Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1892-07-24


| being rapidly concentrated in the various
districts in London and the provinces, but
would be able for some time to come to
work sectionally. The organization of the
party would, he thought, be the work of
some years, though the labor societies and
trades unions which existed were making
headway in the desired direction and rem
dering the formation of a national labor
party more and more possible.
The Executive Council of the Lancashire
Cotton Spinners' Association has just de-
cided to recommend ali employers belong
ing to the association to insist upon a re-
duction of wages, and to run all the mills
on short time for one month. 1t is pretty
certain that the recommendation will be ac-
cepted, and there is reason to believe that
the men will not object to a per cent re-
duction, in view of the undoubted fact that
trade is extremely unsatisfactory. 1t is
said in Bolton that one local joint stock has
suffered loss of e10, 900 during the half
year ended last June, and that many other
firms In the district are working at loss.
Justification of the Psssism.
The prevailing pessimism is sjustifed by the
annual report to the Board of Trade by Mr.
Henderson, Superiptending Inspector of
Factories and Workshops, who states that it
is estimated that more money has been lost in
Lancashire cotton industries during the past
II months than in any year yet recorded. In
Oldham alone it is believed the losses on the
last three months working will not be less
than e100,0O0. The inspector says:
An explanation is found in the fiuctua-
tions which have taken place in the IA ma
terial. In 1890 the American cotton crop
was moor in quality, but exceptionally
abundant. The result was q serious drop i'll
prices, and spinners who had been accus-
toned for several years in succession to do
well by buying cotton early in the season
have during the past year been caught and
have had to face falling market for raw
material and q stagnant market OF the man
ufactured article. But it will be seen
other causes are at work. The inspector
declares that the condition of affairs in
Lancashire at the present time is regarded
by some who have had long experience in
there has been a growing. tendency on the
part of private capitalists to withdraw from
the business. 1t is distressing to witness
the havoc which has been made in some of
the picturesque valleys of Lancashire
by the pressure of modern emulation
and competition. Factories and cottages
closed and untenanted, many of them un.
rooted and in ruins met the visitor at almost
every turn and they give some indication Of
the great sacrifice of capital which must
have been made before the present hopeless
condition of things had been reached. The
cotton spinner and manufacturer who owns
his mills and machinery himself promises
soon to become extinct. and we shall then be
reduced to the position which obtains in the
only employers OF labor will be limited com.
panies or corporations.
The Present Position Deplored.
Mr.. Henderson deplores the threatened
extinction of the class of small capitalists
and individual employers, and attributes
their withdrawal from the trade partly to
causes already mentioned and partly to
their reluctance to endure the increasing
worries and annoyances arising from "the
increasing demands made upon members by
the Legislature and growing difficulties of
dealing with work people and their repre-
sentatives" Which is another way of
stating that old-iashioned cotton magnates
accustomed to lord it over their
operatives resent the efforts of Parliament
and trade unions to improve the condition
of the people, but if the future prosperity
of the Lancashire cotton industries is to de-
pend upon the indifference of Parliament
and the inanition of trade unions wherever
the interests of employers and employed
come into conflict, the outlook is very black
indeed, seeing that organized labor is be-
coming more powerful every day and that
the majority Of the new House of Commons
is pledged to further labor and social re-
forms
The Marquis of Salisbury is probably the
only living man who has twice refused a
Dukedom. The title, the highest the Brit
ish sovereign can confer, was vainly offered
him in 1886, when he was thrown out of Of
fee by vote of the House of Commons, and
again in 1887, the jubilee year. 1t is be-
lieved that the offer will be repeated and
accepted next month, when the Marquis re-
tires into opposition. Then Joseph Cham
berlain will have two Dukes as leaders,
which ought to make him happy.
Only Thing of Yesterday.
Lord Salisbury's Marquisate is but a
on the seventh early in 1889, but the earldom
dates from 1906, when it was given BY
James L to the famous courtier and states
man, Robert Cecil judging by precedent,
Lord Salisbury, before retiring from power,
will distribute two or three peerages and
several baronetcies among those of his fol-
lowers who have most helped the Tory
cause with brain or purse.
Englishmen have been reading with i'm
mense satisfaction this week of the extra
ordinary proceedings of Sir Charles Evan
Smith, British Minister to Morocco, who
was sent on a special mission to the Sultan
at Fee. The fact that that mission has
completely failed, owing to the superior
diplomacy of the French and Spanish Min
listers, is apparently amply atoned for by
the spectacle of a British diplomat
''bearding the lion in his den," that
is to say, insulting the Sultan
and his Grand Vizier The Tories in par
ticular are delighted at this fine display of
''iingoism. because the probabilities are
that the Liberals will have to pay the piper.
Mr. Gladstone inherited from his Tory pre-
decessors the difficulties in Egypt which
eventually made necessary the lombard
ment of Alexandria and an expensive cam
paign. 1t is quite possible that if Lord
Salisbury's policy in Morocco be continued
by Lord Rosebery it may lead to lombard
ment of Tangier by the British ironclads,