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Leader (1850-1860), 6th September 1851, Edition Town of 2, Page 842, Untitled Article

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      and intellectual emancipation . AU revolutions are of one of two kinds : —either the sudden desperation of a People provoked to resistance by a blind and obstinate Government ; or the national birth of a new epoch in a nation ' s progress . The last revolution was partly and proximately of the former kind ; but that it was also the latter all its first impulses and most enduring tendencies indicate . The revolution of ' 48 was , and is , and will be a social revolution . Balked for a while in its political results , its first and best Social fruits have sown themselves into the spirit of the masses throughout the Continent . Even in Spainso long the prey of corruption and

      in-, trigue , the movement is in silent operation , inviting the working-classes to a better future of freedom , justice , and prosperity . The intellectual movement is daily spreading , and daily uniting the sons of labour in a common hope and sympathy . Daily new converts proclaim the fertile principle of Association , in an appeal to all who desire to honour labour , to appease impatience , and to assure a tranquil and happy security . The successful development of these ideas is due to the admirable self-denial and perarti

      severance of a few of the more remarkable young - sans who , with a noble inspiration and an absolute good faith , strive to realize a principle regardless of the privations and the dangers to which isolated efforts are exposed . Socialism in Spain ! the country above all others of immorality , superstition , intrigue in the Church , the Palace and the Cabinet ! A ukase of Narvaez had seven , ly interdicted the sale of Socialist publication ? . What has been the result ? An active and secret propagundism . The following is the substance of an interesting letter addressed by M . V . Martinez to M . Eugene Bareste , which has appeared in the columns of his able and courageous journal ,

      La Republique . There has existed at Madrid for some time past an institute of popular education , called " The Friend of the People : " fruitful in the best results . The first necessity of education for the working-class as the only true path to political and social emancipation is here acknowledged ; and so excellent an example has-aroused emulation . Already in many provinces of Spain other popular institutes ^ are in course of organization at Reus , at Lerida , at Cadiz , at S alamanca , at Valencia , at Barcelona , so convinced are the founders of the schools of the primary importance of an intellectual revolution .

      In spite , too , of numberless restrictions , an organ of this movement has been established under the name of the Tmbajador , the ( Operative ) , edited b y a devoted young student of social questions , Ignatius Cerbera . In its columns have appeared some excellent articles on Working-Men's Associations , by Leandro Kubio ; and their practical effect was immediate , lor a number of workmen applied to the ediior to draw up a code of regulations and a fundamental statute for the purpose of embodying and realizing

      the economical and humanitary principles enunciated . This code was in effected drawn up and presented by Kubio , and discussed by a council of workmen , who are now endeavouring in conceit with him to put the rules in practice . * This association , a novelty in Spain , hus assumed the title of The Friend of the Operatives ( El Amigo de los Tiabajadores ) ; it enters upon a path yet unexplored , anil , if only for the judgment and philosophical foresight of its de-Bign , eminently deserves a wide publicity .

      Its founders , with a due re « ard to the measure of their own abilities and to the epoch and country in which they live , have lestrained their efforts to the possible , leaving the rest to time and experience . They have kept in mind the welfare of the workman as well aa the interests of the consumer ; above all , they have proposed to suppress that class of parasites who , by unduly interposing between ihe workman and the consumer , absorb the reciprocal profits

      of both . If they have not quite attained all the desired renultH , they have at least necured the principal object ; which is , to insure work to the associated workmen , with a fair and equitable remuneration , and to offer the articles to the consumer at the working-cost . Such is the aim of this association ; and it « admirable organization offers to workmen succour in their infirmities ; it moralizes and instructs them it makes them good citizens , and virtuous in

      domestic lile . The first article of the code declines that the association has for its object the development of industry , and the moral and material amelioration of the operatives . Jin industrial operations are limited for the preHent to clothing and Hhoemaking ( article 2 ) . The membera are coin posed of threeclas . sen of asbociate . 4 .,: — 1 . Woiking aHKOcialiH . ' 1 . Cooperative ^ aHKOciates . 3 * AwHociate connuineiH ( nrlicle 8 ) . To the first category belong all the associates who , in one way or another , contribute by their labour to the mipport of the society , on the m > le condition of depositing at leust 20 reiilN ( about *»¦ 2 d > in thc t » - ' " «> y- A ( : " cordintc to this definition , are considered as workmen « smploy& i" indtiBtrinl I'tttablinhmento , phytuuiuiiH , eons&c ( article 9 ) .

      surg , The accoiid category compiles all who , being aH - 8 ociute ~ con 6 umers , pay to thc » oeiety on entrance 20 reals ut lcuat ( 4 s . 2 d . ) .

