Evening Post. MONDAY, OCTOBER 7, 1889.

Evening Post, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 85, 7 October 1889, Page 2

Evening Post. MONDAY, OCTOBER 7, 1889.

capital and labour. — * All the trouble caused by the late strike in London does not seem ended yet. A very strong feeling evidently still exists on each side, and further complications are by no means nnlikely to ariae. Nothing conld be Btronger or more bitter than the expressions reported by cable on Saturday to hare been used by Mr. C. 11. Norwood, the Chairman of the Associated Dook Companies. This gentleman denonnced tho strike aa a result of tho Socialist movement, and ho abused everyone, from Cardinal Manning to the police, for the (sympathy they had shown with the demands of labour. The message does not say that Mr. Norwood specially condemned tho colonien for aiding the strikers, but we may be pretty sure that sympathisers in this part of the world did not escape condemnation, especially as it was their contributions which enabled the dock labourers to enforce compliance with their demands. Mr. Norwood and his co-directors are evidently very sore over their defeat, and we can quite believe that there is some foundation for the allegation that they are, as far as they dare, ' taking it out" of the strikers and showing favour to blacklegs. If they persist in this the consequences may prove exceedingly serious and widespread. The mon will have a legitimate grievance, and it will not be surprising if they push their demands further than they have yet ventured to do. The very foolish speech delivered by Mr. Norwood iB eininontly calculated to make mischief , and to incite an absolutely ruinous conflict between capital and labour. Its immediate effect will undoubtedly be, among6t tho great middle class, to transfor to the men whatever degree of sympathy may hitherto have been shown for tho masters. Turning from Mr. Norwood's injudicious utterances, tho speeoh made by Lord Rosebery at the midnight meeting of tram and 'bus hands is highly significant. Lord Eoseberrt, whose class sympathies would naturally, from hia family connections, be expected to bo on the side of capital, for he is closely connected with those greatest of capitalists, tho Rothschilds, has not hesitated to throw in his influenco on tho sido of labour. He has even gone so far aa to point the moral of the late strike, and to bring forcibly into view the fact that labour possesaus power to resist oppression. If tho animals, whom man has reduced to bo his slaves, and work for him, tho ox, the horse, and the elephant for instance, knew their own strength, and how to use it, they would soon free themselves from their task — nwsterß. The labouring masses have, m like manner, been held in bondage, and subjected in many iustances to what Lord Rosebery. describes as " tyranny and aßpionage," simply from want of knowledge of their own strength and how to exercise it. They are being rapidly educated, however, and tho result must undoubtedly bo a considerable amelioration of their condition, and the establishment of fairer and more equitable relations between capital ami labour, the employer and the employed, and the classes and the masses. Scandalous oppression, such as has been demonstrated to exist in regard to dock labour, and such as Lord Rosebery has now denounced a3 existing amongst the 'bus and tram employe's, will no longer be tolerated oi submitted to. It may take some time before fair wages for a fair day's work will be within the attainment of all honest and industrious men, but that is certainly the direction in which events are tending, and the advances have of late been somewhat rapid.