Freeland tribune. (Freeland, Pa.) 1888-1921, 1901-04-24
LABOR IN SLAVERY.
Result of the "High Pressure" sys-
tenn In the United States.

what he considers rightly or wrongly
his better position as compared with
that Of the workman of America. Per-
haps the very first change which will
be brought about by the necessity of
facing up to the iron competition Of
America and Germany is a reduction
In the high wages paid in this country
at present In the iron trades, through
all its phases from the miner to the
| finisher. But one thing the masters
never will succeed in compelling the
British workman to do, and that Is to
work at the high pressure required of
the American. To speak plainly, the
conditions under which the American
operative works are regarded on this
side as involving a kind of slavery.
Let not the American people think for
moment that the Briton considers
himself inferior to any other in ability,
speed or thoroughness. But when he
reads some boast casually of some en-
ployer or trade paper on the American
side) that the American operative at
tends to four looms where the British
er only has two and that the output
OF iron per man employed is so and so
much per cent greater In the United
States than here he only exclaims,
"Poor devilsw He believes they do
not achieve this result Of their own
good will. In fact, the Briton has a
body Of direct statement to fall back
from xtyh0 hou t,
America and claim to speak Of what
they have seen and felt.
Now, in all this he may be wrong or
partly wrong, but certain 1t Is that be-
fore the British worker consents to
work at such pressure as uses him up
by the age of 80 many other expedients
will have to be tried. At this moment
town are appealing to their employers
through their trade organizations to
close the factories at 1 o'clock on Sat
urday afternoons instead of 2 o'clock,
and, though it is denied, still there is
good ground for believing that one of
the chief reasons for the demand is
that the best places in the grounds for
occupied in advance by the workers
at other trades who are freed at
o'clock. This illustrates one of the
most striking and most persistent traits
Of the British workman, his love Of
sport and recreation. 1t has attained
to such a point that now he claims
recognition for its exercise as a right.
He will not consent to be workman
and nothing else.
Also very notable as a sign of the
growing consideration for all labor in
this country Is the motion made in the
house of lords by the lord chief justice
Of his intention to ask the house to in
quire into the number of hours which
the shop assistants work In this mat
ter of pressure by overseers and hard
driving by masters the intelligent Brit
ish workman acquainted with the con-
ditions on both sides of the Atlantic
undoubtedly considers the American on
lower level Of liberty than himself.
That may not sound well In the ears
of people who have been taught that
In energy and intelligence they are
bound to dominate the world. but nev-
ertheless the Briton considers that en-
ergy exerted beyond the limit of will
ingness and human capacity based in
the duration of life Is a confession of
slavery, and undoubtedly the trades
unions In this country have succeeded
In establishing, not by express order.
but by common understanding among
the workmen of most various pursuits,
standard of output which no new
| conner can afford In the end to over
pass.
The overdriving of the operative In
America, the banding together Of en-
ployers to crush out trade unions and
the force of legal authority and power
which can be brought to bear upon
strikers and dlscontented workers
must eventually bring about a social
| revolution in the United States; SO say
the best instructed British workmen,
to whom the America Of the forties
and fifties is no longer "the land of
the free" The immigration statistics
of the United States, taken in conjunc-
tion with these observations, are held
TO De very eloquent. The British con-
tribution Of souls decreases, and If the
contribution of goods declines n little
also that is a question of tariffs, the
operation of which also profoundly af-
fects the American and British ways
Of regarding trade and its movements.
If to the ever growing preoccupation
OF mighty empire Britain were to
add protective tariffs with their COM
plications, such as those now affecting
the United States and Russia, heaven
only knows how she should get through
the days work. From that oppression
free trade liberates her, and the Briton
believes and fears that the peaceful
| development of the United States may
yet call for simpler tariff on her part.
| London Cor. New York Post.
| No MILITIA For gfrilrar.