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Northern Star (1837-1852), 28th August 1852, Edition 1 of 2, Page 12, Untitled Article

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      Untitled Article

      These fire very valuable privileges . The Co-operative Stores which have hitherto endeavoured to obtain them by enrolment , but have been hindered by the restrictions which the old Friendly Societies Acts placed upon selling to the public , will now have the power of retaining them , and selling to the public also . The associations for productive purposes which never have enjoyed them at all , will now be able to acquire them at a trifling cost . And none I hope will be deterred from doing so by the clause in the Act respecting the liability of the members . For this clause does nothing but

      leave the law in tins respect as it stood before . It imposes no new liability On the contrary , it reduces the period of liability in the case of persons who leave the association from six years to two . The members of all associations which have been formed hitherto , have been subject to this rule . All persons who are engaged in trade in England , now are , and always have . been , subject to it ; and yet men have continued to trade , although in most cases they were exposed to a great deal more risk than any member of an association is likely to be subject to , because they usually have more to lose in case of failure .

      Let no man then be frightened by this clause . In one way it will probably materially help the associations , by giving confidence to those with whom they deal ; and after all , no society ever need incur a liability beyond their means of paying for it . If they do it is because they trade carelessly . If the members of associations take care that they never oioe anything more than the value of their stock and capital , the worst which can happen to them is to lose this . For those

      who live too far from the place of business of any association , to be able to attend themselves to its affairs , the true way of helping itwithout any risk to themselves of further liability , is to advance money , under the power given by the Act , by way of loan . And as they may waive all right to be repaid except out of the property of the association , if they choose to do so , without thereby making themselves liable for its debts , they may free their friends from any burdensome obligation , without risk to their own property . ' Edward Vansittakt Neale .

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      Kottikghau . —Seculau Hall . — vSince we last wrote , Mr . Broom has had a busy time of it . Monday , August 15 , he delivered the first free-thinking lecture in Senton , in the open air . A large meeting was present . Tuesday he lectured in the hall on "How to Teach in Secular Schools . " Wednesday he attended a meeting of the operative bricklayers . Delivered a long lecture to them , urging them to form a co-operative building association among themselves . His suggestions met with approval , and the meeting was adjourned . Thursday he lectured on " Selections of Books for the People . " Last Sunday morning , on the forest , he spoke for above two Lours about freedom auuui ireeaom

      European . He detailed the horrible cmelt s of European . Me detailed the horrible cruelt s of the continental despots , clerical as well as lay . He said , " England and America should unite to practise intervention ! so that the continent could be freed from desolating slavery ! It is our interest to be free aud happy , and to see that other nations are similarly conditioned . In the evening , he delivered his last discourse on theology . Next Sunday , the day this report appears , a tea-party will be held to bid him a short farewell .

      ^ Nottingham . —A number of persons connected with the building trades here are desirous of forming an association for earring out their business . They have made at the offices of the Co-operative League , London , for a copy of rules for their guidance ; and it is expected they the will adopt the rules now pveppiug by ilia committee appointed hv the late Co * oimtive Conikenee , as poor , as tliey arc ready , which -will fa in & few clays only , as they ^ in t % Jmndg of the winter *

      Untitled Article

      Co-operation among Nottingham Bricklayers . —The operative bricklayers of this town held a very large meeting last Monday evening . They met to consider how they eould combine to improve their position . Mr . Broom delivered an address and occupied the chair . He contrasted the ordinary Trade societies and co-operation . The first , he remarked , wasted irrecoverably funds , time , and talent in pernicious strikes , the other would enable them to be their own masters , lords of their own labour , dignified men , even improving themselves , and assisting

      to civilise the world . Mr . Broom was followed by Mr . Williams , Willis , Stevenson , &e . A resolution was passed , resolving the meeting into a Co-operative Society . The society is to raise a fund , b y weekly subscriptions , but shall be banked and not touched till the expiration of six months—when trading operashall be commenced . The entrance fee to be two shillings , andrulesaretobedrawn up , and the society enrolled . The . society will meet every Monday night to enrol members and transact business .