      The third category is composed of all who , not depositing the sum abovementidned , undertake to pay to the society 10 reals a month . The associated workmen have a right : —1 . To a salary proportioned to their work , and paid weekly : a juntaT or committee of skilled ,, workmen , appraises the quality and the price of the articles produced by the associated workmen . 2 . To interest at 5 per cent , per annum on the realized profits of the society . 4 . To . shares in the annual lottery of an article produced in the workshops of the association . 5 . To gratuitous attendance in sickness by the physician of the society ; and to a daily relief to be determined by the amount of the funds set apart ior that object ( article 15 ) .

      However considerable may be the advantages offered to the associated workmen , those accorded to the two other classes , the cooperators and the consumers , are not less important . For the former of these a deposit of 20 reals is enough to entitle them to a reduction in price , which on a fair calculation will be worth from 15 to 20 per cent , on their capital . At a future time , when for instance there shall be 200 associates , the articles will be sold at workingcost ; so that for 80 reals they will purchase what costs 100 reals elsewhere . The consumers , too , will at a very slight pecuniary sacrifice , be entitled to a reduction in price a little inferior to that accorded to the cooperators , but which will place at their disposal all the productions of the society at extremely moderate prices .

      Respecting the administration of the society , it has been endeavoured to avoid the frauds so frequently detected in the industrial societies constituted on the old system . Every member of the association has it in his power to exercise a direct and active surveillance over the general interests . The directors and administrators of The Friend of the Operatives , are all revocable functionaries , and regarded as mere employes , subject in the discharge of their duties to the supreme will of the association . To them , indeed , the success of the society is a sacred charge . At the end of every half year a balance-sheet of assets and liabilities is drawn up ; all creditors are strictly paid , whether associates or strangers .

      The surplus that lemains after payment of the workmen's salaiies , the interest of the capital , and the creditors of the association for raw material supplied , &c , will be distributed fraternally in lour equal portions , as follows : - 1 . One-fourth to thc relief of the sick and infirm . 2 . One-fourth towards a sinking-fund ior the redemption of the d .. 'bt on the original shares . 3 . One-fourth to encourage the foundation of other similar associations , and to aid existing ones which , from unfortunate accidents , may have suffered unforeseen losses .

      4 . The fourth and last share will be divided in the shape of profits among all the workmen , in proportion to what each shall have produced in the course of the half- } ear , or in prop ution to the days he has worked if thc work has been paid by the day . In the division of profits there will be no distinction of categories : * . e ., the workmen who have produced the same quantity of articles , or huve worked the same number of days , will take in the same and equal proportion of the profits . Lastly , the associates , whose work cannot be valued in the manner we have described , will have the average amount allotted to their other brethren . With a little

      constancy and self-denial , this association in in a fair way to realize a labour of common utility . It they have begun with clothes and shoemukiiig , trades humble and often despised , they reply that they conaider no work degrading ; that these trades require less capital at starting ; and that , as their resources permit , they hope to extend the associative principle to other branches of manufacture : believing always , that the emancipation of the workman is the first step towards a uociul reorganization . Thus , in Spain itself , have the seeds of social reform been peacefully

      and fruitfully howii . We join in the hope , that an enterprise ; ko noble may meet with the support of all sound-hearted men . In the association ol The Friend of the Operatives are already to be found persons of all classes in society , and of all political opinions . If violent revolutions are to be averted , peaceful reforms must be accomplished . What has been the lot of the producing classes in the struggle of competition ? I ' aiipciisin ; ignorance . The masses are beginning to be awake to this truth ; ami even Spain advances , slowly and silently , to the promised redemption .

      Untitled Article

      COLL 1 KIIY SMASH AT KINUSWOODAlmost every week we have now to wmmt ^ dents at the collieries near UriHtoi . The last « iet ¦ _ happened on Monday , at the Deep J it < - < / belonging to Messrs . Brain and Company , «' situated ubo . it half a mile from the , Surv <* 1 ^^ belonging to the same Jinn , where it will De l . bi-rchomc month * , since a dreadful boilor ex 1 ^ took place , which resulted in the loss oi h « 'V « " J ^ The routine buhinesH of the colliery 1 ' ^ , iart ,. usual quite safe till about half-pant two or i I „ ^ to three o ' clock in the afternoon , at which " iu turn " of nine men were being hauled up " »< shaft . The names of the men wore-1 ryaa ,. ( married ; , Joaenli Parker , Htophon *^ . " £ WiU , Krkor , George English , John Brig ht , WUluun w

