to the future. They see the final resort
and are determined upon its speedy real
zatlon. Nor do they fear that which Prol
Cairns breads, viz that in consequence 4
advanced wages capital must be wlthdrawn
and wages therefore fall. Such can onlI
be the case when wages are unduly ad
vanced, about which there need be NJ
alarm. AT any rate, the workmen have n|
] ali 70 ha ~
mission made by Professor Cairns to whic
alluslon has been made, aud they are a
| qualntei with the facts above given, shov
ing that well-paid, intelligent artisanl
when not overworked, are always cheape&
In The end
! Ii may be Taeneoned here, in parenthS
SIS, that, although trades unions have
far more powerful influence over wages%-
constantly ipparting An upward tendenqy
than Professor Cairns imagines, yet thai
1t is likewise an error ON the part of thote
who think that trades unonism seeks q
determine the rate Of wages 1t caDnet
/ do that 1t can do no more than affek
them. A trade society may retard a fal
/ or accelerate rise, but it cannot chandp
Law which regulates the fluctuations, .;
render permanent that which ln it's vefy
essence is temporary
i 1t Is at once seen that the instances IL
well-paid but remunerative labor, addHa
to those facts which were adduced in SUP
p"rt OF similar arguent in the previOVs
chapter III regard to the reduction Of tie
hours Of labor, shows that the beneficial
| effects of the success of unionism on the
trade Of the country are not at the cost Of
the capitalist, but to his advantage, and
that that advantage is not less but greater
! by paying higher wages for shorter hours.
! This is in contradiction of those vide
| spread assertions that prices must be in
4 creased because wages has been raised A
notable instance of the PRONUNCIATION Of
this falsehood has been found in connect;nn
( with the famine prices demanded for coal
during the past year There is an old
. saying to the effect that persons Of a or
memories and it would have been as ~
| If the cual owners had remembered that.
50 far as from the increase Of wages caus-
ing rise in the price of coal, the latter
! took place before the latter was heard Of.
The increase in the rate of wages fol
lowed, and did not precede the rise in the
I price Of coal, and 1t is yet to be learnt
| that the effect precedes the cause. II is
now seen that coal rose in price from nat
ural causes. There was, first, the demand
Tor IRON I a Germany at the close OF the
war second. the vast extension Of rail
ways throughout the world, especially in
America and third, the increase in iron
shipping, other manufacturers being at
the same time prosperous. large amount
Of capital, also had accumulated in 1871
and investors in chemical works. in manu-
| factories of textile fabrics, etc, etc. drew
checks, as Earl Fltzwiliam put il, upon
the bank If our coal tielGs The men, who
had succeeded in obtaining Mines Regu-
lation act, took advantage Of the natural
advance Of price to ask for a natural in
crease Of wage, upon whi,h the masters,
instead OF at once conceding, delayed un-
! til they were Obliged to yield and they
then, by combined action, ran up coal to
famine prices, ignored the causes Just men
tened, aud threw the bla ne upon the
working of the Mines Regulations act and
the demands Of the man.
The claims Of the men to signal ad-
vance OF wages were very great-their de
mands extremely moderate. When, for
instance, the cost Of getting coal increased
from 90 to 30 per cent, but the selling
price had l2o per cent. it would, indeed,
have been extraordinary if the workmen
had not pressed for higher wages. In
| Cumberland, from December, 1871. 10
I January, 1874, wages had increased 56 per
cent, and the price Of coal l45 per cent.
In the Barnsley district, when the masters
were getting an increased profit of Ga per
ton, 1t was with great difficulty that the
men could wiring from that profit an in
crease Of Sd ton as their share. When
the South Stafordshire and the East Wor-
cestershire coal masters met the demand
of the men for Is day increase BY con
cession Of I'd, they, on the very same day,
raised the price of coal p ton. In 1871
coke was worth, at the pit Of the Durham
coal held, about 9s to los Ga per tol. In
1877 1t had risen to a forced value of from
37s I'D to 42s Cd per ton, or m Jre than 400
per cent. . Coal worth Fl m 5s Cd to 7s
Cd per ton for best quality at the pit in
1871 had risen In 1873 to something like
2Os to 20s-an advance Of about $50 per
cent. Now, we have heard on all hands Of
the rapaclty Of the colliers, aud yet the
advances IN their wag"s-nOt obtsinud
without extreme pressure being put on the
/ colliery owners-did not reach an average
Of 100 per cent. at the outside. In short,
1t may be taken as concedine a great deal
to an opponent when it is stated that,
speaking generally, when coal advanced
from Is od to los ton, only from Is 6 to
IS ton OF that advance were for wages,
and even so much would not have been OBJ.
tanned but for the action of the union.
Where, then, is the ground for the pre-.
tense that the large demands of the miner,
are among the main causes Of the high
price o. coal The profits have gone tC
the masters, who have a strong combina
ton among themselves, the practical result
Of which, by fixing the selling price o
coal, is to force the c6nsuu er to pay no
only all the naturally enhanced price o
coal, but sensational or panic" price q
well. Yet, strange to relate, the complain
against that combination was very feeble
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