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/ 842 ®ft* QLeaiie t* [Satuaday ,
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FACTS FOU FARMERS. If free trado 1i:ih d...
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COLLIERY SMASH AT KINOSWOOJ). Almost eve...
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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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Association In Spain. The Revolution Of....
and intellectual emancipation . All revolutions are of one of two kinds : —either the sudden desperation of a People provoked to resistance by a blind and obstinate Government ; or the national birth of a new epoch in a nation's progress . The last revolution was partly and proximately of the former kind ; but that it was also the , latter all its first impulses and most enduring tendencies indicate . The revolution of ' 48 was , and is , and will be a social revolution . Balked for a while in its political results , its first and best Social fruits have sown themselves into the spirit of the masses throughout the Continent . Even in Spain , so long the prey of corruption and
intrigue , the movement is in silent operation , inviting the working-classes to a better future of freedom , justice , and prosperity . The intellectual movement is daily spreading , and daily uniting the sons of labour in a common hope and sympathy . Daily new converts proclaim the fertile principle of Association , in an appeal to all who desire to honour labour , to appease impatience , and to assure a tranquil and happy security . The successful development of these ideas is due to the admirable self-denial and perseverance of a few of the more remarkable young artisans who , with a noble inspiration and an absolute
good faith , strive to realize a principle regardless of the privations and the dangers to which isolated efforts are exposed . Socialism in Spain ! the country above all others of immorality , superstition , intrigue in the Church , the Palace and the Cabinet ! A ukase of Narvaez had severely interdicted the sale of Socialist publications . What has been the result ? An active and secret propagandists The following is the substance of an interesting letter addressed by M . V . Martinez to M . Eugene Bareste , which has appeared in the columns of his able and courageous journal ,
La Re ' pubhque . There has existed at Madrid for some time past an institute of popular education , called " The Friend of the People : " fruitful in the best results . The first necessity of education for the working-class as the only true path to political and social emancipation is here acknowledged ; and so excellent an example has aroused emulation . Already in many provinces of Spain other popular institutes are in course of organization at Reus , at Lerida , at Cadiz , at Salamanca , at Valencia , at Barcelona , so convinced are the founders of the schools of the primary importance of an intellectual revolution .
In spite , too , of numberless restrictions , an organ of this movement has been established under the name of the Trabajador , the { Operative ) , edited by a devoted young student of social questions , Ignatius Cerbera . In its columns have appeared some excellent articles on Working-Men ' s Associations , by Leandro Rubio ; and their practical effect was immediate , for a number of workmen applied to the editor to draw up a code of regulations and a fundamental statute for the purpose of embodying and realizing the economical and humanitary principles enunciated . This code was in effected drawn up arrd presented by Kubio , and discussed by a council of workmen , who
are now endeavouring in concert with him to put the rules in practice . This association , a novelty in Spain , has assumed the title of The Friend of the Operatives ( El Amigo de los Trabajadores ) ; it enters upon a path yet unexplored , and , only for the judgment and philosophical foresight of its design , eminently deserves a wide publicity . Its founders , with a due regard to the measure of their own abilities and to the epoch and country in -which they live , have restrained their efforts to the possible , leaving the rest to time and experience . They have kept in mind the welfare of the workman as well as the interests of the consumer ; above all
they have proposed to suppress that class of parasites who , by unduly interposing between the workman and the consumer , absorb the reciprocal profits of both . If they have not quite attained all the desired results , they have at least secured the principal object ; which in , to insure work to the associated workmen , with a fair and equitable remuneration , and to offer the articles to the consumer at the working-cost . Such is the aim of this association ; and it « admirable organization offers to workmen succour in their infirmities ; it moralizes and instructs them , it makes them good citizens , And virtuous in domestic life .
The first article of the code declares that the association has for ita object the development of industry , and the moral and material amelioration of the operatives . Its industrial operations are limited for the present to clothing and shocmuking ( article 2 ) . The members are com posed of three classes of associates : — 1 . Working associates . ' 2 . Cooperative associates , y . Associate consumers ( article H ) . To the first category belong all the associates who , in one way or another , contribute by their labour to the support of the society , on the sole condition of depositing at least 20 reals ( ubout 4 h . 2 d . ) in the treasury . According to this definition , are considered as workmen « mploy 6 s in industrial establishments , physicians , surgeons , & c ( article !))•
The second category comprises all who , being as-Hociate-consumers , pay to tho society on entrance ' 20 reals ut least ( 4 a . 2 d . ) .
