THE ENGINEERS' STRIKES AT HOME.

Timaru Herald, Volume XXX, Issue 1472, 10 June 1879, Page 3

THE ENGINEERS' STRIKES AT HOME.

The following excellent article appears m the London Telegraph of March 20th, and will repay perusal by all classes of the community : — "A little army of working men marched on Saturday from Trafalgarsquare, through some of the principal West-cud streets, to Hyde Park. It was a demonstration recalling m its numbers the significant scenes of 1866, but superior as regards the character and appearance of the artisanß, who walked steadily on

through snow and sleet to the appointed place of meeting. The engineers who had organised the affair constitute the vi;ry flower of English industry. They are well-educated, skilful men ; their trades union 13 solidly constructed ; thuy have amassed much capital ; and, with some exceptions, their relations with their employers have been carefully and successfully controlled. On many occasions their leaders have exhibited a prudence and Belf-restraint that entitle their present action to fair consideration and respect, not only from their fellow-workmen m their own and other trades, but also from Englishmen of every class. At present the extent of tho strike among them is not great, but every day it is prolonged there arißeß a fear that it may spread, and that other employers and other workmen besides those now m conflict may be drawn into the war. Ten engineering firms m tho metropolitan district, employing nearly one thousand men, gave notice two months ago that they must make a reduction of seven and a half per cant m the wages of their workmen. The men declined to accede to this, and they ' went out.' But there are still seven or eight thousand engineers working m and about London at old rates, so that the strike really affects only a comparatively small section of the trade. What gives it especial importance however, is tho fact that the 'Amalgamated Engineers ' — probably the most important trades' union m tho world — havo taken'np the matter, and conduct the resistauce. The public mind is also impressed by recollections of the great contest of 1852, when many thousands of engineers left their work. At that time they began tho war with a light heart ; they had as leaders some remarkably able men ; and they carried a considerable amouut of public sympathy with them, for their operations were partly directed against 1 overtime.' Yet the movement ended m signal failure ; the wages sacrificed during the three months' idleness amoiiutod to a very great sum ; the masters, of course, lost heavily, and the engineers had to expend m ' strike pay ' more than forty thousand pounds. They gained nothing whatever by the conflict, except the experience which since then they have, no doubt, thoughtfully utilised. Their society is now, perhaps, the wealthiest and best organised trades' union m the kingdom. Its members, after their defeat m 1852, were only seven thousand ; and they are now moro than seven times that number. Their accumulated funds are large, and their annual income is over one hundred thousand pounds. A strike organised and directed by such a body must necessarily be a serious affair.

