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.----.MONEY MARKET—FEIB.\V.

LONDON STOCK EXCHANGE.—YESTERDAY.

LONDON CORN MARKET.-FRIDAY.

MINING AND MECHANICAL ENGINEERS.

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i" ,SPIRIT OF THE PRESS.

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i" SPIRIT OF THE PRESS. EMPLOYERS Alm EMPLOYED. r^rhftps, says the Times, it is vain to wish it, at least in < nine, but we cannot -help wishing that something ba (Tone to render the process of adjustment of the relations between Labour and Capital smoother and more uniform. Why these violent hitches? Why a general sbiiiil-still ? Why a total breakdown when both sides are iuterested in forward and regular motion ? To take a broad view of the matter, we are inclined to trace the evil to a want of regular understanding and true social r tsvtions between the employers and the employed, li .liour is only too ready to accept comfortable and r.i!;i.r social relations in lieu of solid pay and even hi.;lfer consideration. Labour will submit to ser- vLtude, or to what is little better than servitude. A very little love indeed will go a great way in the table of wages. If our masses of labour c be so organized as to feel a certain solidarity with their employers, a community of interests and of hopes, they would be found less revolutionary—that is, more moderate in their demands, and less violent in their methods. Here are, say, a hundred thousand working tiK-ii, and women too, on the strike all over the kingdom, cutting their own throats as well fs their employers. Will no one tell them how to get their rights without a suicidal struggle ? Not a few of us are seriously injured on the one hand by this sudden revolt of industry, and burdered, drained, and impoverished by heavy rates for the mainte- nance of the poor. Be a strike or the whole system of strikes just or unjust, wise or foolish, one result is inevi- table. It is a more ricrorous administration of public relief, in order thnt it may not be made to help labour in demand* beyond reason. The relations of labour pauperism are too much overlooked under the present lax and indulgent system. Should labour, under the advice and AIsistance of Internationalists and other dangerous friends. ever gain « position incompatible with the rights of pro- perty and the freedom of priTate enterprise, it will cer- tainly find itself challenged to provide for it own poor, aud also to make better provision against sickness and There must be a backbone somewhere in the social anatomy. There must be that which supports the vest. At present we make }1J"Operty and commercial8nterprille d'j the duty, nnd we don't spare them. They aro the pvtient camels of our system. Operative labour envies the fosition and wishes to divide the profits. pleasures, and honour*. It will find also that it has to make a fl. division of the duties and the burdens. THE LORDS ANT) THE TiAU.OT. The St ndard remarks that the House of Lords will he called upon on Monday to reconsider the amended bill relating to Parlisuuentarv and municipal elections, and in corning to a final decision on the course to he pursued they will probably be assisted by the usual mennces and w.irnings as to what will happen in the event of their ad- hering to their amendments. At 110 time has it happened that the Lords could with grrnter propriety and safety perform what is their plftin duty to the country unde- terred by the clamour of their opponents. In the present indeed, it is scarcelv right to use such a phrase, There is no clamour in favour of the Government bill, w iich excites no feeling whatever even among the devotee of the liallot. There never was. p uliaps. "ny occll8ion or a conflict between the two Ho-.fes the prospoct of which was regwded by the general puhl-.c with so much indilfe- Mncf. "What clamour is against the House of L'n111 for nlllkill 1 h. J ;:dlnt optional springs from a de- caying fanaticism, and cannot be confounded with the true v >icr of the people. There never wits a moro impudent a'*ertien than that the constituercies.by their Inost reo c nt decisions, have declared in favour of the Hallot Bill. !ht if there is any doubt whatever onthis point, let it he brought to a fair and full conclusion. Should the Lords adhere to their amendment making the nnllot optional, there is hut one course which the Government can take. Tl'.cy might to be grateful for the chance of appealing to the people for a ftiiabdseision, not only upon the Bnllot Bill, hut upon the character and policy of its authors, and that this will be the result of their adhering to their amendment is one more veason, apart from the merits and necessities of the C¡1"'tiOll. why the House <Jf Lordsshouhl ,1, their duty at crisis to themselves and to the c (iintry. The Tf lrf/rnjih can hardly believe that the House of -•iords will lia>;lly decide on the reitction of the Ballot 11.11. Everybody who has observed the current of feeling oa this topic has noted how generally the opinion in favour of the Ballot has spread amongst men of all classes and all pmties; while, on the other hand,'there has been a decline o: Itailical enthusiasm for it. Nobody believes now that it will usher in a milleniuni, and no man of sense can apprehend '■hat it will land us in a revolution; but there is a general hope that it will tend to purify elections by preventing the open sale of votes, or the delivery of votes given through the fear of an influential looker dn. It will simply banish from the hustings the briber and the intimi- dator. There will still remain many evils, but two distinct sources of