The times., 1897-04-11

committing labor services into money pay
nlents had greatly increased before the
plague, and after it the villeins demanded
sJch commutationsin greater numbers, and
the lords could not well rcfese to comply
"The plague" says Prof Rogers, had
almost euanCiTated the surviving seTfs.
The serfs were liberated, their wages in
creased and the cost of their living was
not enhanced
But this result was not easily accom-
pEished. The natural increase of wages
was met by a proclamation OF Edward Ill,
in 1349, forbidding the paying or recelv-
ing of greater wages than were paid n
1347, the year before the plague, under
penalty of enforcement. THIS proclamation
not having the desired effect, n 1851
the proclamation was enacted into law.
since designated as the statute OF labor
ers,' substantially as follows:
1. No person under sixty years OF age,
whether serf or free, shall decline to under
take farm labor at wages wniCh were Gus
tomary in ! 347 except they lived by mer-
chandise, were regularly engaged in some
mechanical craft, were possessed OF prl-
vate means or were occupyers OF lands
The lord was to have the first claim to
the labor OF his serfs, and those who de
ciIed to work for him or for others were
to be sent to the Common goal
2 imprisonment is decTeed against all
persons who may quit service before the
time which S fixed in their agreement
g. No other than the old wages are to
be given, and the remedy against those
who seek To get More Is to be sought IN
the lords court.
4. Lords of manors paying more than
the customary amount of wages are liable
in treble damages.
8 Artificers are liable to the same con-
ditions, those enumerated being SaddleTs
tanners, farriers, shoemakers, tailors,
smiths, carpenters, maSOns, tilers, par
getters, carriers, and others
6. Food must be sold at reasonable rates.
Z Aims are strictly forbidden 10 be given
to able-bOdied laborers.
s. Ally excess of wages taken or paid
can he seized for the kings use toward the
payment of the fifteenth or tenth lately
granted.
The statute also provided for the differ
ence between summer and winter wages,
and against the migration of the town
population to country places in summer.
Thelaw failedofits objectas the proclama-
ton had failed, for it was impossible to
enforce it, and it is strange that the king
aud parliament did not see that 1t was
The law was enacted many times with
different and increased penalties against
the laborers or employers or both, but
without effect, for the wages rose Tor
fifty years, remaining stationary or nearly
so, until the close of the reign OF Henry
VIII. Wages rose because OF the demand
for labor and the statute of laborers could
not be enforced because OF the resistance
of the guilds, in which the workmen were
at that time organized; the readiness with
which those prosecuted could escape into
the marshes and woods; and because active
prosecution of the laborers would be sure TO
make the number OF labOrcrs less.
There was, however, considerable fric-
ton between the lords and laborers, and
this increased until the people rose in in
surrection in 1891. The Immediate cause
of the inSurrectiOn was the attempt OF the
lords to rescihd the contracts by which the
labor the yillcins owed the lords had been
comrnuted into payments of money The
LAWYERS no doubt advised the lords thatSUch
contracts were not legal: that what the
serf owed was labor and not money, and
that if the lord had taken money in the past
in lieu OF labor services. that did not pre-
vent him from insisting on payments in
labor. as the law provided, and once the
viIlein would no longer work for the legal
and customary wages, it was only fair
that the lord should claim the labor serv-
ices due him. Then, as in every age OF
the world, law yers have been found to up
rNft nSfrr yf..cr rItaa
weak, and have attached themselves to
the side which could afford TO pay the best
fees.
The result of the conflict was Tyler's re-
bellon. There never had been any vii
leinage in Kent, and the people of that
county and Norfolk were foremost in the
nsurrection This fact led Prof. Rogers
to remark that it is only among free and
prosperous people that resistance to tyr
amy becomes successful, and, though a
people who are held down by evil con ditions
| until life is mere animal existence may
arise and endeavor to overthrow their op-
| pressors, they seldom succeed. Webb con-
| firms this reflection when he says that
| the trade unionism of the eighteenth and
| nineteenth centuries arose first "among
| those Journeymen whose skill and standard
! of life had been for centuries encouraged
and protected by legal and custonIary regu-
| lations as to apprenticeship" And this is
| lesson labor people should remember; it
| will save them from many failures.
| TYLER was killed and the insurrection
| failed, if its purpose was to change the
| government Numbers engaged in i5 were
| executed and imprisoned, hut 1t stopped the
| attempt TO restore the labor service OF
| villeins and annul money payments. Wages
\ continued to rise, even after the population
| had increased to its former numbers. The
| wars of the roses greatly affected the
! character and personnel of the English
| government. but they did not interfere
| with the prosperity of the working people.
| Prof. Rogers declares that in the latter
| part of the reign of Henry vi, and during
| the reigns OF Edward Nv and Richard III,
the Iaborers had won the day, their high