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d*S THE LEADED. [No. 490, Atta. 13, 1859...
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months, have done little more than break...
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A VISION OF WHITEBAIT. On Wednesday last...
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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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Trade Societies. The Builders' Strike Wi...
masters , but to men , and yet one of the deputation excused the masters' combination because it had been ** ascertained beyond dispute that . contributions were being made by all the operatives , society men and non-socieEy men , indiscriminately , to support the strike at Messrs . Trollope ' s . " This entirely disposes of the assertion that the men are tyrannised over by the society . Its regulations may be wise or foolish , but it is clear that they represent the average opinion of the men . Another equally absurd charge often made is , that the delegates or manager's of strikes make a good thing of it . The fact is that trade societies are regulated by very strict rulesand ' the scale of remuneration for
us to act together , and the patience -which enables us to wait for results . Organization gives to men a special character , and is a source of strength . ' When men hate to travel . in- search of employment these societies assist them both by information and money , subject , however , to good conduct ; and Mr . Nelson , speaking of the Masons' society , declares " their rules are a-perfect study : they par * take very much of the admirable German system for travelling artizans . They have upwards of 200 lodges throughout the country , and any one transgessing against ^ sobriety , decenc y * or morality ? is reported and punished by the society !" According to their statement , they wish " to place
themselves in such a position as shall gain the esteem of all good men . " Judicious capitalists will not encourage in hostility to these associations ^ but will recognise the good they do in raising the character of the men and creating a feeling of self respect . When they do harm it is usually for want of adequate knowledge ; and the middle-class has no right to complain that the working-classes are uninformed about political economy when very few of their own order could give a simple lesson on the subject , and when , with the exception of Mr . Shield ' s class in the London University School , Hs elements are scarcely anywhere taught to their own sons .
, ordinary or extraordinary services is very moderate—often not more than simple compensation for loss of time . Mr . Cubitt seenied to invite an expression of opinion from the Government in favour of acceding to the demands of the men , and charging the public a little more for the work performed ; but another builder said , " The proceedings of the men in Messrs . Trollope ' s case almost amounted to a conspiracy "—a description ^ hich would equally apply to the masters' conduct , but which is obviously unsuitable to eitheivside so long as operations are kept within the limits . of the ° law . Sir G . C . Lewis treated the matter very
sensibly , by declining any attempt to fix the price of labour , and by declaring that the men would be entitled to increase of wages if the state of the market enabled them to make good their demand . If the men hold well together , it is for the masters to consider whether the expense and trouble of bringing fresh labour into the field will be greater than that of granting the requisition of the men . It is no part of bur function to decide this quest ion , but it is important to observe that Mr . Marsh Nelson , the architect , in a letter to the Master Builders' Society , in which he refuses to join them , declares his conviction that the men are right , and states many of their grievances more clearly than they have done for themselves . Mr . Kelson
reminds the public that the men have usually ^ to walk long distances to and from their work , which adds- a couple o f hours to the actual duration of their labour . He also says , " Three months in the year , at least , most of the builders oblige the men to work nine hours only , and deduct anTiour ' s pay from them- —which money , it is said , goes into the builder ' s pocket , as they charge their principals for a fulf day ' s work . " It is Remarkable that , although a . large part of building work is done by contract—which is a virtual pledging of the services of the men—the adhesion of the latter to their employer is of the loosest kind , being in fact an engagement by the hour , and liable , as far as outdoor work is concerned , to be broken at any time of day by a shower of rain .
