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Leader (1850-1860), 12th November 1853, Edition Country of 2, Page 11

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      Progress Of Opinion" Respecting Strikes....

      cannot possibly be settled hy individual bargain . Some kind 01 general consent on each side is necessary ; and we cannot put our own view on this point more clearly than by adopting the language of our contemporary , the G-lobe ; which , while speaking with great strength against strikes , has preserved an impartial consideration throughout the movements of the working classes . " Factory operations extend over a great extent of time , of numbers , and of ground . The manufacturer purchases a quantity of cotton ; he must work it up in machinery of great size , employing a number of hands ;

      hemust collect those materials and instruments together , and be prepared to continue his operations for some months , before he can have accomplished all his orders , and have turned forth the predestined amount of shirting . During this period , prices which ordinarily regulate each other , will have undergone many fluctuations ; the calculations of the master must not only take into account such fluctuations , occurring probably in more than one country—for his material , his labour , and his market lie separatebut he must do so prospectively . If he wants to do his Work well , he must have the best machinery , must

      keep it going regularly , and must have willing men . In the ease of the amalgamated engineers , to which the correspondent of the Times refers , a great and not an unfounded complaint of the men was , that by systematic overtime the masters kept a certain number out of work , and set one party of men against the other to reduce wages . It was against that system that the men combined . They tried to turn the same tactics upon the masters in the Preston strike ; directing their coercion upon individual mills , and thus attempting to force a rise of wages upon the masters one by one . . It . was to resist that system that the masters combined .

      "If combinations cannot be prevented they might be used . No combinations can force wages or prices permanently above the level set by the public market . To discover that level is a question of fact , and if , instead of using the combination to coerce each ether , masters or men were to employ their ' concentrated power' to discover the commercial facts by which every bargain must be regulated , they would do more to attain a profitable solution of the dispute between them than by any hostile combination . In fact , they would settle the wages question as other questions in trade are settled , without the expense , the trouble , the loss , or the calamity of a strike on either side . " It is quite true , aa the Times reporter says , that the master likes to have about him hands who

      are attached to liis mill , and who work with an esprit de corps . It is true that the rate of wages by the piece may be reduced , yet the hands reap an advantage , if the machinery be more productive . But to attain those ends , tho master must make his workmen feel that they share in the general prosperity of the establishment ; and hence his arrangements in regard to distribution of work , to the comfort of the mill , tho allotment of hours , and other circumstances that bear upon tho material well-being of the people , must be such as to incite tho motives that lie desires . It

      is no breach of political ooconomy , because the very object is , to place the human part of the machine in that state of thorough efficiency and unison which results in the largest proportion of produce out of a given number of hands and a given horse-power . If thoro are any difficulties , tlioy can bo better settled by consent than by contest . J f there are too many hands , lot tho married women be sent

      homo , and lot the husbands bo bettor paid for attending improved machinery . If the hands arc not intelli gent enough , encourage them to educate themselves , and give them tho time to do it in . If tho season will not admit of high wages , hIiovv . . ° people tho reason why ; speak to thorn in a friendl y tone , with a sincere purpose , and they arc sure to entertain tho roasons with candour . Hut to do those tliinirH is not to break down

      , or to pursue separate interest on one wide at the oxpoiiHo of tho other . Union in Holf-doionoo ; but it neodn not be mutual * attack . On tho contrary , it may bo the moanH of concentrating opinion on cither side , of collecting information on both aideH , to enable both widen to undorntund their reciprocal relafionn , and ho to nettle their disMoutuoiiM on tho linn basis of ascertained facts and common inforoHtM .

      November 12, 1853.] The Leader. 1091

      November 12 , 1853 . ] THE LEADER . 1091

      <*()(>, Magog, And Agog. Ooq An( I Magog...

