The workingman's advocate. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1864-1877, 1877-07-28


|; admits that it Is often better to enpl0'
good ~orkmen at high wages than to ed
plOy bad workmen at low wages. lti
strange, however, that in another argumen
the Professor overlooks that admission
de places the power IF trades union s
lower point than any economist who hal
given them word of praise. He state
that all union can do is to enforce ris.
when 1t should take place and not always
then but he thinks them incompetent tc
obtain rise when the economic conditions
do not warrant q rise Surely Processes
Cairns misunderstands the object Of q
trades union, If he thinks a part Of its
programme be to attempt to obtain q rise
when economic Conditions do not warrant
such rise. Failures would be certain to
follow such policy. The differences be-
tween employers and employed do not arise
from any such notion, but from the general
policy OF the masters in systematically re-
fuslpg to acknowledge that the economie
conditions are ever sush as TO warrant .
rise. AS Professor Cairns says, the ques-
ton Is" Is there q margin Of wealth
which workmen by combination can con-
fquerF The men think there is, not q
margin, but vast territory to which they
are entitled, and the experience of the
past I'LL them with sure and certain hopes
as to the future. They see the final resort,
and are determined upon its speedy reaIi-
zation. Nor do they fear that which Prof
Cairns breads, viz that in consequences of
advanced wages capital must be withdrawn,
and wages therefore fall. Such can only
be the case when wages are unduly ad-
/ ~ L
alarm. At any rate, the workmen have no
such fear. They are alive to the al
mission made by Professor Cairns to whiG1
alluslon has been made, and they are az
quainted with the facts above given, show.
ing that well-psid, intelligent artisank
when not overworked, are always cheapelt
in the end.
IL may be mentioned here, in parentle-
SIS, that, although trades unions have a
far more powerful influence over va .es-
constantly imparting an upward tendency
than Professor Cairns imagines yet that
1t is likewise an error on the part Of those
who think that trades unionism seeks to
determine the rate Of wages. 1t cannot
do that 1t can do no more than affect
them. A trade society may retard fAll
or accelerate rise, but it cannot change
Law which regulates the fluctuations, or
render permanent that which In its very
essence is temporary.
1t Is at once seen that the instances Of
well-paid but remunerative labor, added
to those facts which we're adduced in sup
port of a similar arguent in the previous
chapter in regard to the reduction of the
hours of labor, shows that the beneficial
lnff afStn Fkfk h. E. -
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 Ia in contradiction of those wide
spread assertions that prices must be in
creased because wages has been raised. A
notable instance Of the PRONUNCIATION hfj
this falsehood has been found in connection
with the famine prices demanded for coal
during the past year. There is a. old
saying to the effect that persons of 3 Ger.
memories ard 1t would have been as well
II the coal owners had remembered that.
so far as from the increase of wages cans.
ing a 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
price Of coal, and it is yet to'be learnt
that the effect precedes the cause. 1t is
now seen that coal rose in price from nat
ural causes. There was, first, the demand
for iron from Germany ut the close opPthe
war Aeccnd, the vast extension Of rail
Ways throughout the wsrld, especially in
America and third, the increase in iron
shipping, other manufacturers being 1t
the same time prosperous. A large amount
OF capital, also had accumulated in 1871,
! and investors in chemical works, in NAM
factories OF textile fabrics, ETC., etc., dreE
checks, as Earl Fitzwilliam put it, upn
the bank Of our coal fields. :. The men,s@io
had succeeded in obtaining Mines Regl-
lation act, took advantage Of the natural
advance Of price to ask for a natural b.
crease Of wage, upon which the masteb,
instead of at once conceding, delayed N
til they were obliged to yield and they
then, by combined action, ran up coalto
famine prices, ignored the causes Just MN
toned, aud threw the blame upon TIE
working of the Mines Regulations act and
the demands of the men.
The claims of the men to a signal td-
vance Of wages we're very great-their 10,
mands extremely moderate. When, or
instance, the cost of getting coai inerea I'd
from go to Go per cent, but the IA
price had 100 per cent. ii ,kogld, ID iced
have been extraordinary IL tbs workmeT
had not pressed for higher wages. ~
Cumberland, frpfn December, 1871, to
January, lS7s wages had increased IS per
cert afd the price of coal las per cent.
IN 30 barnsley district, when the masters
Kers getting an increased profit of Is teE
ton, h,was with great difficulty that tle
men could wiring from that profit an H.
crease OF Sd ton as their share. When
the South Staffordshire and the East Wbr-
cestershire coal masters me: the demand
Of the men for Ia day increase by cba-
cessiun of Cd. they. ON the vary came dav
raised the price of coal Is a ton. in 1871
coke was worth, at the pit of the Durham
coal field, about 9s to los Cd per toa. In
1872 it had risen to forced value of from
SIS cd to As I'D per ton, or m ore than 400
per cent Coal worth from D. Sd to Il
Sd per ton for best quality at the pit in
1871, had risen in 1873 to something like
2Os to 25s-an advance Of about $50 rel
cent. Now, we have heard on all hands Of
the rspacity of the golfers, aud vet The
advances in their w~res-not obtained
} without extreme press being put on the
. colliery owners-did not reach an average
vt 100 per cent. at the outside. In short,
J it may be taken as concediue great dea
to an opponent when it Is stated that
speaking generally, when coal advanced
J from 20 Cd TO los ton, only from1s Sd te
J 30 ton OF that advance were for wages
! and even 30 much would not have been OBJ
tanned but for the action of tie union
} Where, then, 10 the ground for the are
tense that the large demands of the miner,
are among the main causes of the high
} price OF coal The profits have gone T.
the mastery who have strong cOmbina
} ton among themselves, the practical resul
: ct which, By fixing the selling price o
! coal, y 70 force the consumer TO pay no
} only ~ the naturally enhanced price o