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system of isolation . XKThether cooperative stores and factories be justified in selling to the public at a profit , is rather a barren question . But without profits how is capital to be accumulated ? There can be no doubt that ' * profit-mongering " is an evil ; and that our whole social system is rotten to the core ; rotten , because it is irrational and based upbn false and arbitrary assumptions , which are in direct contradiction to the eternal laws of nature . But the real Social problem to be solved is this : — How to bring about the gradual but radical reformation which is so much ! needed in this corrupt and artificial state of civilization , in which falsehood , hypocrisy , and antagonism predominate , without violence or convulsion .
Doubtless the present centralizing system must , at some future period , be superseded by a voluntary union or federation of territorial associations or communities j but , under the vicious " circumstances in the midst of which mankind is now placed , it is impossible at once to abolish " profitmongering , " without previously fixing a maximum of price and a minimum of wages ; a maximum of population in proportion , to capital , and a limit to the field of production , which , for the English Nation , has been indefinitely augmented by the
repeal of the Corn Laws . It is true that the small capitalist cannot compete with the large capitalist ; therefore hostile competition , or social war must inevitably lead to monopoly ; but the abolition of monopoly is communism ! The practical difficulty , therefore ,: lies in the adjustment of the principles of socialism and individualism ; of the interests of the community and those of family , which naturally arise from the voluntary union or contract entered into by rational and enfranchised beings of different sexes ; domestic interests which are , and ever have been , the foundation of human society .
The question of wages and of profits is most important ia itself , as well as in its bearings on cooperation : and a clear understanding of the subject is indispensable to the proper conduct and guidance of the employed in their contracts or contests with their employers , and in framing the u Rules" of their cooperative societies on sound oeconomical principles . The produce of labour originally constituted the natural recompense , or wages , of labour . * Before the appropriation of land and the accumulation of stock , the whole of the produce belonged to the labourer : there was neither landlord nor master to share it with him . If this state of things could
have continued , wages would have augmented with the improvements in productive power , which were developed by the division of labour and by the discoveries of " science . All things , gradually , would have become cheaper , as they would have been produced by a smaller quantity of labour . But this could not last beyond the first appropriation of land and the accumulation of stock . The landowner then demanded a share of almost all the produce of labour ; and " his rent was the first subtraction from the wages of the labourer employed upon the land . But , if the tiller of the soil had not wherewithal to maintain himself until the harvest , this maintenance was advanced to him from the stock or
accumulations of the master who employed him , and who would have had no interest in employing him , unless he had shared in the produce of his labour . The master ' s share , or profit , was the second subtraction from the wages of the labourer ; and the produce of almost all other labour is liable to a similar deduction . But when one or more workmen possess stock , or capital , sufficient both to
purchase the materials for their work and to maintain themselves until it be completed , they then take the whole produce of their own labour , or the whole value which has been added to the materials upon which they have bestowed their labour . The profits , however , arising from surplus production are always to be distinguished from mere moneyprofits , which may be obtained without any increase of real wealth .
Wages depend upon the demand for and the supply of labour ; or on the proportion botvveen the capital which is directl y expended in the purchase of labour , and the number of the labourers who work for hire ; and with free exchange or free trade , the fioid ^ of production is limited only by the earth ' s circumference . Under the immoral competitive system , the material interests of the masters and workmen are by no means the same , whatever their moral interests maybe . The workmen desire to receive as high , and the masters to give as low , wages as possible ; profits rising as wages fall , and falling as
wages rise ; the rate of profit depending upon the proportion between the price of labour and the produce of it . The ritesters being fewer in number , more wealthy , and independent ^ can combine more easily to iower , than the workmen can to raise , wages ; and they can hold out much longer . Although we rarely Hear of the combination of masters , though frequently of those of workmeri , whoever imagines that the masters rarely combine , is as ignorant of the world as of the subject . Masters are always ' and everywhere in a tacit , but constant , combination not to raise the wages of
labour beyond their actual , rate ; and they sometimes enter into particular combinations to sink the wages of labour even below this rate . These combinations are conducted in silence and secrecy till the moment of execution , and when the workmen yield without resistance , they are never heard of by other people . Such combinations , however , are frequently resisted- ' . by defensive combinations of the workmen , who sometimes , without any provocation of this kind , combine to raise the price of their labour . But whether their combination's be offensive or defensive , they are always heard of . In order to bring the question speedily to an issue , they have recourse to clamour , and
sometimes to violence , to frighten the masters into immediate compliance with their demands . The masters on the other side are equally clamorous , and call aloud for the assistance of the civil magistrate , and for the rigorous execution of those laws which have been enacted with such severity against the combinations of servants , labourers , and journeymen . ( There are no acts of Parliament , however , against combining . to lower the price of labour . ) The workmen accordingly seldom derive much benefit from these combinations , partly from the interposition of the civil authority , and partly from the necessity of submission for the sake of present subsistence .
With respect to the threatened strike of the Amalgated Society of Engineers , although some of their demands may be unreasonable , yet there can be no doubt that the custom of working overtime is most objectionable , in fact it is a perfect system of slavery , which can only-be abolished by the united and combined action of the employed . The system of piecework , which has been introduced , is not merely used for the purpose of lowering the rate of payment for a given amount of labour , but it has been the means of forcing a middleman , or contractor , upon the industrious workmen , who is thus enabled to make his profit , in addition to the increased profit of the master , by a reduction in the wages of the labourer .
