The amelioration of the condition of the poor is not to be brought about by destroying the ancient fabric and foundations of our social and political system. It is easy to destroy but most difficult to restore the institutions created by past generations, in which there lived men not less great, and wise, and good than the most gifted of our own contemporaries. Mr. Ruskin, a devoted friend of the working classes, in a passage of more than ordinary eloquence, has truly said, ‘This is the thing, which I know, and which, if you labour faithfully, you shall know also,—that in Reverence is the chief power and joy of life;—Reverence, for what is pure and bright in your own youth; for what is true and tried in the age of others; for all that is gracious among the living, great among the dead, and marvellous in the Powers that cannot die.’
Co-operation.
Our artisans may believe that the profits of former days were so large that employers can afford to pay the present rates of wages, without raising their charges to the consumers. There is but one means, by which this fallacy can be exposed. The workmen must become to a certain extent their own employers. In a co-operative establishment, created in part by his own hardly-earned savings, the handicraftsman will find himself called upon to apportion equitably the earnings of his business between labour and capital. In this double relation he will learn how great are the difficulties, which beset the employment of capital in productive industry in a country, in which competition is so keen as it is in England. In no other country does capital command so low a rate of interest; and, if large accumulations of capital have been made, and money is therefore cheap, it should not be inferred that the rate of profit has been high by comparison with other countries, but rather that our employers of labour, as a class, have been distinguished by their frugality, their perseverance, and their enterprise. I am grateful, therefore, to Mr. Holyoake, for his vindication of their claims at the recent Co-operative Congress. He justly said that capital was the enemy of nobody, but rather the nursing mother of production.
The co-operative principle, in its application to the business of distribution, has been already most successfully developed. My desire is to encourage working men to create co-operative establishments for the purposes of production. The accumulation of the necessary capital is an obvious difficulty; but as wages were never so high as at present, so this obstacle can be more easily surmounted now than at any former time. Some men may object to recognise the special responsibilities of a fellow-workman holding the office of manager of a large business, by giving a proportionate salary. It is because the recognition of authority is essential, whenever anything practical is to be done, that the International Society has shown such uncompromising hostility to the co-operative principle. The denial of a proportionate reward for superior intelligence or industry is the first article of its catechism. The absurdity of attempting to combine the energies of the men for any definite object, without placing a competent chief at their head, has been humorously exposed by Mr. Carlyle. ‘Ships,’ he said, ‘did not use the ballot-box at all, and they rejected the phantasm species of captains. Phantasm captains with unanimous votings! These are considered to be all the law and prophets at present. If a man shake out of his mind the universal noise of political doctors in this generation, and in the last generation or two, and consider the matter face to face with his own sincere intelligence looking at it, I venture to say he would find this a very extraordinary method of navigating, whether in the Straits of Magellan, or the undiscovered sea of time.’
English workmen are less easily deluded by tall talk and sophistry than the more excitable populations of the Latin race; and I would earnestly invite them to apply their practical sagacity to the difficult yet hopeful experiment of co-operative industry.
Demand and supply determine wages.
I must once more repeat the familiar axiom, that the price of labour, like that of every other commodity, must mainly depend upon the relation between supply and demand. The wages of skilled workmen have risen, because skilled workmen are scarce. How shall we increase their number, and improve their skill? My answer is, by bringing recruits into our industrial army from a class of society, which has hitherto exhibited too strong a prejudice against manual labour. The same aversion to handicraft of every kind exists in the United States and Canada. In America a skilled workman earns 30 dollars, a clerk only 15 dollars a week; and, while it is almost as difficult for a clerk to obtain a situation in New York as in London, a skilled workman can always command employment. It is unnecessary to dwell on the evils that must ensue from a disproportionate increase in the non-productive classes of the community. Lord Bacon has truly said, that a population is not to be reckoned only by numbers, for a smaller number that spend more and earn less do wear out a greater number that live lower and get more. My father’s advice was often sought by parents anxious for the future of their sons. His counsel always was, that a young man, whose destiny it must be to make his way, unaided, through the world, should begin by learning a trade. It is a laudable ambition in a parent to endeavour to raise his family to a better station in life. He cannot bestow on his children too high an education. But a wise man will be on his guard, lest the enjoyment of such advantages should render those occupations distasteful, which afford the most secure and ample livelihood to those whose lot it is to labour. When justly appreciated, the condition of the skilled artisan should be as much esteemed as that of any other class of the community. He whose life is passed in performing such needed services for his fellow-men, whatever his special calling, holds an honorable station, and social dignity will ever be most effectually maintained by those who are the least dependent upon the favours of others.
Forethought.
In conclusion, I would tender a few words of advice to my fellow-countrymen of the so-called working classes, for whose welfare I am bound to feel the deepest solicitude. Their just claim to share in the benefits arising from a thriving industry has of late been liberally recognised. The earnings in many trades have been unprecedented. It should not be forgotten that forethought is an especial duty in a time of prosperity. At no distant period, the progress of our commerce may sustain at least a temporary check. It will be sad indeed if the receding tide leaves behind it multitudes of our highly-paid workmen without the slightest provision to meet a period of adversity.
Spottiswoode & Co., Printers, New-street Square, London.