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THE NORTHERN STAK. SATUKDAY, JULY 5, 1845.
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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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ROCHDALfi . Important to Trade Societies . —At the Rochdale Petit Sessions , on Monday , a most important case came on arising out of a strike with the raeu in the employ of Messrs . Ladyman au J Holt , extun-Bive builders , Oldhani-road . In the be / ummg of Alar a strike took place for w . igcs with the above masters ; and one James Nevill , an ased man , feiood out with the rest of tiie men . though not a member of the Union . We uudcivbuul that this man was at that time one of the principal officers of the Joiners ' Society , ami when the fir&t strike took place , he made himself very prominent , although lie would not pay to the fuii'ls of ilic . Mwiety . The masters agreed to give the rf quired advance , anil theinen returned to work . Shortly aiu-nvai ^ Ls Neviil demanded of the men /«> . * / i- « r . ' of tin- fund-, and taunted them with
defrauding him « f his proportionate share of those faniLs which l > e ivfasesi Mj « ay 10 . Tiie men consulted together , and nunrd ti » p : y the demand providing he would jwn the trade society , lie , in an indignant mauiKT , n-fused , setting the men at defiance . The consequence was the men struck work on the Mi inst ., on the ground that lie refused to join the . society . Jles-rs . tallyman and Holt applied to the bench for summonses for thirteen men , for leaving work without notice , and the case was brought before the court on Wednesday last . Mr . Roberts , " the Coal-miners ' Attorney-General , " was specially engaged for the defence ; and from that gentleman ' s unavoidable
absence , application was made to the magistrates for the case to stand over to some future day , which was refused . The men thereupon refused to attend to the summons , and warrants were granted against them , and Monday fixed for the hearing . Thecourt was crowded to excess . Even the avenues and adjoining street , weredensclycrowded by people anxious to hear the result of the investigation . The magistrates onthebench were , Clement Royds , Esq . ( chairman ) , W . Cuadwk-k , and 11 . Kelsill , Ksqrs . -Mr Hunt , solicitor , appeared for the complainant ; and -Mr . Uoberts for the defendants . The ease first called on was ihat of . lames bnwson . Mr . ] .: uiv ! n : m
was : sworn . —lie said the dcieudatit had worked for the firm six or seven years . They had given him 20 s . a week as a carpenter and joiner , lie was engaged by the week . Thcv had raised his wages twice , frum 2 < te . to 24 s ., which last rise took place on the 5 th of May . He alisented himself from work on Holiday the ittli inst ., at dinner hour , xiilliout notice . hy the Bench . —We pay wages on the Saturday night , for the uuiiibcr of days lie worked . The defendant came on Saturday iilglit , the 14 th , and demanded half a day ' s wage , 'iherc are thirteen men on strike .
15 y Mr . Roberts . —How long has the defendant worked for you \ Six or seven years . —Has he been out of work during that time ? Yes ; sometimes lie has worked short time . —When he worked short time , did he consult you i So ; he has worked four or live days , according to our wants and circumstances . — IVJieu did you tell him that you had not full work , and that he must be a day or two idle ? Sometimes on Monday , for the week which was going ou , when We had not sufficient work . —Aia 11 » understand your answer to my question , that the men might work four or five days ?—The witness appeared confused , and Jlr . Hum said tliat the question did nut require au ausirer . Mr . Roberts . —I must throw myself on iho court . I have a duly to perform ; and the witness mus answer the question himself . By the flench . —The nun turned out on the 5 th of May , and on the 7 th they resumed work . We paid them f « r the number of < 1 avs thev worked .
Mr . Roberts . —If they onlv worked two or three days , you only paid them for " it ? Certainly . t By Mr . KelsalL—Did the men ever lose two days ? Yes , by their own neglect . Mr . Roberts . —When work was slack , did you ever discharge the men ? I never discharged the men , only at the end of the week . —Then on a Saturday you told them you bad no further need of them * ? Certainly . —And that was all the notice you gave them ? Yes . —When bawson entered your emplov , nothing was said about notice ? Xo . —Xor during the time he was with yon ? We do not require any weekly notice , nor do we give any : if we do not vraut the men we discharge them ou Saturday night . By Mr . Royds . —If he had worked till Saturday you would not have complained ? ^ o .
Mr . Chadwkk . —You always pay the men on Saturday ? Yes ; nor did 1 nay JUawson till Saturday night . By Mr . Roberts . —What day do you charge the defendant with absenting himself f On the 5 » th of June . —Supposing you had no work on a Friday or Saturday , would you give him any ? Xo ; if we had none we could not , and he would be only entitled to the wages for the davs he worked . —Supposing you discharged the man on a Tuesday , and you had no work for lum * 1 .-herald not discharge him . —Would you give him work ? 1 should Hot if I had
none—Jf , m the middle of the week , you had no work , would the man be allowed to go and seek work elsewhere ? Yes . —You are a good deal acquainted with this neighbourhood : do any of the roaster joiners give notice ? 1 do not know . —You was a working man yourself ? I was . —Were you in the habit of giving notice Jiefurc you left your master ' s employ ? 1 gave no notice . —What sort of work should the defendant work at ? He should have been laying floors . —Have you a notice in the office , or did you say anything to Dawson before he left ? Nothiugtohim . —Wasthere ever any agreement ?
