The Lee County journal. (Leesburg, Ga.) 1904-19??, 1912-11-21
Hope in the
Middle Ages !

never more true than when applied
to the sphere of industrial life, but
even here 1t cannot be accepted en-
tirely without reservation, the Lon
don Globe remarks. Workmen were
combining in order to obtain higher
wages and better conditions Of work,
or to settle disagreements between
masters and men, In the fourteenth
| and fifteenth centuries, although, Of
course, their associations were on
much smaller scale than those Of the
workmen Of the present day nsig-
nificant as their disputes seem, COM
| pared to our own, they possess con-
siderable interest for us, because.
while the action of the men In the two
periods exhibits remarkable con-
tinuity Of aims and methods, the eff
forts to end the troubles made by
both the masters and by the arbi-
traitors called in to Judge between
them and their employees illustrate the
extraordinary difference between me-
dieval and modern views Of the rights
of labor and show how enormously
| the position of the workman has Inn
proved.
4 Curb Placed Upon Combinations.
The black death, which desolated
England in 1348-49, was especially
virulent among the poor and carried
i off large numbers of laborers, those
who survived, realizing their own val
ure, perhaps for the first time, re-
fused to work unless they received
much higher wages than they had
been receiving. The government re-
sponded by passing the statute Of
| laborers, which forbade any one to
take higher wages than he had re-
ceived before the outbreak of the
plague, and 10th "givers" and tax
ers" Of excess wages were punished.
The very year that the statute was
passed there was trouble among the
shearmen of London; the masters
! complained that II a dispute arose be-
tween one of them and his man the
and "by GOWN and conspiracy between
them" they ordered that none among
them should work until the said
master and his servant had come to
an agreement. To put stop to this
state of affairs they made an ordt-
nance, with the sanction Of the mayor
and aldermen, that in the future dis
putes should be settled by the wardens
OF the company and that servants re-
! fusing to submit to them should be
handed over to the mayor for pun
ishment. Later regulations required
all members Of the craft to take
stringent oath Of obedience to the
wardens and forbade any shearman to
give work to a servant at variance
with his master.
a Strike In the Year 1897.
In 1887 the Journeymen Cord
wainers were charged before the may
or of London with forming an Illegal
fraternity and with assauIting oae Of
the trade who would not join it. The
ringleaders did not deny the accusa-
tion and also admitted that Domini-
can friar had agreed to petition the
pope for a confirmation of the. frater-
nifty so that no man, on pain CT ex-
communication, would dare to inter
fere with 1t, deed which the mayor
declared would weaken the liberties
Of the city and the power Of Its Of
ficers. He consequently committed
them to Newgate, to remain there
until he should be better advised what
to do with them, and his final de-
cision is not recorded.
rrI,o Iaf4a. TroIr. - fIn rlk-v -
don contain accounts Of the suppress
sion Of workmen's associations In
three trades-the saddlers', the tail
ors' and the bakers. They are all
very much alike, and It will suffice to
quote one of them. The master sad
dlers asserted that the serving men,
or ''yeomen," oftentimes held meetings,
and that they demanded double the
wages they used to have. The mayor,
to whom the complaint was made, or
dered the representatives Of the two
parties to confer together and report
the result to him.
Meetings Were Prohibited,
On the appointed day they returned.
and the serving men assured him that
they had not tried to raise wages, and
begged to be allowed to continue their
meetings, but all to no purpose. He
decreed that they should henceforth
be under the rule OF the Masters Of
the Guild, and that they should no
longer have fraternity OF their own
or hold meetings. At the same time.
however, he enjoined the masters to
govern them properly, and promised
to afford them speedy justice IL grew
'ances were unduly inflicted upon
them, and this is the only Indication
In all the cases we have considered OF
any sympathy whatever being shown
with the mems point of view Sub
missionsto the rule Of the masters or
wardens must have been peculiarly
lrksome, when, az happened in some
guilds, the journeymen were debarred
from any share in electirg them.
Labor Troubles In English Towns.
Eondon was by no means the only
place which suffered from labor
troubles. The fullers Of Bristol or
Gained that Il servants rebelled and
would not work they should be brought
before the mayor, to be dealt with ac-