The Washington times., 1894-04-20
WAGES AND WAT TYLER.

BYA The fortunes Of men are
Nryrrp or more frequently wro ought by
accident than design. A
N'''AA'' NoA priest and a plague emanci-
MISSOURI. pated the English slave and
gave him measurable command Of his des-
TIMES. This, too, without any particular in
tention on the part Of either priest or plague
to perform so good a deed. Peace is the
patron friend OF capital but labor frequently
feeds from the hauds of war, of pestilence, OF
general disaster.
"Thc black death, in its slow, pale, ghastly
march to the northwest, reached England in
l34S. Its somber pinions bore and discharged
such freight Of death as never was witnessed
before or since. Fully one-third the popula-
tion of south and middle England perished.
London. Norwich, Nottingham, and all the
commpnes down to the hamlets dug at this
tine large and ccllarlike hole in the ground
just outside their limits. There was no time
for single burials, and into these holes, named
plague pits, the dead were dumped. But out
of all this sorrow and gloom and death came
light and hope and higher better life for
the English serf. When the darkness was
1ispelled his chains were gone. He was free
But where is the priest who inadvertently
assisted the cause of labor? His name was
Wikliif, and he lived in one of the colleges at
Oxford. Under the rather fantastic laws and
customs which at this time governed England
there was always one spot sacred to free
thought and free speech. Anyone could say
and think very freely in Oxford. This WIKI
liff created body of itinerant, barefoot
clergy, and wrapped in poor russet cloak or
gown sent them among the poor people in all
England.
These were known as "poor priests" or
"hedge priests" and acknowledged no author
ity to anybody and reported and accounted
to no one. The common people loved these
priests who came SO near to them and had
abundant faith in them. When the plague
passed by there was dearth of labor as well as
. vast demand for it. England at that time
was mainly agricultural. There were no big
cities. London and Norwich were the larg-
est, with population OF about 40, 900 EACH
There was no Leeds, no Sheffield, no Man.
chester, with their armies Of artisans, and the
farmer was king. Farm labor went up from
~ pence to 12 pence day. Food and cloth
ing took no such leap. For the first time in the
history of England for that matter the laborer
found himself a rich man. He actually had
enough to eat and wear and money in his
purse besides. Before this he had virtually
been a slave. Not so much on account Of
laws, although these were bad enough, but
because the labor market was overstocked.
There were five men for every four places to
work.
OF course capital, the moment wages OF
shilling were wrung from it by the hard ext
gency OF more work than worKmen, at once
rushed of to parliament for relief. The leg
islature of that day, like the legislatures of
this, sat at the feet OF wealth to do its bid
ding; so, of course, laws were passed without
delay that your gay farm hand now getting
his bright shilling every day to light his way
home when the sun was down must go back
to his tuppence. This was very foolish on
the part OF parliament. Those sorts of laws
which undertake to fix values on labor and
other accommodates always fall fat, to the
laughter and scott Of government.
The wages remained high Just the same,
law or no law. Still there was determined
effort in some parts to enforce it. Then the
laborer took to the woods or fed from his
lord to some other lord, or hid in the Chit
shire bills and became robber and outlaw.