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by such as deal in the absolute necessaries of life , and are supported by the mass of their fellowworkmen . J " "• ^ . ** . ( To be continued . )
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THE PROGRESS OF LIFE ASSURANCE . Association has various phases . Here it presents itself in the form of a railway company ; there , as a burial club ; anon , it makes its appearance as a Kedemption Society ; and at the next turn comes upon us in the form of a Colonization Company . "Whatever a man desires to do , and finds himself incapable of doing individually , he sets about doing bv means of a company . This almost universal
tendency to association seems to point emphatically , and -we may add prophetically to the social state that must gradually supersede the present . Among the " signs of the times " is the extension of Life Assurance Societies , and the application of their principles to the means of those who have hitherto been prevented by poverty from sharing the advantages of societies based on scientific and , therefore , unmistakable bases .
In the year 1820 there were only twenty of these societies in the United Kingdom , and in ten years from that time they were just double that number . In ten years more they numbered eighty , and during the five years succeeding 1840 no less than forty new offices were opened . One of the latest offices that have been recently started is ' The Industrial and General Life Assurance and Deposit Company , " which proposes to afford the same proportionate advantages to persons who can only assure for five pounds that can be obtained in other offices by those who can assure for five thousand .
The payments to this company may be as low as one shilling per quarter , and upwards to any amount , and the respectability of the directors is a sufficient guarantee that the engagements entered into will be strictly fulfilled . One feature in the plans of this company , is the provision of a sum of money in case of death . J 3 y this arrangement a parent may , by a quarterly , half-yearly , or annual payment , secure a sum of money ( £ 5 or upwards )
to a child on its attaining a given age , say fourteen , twenty-one , or twenty-five , and in case the payments are discontinued the whole is returned , so there can be no possibility of loss to the person paying the money . Such societies are calculated to foster provident habits amongst the working classes and teach them the value of association . That lesson once learned the transition to the more advanced modes of combining their energies for their common goodj will be natural and easy . H .
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REDEMPTION SOCIETY . Moneys received for the week : — Leeds £ 0 13 3 Hyde , per Mr . Bradley 0 06 Communal Building Fund : — Macclesfield , Mr . Samuel Morton £ 0 1 0 „ Mr . William Eton 0 10 Leeds , Mr . James Longbothara 0 10 0 ,, John Brown 0 20
The president of the society has been on a visit to the Community , and he finds the great desideratum to be , labourers . Those fields which have undergone any amount of improvement havelarge crops , while those still unimproved are poor . The crops of turnips and mangel-wurzel are very good , but they would have been still better had there been a greater amount of labour bestowed on them . Our members show an admirable spirit of devotion to the cause , but they naturally wish for more help on two grounds : first as it will make them more independent of the Welsh peasantry , who have many prejudices , and secondly , us it will bring them more society .
We beg to direct the attention of the members and friends of the Redemption Society , to the Rescript in the advertising columns of this day ' s Leader . The time has come when it is deemed prudent to locate more members on the Welsh farm . Those parties who may become candidates ought to look upon the step with much gravity . They must not suppose that they are going into a community where
every comfort ana luxury is provided ; on the contrary , they must expect much inconvenience , hard labour , and a due amount of subordination to law and authority . They must alRO expect to come in contact with men of different habits and characters to themselves , and unless they arc prepared to make some socriHco of their own feelings , habits , and it may be passions , or prejudices , they had better not go .
It will not do for the believers in Communism to say that Such and such a one is too overbearing , " or " So and so is too self-willed and refractory . " We must neither have the tone of a master , nor the surly grumblings of discontent , because as sure as these things occur , expulsion must take place . As those who go and succeed must moiit the applause and gratitude of tho people of this country so must they expect great diilicultics . That which merits greatly is ever arduous . J The financial account has been kept in abeyance these past two weeks from causes over which we have had no controul .