Mr . Hunt . —I object to that question . Mr . Roberts . —Do voh object ? if you do , I will sit down and hear your argument . Air . Hunt . —Xo ; you may go on . Mr . Roberts . —The Joiners did not contract for a definite term from Saturday to Saturday ; and I ask again , did you ever ask them tomake any agreement I No answer . By the Bench , —Is it agcneralcustom at your shop and at others in this town to make agreements ? Not at ours . By Mr . Roberts . —I do know a man of the name of Crabtrcc . and 1 believe that he has worked full time . —Mr . Hunt : That is fishing my witness . — Mr . Roberts : 1 am fishing , and 1 will find the lie , no matter how deep it may be hid . —Witness in answer
to Mr . Roberts : when a man comes to our shop and starts for the week , we book his time , lie may not agree to our wages . We tell him what we give fthat is all the agreement entered into , and we calculate Ms work according to the number of days he works . By Mr . Royds . —There is a combination amongst the men ; and on the Monday , betwixt the hours of ten and eleven o ' clock , two men came to our yard and eaUcd ujkhi me ; 1 knew them well , as thev had worked for inc . One of them asked if 1 would discharge Kncvill at noon ? 1 replied to them that 1 would not . Their told me they would strike theshop , and the men would turn-out at dinner hour . 1 told them that 1 could not help it . Kncvill was a good workman , and would not contribute to the union funds .
Mr . Roberts . —If it had not been for the turn-out you would not have brought the men Lei-e ' i 1 should
not . IJy Mr . iioyds . —I have not asked the men to come again ; 1 have seen Dawson picketing the street , but never heart ! him speak to any person . Mr . Roberts . —Will you state the object of the union—is it not to protect their tools ? I am not aware . —You have had a tire at your shop ; did you ever say anything to one of the men that it was a pity he was not in tiie union ? I did not . Mr . Charles Holt , the partner of the previous witness , proved that the defendant left his work on Monday : no notice or request had been sent to him to return to his work . This closed the case for the prosecntion .
Mr . Roberts then addressed the bench on the part of the defendant . The ditiicnltr he felt arose from the circumstance , that he was totally unable to satisfy himself as to what the charge really was which he was called upon to reply to . He had watched the evidence most narrowly , but it afforded no due whatever , and it was plain that the magistrates were in . thcsanic difficulty as himself : one had spoken of it as a case of intimidation—another had spoken of it as a charge of "leaving work unfinished . " The charge which he was there to answer was that stated in the information—that the defendant had absented himself unlawfully from his service , and therein neglected to perform his contract . Was there one particle of evidence of any contract at all ? lie had taken down all the * evidence on tliis
most important point—and what did it all amount to ? that the defendant had worked for the prosecutors for the List six or seven years ; that at the commencement of his work , and during the whole period of its continuance , not one word had been said by either party as to any notice being given , or as to any specific period for working : throughout the whole period the men worked as many days and as few as they pleased ; they pleased fhemsclvesas to the number of days they would work—and on each Saturday night they were paid for the number of days ou which they had actually worked : such a contract , if it could be called a contract at all , was not a contract of servit ude- ^ oi such servitude as involved the heavy penalties of the Masters and Servants Act . Before these heaiTy penalties cou ! J be incurred the relation of master and servant must exist , plaml-.- , fdir , a : id
completely ; the master must have the ri ght to al the labour of the servant , and the servant mus have the right to wages for his support . Tin evidence of Ladyman proved the reverse of this lie had asked Ladyman why the defendant , absent ing himself this week , was to be treated differcntl ; froin his previous absences , and the answer was , tha nothing would have been done or thought respecting it if others had not absented ibemsclves at the sain time : here , then , was the real charge—the real ob je . - t of the prosecution—to put down the right of tin men to combine together for the purpose of mutua protection . A magistrate had thousht it not incon sstent with his duty to intimate from the bench ilia combinations were very horrible things ; and h < ( Air . Ivobcrts ) at onee admitted that they were mos offensive to tyranny—awkward customers for dospo ti'Tii toc-win ! n ; but ? till \]\<\ -- . vcn- - ¦*;\' .-: \ ; . ,, ;
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not to work in the same shop with atv mdmtraal who ' was obnoxious to them ; and he who sought to interfere with this right either by openlv denying its existence , or interfering ' with its progress , or even l » y advising against its exercise , was guilty both of fraud aud of falsehood , Mr . Roberts then , after a long explanation of the power conferred upon the working classes by the Combination Act , recapitulated the whole oV the evidence showing that by the testimony of Mr . Ladyman himself , all parties , both masters audnien , , had throughout recognised the right of each of them j to give or withhold employment or lahoer ; and he j contended that such an engagement was altogether S different from what was contemplated by the law ! with regard to the relation of master and
servant . As soon as Mr . Roberts had concluded , Mr . Royds the chairman of the bench , and who had been very much excited from the commencement , gave his decision . He considered the case fully proved—it was a very strong case—the men had no right to combine—they slioiildu't combine—he should go to the full extent of the law—three months—it was time to stop such proceedings . Mr . Roberts reminded the magistrates that his client was not charged with intimidation ; but Mr . Royds " didn't care—not he—they had gone on too long—these things must be put a stop to . " Here his brothers on the bench endeavoured to calm their leader , and even the prosecutors hinted that they did not desire to press the case " quite so far—all they wanted was lor the men to return . " It was , however very difficult to restrain Mr . Royds—his comoanions could not
hold him back . At last he shrieked out— " Well , prisoner , will you go back to your work ? " Dawson with a firm voice : >* o , I will not . Again the justice was frantic . " You wont , wont you ? Give him a month at the mill—see how he likes that . " But we despair of giving our readers any idea of the scene : even the prosecutors were so startled by it that they declined proceeding with the other cases , and at las t they consented to withdraw the proceedings against Dawsen . This , however , was no easy matter . Mr . Royds for a long time refused : the matter was at last arranged by Dawson and the others consenting to return to their work . We have some reason to believe that immediate steps will be taken to relieve Mr . Royds from the performance of his magisterial duties . A criminal information would do him service , and would operate even more beneficially as a useful lesson to other Rochdale j ustices .
