The workingman's advocate. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1864-1877, 1877-05-19

/ mentioning the above were IL not Tor the
fact, not only that the association referred
to claims to be the supreme authority il
matters Of free trade, but it 10 an associa.
tion supported chiefly by working men
and it is especially CAREFUL to circulate itl
publications amongst the artisan class
There are, however, others who hold the
-same doctrine, and it is quite proper there
fore that 1t should be refuted here. The
answer may be given in few words. Have
persons right to withhold a commodity
from the market in order to raise its price
| Is such a proceeding a violation Of the
principle of free trade IL the cotton
brokers of Liverpool hold back their stocks
in the hope Of forcing an advance in price,
the financial reformers in that town viii
hardly have the fortitude to ask that they
should be obliged to sell Free trade must
be free to the buyer a. wen as the seller,
and to the seller as well ~ the buyer. The
cotton brokers may-nay, do-keep back
their cotton In order to enhance its price,
The laborers G. mbine and say 1--WE want
90 much for our labor. which we know 10
useful 70 yoa; Hhd wnisss you give rs that
price We will forego certain quantity Of
our labor-we will waste it, in fact-in the
hope that you will be obliged to yield,
which in the end will be benefit to u.s. .
1t il to be hoped that the Financial Re
form Association have intelligence enough
to see that there is as much justice i'll the
one case as i'll the other. IL is indeed the
"higgling Of the market" as Adam Smith
calls it, and those who do not ''higgle, ="
even when shopping will generally pay
more than the ket rate for their goods
Strikes, then, are not only legitimate, but
they are the inevitable result of CONNER
clal bargaining for labor. They are no
more opposed to free trade than are lock.
outs. If man may say to his men, or to
portion Of them, Business is slack,
give you a weeks notice, surely when the
state of trade is reversed the men may say,
"Irade is brisk, give us more wages, or
take a week notice. II do not hesitate
to say, says one who is worth hearing,
that associations of laborers, of a nature
similar to Trades mons, far from being a
hindrance to free market for labor, are
the necessary instrumentality Of that free
market-the indispensable means of ena-
bling the sellers of labor to take due care
Of their own interests under q system Of
competition lnaeed, the whole question
is so axiomatic, that had not the position
been raised elsew here, no mention Of il
would have been made here. 1t seems
strange that persons can be found who will
deny that all legal means employed by
those who live by labor to increase the re-
muneration for that labor. OF to shorten
the hours Of iabor-which amounts to the
same thing or to render their means OF
living more secure, are no more violation
Of the principles Ut tree trade than is the
conduct Of dealer who withholds his goods
from the market III order to raise thel7
price.
1t has been shown in the previous chap
ter that one Uf the great results uf Trades
| Unionism has been to raise wages, and un-
der this head, therefore, it is no less inn
portaIIt iuqulry-Nhat are the effects Of
advanced wages On trade of the country
Now, high wages. C., not only greater
number Of shllings aweek, but no dimin-
] prinn in thar nnrchasina nnFa- s~-..-.
be otherwise than a great blessing. A
great deal has been sand ON the wasteful
way IN which the extra earnings Of the
working men were squaudered last year
and the Year before, and this will be treat
ed Of III the sequel. Al man $ extra earn
nIgs, however, were not wasted. Some
portion of them was, doubtless, spent in
sober qualification, and In increasing the
comfort Of the household. Now, one Of
the articles IN which there has been IN
creased consumption is tea. Let us ask,
therefore, what is the effect of All increased
consumption Of tea 1t signifies, in the
first place, that more ships have been re-
quIred to fetch the tea from China, to build
which ships more men were required, and
to man them more men were wanLed. The
ships had to be rIgged, which was good fol-
the rupemakers and the sillcloth manu-
facturers, as well as several other indus
tries. Then, when the tea arrived here, il
required more warehouses aud employed
more warehousemen, as well as an addi.
tional number of carriers, both by rail and
road, to distribute it over the country il
required more paper to wrap it in parcels,
more string to tie them with. Indeed, il
ls difficult to imagine any industry what.
ever which does not receive some advant-
aye from the increase in the consumption
of any single article and it may be q con-
ISOLATION to cosmopolltans to be reminded
that the processes here alluded to are not
confined IN their advantages to this coun.
try, but stimulate in a similar way ths
various trades in the distant land which
cultivated the plant and thus two nations
mutually benefit each other, and feel thai
they have an interest in each other pros
perity This, however, il not all The
tea is not sent here for nothing We sep6
out other commodities in exchange for A.
The cotton fabrics from Lancashire, the
WOODEN cloths from Yorkshire, hardwar,
goods from Birmingham, and steel anC
IRON manufactures from Sheffield, are gath
cred to our ports and sent to the East, EN-
ployIng labor at every process and when
ever they are moved, from the time thu
raw material is landed on our shores unit
the time that it is deliverd over to the con
sumer or the wearer in far distant land
When the collier's wife buys an alpacl
dress she little thinks how much the worlt
has been set in motion to enable her to d.
so-how that Salt wove it, Ripley dyed it
Lairds built the ship to fetch it, Whit
worths made the tools In order that Plat
might make the machines, in order that !
might be spun, woven, dyed pressed, DO
fore il reached the dressmaker, who uset
a pesdle made BY MllwsId and thread b,
Brooks. An increase in the consumption
Of a commodity, therefore, gives work T.
thousands who would otherwise be idle
and has a tendenty to raise wages neare
and nearer to the ''just rate, which
such bone OF contention at the presen
day. This is the great point to rememoe
, when men are earning money they spen'
It. They buy no more furniture for thei
homes, more clothes for their back, NOR
beer for their cellar, more and better food
1t is only when wages are low that, hk
, Christopher Sly, they have mo NOR
; doublets than backs, no more stocking
than legs, nor no more shoes than feet
The prosperity Of the working man, then
increases the prosperity of the butcher
, the baker, the publican, the grocer, tn
tailor, the draper, and all the m1nufat
lures and industries upon which thes
I danend IL NAV indeed be the prOsper