      <*()(> , MAGOG , AND AGOG . Ooq an ( i Magog arc reduced l ; o tho level of the pauper . The pauper is called upon to justify bin existence , when * thoro in no cover for him on the board of nature . ( log and Magog are called upon by a Parliamentary Corninisnion , to explain what right they have to ' be . When tho Hubvorwvo Sheriff WttUiB hm introduced a plainer

      fashion into his state coach , and the Lord Mayor , who only once a year travels from the City in a coach as cumbersome and ugly as any out of a fairy tale , is . threatened with a profubition to spend three times his civic allowance in ¦ hospitalities , ; the- omens are bad . The City Corporation is worse off than John Barleycorn ; for Dot three kings , but Mr . James Acland , has sworn that it shall die . It has been accused before Parliament of corruption , of antiquity , of uselessness , of tyranny , and over-taxation . It finds small

      help in some of its friends . After the revolutionary accuser before the Commission succeeds one of the great City magnates— -an exquisite of such water that he ignores the Corporation , and therefore everything municipal . It is , he says , the trade and plaything of shopkeepers ; no man of rank in the City will attendto it ; no man of station takes part in it ; and he cannot conceive any use in any City body save a Chamber of Commerce .

      Thus the great and the wise now make the rule of pounds , shillings , and pence the test of everything . The object of life is to buy and sell , and the City politician recognises no legislature but a Chamber of Commerce . The City resident complains of a Lord Mayor ' s show that it obstructs his street , and hinders his customers for a day . To us it appears that if shopkeepers can feel an ambition , if they can take an interest in the municipal business of their community , they are the more likely to be elevated above mere shopkeeping , and the community will be the better for that higher degree of self-government .

      But the few who are loud in their complaints that the annual pageant interrupts their trade , cannot be of fche ambitious race that rejoices in Aldermanic titles , and troubles itself with Ward business . It is evident from the facts that the leading shopkeepers take part in the Corporation , and that the great bulk of the residents take an interest in the election of aldermen and councillors , so that the existence of the Corporation and its annual pageant cannot be displeasing to the real staple of society within the walls . Again ,

      the immense . concourse , certainly composed of something besides " riff-raff , " collected to witness the pageant , disproves the implication that the public at large is either indifferent to the pageant or dislikes it . The broad facts confirm what we also know , that many of those who first turn their attention to municipal affairs in . the City , with a bias against the Corporation and the ancient usages , discover in the manner of conducting local business ' many incidents too valuable to be abolished . The inquests , for example , to ascertain the accuracy of weights and measures , while

      they have tlie effect of a useful inspection , aro also good , in bringing the citizens together and making them acquainted with each other , and inspiring that spirit of solidarity which is akin to patriotism— -is , in fact , a local patriotism . Tho very abuses of the Corporation—the tendency to benefit particular persons who acquire a general liking , spring in part from this united feeling . If we look round tho whole metropolis , although it in easy to criticise the taste' diHpliiyod in some public works , yet we do find that no portion of the whole community has been more active in local improvements , has done more , to give effect to opinion on that . subject , than the City .

      If tho City inherits its privileges from ancient times , the fact affords a reason for continuing an authority which has taken ho long in the growing , and wo may remember that if we were to abolish some of IJioho usages and iufltitutioiiH wo could not restore them for future generations , who may perhaps prize long enduring tilings bettor than it ih the fanh ion of our day to do . Moat of those who take part in tho Corporation aro ( commercial men , and if they find thai ; they can spare time for "local businoHtf , and am afford to take a day for a holiday and a pageant , wo may presume that trade does not Buffer very nerioUNly fro ni that Maori lice to public afiairn or to public gratification .

      The neooHHity lor attending to HOinefhing bowiden trade , the habit of public debate upon general a « well w private inforoHtB , kmdH to make men feel tlial ; there in more in life than the j-diop and individual welfare— --a truth manifoist ' , enough to many of uh , but too far forgotten by great numbers , who appear l ; o think that aoounfryraii l > o Hafo after it iH broken up into individuals , each looking after bin own purponoH , and taking no heed for tho general welfare of }\ ia neighbour ^ .