' The Paris cooperative associations very wisely have limited their hours of labour to eleven . If the Ten Hours-and-a Half Bill were necessary for women and children , it is equally necessary , on moral and " sanitary " grounds , for adults ; and it will be a very short-sighted policy , on the part of the employers , if they attempt to resist so reasonable a demand as " the abolition of overtime , except in cases of breakdown . " The opposition ) to Robert Owen ' s short-time bill ( who also first applied the principle to practice , let me remind Lord Shaftesbury ) was equally violent , although the diminution in the hours of labour has proved alike beneficial to the employed and to the employers .
With your permission' I shall return to the subject . William Coningham . Postcript . —The American workman labours twelve hours a day to the sacrifice of his health ; and it is asserted upon good authority that the actual work done in the United States is greater , in a large proportion , than would be done in England for the same cost . But wages in America are higher , and the price of food and
the taxes are less . Besides the American workman seldom or never tfrinks strong liquors . The Eng-r lishman works sixty hours a week for wages Varying from ten to twelve shillings—a fraction over twopence an hour , while the American receives fifteen shillings for his week's labour of seventytwo hours—about twopence halfpenny an hour * The following ) table . gives a close approximation ) to the average rate of wages in different countries : —
' A d . United States .. „! ..... 14 lid week . England 11 0 „ Holland 10 0 „ France ft 0 „ Belgium ~ . 4 6 „ Switzerland 4 6 „ Austria 3 9 , „ Saxony 3 6 „ India , from Is . to 2 b , a week .
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* Sco Adam Smith .
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NOTES ON WAE . " BY A SOIDEEB . No . II . —A New System wanted . Let us consider it as a certainty that Despotism cannot he abolished without fighting ; that the monster evU of Europe , standing armies , must be overcome by force . All reliance on the defection of
troopsi from the Gdyerninents shouldbe abandoned , all hojpe of their neutrality or assistance should be deprecated . The last men to become enlightened citizens are the soldiers , and their sympathy or aid in a struggle for freedom would be given from low or merely impulsive motives \ . and would , as it always has done , merely pare the wayjbr military rule . We are told on all sides that battles for the
future are to be decided by improved musketry and artillery , and by the employment of guns in larger number and of greater calibre than heretofore . In military periodicals , and at the mess-table , doubtful disputes are raised as to whether in future campaigns the' Minie ' . rifles and Prussian needleprime muskets are to pick off" the Horse Artillery gunners at a thousand yards whether , on the contrary , skirmishers in hundreds , and entire battalions and brigades of Infantry , are to be swept
away * dispersed , and almost annihilated by spherical case-shot and Congreve rockets . And much as they may differ , both sides agree that by missile weapons of one sort or the other battles for the future are to be won . AH the . i military authorities in Europe are busily engaged in examining , reporting upon , and adopting various improvements in small arms , and greater attention is paid to instructing and practising the soldiers to be good marksmen and accurate judges of the distances of objecls ^_____ Our own Governmenthas been much censured for
alleged inattention to the formidable effects produced by the new weapons in use with some foreign armies ; but it is understood that most of these new inventions have been tested at Woolwich , and in many cases their value , and the degree of skill and certainty of aim attained or attainable by the soldier , have proved to have been greatly exaggerated and over-estimated . There are other essentials for military firearms besides accuracy in
experimental practice . The expense sometimes may quite overbalance any advantage of 'construction , — " breaking windows with guineas " has become a standing joke on this subject , —and again , it is use-Jess to entrust to a hard-fisted , rough , average soldier , a delicate instrument which requires to be petted and handled like a chronometer . But still there is not the least doubt that great improvements have been made , and that in future European wars , in addition to a more formidable and numerous
artillery , sharpshooters of great skill , and furnished with the best possible weapons , will be able to select their victims at unprecedented distances . And what does all this portend ? What does it suggest to the exiled leaders of stifled nations ? What does it suggest to the patriot mournfully brooding over the intolerable wrongs and insults to which his country is subjected ? If battles , indeed , are to be decided for the future by musketry and artillery of long range , if successive improvements in mechanism are for ever to carry the day , then indeed all hope- of freedom , until soldiers
become enlightened citizens , may be abandoned . If high and intelligent courage , if faith in a just cause , if noble devotion , nay , if manly strength and activity , are indeed to be for ever neutralized by missile machinery , then indeed the cause of Liberty is a desperate one . For when we consider the costly and cumbrous material , and the long and careful training required for the effective service of artillery , ' it must be obvious that , with its vast stores , pecuniary resources , and practised gunners , the Established Government will always be able to
outnumber , and indeed to overwhelm , all the guns that can be brought into the field by the almost improvised military administration of a revolted People . And in the possession of superior weapons , in skill and rapidity of firing and steadiness of manoeuvring , a regular army will always excel the hasty levies of an insurrection . We have already given qiir reasons for objecting ¦ to the system of Barricade warfare , which is only the present
universally received system of modern tactics carried to the highest pitch of absurdity . Then , if these reiterated , assurances of the . employers , leaders , and teachers of standing armies , that future battles will be , and must be , decided by artillery and musketry , can bring , while believed to be true , no hope , but rather despair , to the patriot , let us examine them more closely , and try if we cannot prove them to be false in theory and in fact . We shall find that these assurances contain a full confession of the essential error in
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14 « T ! re & * & »**? [ Saturday ,
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Jan. 3, 1852, page 14, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1916/page/14/
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