The masters complain of arrangements by which the men create an artificial scarcity of labour , such as interdicting a bricklayer from putting the trowel out of his right hand , by which the amount of work he does is considerably diminished ; or deciding that only twelve bricks should be put into a hod that would hold sixteen or twenty . Some of these schemes are contrary to the real interests of the workmen , but they have a clear right to offer their labour on such terms if they please . If there ia a certain quantity of work required , And eight men , by labouring twelve hours a day ,
could perform it , but there are twelve men out of employment and these as a body offer their services on condition of being employed ei g ht hours a piece , the transaction is perfectly legitimate , and it only becomes wrong when improper means arc used to procure the consent and upion upon which it is based . That workmen often create difficulties in the way of carrying on business that redound tb their own injury and that of their employers , we are well aware ; but the true mbral to be drawn from these facts is not that their right of combniation should be assailed , but that their education and social position should be so far improvod as to lead them to take sounder views .
Trade societies have rendered an invaluable service to the working men in teaching them fcabits of combination and self-denial ; and it is impossible to read the rules Tby which they arc governed without appreciating their value . In *> tt $ set before us even rude conduct is the subject 6 f > fine ; , and so is quarrelsome boasting of being independent of an employer . The profaoo to the Wiles of tlie Amalgamated Engineers says , " By association we aoqulre the discipline which allows
D*S The Leaded. [No. 490, Atta. 13, 1859...
d * S THE LEADED . [ No . 490 , Atta . 13 , 1859 . . Sr .: r . _ * ...-. „ ...... . ¦ ¦ : ¦ ___ ^^^^— .. —» ^ ^ i ——»
Months, Have Done Little More Than Break...
months , have done little more than break up a ministry and sanction a wasteful expenditure ,-fre can only hope that in the recess the Parliament will learn to behave better , andj when it meets again , will be prepared to give us large measures of reform .
THE PARLIAMENTS OF 1859 . The short and busy session which began in the second week of June and terminates with the second week of August has been chiefly occupied in voting supplies and imposing taxes . The life of the old Parliament was cut short by the hand of Lord Derby before it could do anything , because it would not allow him to dabble with reform for the amusement and advantage of his party . In turn , the new Parliament cut short the life of Lord Derby ' s ministry , and , in consequence of this mutual slaughter , the six months between February and August , usually devoted to legislation , have been wasted in party intrigues , party contentions , and nursing corruption . ' Some debates there have been , but the
quantity , from the alternate extinction of the Parliament and the ministry , was a month less than usual . They have , at the same time , been more interesting than usual . A war suddenly began , and a peace even more suddenl y concluded ; an attempt to tamper with the constitution , and the displacement of a ministry ; the discovery that , being the strongest nation in the world , we are defenceless , and the necessity of preparation to guard against invasion , have been topics of rare
interest , and have summoned into life the whole debating power of Parliament . The wisdom which has flowed therefrom cannot be scooped up and measured ; but we are compelled to suppose , as noble lords , right hon . and hon . members intended to enlighten us , that they succeeded , otherwise the twenty weeks " work of our thousand legislators has not redounded much to the advantage , and has certainly not increased the wealth , of the community .
Improvements in our complicated jumble of laws , which were hoped for in February , are in August found to be vain delusions . Nothing has been done to remedy the crying mischief of the numerous shortcoming and contradictory enactments which encumber the statute book , and arc a disgrace to the Legislature and a curse to the people . The Parliament has had time to sanction a vast increase of expenditure and taxation , to
add therefore very much to the evils of which it is the source , but it has not had time to remedy any , however long-standing and flagrant , which proceed from itB ignorance or folly in an antecedent periods . Having had two Chancellors of tho Exohequer , equally zealous in their functions of providing the ways and means for their colleagues , wo arc doubly burdened . Mr . Gladstone seems to have been anxious to outdo
Mr . Disraeli ; and he has inflicted , which the othor dare not , an 8 d , rate per pound on a six months ' income— -vitiating tho tax , which can bo only reasonable in proportion as it is pormanent , by the shortness of the period for which ho has leviod tho large rate . Has it ovor occurred to tlio right hon . gentleman and his colleagues , that if they had not Feviod this hoavy ihulot on tho profits of tho builders , those might have been willing to make some concession to tho workmen , which might have avoided tho present unhappy striko P As tho late and present Parliament , in the last nix
A Vision Of Whitebait. On Wednesday Last...