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THE HUME " JOB . "
AXOTHEE PENSIONER SADDLED OX THE PEOrLE . Nothing is so easy for a public man in opposition , as to build up for himself a character for economy , even when he does not possess one single requisite to entitle him to it . Placed in a position where he has not tlic dispensing of the public money ; being only a member of a body , where there is always a thundering majority to vote any " grant , " however extravagant , and impose any tax , however unnecessary circumstanced thus , he has only to carp at the respective accounts submitted to him ; to suggest that this item of millions should be reduced some £ 5 , 000 ; to make motions for reduction which he knows will
not be carried ; to propose that ilm insignificant clerk be dispensed with—and that that paltry tidewaiter be discharged : a " member" in opposition has only to do this , always taking care to confine his attention to the mere candle-ends of the estimates , ou the principle of " take care of theptnee and the pounds will take cave of themselves ; " a " member " has only to act thus , and he will forthwith be looked up to as THE ECONOMIST par audience : and when he is satisfied by the Minister , as to the rea sonablcucas of any charge , or the necessity of any
impost , it will be held that nobody else has a right to grumble . Such a man is as indispensable in our " glorious constitution" of taxes and pensions , as the Minister himself . He acts two important parts . He is at once a foil for the lax-exacting Government —and a means of amusing the people while they pay . He takes care to give no opposition likely to be successful in saving for the payers , nor embarrassing to those who live oh the fruits of industry absorbed out of the hands of the producers by the engines of State : but his conduct does induce a
beliel m the minds of the simple and confiding among the people that he is doing his utmost for them—because he pokes his nose into so many little holesseems so earnest after the farthings—detects every plateful of cheese-parings—and triumphantly exhibits himself as a watcher over tlieir interests , when he has knocked off the odd pounds , shillings , and pence from a £ 6 , 001 , 025 12 s . 4 R estimate for the pay of a standing army in tune of peace . There are times , however , when hla real character dcvelopes itself . Let a motion be made to stop the pensions paid to the toadies of the aristocracy , and to those who have prostituted their powers of mind to the service of a
corrupt aud unprincipled Minister ; and the economist will be found not to vote for it . Complain of the heavy burden of the £ 00 , 000 , 000 a year taxation ; point out that £ 30 , 000 , 000 of this is paid to the class who call themselves xaticxal crediiobs , for having ( as they say ) performed an vttcr impossibility , — . lent the nation 800 , 000 , 000 of " money , " when there is not that amount in the whole-world , if it was all gathered together ; adduce the fact that what they purported to lend were mere depreciated " promises to 2 > au ; " aud that t / tey themselves were so conscious of the roitcn nature of the whole transaction , that they stipulated that for every £ 100 they lent of this depreciateds / imn " money , " thev should receive
interest as if for £ 2 M ; tell of the effects of Peml's Bill , iu reducing prices from 122 s . for a quarter of wheat in 1812 , to 4 Ss . in ISio , thus more than doubling the value of " mvmy" and niakiHg the producers pay the interest of £ 400 for every £ 100 of depreciated " promises" borrowed : complaiu of AU , and of its " pauperizing" and its natioual-existence-endauger ing effects ; adduce these facts , and propose an ev . i-itam . e adjl-stmext between the nation and its "creditors ; " propose that i t shall be fairly ascertained what the amount of the loans really was , and that a reduced interest , commensurate with the
present value oj money , should be paid en what is actually due till the principle can bo liquidated ; propose this , and your flowing economist will be the very first to bawl out against it ; to denounce you as rob fcreaud spoliators ; to charge you with being tidevu in intention—worse than the l ' eunsjivanian rcpudiators . It will be in vain that you show him that bare justice to the payers of the taxes demands that this should be doue ; that , by the present system , xner are bobbed of four times the amount they ought actually to pay , admitting ( for the nonce ) that they owe something of a debt which they never contracted ; it will be in vain that you show that unless the course
you propose is pursued , all talk of economy is mere idle wind ; it will be in vain that you show that the soldier } -, with all their £ 0 , 000 , 000 a year expense , are necessaryto keep down commotionsandimiurrections , prompted by the poverty of the people from whom the means to pay the national creditor are collected at the point of the bayonet ; it will be in Tain that you show that annies of police are raising in every direction , to aid the arm of " authority , " becoming weak even when backed by the swords and muskets ef 100 , 000 men ; it will be in vain that you demonstrate , that the most expensive parts of the system wiift It . maintained , if the £ 60 , 000 , 000 is to be collected , but which would become useless and unneces
sary it REDCcnox were made in the proper quarter : it will be in vain that you do all this , making it as plain as the nose on your face ; still your prime economist will disregard it all—and meet you only by the cry ot plaudinr and thief ! Ik is , essentially , a part of tlic system . With its existence his own is bound up . He knows that your proposal , if agreed to , would remove the tax-eaters from off the industry of the country , leaving what theiinow live on to be enjoyed by the producers and iho distributors of wealth . He knows that the slugs and caterpillars of the State would fall and droop away , like lice from off a gooseberry bush when smothered in smoke . lie knows all this—and that he Jmnself would sitftr with them : and , therefore , he cannot bear to hear of " kcokomt" in that direction .