      Cumnock Co-operative Store . —This society , which deals in groceries and provisions , and ; sells to the public as well as to the members , was established a year and a half ago ; each member being allowed to hold from one to four 5 s . shares , which they may sell or transfer , but cannot withdraw in any case , having a salesman and an auditor to conduct the business . The half-yearly meeting has just been held , from which it appears that the sales for that period amounted to £ 558 4 s . 6 d ., though trade has been dull during the last quarter .

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      manent victnns of , as examples , to deter those to whom the privilege of toiling was once more vouchsafed—from future rebellion against the mandates of the most high bailiff , of the most noble Lord , and privy counsellor to the Queen . I could relate things occurring during the progress of that strike , incident of touching devotion , self-sacrifice , and moral heroism , hut your space is , I know , too valuable to permit of the least digression ; I will therefore merely state that during four months these unlettered colliers were on strike , no riot , no act of violence , no instance of intimidation , could be charged against them . The stipendiary magistrate was once called

      upon to exercise his powers , by straining the vagrant act to meet the case , but this gentleman , anxious—as he stated—to punish the men , had so vivid a recollection of former deaiiypurchased experience in the Queen ' s Bench , that he declined to accommodate the prosecutors . From first to last , this strike was conducted with the greatest possible firmness , patience , and good temper . It would have succeeded had not the surplus of distant collieries been brought over to supply the places of the men on strike , and this might have been prevented had a veritable national association of miners been in

      existence . It may be argued that this case could not have been prevented or remedied—that strikes have always failed—and that the proposed union will consequently be productive of good result . I reply , however , that masters are most prone to make atttmpts on their workmen when the latter are disunited among themselves ; that the work of improvement may be slo matter

      w , a only to be wrought out by reducing the surplus labour m any given trade , which strikes are powerless to effect ; but 1 am not yet quite convinced that defensive strikes may not , under certain serious contingencies , be inevitable . It will . However , be seen that any association , to be of service , must embrace the whole kingdom within its operation , and that mere sectional or county societies will only entail ultimate disappointment on their members . Association gives powermoral and material— . wifhrmf . WI-maI-i fiAmlilnJ v . ^ m ^ rin ~ moral and material—without which combined modern

      , , no movement can prosper or progress . There are other , no less important duties , devolving on the proposed conferences , to which Mr . Jude slightly referred in his last communication . There are laws upon the statute bookand recent ones too—that were passed for the protection of the miner , which are actually imperative at the present timemarred by the government , who have obeyed the mere form of their instructions , and disregarded their spirit , or even yet more flagrantly violated by unpaid but interested and partisan

      magistrates . Look , for instance , at the system—or rather want of system—of inspection practised ; at the mode in which the evidence is " got up , " for the inquest after a fatal catastrophe —usually called " accidents , " but which I call , and will prove to be systematical , and wholesale murders ; at the prevalence of the truck system , by which employers , bailiffs , butties—one or all , as the case may be—plunder the poor miner of a heavy percentage on his slender periodical earnings . These are evils which exist despite the law—which there are laws to remedy , but no simple working collier can stand against , and only con- ' cert , union , association grapple with . Then there is that

      crying evil—the Masters' and Servants' Act—a curious piece of Free Trade , politico economical legislation , which gives the workman only a- civil remedy against the master , and the master a criminal remedy against the man . But this is too vast a subject to be passed over briefly—it concerns not miners only , butevery class of workmen . With your permission therefore ' I will return to this matter , and enter fully upon it next week The cruelties perpetrated in some of our provincial police-courts under this law , will almost defy evidence with those who have

      not " nved and moved" in a manufacturing district . To see the laws , which , at the demand of the public opinion , have been enacted , for the benefit of the miner enforced—to lay informations against those who practise truck , to memorialize the Queen ( who has this power vested in her ) to appoint a sufficient number of thoroughly competent inspectors , and to set in motion an agitation for repealing the Masters' and Servants' Act . These are primary objects for the serious , thoughtful , and earnest consideration of those miners who have any influence among their fellow men .