The third category is composed of all who , not depositing the sum abovementioned , undertake to pay to the society 10 reals a month . The associated workmen have a right : —1 . To a salary proportioned to their work , and paid weekly : a junta , or committee of skilled workmen , appraises the quality and the price of the articles produced by the associated workmen . 2 . To interest at 5 per cent , per annum on the realized profits of the society . 4 . To shares in the annual lottery of an article produced in the workshops of the association . 5 . To gratuitous attendance in sickness by the physician of the society ; and to a daily relief to be determined by the amount of the funds set apart for that object ( article 15 ) .
However considerable may be the advantages offered to the associated workmen , those accorded to the two other classes , the cooperators and the consumers , are not less important . For the former of these a deposit of 20 reals is enough to entitle them to a reduction in price , which on a fair calculation will be worth from 15 to 20 per cent , on their capital . At a future time , when for instance there shall be 200 associates , the articles will be sold at workingcost ; so that for 80 reals they will purchase what costs 100 reals elsewhere . The consumers , too , will at a very slight pecuniary sacrifice , be entitled to a reduction in price a little inferior to that accorded to the cooperators , but which will place at their disposal all the productions of the society at extremely moderate prices .
Respecting the administration of the society , it has been endeavoured to avoid the frauds so frequently detected in the industrial societies constituted on the old system . Every member of the association has it in his power to exercise a direct and active surveillance over the general interests . The directors and administrators of The Friend of the Operatives , are all revocable functionaries , and regarded as mere employes , subject in the discharge of their duties to the supreme will of the association . To them , indeed , the success of the society is a sacred charge . At the end of every half year a balance-sheet of assets and liabilities is drawn up ; all creditors are strictly paid , whether associates or strangers .
The surplus that remains after payment of the workmen ' s salaries , the interest of the capital , and the creditors of the association for raw material supplied , & c , will be distributed fraternally in iour equal portions , as follows : — 1 . One-fourth to the relief of the sick and infirm . 2 . One-fourth towards a sinking-fund for the redemption of the debt on the original shares . 3 . One-fourth to encourage the foundation of other similar associations , and to aid existing ones which , from unfortunate accidents , may have suffered unforeseen losses .
4 . The fourth and last share will be divided in the shape of profits among all the workmen , in proportion to what each shall have produced in the course of the half-year , or in proportion to the days he has worked if the work has been paid by the day . In the division of profits there will be no distinction of categories : i . e . the workmen who have produced the same quantity of articles , or have worked the same number of days , will take in the same and equal proportion of the profits . Lastly , the associates , whose work cannot be valued in the manner we have described , will have the average amount allotted to their other brethren . With a little
constancy and bclf-denial , thiB association is in a fair way to realize a labour of common utility . If they have begun with clothes and shoe making , trades Humble and often despised , they reply that they consider no work degrading ; that these trades require less capital at Bturting ; and that , as their resources permit , they hope to extend the associative principle to other branches of manufacture : believing always , that the emancipation of the workman is the first step towards a social reorganization . Thus , in Spain itself , have the Beeds of social reform been peacefully and fruitfully sown . We join in the hope , that an enterprise so noble may meet with the support of all sound-hearted men . In the association of The Friend
of the Operatives are already to be iouud persons of all classes in society , and of all political opinions . If violent revolutions are to be averted , peaceful reforms must bo accomplished . What lias been the lot of the producing classes in the struggle of competition ? Pauperism ; ignorance . Tho masses are beginning to be awake to thin truth ; and even ? Spain advances , alowly and silently , to the promised redemption .
/ 842 ®Ft* Qleaiie T* [Satuaday ,
/ 842 ® ft * QLeaiie t * [ Satuaday ,
Facts Fou Farmers. If Free Trado 1i:Ih D...
