In extreme cases strike may produce results beneficial to workmen. Orderly conduct of men on strike in South Wales.
While I feel bound to assure the working man of the certain frustration of his expectations, if he seeks to obtain from capital impossible concessions, I am at the same time ready to acknowledge that a strike will sometimes make an impression on employers, even in cases, in which the demand for an increase of wages is not immediately conceded. If the trade, in which the workmen on strike are engaged, is prosperous for the employer; cessation of production means loss of profit. The apprehension of a recurrence of such loss may, on a future occasion, induce concessions; and the wage-earning classes may rest assured that, in the long run, and without the assistance of Trades Unions and the disastrous interruptions to their business occasioned by protracted strikes, the competition among employers, to secure the services of workmen, will infallibly lead to a rise of pay, proportionate to the amount of profit, derived from the particular industry, with which they are connected. It was a noteworthy feature in the South Wales strike, that the men never had recourse to physical violence. I attribute their good conduct in this regard in part to the influence of Mr. Halliday and his colleagues.
Advance in price of coal.
I now pass to the graver subject of the recent rise in the price of coal. It will be remembered that, on the motion of Mr. Mundella, a Committee of the House of Commons was appointed in the last Session to inquire into this subject. After a long investigation the Committee reported, as might have been expected, that, in their judgment, the rapid development of the iron industry was the primary cause of the advance in the price of coal. It appears from statistics, compiled under the direction of the Committee, that the total production of coal in 1869 was 107,000,000 tons, of which 79,000,000 were used in manufactures. The total production in 1871 was 117,000,000 tons, of which 85,000,000 were used in manufactures. It will thus be seen how large a proportion of the total quantity of coal raised is consumed in manufactures, and specially in the manufacture of iron. In 1867, 567,000 tons of pig iron were exported, 4,193,000 tons of pig iron were converted into rolled iron, 1,317,000 tons of rolled iron were exported, and 28,331,000 tons of coal were used in the manufacture of iron. In 1872, 1,333,000 tons of pig iron were exported, 5,390,000 tons of pig iron were converted into rolled iron, 2,055,000 tons of rolled iron were exported, and 38,229,000 tons of coal were consumed in the manufacture of iron.