"Is it justified ? This we greatly doubt. The men on strike point to the firms where their fellow-workmen still receive unreduced wages ; but if the employers who have enforced the reduction have acted without any excuse supplied by the state of trade, why is it that the few men ' out ' aro not taken mto the many establishments still kept going ? Here are nearly a thousand skilled workmen, lately engaged m some of the largest and best workshops, yet there is no demand for their labor at the old rates. Another consideration must be borne m mind. The men contend that if they did not resist, the firms now giving the former wages would reduce the pay all round, so that to protect tho hands at work it is needful for the minority on strike to remain out. This simply shows that the supply of engineers exceeds the demand by about the number who walked to Hyde Park on Saturday ; and if they emigrated the old rate could be sustained. Have we not here a confession of weakness 1 The Secretary to the Engineers quoted the Board of Trade Returns to show that the export of enginos has increased, but he did not demonstrate that we are exporting augmented quantities at the old rates. Mr Giflfen's statistics have proved that m many branches of trade we are exporting m unreduced or even increased proportions, but that prices have fallen; m other words, we make less profit on the same supply of goods. ■ The trade reports of the present time are m no case encouraging. 'In Scotland,' says a trade journal, ' engineers and shipbuilders are as slack as ever.' 'The Manchester iron market remains as dull as ever." In the Furnesa district business is no better ; the puddlers m North Staffordshire have had to give up their intended strike ; the Durham miners are ' out ' with little prospect of success. 'In the neighborhood of Leeds . . . there is no change m locomotive engine building ;' aud ' accounts from Sheffield are even more gloomy.' This tone runs through not only all the trades directly or indirectly connected with engineering, but through oilier national industries, which, of course, act and react, upon them. The demonstration on Saturday ii. eluded representatives of the railway servants, the printers' machinists, the London pattern makers, and others, and French engineers were present by deputy. iJut surely nothing can be more Utopian than the idea that the union of all kinds of working men can raise wages all round. It is, on the contrary, the industry of some men at comparatively low wages which enables employers to pay highlyskilled laborers a higher remuneration. If the brickmakers' laborers generally demanded the wages of the bricklayers a much smaller number of the latter could be employed. The interests of all working men m the progress of industry and the increase of capital are the same ; but the lower grades of artisans have no motive m wishing that the wages of the higher should be sustained. The engineers constitute the aristocracy of the working classes ; and how can they ask for contributions, for instance, from railway servants, who are paid, as a rule, less than half the wages refused by the men on strike 1 Let us suppose the present movement successful, nnd that, through the aid of all the workmen of the kingdom, the engineers obtained the old wages again. How would their employers recoup themselves ? They would either make fewer engines, charging higher prices for them, and thus keeping down the general demand for labor, or save the extra amount given to the engineers by reducing the wages of the unskilled labjrers m their employ. Thus other workmen would have to suffer for the success of the engineers. We can understand a combination of the most highlypaid artisans to raise the condition or the wages of those who are paid worst ; but tho appeal from the engineers to all the artisans and laborers of the United Kingdom is m effect as if necessitous noblemen, obliged to put down three out of five hunters, or their wives suffering from ' total want, long continued, of Brussels point lace,' were to appeal to the charity of barristers, doctors, and clergymen for instant help.

" Some of the declarations at Saturday's meetiugs did not go well together. A boiler-maker — a sturdy Briton jno doubt, as all of his craft must be — ' impressed on the meeting the necessity of stamping out the introduction of foreign labor to supplant our own.' In contrast with this, a French engineer advocated an international federation of the trade, on the ground that, while the Englishman worked only nine hours, the Frenchman worked from eleven to twelve hours a day. No doubt that 'intelligent foreigner ' would be glad of a ' happy mean,' some compromise by which all engineers should work for ten hours, and no more. But this would be no boon to our men. Is it not clear, therefore, that we are m presence of a foreign competition commanding an amount of industry our engineers are not accustomed to

give ? How long will our trade m engines remain with us if foreign workmen habitually work two or three hours more 1 No doubt they are still inferior m Bkill, but they have other advantages ; for they are les3 addicted to strong drink, spend less on meat dinnerß, and are more thrifty. Formerly also we had one great superiority over the Continent — we commanded abundanco of capital. A great deal of it is gone m rash lending to Oriental or South American States ; and more of it flows out every day m paying for food. Our breakfasts are spread for us by foreigners, and if the importation of American meat increases, our supplied from abroad. Then we have to consider whether the present depression of national trade may not be the establishment of a lower level rather than any temporary fall. The great prosperity which reached its height some time ago was partly due to causes not noticed at the time. We lent lavishly to foreigners ; they bought lavishly from U3 ; and our own money came back to us m two ways, m prices for our goods and m magnificent interest on our loans. The cash we lent is gone ; the interest has ceased ; the buying is stopped. The nation that used to save eighty millions a year no longer does so ; there are no new investments, because tho national yearly profit has dwindled down to a nominal sum ; we pay our way, but the capital for new companies or new foreign loans iB not to be had. On the Stock Exchange the selling out nearly balances the buying m, and new investments are rare. Is this a time for strikes ] It would seem not, yet we are confronted with the serious fact that last year there were more strikes than m 1877; and nearly all unsuccessful. What does failure m a strike mean ? The loss to the men of their wages, the exhaustion of union funds, the loss to omployers of interest on their capital, the kws to the nation of orders diverted abroad, and the flight of capital to other lands. We are prepared fur the reply that the engineers — an intelligent body of men — know their own business best. Be it so ; but then if they repel advice they cannot demand sympathy and assistance. If it is their concern alone, why parade London and demand help from other trades ? If tho affair is national they must give us leave to point out facts which seem to show they havo miscalculated their time and means of resistance."