rreciselysueh a character as this , is Mr . Josepe-IIume . Tor now a period of thirty years has he played the character of "first-rate economist . " lie ha * been t-ie mo ? t emiiwnl t . hUUer that ever at
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GREAT in littia . It was indeed a worthy Bight to see him deeply engaged in the shillirigs-and-pence columns of " an account , " descending to every little minutia , even to the half farthings , while the millions of pounds in it were dismissed , as if too insignificant to look at . Hundreds of motions has Joseph made , just to be able to say he had made them ; and then withdrew them , " without troubling the house with a division . " But it would be impossible throughout the whole of his " Economical" career , to point out one single instance where he fairly grasped the subject of Economy , and attempted to effect a saving ' that
would have been felt by the people in diminished taxation . To the candle-ends and the elieese-parings has his "Economical" attention been exclusively directed ; except indeed on occasions when other members have essayed the real question , and submitted motions that would have resulted in a diminution of the burdens of the people . Then Joseni was the man to opi > osc . " He was , as every one knew , a rigid Economist . He would yield to no one in that particular . If there was any one thing for which he was distinguished from another —[ always conveniently forgetting all about the Giieek 1 'IEl—it was for lus
love of Lconomy . But then his economy was always practical . He did not aim at what he knew could not be effected . He confined his attention to the points where little savings could be effected , without detriment to the ^ public sen-ice . The proposition so ably —[ ably ; always think of that . It is very cheap to say so much respecting the , speech of an opponent , and it has a wonderful effect , if you compliment a man before you fetch him a back-handed blow in the chops]—the proposition so ably moved by the Hon . Member did not do this . It involved charges and arrangements which could not be effected
without producingturmoil and confusion to the whole system of government : and therefore he could not support it . " Thus has many an honest proposal been shelved—and many an incipient troublesome customer had his legs knocked from under him . There is no opposition so fatal to a public man as the "damaging support" or the patronising disagreement of an " economical friend . " The one is sure to land him in the mire of defeat ; and the other will effectually prevent his rising above a very common level , unless he has the tact and the determination
to take his repressor by the neck , dangle him up to public view , shew Mm masked and hooded as lie really is , aud then quietly snuff him out like one Of the farthing candles he has so long delighted to dabble amongst . This is the only mode of getting rid of " the people ' s man" with the wet blanket . Deal firmly and energetically with him , and he soon feels and finds his utter insignificance . He soon finds that the deference paid to him was purely conventional—appertained to the character he had assumed i and was not commanded by the intrinsic worth of his mind .
But " Economical" Josepii has lately appeared in another character . Finding that Jiis old dodge of piddling with the estimates has been thoroughly smoked—thoroughly appreciated , he has ventured out in another line . After having spent a pretty long life-time in small endeavours to save the public money , without much success , he determined to try his hand at expending it : and , sorry are we to record the fact , with better success than he even wished for in any of his efforts in the saving line . He had but to make his motion , and forthwith it was agreed to . True he did not withdraw this
" without putting the House to the trouble of a division . " He did not content himself with merely moving it , that he might boast of it afterwards . The request he made—that a man who had no claim on us should be pensioned on the ' public purse—was at once acceded to : and the poor inmates of the Coal Holes in Bradford and White-abbey have to thank Mr . Joseph Hume that their industry is taxed some £ 1 , 500 a-year , because a man named Pottin-ger has succeeded hi beating the Chinese for their endeavour to take satisfaction of " our merchants" for smuggling into their dominions a demoralising and
physically-debasing drug ! While toiling in their bed-chambers , over their charcoal fires , with tlieir sick wives laid exposed to their gaze , andtho dead bodies of their children "laid out" in the same apartment , they will have the satisfaction of knowing that £ 1 , 500 a-year is partly raised from them to keep in luxury a man whose only merit is that he was successful in war against a people who had been so long at peace hut tiiey knew not how to fiuht ! And they will have this satisfaction heightened by the reflection that this last drone has been palmed on them through the exertions of Mr . Save-Jkubv Hume !
The facts of this ease ave just those . To Sh > Henri Pottinger was entrusted the "management " of the dispute our Government had with China , when that people refused to submit to the smuggling of " our merchants" in the teeth of their laws and regulations . After due and repeated warning , the Chinese seized a large quantity of opium thus attempted to be smuggled into their dominions , and confiscated it . For this act of justice and true policy , our Government demanded compensation ; and because the Chinese refused to pay the worse than highwayman ' s demand , vessels of war were sent out
against them , and some of tlieir towns and cities battered to the dust , and their junks burnt to the water ' s edge . When the Chinese found that they could not cope with us in war , they acceded to speedy terms of peace , and entered into a treaty of commerce , which placed this nation in a far better position than she had before-time occupied in relation to the people we had wronged . Sir Henri- Poitinger was this country ' s Plenipotentiary in the negotiation of this treaty ; and because he was so ; because , as such , he only did his duty ; because , as such , he obeyed the call of patriotism , and made the best bargain in his power for his country ; because he did only what he was receiving his country ' s ample pay for doing , and for neglecting to do which he would have been a traitob
because he only did this , Mr . " Economical Hume , " of all men in the world , moved an address to the Queen , " praying" that she would be " graciously pleased to signally reward such eminent services , " 4 c , Ac .: and the Queen , " being desirous of conferring some signal mark of favour and approbation on the right hon . baronet Sir Henry Pottinger , G . C . B ., in consideration of his eminent services , and particularl y on account of the zeal , abilitjvand judgment displayed by him as her Majesty ' s Plenipotentiary in negociating a treaty of peace and commerce with the Emperor of China , recommended the House of Commons to concur in enabling her Majesty to make provision for securing to Sir Henry Poitinger apension of £ 1 , 500 a year , for the term of Ms natural life . "
Now , all thi 3 might have been allowable , if it had been out of tha pocket of the Queen that the said £ 1 , 500 a-year was to have come , providing she had tvorkedforit before it got there ; but when it does not so come ; when it is out of the public purse that it has to be taken ; when it is out of that exchequer , to replenish which thousands have to go without the commonest necessaries of life , and pig in the stews and COAL-HOLES of Bradford
and other of our large towns , that this pension "for tlte term of his natural life" has to be paid : when this ifl the case , and when there are laws on the statute-book avowedly framed to " reduce the work ing people of England to live on a coarser sort of food , " then the whole thing becomes a scandalous shame to all concerned , from Shot-Hoi Humb down to Sir Robert Peel , who advised " Her Majesty '' to seek the concurrence of the Commons in " granting" £ 1 , 500 a-year of other people ' s money !