      It is probable that in the City we shall find more genuine public spirit than in any equal space of ground . The very pageant , decried as it has been , reminds the great multitude of the public , by its gross and palpable signs , that there are other things besides the objects and business of our- day—that there have been times when soldiers wore metal clothing , that there are distant countries typified by costume and the arms paraded before us—that there have been , ancient

      Britons and ancient Romans , whose effigies are a species of local idol . There is more in all these than the mere " reformer" can brush away with his Utilitarian maxims . Disappointed candidates for place in the Common Council , exquisites who are too exalted to care for the statesmanship , centralizers who would merge the government of the metropolis in the general government , may think that a few words of ridicule or indiscriminate statistics Tvill suffice to abolish

      the Corporation ; but there is many a sweet little cherub sits perched up aloft to wish for the immortality of Gog and Magog . The citizens like their Corporation , and their liking will come out in the process of inquiry . Ministers who know what London has done , would not care to cause an aching void by tearing the Corporation from its place . The Throne itself would begin to feel uncertain of its foundation , if the civic throne were razed . But above all , the great idea has seized the civic mind , that it is possible to harmonize the Corporation with the age , by reforming it . That is the plan , that is the true conservatism . If Grog and Magog be made to understand that they had better not derive their income

      from coals in Hertfordshire ; if they can apply themselves with increased assiduity to the improvement of the metropolis ; if they can rake out the filthy abodes which breed pestilence for the poor and spread it for the rich , ¦ iff above all , they can assist other districts in the metropolis in shaping out self-government for the whole of this great capital , then they may not only continue their immortality or acquire a domain really rivalling that of many a . European State . But Gog and Magog had better " look sharp" to seize the opportunity ; for the enemy , too , is all " agog . "

      Aristocracy In Australia. There Is No Co...

      ARISTOCRACY IN AUSTRALIA . There is no country under the sun in which man does not like to be certilied of his own estimate , to the effect that , in some respect or other , he is superior to his fellows ; and one quick mode or getting that certificate is by bearing a titlo . xlence the Krvo of titles , more or less reasonable in proportion as the title indicates a practical function . There is no objection to tho American titles for Senators , ofliccrs in tho army , and all public functionaries , since they moan something , and , more or loss , point out that which is really

      worthy of estimation—that tho bearer of the titlo is the bearer , also , of a public trust . Tho strong innate desire , however , prevents men from reasoning so closely ; and hence there is a love of titlo for itfl own sake , without reference to fho rationale of the matter . Notwithstanding the democratic feeling in our colonies , including tho American Union , this feeling is now hero more . strongly displayed than in those communities . And in Australia it has boon recently

      distinguished in a very remarkable manner , in tho proposal of a oominitteo of tho Legislative Council for New South Wales , to establish a local hereditary peerage , wIioho members should have tho privilege of electing tiw Upper Chamber from amongst theuiHolvcH . This has boon likened to the election of representative Peers for ( Scotland or Ireland ; but inasmuch as the representatives would in themselves form a complete Chamber , they more resemble , on an extremely minute Hcalo tho councils elected by tho Venetian

      110-bilify . Homo Hiirpririe hart been excited at thin propona in Now South Wales , whero the democratic , fooling wan Hiippo . sed to be vovy Hfrong , recruited as it had been by fho most democratic of all cIhnhoh , working emigrants and gold diggers The colony , not long Hineo , . showed considerable disaffection to the mother country ; and Uonce , again , a caw ho of mil-prise , nineo the Legislative ( Jouneil i « of opinion thai , the titles should bo created by tho Crown . There in , however , no junt cause for astonishment . Tho principal reason for tho dinn . doetion of fho ooloniHts was , that tho inotlior country fried to force her convicts , and tho creatures of her penal law , upon tho colony .

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), Nov. 12, 1853, page 11, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_12111853/page/11/