      ( particular mode of operations , the exact form the Association shall assume , the formation of its rules , the rate of subscriptions , and all such like details , must be left to the decision ot those who know the means and state of feeling of the different districts ; but I would strongly urge that the various local societies unite , select a central executive , and endeavour to arouse those partsof England which yet possess no organization , to join m this new effort to elevate the social character of those who '' delve and hew" in the dark recesses of the eartli , little cared for , and almost unknown to the men and women who tread the upper crust , and regularly enjoy God ' s

      dayrhc lukewarm and timid will endeavour to throw cold water on the > efforts that seem likely to be made for the re-construction ot a national organization of the coal miners . They will point to partial failures in the past , and predict similar results m the future ; these advisers will say that the miners are too unintelligent . to comprehend their own interests , and so forth . ^!^ }^™ ?} ¥ ^ sp irited by such objections oi first difficultieof kind

      s any . The task they have undertaken is necessarily an arduous one , but the promise of success is ample , and encouraging . Many things concur to render the task , at all events , a comparatively light one . Men have grown wiser than they were formerly , under the stern cnltaro of raftering and sorrow ; a deeper earnestness pervades the common mass of humanity , in which feeling the collier parti es . Negative teaching , fierce invective , appeals to the pas sions , no longer influence men ' s minds ; the vocation of the delikthe

      magogue , e occupation of Othello , is { rone ; and in this season oi calm thought , when even political excitement is lulled and hushed , the constructive genius of the social reformer will find its opportunity . Let the friends of that ill-used , hut worJiy and generous-hearted body of men , the miners of England , then seize this opportunity , and set to work with spirit equal to their task , and success is certain . 1 here are some other topics upon which I feel I should have touched but this letter has already extended to some length , and next week you shall receive a few more lines from OLE JOK .

      Untitled Article

      THE PROPOSED MINERS' CONFERENCE . i To the Editor of the Star of Freedom . Sin , —The miners * of England have much to thank Martin Jude for—his unwearied labours on their-behalf are beyond all praise . It is true that we , readers of the Star , have all more or less cause to respect him ; for in every movement of a political and social character , his active services have been enlisted . But on the questions affecting more peculiarly his own orderthe coal miners—he is most at home ; it is in his handling of these matters , so little understood by men in general , that his practical talents are most easily recognised ; and it is moreover

      m this field of usefulness that other labourers are , I fear , most wanting . But , sir , as my object is not a personal one , and as I have a wider purpose in view than that of merely calling attention to the merits of any one man , I leave Mr . Jude in the hands of those who can best appreciate his worth , and pass to my subject . It is , however , but right that I should pause to point attention to one who has done so much for the benefit of the class to which he belongs , as your Journal in its new garb and shape may meet the eyes of some who have not been accustomed to peruse its columns—men who perhaps scarcely know the name of one of labour ' s wannest and discreetest

      advocates—and who might therefore ( by possibility ) bestow a trifle of that honour fairly earned by the master , upon one of his humblest disciples , one who is bound to admit that his attention was first called to consider the condition of the mining population of England , by the letters which , from time to time , over a series of years appeared in your columns . I can only pretend to repeat , perhaps a little more successfully , the reason which Mr . Jude has oftentimes urged on behalf of a miners ' organization , and support these reasons by my own experience and observation recently acquired .

      Of the very important coal district around Newcastle , where Mr . Jude resides , upon Tyne , I know no more than the public prints and some slight intercourse with men who have lived and worked thereabouts have informed me ; and this fact is more worthy of remark , because our different points of observation lead us to the same views , and there is a perfect coincidence in our opinions . The necessity of Union among the miners of England has been rendered apparent to my mind on two or three occasions , where partial u turn-outs" have occurred . It is worthwhile

      to tell the reader that these strikes have not been voluntary on the part of the men ; they have not originated in the endeavour to gain increased wages , but they have been involuntarily adopted , to resist reductions in the rate of remuneration attempted by the masters , or gross violations of the truck actand generally the former I may just sketch the origin and end of one of these contests , which will serve as a type of the class . A certain nobleman who boasts ? , in addition to numerous minor honours , the title of Earl , and is the lesee of several extensive mines in a midland county—a man also learned in the lore of Manchester—surveyed the state of the labour market , and thought he could get his coal raised a little cheaper than the

      price he was then paying . It is true , the staple manufacture of that neiShbourhooi was brisk , and the price he obtained from his customers exceedingly high , " but that , " quoth the cotton o . iacle , " had nothing to do with the case . Supply and demand rules the labour market—there is a great demand for my coals , and a small one for your muscles and sinew . I sell coals dear , but I buy labour cheap , and am true to the Gospel of Political Economy . " So , at all events , reasoned the nobleman bailiff ; but the colliers , not believing this Gospel to be of God , turned out one cold , wet , morning last winter , without funds , without even the skeleton of a Trades' Society , aud without the needful machinery to raise money , they entered on a contest with the