The whole thing is indefensible on any principle of justice towards the tax-payers . Here was a man . paid for his services ; who accounted the pay high enough , by his accepting the undertaking at the price ; who did xo more than his duty ; who would have been liable to severe aud condign punishment , had he done lesi : here was this man so circumstanced ; not wounded "in his country ' s service ;" not worn-out ; not disabled ; not rendered incapable ,
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rather more-likely to receive-ifc from the opportunity afforded him to signalise his worth ; here was this man , under these circumstances , made a pensioner on thspeople ' s industry for "the term of his natural life , " however long that may be , and whether he may be engaged mother employment or not . Is not this monstrously unjust , —particularly when we re " member that there are no pensions for the workers ! no rewards for industry—no provision even for the destitute poor but the hated bastilc , with its workhouse dress , its bone-crushing mills , its starvation diet , and its separation of those who have pledged themselves in life
"To live and love toycl / tcr . " And is it not an act of baseness unmatchablc—an act of baseness past all comprehension for Hume to have the impudence to stick one who has not a shadow of a claim on the people ' s means , on to the people ' s backs , there to remain for " the term of his natural life , " while he , the same Brown-Bread Hume , has been the most unblushing supporter , and the most brazen defender of uastiles for tue poor—who only arc poor because their means have been taken to pay the idle pensioners , and other drones who live on them without labour ?
Let no one say that the amount in this case is not very large— " enly £ 1 , 500 a-year , " and that that is but a small item out of the £ 60 , 000 , 000 a-ycar . Large items arc made up of small ones ; and small as this pension for life is , when compared with the annual amount of oar taxation , it is just vpon half of the amount of the salary the Americans give their President for presiding over and conducting the whole concerns of their Government ! That people don't jmsion their public oliicew , nor allow them retiring salaries . They pay them for their services while they are in office : not extravagantly , but reasonably : and when the services are withheld or dispensed with , the pay
ceases , as it ought to do . Their Presidents for instance . : —While in office they receive tho salary of office , a salary not equal to the amount paid to our " gewgaw , " but still equal to the real wants of the Head Magistrate of a great and powerful people And remember that this functionary in the States is not a mere imppa . He takes an active part in governing . He is indeed the centre and main-spring of the whole . He is not like some little body that could be named , denuded of all power ; unable to choose bed-chamber attendants ; a mere painted doll , for the Minister to play with . Tke President , of the United States is not like tliis—but the mindthe soul , of his Cabinet , acting for the people , and making that people known and feared to the end of tke earth : and though he has not a " civil list" ol
£ 470 , 000 , including a " privy purse " of £ 60 , 000 , still he is able to perform the functions of governor , and set an example it ) this way too which it would be well for some nations to follow . Nor k it found that the £ 5 , 000 a « year only for tho American President prevents talent from being engaged in the service ol the American people . While they can boast of their Washington's , their- Jeffersons , their Madisoks their Munrob ' s , their Jacksons , their Vas-Bubens , and their Polks , they may safely contrast them with our Catholic-hating , man-hanging , debt-contractmgi mad George ; or our wife-repudiating , Green-bag concocting , sensual , bloated , rotten "Fum tub Fourth ; " or our simple , silly , shilly-shally "TTe former ; " or our nameless vixen , who
" Threw a cup of tea in his face , FoHedol !" andjfagperfMiss Marshall , the Mill-owner ' s " maid of honour . " They may safely leave their Presidents to be judged of by posterity in contrast with tho wearers of the diadem in the "Mother Country , " even though they do allow them only £ 5 , 000 a-year , without the " privilege" of either pension or retiring salary . To secure talent , it is not there necessary to hold out these inducements ; and were they abolished
with us we should hnd lar more manliness—far more energy of mind and character—far more of self-reliance and less of effeminacy aud namby-pambyism among ouv public officers and legislators than pre * vails at the present day . Is itnot a national degradation , that this " great" country should be governed by a man of whom the best that can bo said is , that he is a " siiUime mediocrity } " Is it no satire upon our " high and haughty" aristocracy , that not a member of their body , immediate or distant , can be found to dispute power with the son of a
cottonspinncr , who is not possessed of a spark of genius ; who has not an atom of originality in his composition ; who is merely a plausible adapter of other men ' s ideas , and an advantage-taker of circumstances , so as to govern without any of the high and ennobling qualities requisite to constitute a gover nor ? The fact is , that luxuriousneaa and dissipal tion hsvo enervated the aristocracy—made them a penrile and a contemptible body—split them up into powerless sections , without mind or energy , without union or concert—and degraded their very " House ' * itself into a mere " guard-room , " with an old doting " Field Marshal" for a commander . The extrava " gance aud reckless squanderings of the public " money , in the shape of high salaries , pensions ,
allowances ; grants , dead-weight , aud sinecures , has mainly contributed to the engendering and spread of the dissipation that has worked such lamentable results : and the abolition of nearly all of those modes of living on tho industry of the people , throwing the recipients of unearned incomes " on their own re sources , " will be of immense advantage to the Go versobs of the country as well as to the people who are now taxed to death to pay them . Talent , under such circumstances , will seek for employment . Mind will make its way . Mediocrity would have to succumb to genius ; the General would have to g ' iy « way to the Statesman and the Governor : and we should have a Government respectable and respected , because able to command respect .
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SHORT HOURS . For some time past the subject of early skop-shutting , aud the general diminution of the hours of labour , have much engaged the attention of the wellmeaning and intelligent , and the arguments in favour of such a system are alike urgent and obvious . Without at all entering upon the general merits of the question , we think there is one argument which , if not overlooked , has at least not met with that consideration which its importance deserves . It is all very well to talk of humanity and leisure for nmial and intellectual improvement to men prepared to lcol the force of such positions ; but we need scarcely remark that views of this kind are either simply unknown to many masters , or regarded by them , from whatever cause , as visionary and extravagant .