A VISION OF WHITEBAIT . On Wednesday last her Majesty ' s Ministers dined on whitebait at Greenwich . On the Thursday there were headaches in high places : soda-water was in the ascendant , and blue pill was the order of the day . So much we may predict , from onr knowledge of ordinary human nature . After all , ministers are mortals ; and the combination of alcohol ami salmon-cutlets produces the same chemical disturbances in aristocratic as in plebeian stomachs . Here , however , our penetration ends .
As to the details of the ministerial banquet we are left in outer darkness . Alas ! that it should be so . To the cynical and speculative mind , these parliamentary symposia—these " nocf . es senatoriales "must afford rare food for mental contemplation . What a price would not one gladly pa y even for the revelations of any waiter of a philosophical disposition , who , having first satisfied his baser corporeal instincts by dining off the remnants of the repast , were then , with a full-. ' stomach and an easy conscience , to moralise on what he heard and saw . Our wishes , like all mortal things , like the savour of salmon and the fumes of punch , and the froth of champagne , are but vanity . We ask in vain for information . It is the fashion now-adays for every one to confess their sins . Why have we not the " Confessions of a Cabinet Minister ? " As suggestions for that great work , we would offer the ¦ following , interrogations on the subject of ministerial dinners ! Who , for instance , pays the bill ? Our . own impression , an impression amounting , indeed , to moral certainty , is that the country pays . If so , under what head of expenditure is the outlay entered ? Are the broken glasses charged in thelump * or to each member separately ; and are the silver spoons counted after dinner ?
Do Whig and Tory administrations dine at the same place , occupy the same room , and use , in fact , the same house of call ? Do the same waiters wait on different occasions ? Is there some old Ulysses of a waiter , who has seen many ministers , and known many premiers , who has lost all faith in the durability of all things political , save in ministerial dinners ; who has learnt , indeed , by long experience th « it cabinets endure but for a season , while whitebait cometh in the summer . The moral aspects of the banquet present more charms to us than its gross external features . We have always believed that the half-hour preceding dinner , when all the guests are not yet arrived , and the soup is not yet on the table , must bo a very dreary one . We can fancy that the inferior ministers , the new men , the vice-fpresidents and
under-secrctanes , come too soon , like poor - tions . The bid stagers , the worn-out ? 'ouSs oi politics , never come till the . last moment . What grace is given to a minister who comes too late ? How long a time would dinner be kept for the Minister for Foreign Affairs P How short a period would bo thought decent to wait before sitting down without the presence of the President of the Poor-Law Board r Is grace said before moat r If so , who says it ? Surely " Non nobis Domino must be sung before dinner . It would bo so eminently appropriate . Are any allusions permitted to grave occasions of a like character , to ex-col - leagues and extinct statesmen ; good-naturcu comments xipon absent friends are the , necessary
condiment to appetite . A dinner without scandal would be like whitebait without cayenne , or oysters without vinegar , Of course the futures ot Lords Llanovor and Lyvedon were discussed on Wednesday last . — " Zes absent out torn ' ours tort" and wo should not be surprised if , in the words of Rogers , the lato Mr . Vornon Smith were then defined as a gcntlomon of a " most agreeable absence . " The most curious reflection of all is tho possibility that , aftor dinner , as tho bottlos pnssod freely and the lights grow low , tho old proverb was realised , ana it was found that thoro was , indooa , " in vino veritaa . " Fancy the wholo of tho present mmistrv oaoh sovorallv snonkinu the truth unclor
tho infiuonoo of wine How Lord John Russell must have grumbled that ho ought to bo at tno top of the table , and Lord PaTmcrston at tno bottom ; that , in foot , according to Walpole ' a say-
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Aug. 13, 1859, page 14, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_13081859/page/14/
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