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MR . WALTER COOPER'S LECTURES IN MANCHESTER . On Sunday morning Mr . Cooper lectured at the People's Institute , and on Monday evening at the Old Meal House . On Monday evening , after electing the manager of the Manchester Working Tailor's Association chairman of the proceedings , the audience , which was a very good one , received Mr . Cooper with great enthusiasm . Mr . Cooper drew an eloquent picture of the misery and poverty amongst the working classes in London , as shown in Mr . Mayhew's letters on Labour and the Poor , which appeared in the Morning Chronicle . He then referred to the means which had been used to
produce a better state of things by propagating instruction on social remedies and the establishment of Working Men's Associations , the success of which had in the majority of instances been far beyond the most sanguine expectations . He also referred at length to the evidence given before the Committee of the House of Commons , and again enforced the desirability of having protection granted them , protection from cunning and designing men who might aim at their overthrow . In conclusion the lecturer urged his audience to support the Working Tailors' Association and Coooperative Store established in their own district , and recommended other trades to organize
themselves as soon as practicable . After the lecture several questions were asked of the lecturer and answered by him . And Mr . George Mantle , the Chartist , in a warm and eloquent address urged on the audience the desirability of forming such associations , declaring himself an ardent friend to the cause of Organization of Labour , as propounded by the promoters of Christian Socialism , and his full determination to make an effort amongst his own trade ( the Operative Cabinet Makers ) to form an association in Manchester . During his remarks , which were often of a humorous character , the audience testified their appreciation of his good wishes , and earnest recommendations for them to work out their own salvation . M . C . C .
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Manufactures in Spain . —Mr . Gilloe , formerly of Harmony-hall , has just accepted an engagement of twelve months to go to Spain to teach fustian cutting there .
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LIFE IN THE ICARIAN COMMUNITY . Icarian Committee-rooms , No . 13 , Newman-street , Oxford-street . The Populaire of the present month contains a reply from the general secretary of the Icarian Community to an assertion of the French press that the Icarians had passed into the condition of negroes , under the lash of M . Cabet , transformed into a ferocious planter . After glancing ironically at the present free condition of the mass of work / nen in France , he proceeds : — Although we have laughed heartily at these articles upon our famine , &c , read in our general meeting , after a comfortable supper , we still confess that we are neither very free nor very rich ; for , in spite of our most ardent desire , we cannot receive without apport , * as we have done last winter , the satiated of liberty and abundance who are flying from the French-Republic . * * * * These are the arrangements for the summer days as at present regulated : —As the work is more urgent than in winter , each one is expected to be in the workshops at five o'clock , breakfasting at eight , and returning to work at nine , cessation from -work at twelve , and liberty till three . When theheat renders it necessary , we leave work at eleven , dinner at one , leaving the workshops and taking supper at seven . On Sundays , besides the lectures as in winter , we have bowls , nine pins , and other games in the open air , and excursion parties . Sunday last was a true holiday , not only for us but also for the Americans , male and female , who are generally attracted by our games in considerable numbers ; although phlegmatic , and by no means accustomed to amuse themselves in this way , they appear to take much pleasure in seeing us , and we seem likely to effect a jovial revolution in the country . The party of Sunday last was well capable of producing this effect . We set out with our band of music at our head , a swarm of men and women , gay and active , cleanly and elegantly dressed , the children all genteelly clothed , especially our little girls in their new uniform , as simple as it is graceful , set off by their happy faces , resplendent with joy and health . This immense family , now united to share the same pleasures as they had shared the same work , presented a sight pleasing to the eye , and capable of exciting the most lively interest . We went into a neighbouring wood , and there , during five hours , music , dancing , singing , play , and repose succeeded each other amid the roost expansive gaiety . Then we returned , forgetting our fatigue , at the sound of the military march and other pieces of music , played by our instrumentalists , or sung in chorus by our choristers , men , women , and children , who truly have made very rapid progress under our brother Camus . This party , besides , had a peculiar attraction , for , although it was Sunday , the justice of the peace , M . Schwartz , had consented to attend to celebrate three marriages of our brothers and sisters . This ceremony was celebrated with solemnity , according to the usual form , in the presence of all the colony and of twenty American ladies and gentlemen , who were desirous of being present at the ceremony . From these circumstances you may judge that neither our misery nor our slavery is of a very frightful character . To our women belong the household duties , occupied according to their sex and their strength ; they are the objects of our particular care , especially when they are enceinte or nursing , situations which exempt them from the necessity of any other occupation . Our children are trained and educated in schools where study is a pleasure and pleasure a study . In our sickness we find fraternal care and appropriate remedies in an infirmary comfortably arranged , and a dispensary well supplied ; and , lastly , thanks to our Communitarian Association and to the solidarity which is its consequent , we live exempt from all care , assured of the satisfaction of all our wants , physical , moral , and intellectual , as well in health as in sickness , as well in our youth and our strength as in our age and our infirmities . Such is our situation , the work of our late Dictator , now President , and always our devoted and venerated father . To conclude , like true Icarians , we will cherish neither anger nor hatred ; we wish the advantages of our position , not only for our friends and our brothers , but also for our unhappily blind enemies , who seek to injure us , without thinking that soon , perhaps , swept away by the stormy wind of revolution , they will be glaa to find in our Icaria peace , abundance , true liberty , and a fraternal reception . T . C .