it is for this reason that we now propose to avguo lor short hours upon a purely economical ground . We design to show that any extension of work beyond a man ' s ordinary physical powers is attended with loss to his employer , and that any reduction within proper limits is followed by a corresponding gain . We mean , in other words , to establish , from facts before us , that men worked considerably within the limits of their power perform a greater amount of labour , and execute it more satisfactorily ; that they are move intelligent , more apt to comprehend , more active , and move inclined to be obliging , than those who are worn-out and fagged by long and incessant toil . It is evident , if a man be overworked to-day , that to-morrow ho will be less able for his average labour
and that if a . system of overworking be persisted in , the period will be hastened when he shall be totally unfitted for that species of labour , or be laid aside by disease . The same reasoning holds true in reference to time . If ten hours a-day be the average at which a man can work cheerfully and well , then twelve hours will render him dull and fatigued ; and though he may continue at the work , he will not do one whit move , or , if he should do so one day , it will bo at the expense of the labour of the next . This is viewing man as a mere animated machine , whose thews and sinews are capable of exerting a limited amount of force , and to which we can apply the mechanical axiom , " that greater power cannot be gained but at the expense of time , and time cannot be saved but at the expense of power . " But this
reasoning will not altogether apply to an intelligent being ; and , in estimating the amount and duration of human force , we must take Into account the inseparable attribute of mind . There is scarcely any species of labour—certainly none of the mechanical or mercantile—but requires care , vigilance , ingenuity , reasoning ; and these are qualities so intimately depending upon a sound and vigorous bodily system , that it were folly to look for tlvem from an overtasked and worn-out man . Reasoning in the abstract , then , we think it very palpable that any master . must be a gainer , both in the amount of labour and manner of execution , by exacting from the workmen he employs rather under than above tiie average time during which their attention and activity can bo maintained . Among the many
practical illustrations ot this doctrine , few could be more directly applicable than the following , which recently came under our notice . In Fifosliire , where the hours of the ploughmen are of average durationnamel y , during daylight in winter , and from five to six , witk a breakfast and midday interval , at other seasons—the men , as a class , are active , energetic , and well-skilled in their various duties . In activity we will back them against any similar class in the island , and the trial of skill which a few years ago came oft' between twenty of them and a like number from the Lothians ( a pre-eminent agricultural district ) , places them foremost on the list at least as ploughmen . In S ' trathearn and the Carse ol Gowrie , on the ether hand , where the hours of labour are notoriously long , the farm-labourer seems to be
quite the antithesis of his brother in Fife . * A farmer in the latter county , a few years ago , engaged two of the first-rate Carse hands at the highest wages , and placed thorn at the general labour of the farm along with seven native ploughmen . In a few weeks the difference between the imports and the natives became painfully apparent ; lor , with every disposition to oblige , they neither performed so much labour , nor executed it so well , nor with so much alacrity , as the latter . "I ' ve had enough of your Carse men , " said the farmer to us one day , and his reason was as nearly as possible in the following words : — " They ' ve got a wretched system of long hours in the north : thev work the very spirit out of their men , and so it is that these have not half the smeddum ( smartness ) of our Fife lads . They ' ve neither the same skill nor activity
, and when a push comes , I would make my foreman work round a couple of them . " But you'll find them very willing and obliging ? " Oh yea , they are patterns m that respect , and are certainly not SO independent in their way as our own blades ; but they want the energy and aptitude , and really don't give their work the same finish . For one order that I have to give my own men , I have to give two to them . I key d hang as long as I like at the plough-tail , but 1 want through-put ; and so commend me to my own men and reasonable hours . " Mow , these are noUhe prciichingsofany of your sentimentality men , but the plain words of a hard-driving money-making Scotch larincr , who aaw from this comparison the obvious advantage to himself of keeping his men on short hours , and of never exacting from them more than
they could do cheerfully and well . The same argument applies to every species of labour , and witli double touce to those employments which require intelligence and care . As soon as the body begins to tiro ; the spirit droops , the attention flags , and it positive carelessness does not supervene there follows at all events a dulness and lethai-ov which are anything but favourable either to amount ot work or to manner of execution . Nor can there beany remedy for this but rest and repose . It is true you may apply artificial stimulants ; but these , too , will shortly fail ; and their use- only renders the boddysystem of tlieir victim tho lew capable of being re-mvigorated . These remarks apply in a special manner to m-door labour , where the long-hours abuse is more frequently seennotwithstanding that a
, restrained position of body , want of fresh ah- and ventilation , should bo potent arguments for a course quite the reverse . Nor do we argue upon mere theory , for m this case , as in the other , we have fortunately a most convincing illustration at bond . It is that of a large spinning-mill , situated beside a coi'jitryvillageforthesakeofwater-power . andiii which tiie hours of labour are from six in the morning till seven at night , deducting au hour for breakfast and another tor dinner , thus reducing the hours of actual work to eleven—a space still too long , but considerably shorter than that required in any other of the neighbouring iacioriw . In addition to this reducturn , the wheel is stopped at five o ' clock on
Wednesdays and at three on the Saturdays ; three half days a-year are allowed for fairs , two days for church fasts two tor New Year ' s Day and Handsel Monday , and one tor the anniversary of the mill ' s erection—an went seemingly of great local importance . Now however small this may seem to some , it is in reality an amount of freedom and relaxation not enjoyed so tar as we are aware , in any similar establishment And what , according to the owner , has been tho resuit ? Not a single spmdltof yarn iess ; a great reduction of disease , better executed work , fewer accidents of damage to the machinery , a more orderly and more obli ging set of workpeople , besides the satisfaction that hen . contributing in www degree to the havmn ,,
of nts feiiow-creature * . It may seem contradictory at nrat sight , that a reduction of hours in such anestabitslimcnt should not be Mowed by a diminution of produce ; a little reflection , however , will clear away the dubiety . The last two years' wage-book shows the merest trifle of absence from UUhtalta ; the lessening ot damage has caused fewer stoppages and even a greater degree of speed can be obtained , inasmuch as the attention of the workers is never relaxed by long and tedious confinement . The stoppage on Wednesdays permits the women to attend a little to their domestic concerns , while it allows the mill to be cleaned and the machinery to be overhauled the advantages of the Saturday afternoons arc too Obvious to be adverted to . From these examples , then , we think it sufficientlyobvious that moderate hours are conducive alike to the interests of employer and emoloved . Tim Uh ^
