The power of the German, Russian, or Polish Jew, accustomed to a lower standard of life, to undersell the English worker in the English labour market must be admitted by all, though the exact importance of it is, I know, a disputed point. The industrial degradation of the "sweated" workers arises from the fact that they are working surrounded by a "pool of unemployed," or superfluous supply of labour. So long as this standing pool remains, and so long as it is ever being augmented by the endless influx of cheap, destitute foreign labour, so long it is difficult to see how the wages of the low unskilled workers can be materially raised. Let the pool be gradually drawn off, and wages will rise, since the combined action of the workers will no longer be able to be defeated by the eagerness of the foreigner to take their work and wages. But the pool can never be drawn off until the stream which so largely recruits it is cut off at its source. If once this foreign influx is stopped, it will decrease by the natural process of evaporation.
Let us take a national view. The true standard of a nation's prosperity is to be found in the prosperity of its working-classes. The higher the rate of wages the better is the condition of the working-classes; the cheaper the labour of a country, the lower the condition of the people therein. One of the surest signs of the real rise of a nation is the elevation of the masses in their wages, their habits, their homes, their scale of living, and their condition generally. Anything which tends to reduce the price of labour tends also to reduce the labourer's standard of comfort and prosperity, and there can be no manner of doubt that this continuous influx of destitute foreigners does tend both directly and indirectly to reduce the profits of the wage-earning classes. Wages follow certain inexorable laws of supply and demand. If the supply of human labour exceeds the market demand, then the men will be beaten down; and how can the supply do otherwise than exceed the demand, when the market is being continually flooded by the influx of the cheapest kind of foreign labour?
"Unrestricted immigration," said a witness before the United States Committee, "is the degradation of American labour." If that be true in a country of such enormous resources as the United States, how much more true must it be in our own densely-populated little island? It is the high rate of wages which has given to the American workmen their unexampled prosperity as citizens. It is the recognition of this truth which has induced the United States Government to guard its doors so jealously against the entrance of the destitute and unfit of other lands. And they are right, not only on economic grounds, but for other reasons as well, since all history teaches us that in the long run degraded labour is sure to avenge itself upon all the classes above it.
"Rely upon yourselves; by societies, combinations, and well-directed strikes, you can secure higher wages and better conditions for yourselves." Such are the words of the "old" Trades Unionism, and in the main they are true enough. But in this instance they fall beside the mark; for, as I have already pointed out, combination is rendered impossible by this fierce competition of destitute labour from abroad. In the industries affected, any man or woman, or any body of men or women, who refused to work upon the sweating prices quoted, would be simply turned away, and their places filled by the foreigner. They are literally living from hand to mouth. They know that if they lose their wage one week, they will be destitute the next, and starving the week after. Under these circumstances it is not surprising to find that there exists among the native working-classes the strongest feeling against the great and increasing invasion of their rights. This feeling is not only confined to the trades chiefly affected, it is rapidly spreading throughout the country. So far as I have been able to judge, the feeling among the working-classes in favour of restrictive measures is practically unanimous. A vast majority of the great Trades Unions and Labour Organizations—not only those immediately affected, but others as well—have passed strongly-worded resolutions on the subject, recognizing that though the evil may not yet have sensibly affected their particular industry, yet it tends indirectly to do so. That the labour organizations are fully alive to the importance of this question is shown by the following letter, taken almost at random from hundreds of similar communications which have reached me during the last few months. It is from the Secretary of the "National Society of Amalgamated Brassworkers," Birmingham.[18] The arguments are so clearly and cogently put, that they are well worthy of being quoted here.
"The Executive desire me to say that they are unanimously of opinion that the time has come when the State should regulate, in the interests of British labour, the immigration of destitute aliens; and that they have observed with alarm the injury done to their brethren in the East End of London and other parts of the country by this element of unfair competition. My Executive desire me also to say that these conclusions are arrived at reluctantly, as they would like this country to be a really happy England, giving welcome to the oppressed of every land. While, however, they hold this view strongly, they are also of opinion that this broad principle must not be allowed, to any appreciable extent, to be the means of pauperizing English men and English women. The unchecked admission of this force has spread enough misery; and it is hoped that your efforts will bring about such restrictions as will put an end to an evil which has been the means of providing a surplus labour market to become a ready prey to the sweater."
These are weighty words. They come from an important Society, which, though its members have not yet felt the shoe pinch themselves, they recognize the truth of the old saying, "If one member suffers, all the other members suffer with it." This utterance does not stand alone; it is but an echo of the opinion of similar organizations throughout the country.[19] The English workman is naturally patient and law-abiding. It is his nature to suffer and be strong. All that he asks for—and surely it is not an unreasonable request—is that he should be allowed a fair field for his energies in the land that gave him birth. If this be denied him, then, sooner or later, will follow consequences, which, to quote Herbert Spencer, "no man may tell in language."
It is because this movement is so essentially a workingman's movement that I am confident of its ultimate success. Let us look the situation in the face. The balance of power has passed into the hands of the wage-earning classes—three-fourths of the electorate are wage-earners; I use the word in its widest sense. Therefore, it follows as a matter of course, that just as the land-owning classes when they had the power made laws in their interests; and the trading-classes when they had the power passed laws for their interests; so the working, wage-earning classes of this country, now that they have the power, will use it to protect and advance their interests likewise. And what can touch their interests more nearly than this unrestricted immigration of destitute foreign labour? "The flowing tide is with us." Whatever may be the immediate interests of the hour, labour questions constitute the politics of the future. There are signs all round the world that social problems and labour questions are gradually taking the place of older issues over which men have contended. There is no likelihood now of a war about creeds, no dynastic contest is now on the cards; the rivalries of nations and of races are not as potent as they were; but the lot of the "dim millions," the labouring-classes, who were ignored by all the warriors and statesmen of the past, is now forcing its way to the front. The contest which is gathering will not be around "exhausted factories and obsolete policies," as Mr. Disraeli said in 1852, but living problems, coming home to the hearts and to the firesides of all labouring men. Labour legislation is the legislation of the future; and it needs no prophetic eye to foresee that one of the leading measures in the labour programme of the future will be to protect the English working-men against this perpetual pouring in of destitute foreigners. Hitherto in only one constituency, Lewisham, has this question found a prominent place in an electioneering programme. We all know the result of that election. As it was at Lewisham, so will it be before long in every urban constituency throughout England. "Why," the working-classes are asking, "should we be robbed of our birthright by the refuse population of other countries?" Why, indeed! People are beginning to see that a great and crying evil flourishes in our midst; and when that fact has been thoroughly digested, means will soon be found to remedy it.