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A STRIKE AT HYDE . It is with feelings of unpleasantness that I now inform you of a struggle which is taking place here between the weavers and their master at the mill at which I work usually . The weavers left - \ voik on July 12 , and there are no prospects at present of a speedy settlement of their complaints . The weavers feel themselves reduced by an alteration in the length of cloth , which has lately been made in their work . Tho increase of length in cloth added is more than
the extra wages received by the weavers since the alteration took place , which is virtually a reduction to them . The strike has happened this wise . A short time ago one portion of the weavers had Is . 3 d . per cut , that is , 371 yards market length . This length was increased to 41 yards , and the price paid for it was Is . 3 | d . The master argued thus : although 37 $ yards is the market length they generally fold up 39 yards per cut , so that 41 yards is only two vards longer than they were before the alteration
was made . Therefore I pay for the two yaids extra length , two yards added to these cuts is short of a penny , but rather more than three farthings , and I shall pay three farthings for the two yards . Such is a truthful statement of the master ' s case in this struggle . One master in the neighbourhood gives for the same fabric to the weaver Is . 5 d . per cut , 41 yards in length , and 40 inches in width . This statement- the weavers have printed , and now require Is . 5 d . per cut before they will resume work .
To prove how a weaver knows when a reduction is made in wages by an alteration ( although he cannot follow the reasoning process of the master ) , he feels it in the less receipt for the same time and exertion used ; and no reasoning will make him believe that he is not reduced in wages . Further . A weaver of two looms—cuts' 371 yards , or 39 yards long—can weave sixteen cuts per fortnight , at Is . 3 d . per cut , which will equal 20 s . The same weaver has two looms to mind or tent , cuts 41 yards long , can weave fourteen cuts per fortnight , at Is . 3 | d . per cut , will equal 18 s . 4 £ d . Now , the difference in wages is Is . 7 £ d . less for the same time and exertion used on the lastmentioned length , viz ., 41 yards of cloth per cut .
It is this the weaver feels , and no reasoning will make him believe that 18 s . 4 £ d . is equal to 20 s , Such is a fair statement of the weaver ' s case in this struggle now going on here , and likely to continue much longer yet . There are many operatives who object to strikes on the ground that they do no good ; but how shall they be prevented , and the wages of the operative protected at the same time in present society ? We are as much interested as any one can be that strikes shall discontinue , therefore we ask what working plan or plans can be enforced that shall supersede strikes and prevent the wages of the operative from being reduced ?
If the weavers for any single master can obtain 10 s . per week each , and are so far satisfied as not to complain about their lot ; but should this master make such alteration in their work that will only enable them to obtain 9 s . per week each for the same exertion used , what are the weavers to do in their altered condition , should they not strike work to gain their former position , viz ., 10 s . per week each ? An Operative of Hyde .
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* Entrance money
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538 ®!> £ yLe<et . [ Saturday ,
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Aug. 31, 1850, page 538, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1851/page/10/
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