      wealthy and titled "tree Trade" monopolist . Aided by the good counsel of one or two friends , they formed committees , and appealed to the inhabitants of the surrounding towns , who , all things considered , contributed liberally ; they solicited pecuniary help from their brethren , and begged of all " good men and true" to hold aloof , and refuse work in these pits . The men of the district answered to the call , and rendered what aid they could . No men could be procured in that county to accept 1 . " ¦ i "l T 1 T It . -.- _ V X work

      on the forbidden grounds ; but the benevolent nobleman ' s man of business took a railway trip , and brought back sufficient hands to serve his purpose , by pointing out the course he would still further pursue if his people did not submit to his terms . The poor colliers could , of course , resist no longer , — some few of the tum-o \ its went in at once—the others were afterwards permitted to do so , and all , except a few u ringleaders , " v ' o had become } pnvtioulavly obnoxious to ib noble * mun ' a oftie « , wont ; ! # ?]« $ wavk , Tl » Uwfc we mad *? per *

      Tots.

      tots .

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      st ] ST The Sectaries of Trades' Unions and other bodies associated to protect and advance the interests of Labour , will oblige by forwarding the reports of Trades' Meetings , Strikes , and other information affecting the social position of the Working Classes .

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      Heroic Action . —As the Fife boat reached Dundee from Newport , at 12 o ' clock on Tuesday , a boy , about 14 years of age , who was bathing , had got beyond his depth into an eddy , where he was rapidly sinking . So soon as his danger was perceived , Captain Heriot Maitland Dougali , B . N of gcotscraig , who had just landed from the steamer , at once leaped from the pier , alight oi ribout 15 feet , into the water , ana , having $ Iic 4 d of iM boy , aw ^ m wi $ h jm In Ws mm to the shore .

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      44 THE STAE OF FREEDOM . August 28 , 1852 .

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      AN AMEKICAN COMMUNITY . The Milford Journal ( U . S . ) has an interesting account of this community , from which we make the following brief sketch : "The Hopedale Community was formed at Mendon in 1841 . The tract of land in Milford purchased by the association had obtained the name of " The Dale . " To this they

      prefixed the word " Hope , ' and the place has always retained the name of " Hopedale . " At first , the Association numbered but thirty individuals . At the present day it is composed of two hundred members . At first they purchased two hundred and fifty acres of land , which was then by no means fertile . This has been much improved by cultivation ; and , by frequent purchase they have added to its extent until they are now in possession of five hundred acres .

      They have , from the first , adhered to their resolution to seclude themselves , as far as possible , from the world . They believe the popular opinions concerning religion , government , &c , to be wholly wrong and inconsistent with the spirit of the Gospel . In their retirement they hope to establish a society which should not only be free from the sins and follies of the world , but exert , by its example , an influence on that

      world they sought to shun . The Association granted religious toleration to every member , and adopted a constitution and by-laws which prescribed three " forms " so called . " The first was that of a joint stock proprietorship in such real and movable estate as they deemed ' necessary to the maintenance of a neighbourhood exclusively inhabited and controlled by persons honestly endeavouring to conform to their principles which joint stock was held in shares of fifty dollars each . "

      The principal officers of the' Association were a President , Directors , a Becorder , and a Treasurer . In addition to these , a Council of Eeligion , Conciliation , and Justice had a supervision over the religious afi ' airs of the Community ; endeavoured to correct such habits and customs as might be calculated to injure the welfare of the society ; settled controversies that arose between the members ; and examined applicants for membership .

      In 1842 they first took possession of their farm ; and since then the place has grown steadily until it has now the appearance of a thriving little village . Lately they have established a Savings Bank and a Mutual Fire Insurance Company . A lyceum meets monthly in summer and weekly in winter . Until a few months ago Rev . Adin Ballou has filled the office of President . He is senior editor of the Practical Christian , a paper which is published in Hopedale every fortnigfit .

  • Citation
    • Northern Star (1837-1852), Aug. 28, 1852, page 12, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/ns/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1693/page/12/