enjoys more the life of a rational creature , and the former rather adds to , than subtracts from , his « ains inasmuch as he has tho same amount of work and has it mote highly aud move carefully finished It may be urged , to be sure that there is no tirine of the steam-engine and machinery , and that the loncer these revolve the larger the amount of produce , ihis would be true aud just it the machine were sell acting ; but in nineteen cases out of twenty it re quires the regulation and aid of human hands and it is t » these that our argument applies . We have no objection that a man -work his machinery till everv wneei ami axic
oe worn to a skeleton , for its place can be readily supplied ; what we condemn is the grinding oi workmen to a similar condition , when it is obvious that an opposite course is in the loii " -run the more advantageous . The steam can bo let on sit V- " -: \ n : < ft f •'• •• i !! l . > : |! ? inc . ' v > ''¦•¦ ' ¦ .- i .. M , .. « . ¦ ,,
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worn-out man cannot be renewed by any similar pro « cess : he must have leisure and repose ; and where this is denied him , hia bodily mechanism must shortly become diseased and impotent . It forms a Borrj- excuse for the employer to urge that , as lie lias lald out some forty or fifty thousand pounds in ma « chinery , so lie must "keep up the steam , " in order the more speedily to repay himself ; nor docs itbetter his position to put , as he sometimes done , the question—Would you have all that machinery to be employed only ten hours out of the twenty-four ? What , indeed , is the use of machinery , if it be not to lessen the amount of human labour and dnulgery - , and
what tho purpose of the invention of mind , if it be not to increase the amount of our comforts and happ iness ? It would appear , were we to admit the arguments of some folks , that the puipose of machinery was rather to enthral than to exalt mankind ; and it is curious that many manual enjoyments , such as those of the mason , joiner , slater , labourer , and the like , should have custom sanctioning the labour hours from six to six , with breakfast and dinner intervals , while those which have been called into existence by machinery have been tasked like slaves from five to seven , or even beyond these limits . Nor is it the reasoning of a humane or enlightened mind to reply ,
that if the workmen feel themselves aggrieved , they can turn to some other employment . Is it right for any man , because he has power on his side , to abuse it ; or can the fact of a few thousand pounds' possession dissociate him from his fellow-men , or free him of the reciprocal duties which the necessities of our condition have imposed ? Every argument that militates against the great law of brotherly love must be unsound ; and it is only because this law is but too little respected , that there is so much of inequality , oppression , and povert y amonHSt us Against this view of short hours of labour it is sometimes urged , that if ten hours can be proved to
be more advantageous than twelve , would not eight or six be more advantageous still—and where , then were the limit to the diminution ? Tliis species of reasoning is entirely beside the question . A certain amount of labour is to be performed , by an agent having limited powers ; there must be an average at which this power can be exerted , and our argument only goes this length , "that it is more profitable to tax these powers within than beyond this ascertained average , " In dealing with human power , we cannot apply the mathematical formula by which wo calculate the force of gravity , of heat , or any other purely physical agent ; but we must regard it as a power
imbued with mmd , and as a power which nature rcinvigoratcs by one process , and one alone . Again , it is said that any additional leisure would in ail likelihood be devoted to idleness or dissipation , but , founding upon past experience , we have no "round for such a decision . It would not be idleness , surely , for the toiled mechanic to betake himself to the liclds and lanes for that air which the pent-up workshop denies ; nor would it bo dissipation to indulge in the harmless games of the public green , or in the amusements of our halls and lecture-rooms . Or , granting that some were to dissipate , arc we to withhold from eighty a just and natural boon because twenty choose to abuse it ? The truth is , that where there lias been little time for mental culture , we arc
not to wonder at some little abuse ot any new privilege , and we can only hope for the rectification of such faults when men have more leisure to learn better modes . A holiday to our population at present is a boon so seldom granted , that it acts upon them like intoxication ; and any extravagances they may commit should be laid to this account , rather than to any innate disposition to absurdity and folly . Eut be this as'it may , we have taken up the reduction of the hours of labour upon other grounds—namely , its obvious advantage to the masters themselves—throw , ing aside altogether every consideration as to luu inanity , and leisure for moral and intellectual culture ; and we leave it for the reader to determine whether our reasonings be in any degree corroborative of our opinion .
The Northern Stak. Satukday, July 5, 1845.
THE NORTHERN STAK . SATUKDAY , JULY 5 , 1845 .
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THE LAND . . Ox Wednesday night Mr . Cowper again brought forward his Field Garden Allotment Bill , when , as usual , every one of tho " free traders" were up in arms against the measure , all agreeing that wages alone should constitute the hope , the stock , the store , and the all of the working man . That petulant economist Roebuck headed the opposition , and received a severe and well-merited castigation from Mr . SiiARMAN Gbawfokd ; but what we much prefer to the reputation oi' the speculative notions of would-be economists , is the positive and irrefutable statements of practical men . Wo , therefore , attach much more importance to the following short speech of Mr . Mangles than to tho wholesale rubbish of tho member for the borough of Bath : —
Mr . a . D . Mangles denied that wages were the sole support of tke agricultural labourers . In many parts of the country tho labouring classes could get no wages owing to want of employment for them . It was only a fortnight since that he had met a countryman in his own district who told hiiuhp had not had a day ' s work for a week past . Would the hon . and learned moinber tell the house where tho labourers were to get wages under . sueh a state of things ? He had spoken of the bill us tending to lower the condition of the agricultural labourers ; but he could show him that one of the worst symptoms of the present
hues was the hopeless condition of the labouring agricultural classes . The shopkeeping classes were in a far better position ; he would show that where one agricultural labourer raised himself above his condition fifty shepkeepers eflected that object . He never knew a single instance of an agricultural labourer raising himself above that condition who did not effect that end bj- means of thu allotment system . Under the administration of the l ' oor Laws , and by the operation of the law of settlement , the agricultural labourers had become the most helpless class iu the whole kingdom .
