New-York tribune., 1908-09-30
THE GREAT COTToy STRIKE.

The great cotton strike at Manchester Is as
simple in its causes and conditions as II Is
colossal In its proportions. 1t Is due solelv " "
disnute over wages. The employers announceu
q General reduction of wages amounting TO
nor conf the alternative to the employees &C
ceptance thereof being a closing OF the lac
tories incidentally. they refused all oVerlure'
of mediation or intervention Of any KIND 1heS
,,-o,,ld consider no other proposition than that
in their utimatum. The employees ulscusoeu
+ba matter carefully and then voted not 10
accent the reduction Thereupon the propIle
TORS closed the factories. The incident Is com
monty called a strike 1t might be more NJ
+ing tn call il a lockout. Whatever 1t be called,
If means that 10000 operatives are idle, adued
+o the already great army of Englands uheln-
Moved and that 4OO0O.0O0 cotton splndles are
stilled at the very time when the nliilS ol
other lands are gaining ominously IN the GULL
petition with Manchester,
The emplovers insist that a reduction III
wages is necessary because of the state ol
trade They point out that for some ulne
China and Japan have been purchasing loi
their mills the finest type of BRUSH ihaculhel!
and that with such equipment, and Win Lheit
u-ou known skill and under the low rates OF
wages which prevail there and the 10" ltelsn'
rates on British steamers, they can success
Rri+isb market That is TO say British cottons
GRO driven cut of the British market by Aslauc
Goods made on British-made machines ana I'M
norted in British ships! Surely that Is an ag-
frravated case of the eagles own feather wing
ing the dart which pierces him! 1t rehainS
only TO add that it is also the BRUSH system
of Irae Trade which permits such anti-Brltlsh
rivalry in British markets On the other hand,
the enonloves declare that they have for some
time been making sacrifices by working under
time and that they cannot AFFORD TO Worh lor
lower wages. Without the reducuon' they
sav their wages are no more than sufficient
lust TO cover the necessaries OF life Moreover
they point out that a standing agreement be-
tween them and their employers provides that no
application for change of wages shall be mace
within wear of the last change; so that II they
accepted this reduction they would not be able
for wear TO ask for restoration OF the oid
rates no matter how much trade might improve
The deplorabe feature of the case is the one
already limited at. that this strike or lockout
comes al a time when exceptionally large num-
bers of British workmen already out OF
work According TO official returns Of the
Board of Trade conditions are unusually bad
and are growing worse. At the end Of August,
1907. per cent of trade union members were
ont Of work At the end Of July, 1908, the
uneIuuloyed percentage was 50, and III an
other month. At the end of August. it was SO.
BEFORE the cotton crisis il had doubtless risen
to more than . per cent, and. OF course, nolT
If is swelled far beyond those figures. fc-
tress and emergency committees are being
formed all over the kingdom, and when Parlia-
ment meets the question Of the unemployed
VIII he one of the foremost pressed upon its
consideration The bearing of these conditions
upon the movement for tariff reform is obvious.
with hundreds of thousands of British work