Year: 1874

.


II auy argument were needed to show
that trade unions, As al present organised
and conducted, are fraughl With danger
to The best interests Of an classes Of The
community, u would be found in the
effort now making among those reprcson-
ting several branches Of the iron trade
10 resist the necessary aud inevitable de-
cline in wages which must preoede the re-
covery Of that great productive industry
from the pros,rsting effects of the papic.
The winter upon which we are now en-.
tering promises to be one Of almost I'M.
precedenled dulluess, and both makers
and men must recognize this unpleasant
fact and act accordingly. Many large
iron works have already failed, many
more are keeping from bankruptcy by
making all the iron they can and selling
their products below cost, finding Il safer
TO do this than TO stop, although either
course must lead TO ruin sooner or later,
and before spring we may expect to wit
ness the closing Of many works now max.
ing great show Of Improbable activity.
Already labor skilled In branches Of iron
working is greatly in excess Of the re-
quromcuts Of the tRade, and before the
end Of the year will be superabundant.
Wages have, It is true, declined from 10
to 25 per cent, and In some instances
more, where neither skill nor experience
are required; but the ratio of decline in
the price of manufactured iron TO the de-
cline in the cost Of production has been
as two or three to one. This condition Of
affairs cannot continue. II labor will not
yield our furnaces must blow out aud our
mills close and the ultimate consequence
of trade union folly will be to drive cap
ilal ont of manufacturing into other and
safer investments, leaving labor without
employment. These are plain truths,
stated IN simple language. The most ig-
norant workman can understand them,
and the most unreasonable partisan Of the
trade unions must admit their truth. We
have sought earnestly and hopefully for
some sine of revival in the iron business
that would encourage the hope that bet
ter times are at hand; but with all our
facilities for learning the exact condition
of businesa in all parts of the country,
we have found nothing to warrant the
belief that any improvement can be ex-
pected before spring, Whether 1t comes
then or not will depend upon circum-
stances. If wages decline TO point
that will enable makers and manufacturers
of iron to meet the views of consumers
without loss, we may expect a gradual
but steady improvement in the consump-
tive demand with better prices; if wages
do not decline, and manufacturing can
only be resumed under existing condi-
tons as regards the cost Of labor, the
trade will not revive, and we shall have
before us another year of dullness and
stagnation. In view of these facts, which
! hO obb iiN huONb tltI VI tuI
iron trade Of this time will venture to
question or deny, the folly of strikes to
resist reductions in wages is apparent to
the simplest understanding, There are
in this city 10000 able bodied men abso-
lutely without employment, and among
them are many skilled iron workers,
moulders and pattern makers. In all the
great iron making districts there is a
growing disproportion between the sup
ply of labor and the demand for 1t, and
every week this disproportion becomes
greater. The unions may temporarily re-
sist the tendency of the times, and force
embarrassed employers in their emer-
gency to accede to unjust demands, but
by so doing they will only hasten the end
and bring upon themselves the evil ofen-
forced idleness. Iron Age.