vitiation will certainly bo or less dried up. We must also nolo t'uvt this general increase of sAitiment in favour of the J'allot yt not the result of agitation. The constituencies hove forced it on the House of Commons. It is said by Tory writers that if the vote of the Lower House had been taken secretly the Ballot Bill would have been rejected. That is quite possible. It is true enough that there are many members on the Liberal side who ove their siats to practices that, under the Ballot, will be obstructed if not put down: and these, if allowed to vote in secret, might have upheld the present system. But their steady support of the Bill proves pretty clearly what the feeling of the country is. Nor is it without signifi- cance that new Conservative candidates find themselves compelled to swear allegiance to the Ballot. Tory rlectors, as well as Liberal, have often felt the pressure of the social ^•crew" compelling them to vote for candidates they do not like. Is it. then, right or just that the House of ^ords should throw out a measure which concerns the Commons much more than the Peers, and which interests the con- stituencies most of all ? THE niisoy CONGRESS. The Xncs t).inks that the delegates who have come from nearly every country of tho civilizad world to the In- teractional Prison Congress cer. ainJy deserve as warm a welcome as the- rocfive 1 on Wodnesilr.y at the Middle Hall. We Vavo done something in our time to- s t:.« iinpswemenvof j>rii.o:is au systems of prison management, and can shew a long list of names of men and women, from Howard to Matthew Davenport Hill, an 1 fiom Elizabeth Fry to Miss Mary Carpenter, who have laboured in that cause. Still, we are sadly in want of some further sound advice. As to the treatment of prisoners, we arc often told that the labourer must be made to work, and work hard, but not be allowed 'to have any kind ol enjoyments. Perhaps some of our foreign visitors will tell us if their systems have reached this scale of perfec- tion. for our governors of gaols and convict establishments tell us that a man in prison is very much like a man out of prison, and must be dealt with as a being governed by motives. T1 are Qnly specimens of a hundred ques- tions that will occur to anyone who has such an external knowledge of the difficulties of nrison management as may be 1 earned from the police reports and the Parliamentary debates. Before the Australian colonies refused to receive our convicts, the presence of our home-bred crime was not felt o severely as it is now: but many of the delegate* come from countries whose prison systems have been de- veloped from the first under circumstances like our own. We have thus every motive for welcoming our guests, who, we trust, will receive only agreeable impressions during their stay among us. The 1'cst declares that though we have unquestionably made gi eat strides in the science and practice of Criminal Treatment, it is certain that we yet have much to learn. We have arrived at the firm conclusion that hard labour is the best punishment on the whole. But as to corporal punishment and solitary confinement, we are but feeling our way. There is a growing conviction that for a certain class of crimes corporal punishment is almost indispensa- ble and as to solitary confinement there is the example of Belgium to shew what great effects can be produced by it. If it wcra that on these two points alone we should derive information from this International Congress, that would be sufficient to establish its usefulness and its claim o# public attention and SUppol. But when the large and varied programme of the inquiry is regarded, it can scarcely be denied that theCongress has undertaken a work which, if vast and, perhaps in some respects beyond its powers at present, we khould feel deeply grateful for, and to which we should extend our sympathy, and as far as practicable our co-operation. EJmus A XT) THE VATICA. The .Å¿"1.titr declares that the struggle between Bismarck and the Papacy has now fairly begun, acd it is likely soon to be productive of startling results. The reformers in Germany are beginning to hold high their heads, and the Ultramontane party is consolidating its rauks for a determined effort. The joint proposal of the German and Italian Governments to nominate Cardinal Sforza, the Archbishop of Naples, at next successor to the Holy See, is likely to draw upon both Bismarck and the Italians considerable unexpected opposition. Ho is a man respected neither by the U1 tramontanes, who dread his possible treachery, nor by the Liberal party, who dislike him for his support of the In- fallibilist doctrine; and the determined opposition which has been offered to his friend Cardinal Hohenlohe is a sign what the Sacred College can do on an emergency. Meanwhile, without a representative at the Vatican, and set at defiance by the Pope, Bismarck is making every preparation for a stubborn fight. Of course his first effqrt will be to stir up the national fueling by the assertion that the Papal power has nothing so much for its object as the utter destruction of t,be German Empire. But .whether this will have the effect desired is matter of considerable doubt. An energetic man may achieve much, and if there i. a man living who can cope with the red-hatted diplo- matists of the Tatican. it is the Chancellor of the German Emoireit will need all his skill and fertility of resource to overthrow the machinations of the astute body of men whose lIole business in.1ife#i9 to plot and scheme for the jc od of the Church to which they belong.

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