The labor world. [volume] (Duluth, Minn.) 1896-current, 1901-02-09

by legislation and government. The
continuous assault made upon him by
the upper" classes-who alone had the
right of sufferance-could come to but
one conclusion, his complete undoing
and his degradation to a state lower
than he had ever occupied before, even
in his days Of seffdom. Thora1d Rod
gers tells us that he was assailed on
two sides almost simultaneously. 1.-THE
money which he received for his WAges
was debased; and the assistance which
his benefit society gave him in time, Of
difficulty, which allowed him loans with
out interest, apprenticed his son, or
pensioned his widow, was confiscated.
~ But the deteriorat ton of his
condition was not confined to the loss
Of money wages. He lost insurance
also, the fund destined to support him
and his during the period Of youth and
age, when work is not open to the i'm
perfect powers Of youth, and has be-
come impossible to the enfeebled pow
ers Of age" All this was done by law.
He had no vote, and he who had voted
away the possessions Of he who had
not.
The aim and purpose of those who
were empowered to- legislate now be-
came possible; what had been striven
for for two centuries was accomplished
The famous-or Infamous of
Laborers had been passed, invoked, re-
enacted and put into execution in vain
for that period. What couldn't be done
in one way could be done in another
The law restricting the wage to be paid
to the laborer proving imperative, af-:
ter many attempts to make it adapt
able, it was finally decided that the
magistrates should say what should be
fair wage in their several districts.
That settled it. "The justices in quar-,
ter sections were empowered to fix the
| rate of wages in husbandry and in
handcrafts, and they did not let their
powers lie idle" said Prof. Rodgers.
The attempt to pull down wages was
at last successful, an eXpedient was
found, a cause was perfected from
which pauperism was the inevitable
effect. This system was so successful,
and so pleasing and profitable to the
employing class, that it was in legal
operation until 1872, and by taoit long
after that date The golden age was
passed.; the worker was degraded as he
had never been before. In work and
Wages Prof. Rodgers indignantly in
diets the voting class as follows:
Il contend that from 1863 to 1924, a
conspiracy concocted by the law and
carried out by parties interested by it's
! success, was entered into, to cheat the
English workman of his wages, to tie
him to the soil, to deprive him of hope,
and to degrade him into irremediable
| poverty. For more than two centuries
and a half, the English law, and those
who administered: 7. the. law, were en-
gagged in grinding: the English work
| men down % the. Lowest pittance, in
stamping out every expression ar act
which indicated. any organized discon-
tent, and in multiplying penalties: upon
him when he thought of his: natural
rights''' - =. -: -:
Hypocrisy then, as. now: helped, to
drag him down. .Palliatives we're tried
to mitigate the evils of his burden, that
is, a .pretense was made to mitigate the
worst and most iritolerant Of his woes,
but it was only a pretense. For instance
the act of Elizabeth declares thai
| the wages of laborers are too small,
and not ansWera bic to- these times" and
weeps about the "grief and burden OF
the poor laborer and hired man." and
then proceeds to allow them who are
most interested in Keeping him. poor 10
fix. the wages on which he shall sub
slst, and to .''enact a testimonial. from
his past. employers and the overseers
and ,ehurch wardens when he quit; a.
service" which he had to show. before.
| he entered another. -. -
The law was stretched and. the
meaning of words contorted to. make
his degradation complete. Conspiracy
(which. originally meant combination
for the purpose Of bringing false eNi:
Edence for the purpose Of subsequently
committing a crime-was construed 10
mean an associa ton of working men
combined to raise the rate of wages by
refusing to work under a certain price,
or for a certain time. And the 18th,
18th and goth clauses of the act Of Eliz-
abeth were forced to bear such a con-
struction. But as time went on the fell
Low with the vote succeeded in getting
! things so. arranged. that the law had
mot to be stretched, for at the close of
the eighteenth century an act of parlia-
ment was carried which declared all
contracts, except between master and
man, for obtaining advances of wages,
altering the usual time of working de-
creasing the quantity of work, etc,
illegal: and workmen who entered into
such illegal combinations were punish
able by imprisonment. Meeting for eff
fecting such purposes were punishable
in like manner.
Among the palliatives used and de-
vised was the fatal poor laws of Eliz-
abeth and her counselors. 1t was these
laws that gave the power to magistrates
ITO fix wages, and those who couldn't
exist on the \ wages so fixed were to
be aided by the parish. parishes were
the legal divisions Of the land.) The
magistrates were the employers of la
Dor. They fixed the wages at less than
would support life and left the parish
to make up the difference. Their next
move was to decree that the poor were
to be helped not by the parish in which
they worked, but by the parish in which
they lived; so they pulled down the
!, workmen's houses in the parishes in