Year: 1870

/
from Washington report that it has been nude
the occasion of that familiar process. pressure
upon Congress. The attention given il by the
press of all parts Of the country indicates the
general appreciation of the importance of the in
cdent, as a possible portent of something fur
ther; and the tlial going on in Berkshire will be
CLOSELY watched until it has passed the stages of
experiment as a business enterprise and until its
results can be fairly tested as a social innovation


The bitterest and strongest opposition to the
introduction of Chinese labor comes from the
trade's-nnion societies, the strongest of which, in
| New England. is that Crispin organization which
for year and a half has ruled the shoe trade
with a rod of iron. As far as these interests are
concerned the public at large is to be congratuat
ed that the check implied in the new movement
has been given. ana that it has been given thus
early. The trade's-union association, as it ap-
pears weekly before the legislature seeking a
charter as it represents itself when its defenders
are so condescending as to submit TO argument,
is most harmless, even most praseworthy af
fair. 1t seeks to enable lis members to live more
cheaply by buying their coal and groceries at
wholesale, to provide for its comrades in sickness
to secure minimum rate of wages to make pos
sible defence against any exercise of tyranny on
the part of the capitalists So far, the formation
of such an association IN any industry as that of
| the Knights Of st. Crispin is something to he
desired in the interest of the community at large
as well as in that of the special trade directly af
fected But the undertaking rarely stops with
smoothing and Strengthening the channel of the
Stream, and digging out the rocks which ruffie
the surface. 1t has tasted power it imbibes am
bitOn; and being directed by men of limited
ideas and narrow craftsmanship. it attempts to
build dam which shall divert to itself all he pro-
fits of the business. From protecting its own
rights it passes readily to assailing the rights of
others. 1t undertakes to keep down production
and so TO diminish the general wealth for the ben
eft of the few. 1t shuts the gates against ar-
prentces; it dictates the quality of work to be
done !; it makes the employer an accompce in
prosecuting the independent aborer it frowns
alike on ingenuity of invention. and on the in
dustry of individual ambition it aspires to poll
tcal influence it practically acts against the dig
nifty of labor far more than against capital it
drags every artisan down to the level of the low
est, and cuts off all opportunities of advance
ment; it strives TO turn back the nineteenth CEN
tury into the guild system of the middle ages :;
and it does all this in the holy of labor, es-
tabIishng slavery under the ~atchwords of liberty


How far this has gone in America, the repre-
sentatves OF special interests can tell. The coal
fields of Pennsylvania can speak for themselves
In the single manufacture of glass we have fallen
behind European countries solely from the trade
combination, mostly of foreign born workmen,
who have allowed Yankee nventiveness no
chance to compete with the cheap labor of Bel
gium. In pottery the same story is told. In the
great Massachusetts interest of boots and shoes,
what has been done has been done before the
eyes of most of our readers. IncalcuabIe
wealth has been sacrificed, utterly as by fire. by
prolonged strikes Manufacturers have been CON-
PEELED to choose between a loss of their business
and loss Of their self-respect. Many outrageous
acts of individual injustice have been done, the
hurt falling not upon the capitalist but upon the
working man or woman outside the pale of the
league


The progress which has been made in England
may serve to indicate to US what would be in
store here we're these assumptions of power to
go on undislurbed. The facts are buried deep in
ponderous blue-books War has been made upon
machinery. The mechanic has been forbidden to
work by the piece. Women have been excluded
from employment. The hod has been forbidden
to hold more than so many bricks. and it has
been forbidden thing to carry bricks in wheel
barrow. Assassination. incendiarism. violence in
every form, have been employed to aid the COM.
binations and the officers of justice and the
makers of law have confessed themselves unable
to cope with the great network of evils which
has been woven together So strong has become
the combination of the trades that no such expe-
dent as has heen resorted to for relief here cond
be thought Of for an instant No manufacturer
in England would be so foohardy as to attempt
to introduce Cinnamon in his workshop, knowing
that his life and that of his Celestial apprentices
would pay ~ penalty; and that no law in Great
Britain would be strong enough either to avert
or to pznish the crime.


Anything which would save Us from the evils
already accumulated. and avert the great accumu-
lation which the record of Manchester and Shelf
field shows would surely follow. ought to be most
heartily welcome And there seems no reason
why the solution of the problem by the ntroduc-
ton Of the element of Chinese labor is not
complete one. The way has long been open
our manufacturers have known what they could
do but in remarkable patience have fOrborne
the Crispns have been fairly warned of the check
which might be applied and still have persisted
in pushing their employers to the wall. and max
ing its appliance necessary. There exists no rea-
sonable doubt that China is a magazine of thou
sands and millions of men, able to acquire any
mechanical art readily. and willing to work at it
faithfully and cheaply; and We may expect to see
that magazine drawn upon. just so long as the
exactions of the Crispins and kindred organiza-
tions tempt their fate.


The other questions opened by the small be-
ginning at North Adams go broader and deeper.
The experiment of bringing The ancient civiIiza-
ticn Of Chira into contact ush the new civiIiza-
ton Of the Christian world has never been fairly
tried. California has given it no test. With
u