Workmen's advocate., 1890-05-24

special conditions of trade. As trade is
 rushing, brisk, quiet, or very quiet,
 wages alternate. But it is business
 proverb of universal application. that
 wages are the first element in produc-
 ton to go down, the last to go up. The
 trst item in the general account is inter.
 est on active capital. This must be met,
 ent and certain fixed charges such as
 Insurance must be paid. Then comes
 the wage 'earner. There is doubtless a
 normal standard. But if trade be quiet
 wages are reduced; if very quiet, opera nves are dismissed. No use heaping up a stock of goods for whicn there is no demand. When trade revives, mechan. ics and operatives are taken on; when rushing" wages are slightly advanced; put generally on request" very rarely indeed as voluntary act of justice or
 loerallty. Sometimes one hears that the factory or the works have been kept gong Ill dull tunes, out of consideration Tor the employe and operative, flor there Is no money in it." That great employers are not soulless goes without saying; but "charity is not business; besides to let fine machinery stand idle is ruinous, better keep it in moderate notion" Even in dull times mot in panic, there Is some movement of goods and stock may as well be replaced The exception to this moderate use of labor, in which it is not to be questioned that humanity and charity have an opera tlng influence, Is to be found in the great mining trades, coal, iron, etc.. where production is suspended with the express object of raising prices, even season prices, and where the human machine is not taken into account
 A specific and cognizable agent in modifying and fixing trade relations is found in the association and organiza- tion of workingmen for purposes of aid and comfort in all matters of common interest. Organization for protection and advancement is no new thing in the history of mankind. All religious, all political systems, have been the out come and result of organization after the bringing forth of new idea and it's ac ceptance by the chosen few. Organiza- ton of labor is of recent date, though the same idea has long been extant, but ac- companied with political and govern theories, from which, till the present day, labor rights have been usually dissociated. Labor, the basis and origin of capital, now claims it's fair share of the joint proceeds instead of being relegated to the lowest round of the social ladder. Wages as the exact modicum of laborer's sufficiency for bare subsistence is no longer settled by act of council or resolution of district poor committee.
 Under the present business arrange ments of society there can be very little doubt of the continuing success of peace ful organization. The scientific and re. gulated strike of to-day is very different from the strike of fifty or sixty years ago. As the word implies, it was then ! physical force arguments; it meant stone throwing and clubbing, "ratten- ing" and all brutal and compulsory ar against person and property. the strike is self.sacrifce for l principle. Does the employer pay less han scale wages, the workman refuses to work, he and his associates; does the employer conduct his business in de- fiance of accepted trade rules, his men Iuit work after intellectual remonstrance; ioes the employer hire non.uniopists, ,he men refuse to work side by side with he non- unionist. There was a time when such dissensions resulted in as- ,ault of person or destruction of pro- perty. But we have passed that stage and now the employer meets his en- ployes half way and compromises the difficulty. Why! For self interest. Some what under the influence of humanita rian sentiment and respect for public opinion, but more from the knowledge that capital or credit are of no value un. less kept active. This new mode of settlement is in keeping with the spirit Df the time, that spirit being lever of potency in this age and espe- cially in this nation.
 Of the potency of organization by asso- ciated labor in advancing wage rates and shortening hours, no one cognizant of passing events can entertain doubt. Fawcett, the English economist, who cannot be said to favor organ. zation with it's concomitant, the strike, says
 'Strlkes are Inseparable from our present economic system, because, as ong as wages are settled in the same way as bargain, it must often happen that one party will refuse to accept the price offered by the other; conciliation and arbitration, though useful, do not remove the cause of these disputes"
 The following remarks of Commis- 'ioner Peck in relation to the condition of certain trades and concerning other important labor matters will also prove of great interest.
 THE BAKERS
 whose condition both in wages, hours, shop rules and personal conditions, used to place them at a very low level among the workers, have now by.their organi- zation been able to raise their condition. Strikes of the bakers are reported for L T.