      Untitled Article

      FACTS FOR FARMKKS . If free trade h-iw done nothing else , it has nurely stimulated experiments in agriculture . The problem of how much wheat can be raised by great application and ingenuity is one of the gravest of the day . A paragraph , headed " Multiplication by Division , " which appeared in the morning papers at the end of laat week , gives rise to many reflections , uud it * certainly of the order of startling puragruphu : — " An experiment on the fertility of wheat has , during

      planted , were permitted present month of August , when they were productive of the am- ) zing number of 520 ears of wheat , many of them of full size , containing more than 50 grains of corn . The crop was gathered before it was fully ripened , as the birds attacked it in spite of revolving feathers and a protecting net . " Whether the result of this trial will strengthen the opinion of those who contend for the thin sowing of wheat in ordinary field cultivation , must be left to the judgment of more practical agriculturists ; but of the amazing productiveness of the wheat plant , under such , treatment , any one may easily satisfy himself by repeating the experiment . "

      to stand till the the past year , been carried out in the garden of Mr Stowe , a surgeon at Buckingham , of which the following is a correct account : —On the 13 th of July , 1850 a single grain of wheat was sown in the garden ; the plant came up in ten days , and grew luxuriantly till the 13 th of September ; it was then taken up and divided into slips , and replanted . The plants lived , and flourished till the 13 th of November , when they were again raised divided , and replanted , and suffered , to remain till t he 16 th of April of the present year . The weather then becoming favourably wet , they were all taken up again and divided into no less than 114 plants ; these being

      Another singular story is related by the Oxford Chronicle , of the reproduction of wheat destroyed by hail in some fields near Shipston-on-Stour : — •' It is not a little remarkable that a second crop of wheat , which is now in flower , has sprung up in those fields that were either mucli injured , or entirely destroyed , by the late terrible hail-storm . And even in those fields which were mown after the storm , a second crop has sprang up , and appears likely to be ready for the sickle by the latter end of September . la those

      cases where the first crop was lef ( starrding it is considerable , and the farmers are much puzzled in deciding whether the first crop should be sacrificed to secure the second , or the second to secure the first , as both cannot be secured . It unfortunately happens , in several cases , after the wheat was mown , either the ground was ploughed , or cattle were turned upon it _ to eat the springing blade . This was done , of course , in ignorance of the extraordinary compensating power of nature , in the vegetable world , in the case of injury , or apparent destruction . "

      From Frasers Magazine we derive another fact , an account of the reaping machine , of which farmers will no doubt readily avail themselves : — " We were present at the trial on Mr . Mangle ' s farm , and fully concur in the statement of our contemporary as to the disadvantageous circumstances of a very lii » hc crop , deep furrows , and rough , stony land . Nevertheless the work was well executed , except where the cro , > had been trodden down . We entertain no doubt that there wll be a considerable saving in harvesting of corn with tha reaping machine , as compared with the present mode but that forms a trifling consideration , as compared with the benefits to be derived from . the expedition with which the crops may be secured by the aid of these machines . We observe by a paragraph in a Cambridg ' shire paper

      that our friend Mr . Jonas , of Ickleton , secured 400 acrea of wheat in an incredibly short space of time by manual labour . This can only have arisen through an excess in the supply of labour over the demand existing in Ins distiict , which we have reason to believe is somewhat peculiar in that respect . It is stated that in Lincolnshire , and in some other places , there is a dearth of 1 ibour to get in the harvest . We are sanguine in the bvhet Una reaping machines will become as common in this country as haymaking machines , and of greater value to tie farmer A gentleman who keeps accurate accounts , stales that he saved the price of his haymaking umclime the first year . Mr . M'Corrnick ' s reaping iiMchuie comes before us under the most favourable circumstances , it being now known that the great medal of the Exhibition

      has been awarded to it . And while these sentences attract our attention , we alight upon another in the Standard , wlncii , taken in connection with the above , involves niucn meaning : — . " The Sujbl / c Chronicle of Saturday contains upwards of one hundred advertisements of farina and laming stock in a hingle county , and this by no means one the largest of our counties , or the moat backwam agricultural skill . Fuel a like this—facts not to » e / putcd—attest the operation and elfect of Iree trade .

      We Hhall be compelled by sheer necessity to iisk and ascertain how it is , the enrth being naturally « productive , its productiveness being quadrup led y art , that farming won ' t pay , and farmers » rcC ° ~ Hcqucntly in the Gazette , or eager to Hell both Ian and farming stock ? To whom . should we apply ior Holution of the enigma ? The Duke of Kichmoiid Mr . Oobden ?

      Untitled Article

      842 ®!> e ft e after * [ SAtumuv ,

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), Sept. 6, 1851, page 842, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1899/page/6/