That is a very sensible speech , and from it we learn that for every man who makes the fortunes upon which fifty retire from business , not more than one toiler is placed in the same position , and then only by means of a bit of land . In laith ,. this land question is making its way : Lord Lincoln is engaged in enclosing tlic remaining portion of the people ' s commons With a ONE HU . NDRED AND SIXTY-ONE CLAUSE power ; and in an article in a recent number of the Times , descriptive of the lightness and looseness , the stringency and laxity of the proposed measure , we find the following four lines aud a half , which , to ouj mind , is worth all the speeches ever made in Parlia-¦ ' ' : ¦ . ' P .-. .-, Hi .
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workin ? man 5 n England read them , and remember that they came from the Times , that is read by every man , woman , and child in the world that can read ; and that the thing of greatest value to the proprietors is ti good guess upon coming events ; and that those guesses are , for the most part , made from a close watching of passing events , and a shrewd putting of " that and thai " together well . The Times has the following , worth any money : — " WE ABE INCLINED TO HOPE THAT LONG BEFORE THE CLERGYMAN , CHURCHWARDEN , OVERSEER , AND VESTRY ARE ABLE TO ADMINISTER THIS BILL , TUB LABOURER WILL BE ABLE TO GET AS MUCH LAND AS WILL BB OF HEAL USE TO HIM WITHOUT ITS ASSISTANCE . "
We shall not add one word to this prophecy , based upon the knowledge of a people ' s wish and a people ' s power of accomplishment , when they wish in the right direction .
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We dare wager a trifle that the most " constant reader" we have , has not hitherto suspected that tl . t article he has been reading is not by the Editor of the Star . 'Hie philosophy of it will be as familiar to him , " as a household word "—it having been weekly enforced on his attention during the seven-and-a-half years that the Northern Star has been in existence : and there is nothing observable in the article itself to induce a doubt that it is not from our usual manufactory , unless indeed it be that the style is some , what more free and polished than that in which the reader is wont to be addressed in these pages .
The confession , however , that it is not ows would but tend to puzzle the reader , were we to leave him to " guess" the source whence we have derived it . We might safely do so , —were we inclined to enjoy his bewilderment , —without much chance of his " hitting on . " Wo dare give him the whole of a "factoryday , " the "last two hours" and all , wherein to tax his best powers of " guessing , " without fear that he will approach within one hundred miles of the reality . He might run the whole British ye s through and through , without once thipldnj of naming Chambers ' s Journal as the source whence we have derived an article oi that stamp . Such an idea would be most unlikely to cross his mind : and his amazement would only be equalled by his gladness when he was told that such was the fact .
Who that remembers tho infamous " philosophy of wages" taught in the tract of " Chamlers ' s , " so well dissected by Mr . O'Cosxon , and the hard sort of Political Economy almost constantly inculcated by that firm throughout their numerous publications ; who that remembers this , could imagine it possible that an article , breathing the spirit of the above , and having for its object a high beneficent purpose for the despised worker , could have obtained admission into the pages of a journal conducted by men who have done so much to popularise the inhuman dogmas of Malthus , and assert the superiority of Capital over Labour ? Who could have expected
that those who have held and maintained that " Capital is ju $ tified in taking every advantage to keep down the price of Labour , " would bo found pleading that the sentient intellectual being should not be trenched like the iron machines of the mill ; but that the latter should actuall y be made to wait onthe convenience and comfort of their animated attendants 1 Yet so it is . But it is only proof that t he question of humanity has made such progress that eyen Malthusians themselves are forced t ° o become its advocates , and acknowledge its lu « h and just behests . As the Herald well said last week , "the truth of the cause has carried it forward- "
made even those , whose philosophy regards not man only as an instrument for the production of wealth , confess that the claims it makes for time to recruit exhausted nature , for due recreation and enjoyment and for the cultivation of the intellectual and moral faculties arc neither " visionary nor extravagant . " Tothereown % of the writer in Chambers it is not necessary to add in the slightest degree He manfully grasps the whole quegtion , and works it thoroughly out . Not content with tho enunciation Of Journal principles , so plainly stated and so obvioua as to carry with them general consent , he adduces
practice , and shows fromactual / ac < that even sordid cupidity has nothing to fear from the doiii * of mere justice : for the gain from the labours of those moderately worked iiftr greater than from the labours of others who are tasked beyond their ordinary powers of endurance . The examples he gives will have considerable influence in "justifying" his " principle ' , with those for whom they are intended-those em- ' ployers of labour who plead so Btrenuousl y for the ^ * , h 0 Ura ' " l" *^ RUIN not only to ivcs dud to the
w . u . n ^ State itself , if th « y are no allowed to exact more than the full task : and we nuv not unreasonabl y expect that they oveu wiU to in * diiccd to forego opposition to such a settlement of the question as shall give due relaxation to the physical powers of the worker , and enable him to daily Jsumo his occupation recruited and invigorated , -bettet able to realize a given amount of profit with tea houra ' labour than with twelve .
Ihe fact is , the question of short time is settled m tho public mind . There it is agreed on . It has run the gauntH-passed through all the phases that propositions for Reform have to pass , before they become incorporated in our " glorious constitution " When first worked , it was laughed at- « aeered at-scoiM at-denounced as " wild , " and " visionary , " and , ruinous . " Its advocates , mxa despised ilk treated , persecuted . Tiiosewho had been made to icel the full effects of the heavy scourge ; those > vha
were deformed in body through excessive toil and . who told the public of their sufferings and heavy in , flictions , were dismissed from their employments ; and every means resorted to , to prevent the cryin " iniquities of the system from being known . Then the question was entertained - considered ; proneuucod to be worth y of attention ; and « rm « modifi-
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4 THE NORTHERN STAR . - JxJLY A l 845 t
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Citation
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Northern Star (1837-1852), July 5, 1845, page 4, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/ns/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1322/page/4/
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