FACTS FOU FARMERS . If free trado 1 i : ih done nothing else , it has surely stimulated experiment .: * in agriculture . The problem of how much wheat can bo raised by great application and ingenuity is one of the graveht of the day . A paragraph , hoaded " Multiplication by Division , " which appeared in tho morning papers at the end of hint week , gives rise to many reflections , and is certainly of tho order of startling paragraphs : ¦ « An experiment on the fertility of wheat has , during
the past year , been carried out in the garden of Mr Stowe , a surgeon at Buckingham , of which the following is a correct account : —On the 13 th of July 1850 single grain of wheat was sown in the garden ; ' the nW came up in ten days , and grew luxuriantly titl the l \\ h of September ; it was then taken up and divided in £ slips , and replanted . The plants lived , and flourished tulthe 13 th of November , when they were again raised divided , and replanted , and suffered to remain till th 16 th of April of the present year . The weather then becoming favourably wet , -they were all taken up asain and divided into no less than 114 plants ; theses bein » planted , were permitted to stand till the present month AuguBi ctive
« " , wnen mey were produ oi tne amazin » number of 520 ears of wheat , many of them of full 8 iZ ( f containing more than 50 grains of corn . The crop WE s gathered before it was fully ripened , as the birds attacke d it in spite of revolving feathers and a protecting net " Whether the result of this trial will strengthen the opinion of those who contend for the thin sowing of wheat in ordinary field cultivation , must be left to the judgment of more practical agriculturists ; but of the amazing productiveness of the wheat plant , under suc h treatment , any one may easily satisfy himself by repeating the experiment . "
Another singular story is related by the Oxford Chronicle , of the reproduction of wheat destroyed by hail in some fields near Shipston-on-Stour : — " It is not a little remarkable that a second crop of wheat , which is now in flower , has sprung up in those fields that were either much injured , or entirel y destroyed , by the late terrible hail-storm . And even in those fields which were mown after the storm , a second crop has sprang up , and appears likely to be ready f or the sickle by the latter end of September . In those cases where the first crop was lefc standing it is
considerable , and the farmers are much puzzled in deciding whether the first crop should be sacrificed to secure the second , or the second to secure the first , as both cannot be secured . It unfortunately happens , in several cases , after the wheat was mown , either the ground was ploughed , or cattle were turned upon it to eat the springing blade . This was done , of course , in ignorance of the extraordinary compensating power of nature , in the vegetable world , in the case of injury , or apparent destruction . "
From Fraser ' s Magazine we derive another fact , an account of the reaping machine , of which farmers will no doubt readily avail themselves : — " We were present at the trial on Mr . Mangle ' s farm , and fully concur in the statement of our contemporary as to the disadvantageous circumstances of a very light crop , deep furrows , and rough , stony land . Nevertheless the work was well executed , except where the crop had been trodden down . We entertain no doubt that there will be a considerable saving in harvesting of corn with the reaping machine , as compared with the present mode ; but that forms a trifling consideration , as compared with the benefits to be derived from the expedition with which the crops may be secured by the aid of these machines . We observe by a paragraph in a Cambridgeshire paper
that our friend Mr . Jonas , Ickleton , secured 400 acres of wheat in an incredibly short space of time by manual labour . This can only have arisen through an excess in the supply of labour over the demand existing in his district , which we have reason to believe is somewhat peculiar in that respect . It is stated that in Lincolnshire , and in some other places , there ia a dearth of labour to get in the harvest . We are 6 anguine in the belief that reaping machines will become as common in this country as haymaking machines , and of greater value to the farmer . A gentleman who keeps accurate accounts , states that he saved the price of his haymaking machine the first year . Mr . M'Corniick ' a reaping machine comes before us under the most favourable circumstances , it being now known that the great medal of the Exhibition has been awarded to it .
And while these sentences attract our attention , we alight upon another in the Standard , which , taken in connection with the above , involves mucii meaning : — " Tho Suffolk Chronicle of Saturday contains upwards of one hundred advertisements of farms and farming stock in a single county , and this by no means one oi the largest of our counties , or the most backward » agricultural skill . Facts like this—facts not to be ^ ( imputed—attest the operation and effect of free trade . We shall be compelled by sheer necessity to auk and ascertain how it is , the earth being naturally bo productive , its productiveness being quadrup led oy art , that farming won't pay , and farmers are consequently in the Gazette , or eager to sell both la J and farming stock ? To whom should we apply l () r * ( solution of the enigma ? The Duke of ltichmonu o Mr . Cobden ?
Colliery Smash At Kinoswooj). Almost Eve...
COLLIERY SMASH AT KINOSWOOJ ) . Almost every week we have now to recount ac dent * , at the collieries near Bristol . The hist »« r happened on Monday , at the Deep Pit (< -. V . iH belonging to Messrs . Brain and Company , w , ! i »; situated about half a mile from the HtarveuU » belonging to the same firm , where it will be rem ^ bored some month * since a dreadful boiler expJ took place , which resulted in the loss ot seven * i i ^ The routine business of the colliery proceeuu uhuiiI quito safe till about hull-past two or » q <« tl u to three o ' clock in the afternoon , at which Jihkturn" of nine men were being hauled up tllo S ( , shaft . The names of the men wore—Uryant , 3 i f married ) , Joseph Parker , Stephen Newman , * Worker , Ueorge English , John Bright , y / Mwm wm
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Sept. 6, 1851, page 6, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_06091851/page/6/
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