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 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA 
 AT LOS ANGELES

 
 INDIISTEIAL PEACE 
 
 ITS 
 
 ADVANTAGES, METHODS, AND DIFFICULTIES 
 .^ REPORT 
 
 OF AN INQUIRY MADE FOR THE TOYNBEE TRUSTEES 
 
 BY 
 
 L. L. F. K PRICE 
 
 FORMERLY SCHOLAR OF TRINITY COLLEGK, OXFORD 
 
 raitb a preface 
 
 BY 
 
 ALFRED MARSHALL 
 
 PROFESSOR OF POLITICAL ECONOMY IN' THE UNIVERSITY OF CAMURIDGK 
 
 UonJjon 
 MACMILLAN AND CO. 
 
 AND NEW YORK 
 I 887
 
 This report is reprinted (witli additians) from a paper entitled " Slidino; 
 " Scales and other Methods of Wage-Arrangement in tlie Noi'th of England," 
 whieh was read before the Statistical Society of London on 21st December, 1886, 
 and inserted in the Journal of the Society for March, 1887. Tlie author, 
 therefore, desires to express his thanks to tlie Society for granting its permis- 
 sion to tlie pnblication of the rejiort in its present form.
 
 HID 
 5 54^ 
 
 1 
 
 " We should do all that in tts lies to establish Boards of Conciliation in 
 \\ " every trade when the circumstances — economic or moral— are not entirely 
 
 " vnfarourahle Jiiit, notivithstanding failures and obstacles, I 
 
 " believe these Boards will last : and more than that, I believe that they have in 
 " them the possibilities of a great future." 
 
 Arnold Totnbee — Lecture on " Industry and 
 " Democracy," delivered in 1881 to audiences 
 of u'orking-men at Newcastle, cfc. Cf " The 
 ^ " Industrial Revolution," p. 201. 
 
 204058
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 The following Report by Mr. Price is the first publication 
 issued by the Toynbee Trustees. The reasons which led to 
 the establishment of that Trust are described better than I 
 could do it myself in the following extracts from a letter by 
 Mr. Alfred Milner, one of those who knew Arnold Toynbee 
 best, and in whose life he is still living : — 
 
 "Among his old friends no circumstance added a more 
 " poignant sorrow to the great grief of his loss than the 
 " feeling that, except as far as the ineffaceable impression 
 " on a few minds went, he had left nothing behind him that 
 " would perpetuate his influence, or even give those who 
 " had not known him the faintest conception of the great 
 " character so early lost to the world. Under these circum- 
 " stances the desire to create some sort of memorial was 
 " even stronger than it is in the ordinary case of the death 
 " of a great man, who leaves some visible record of his own 
 " behind him in the shape of accomplished work. All sorts 
 " of things were proposed — a studentship of Political 
 " Economy at Oxford, a piize, a workman's hall, or some 
 '• such institution as has actually grown up, with his name 
 " attached to it, at the East End. What finally decided us 
 " to choose the present form of the Trust was the desire to 
 " connect the memorial both wdth the study of Political 
 " Economy in its social aspects, to which he devoted the 
 " scholar-half of himself, and with his work among the 
 " artisan population of oui* great cities to which he gave the 
 " other, the missionary- half. These two characters, so 
 " inextricably blended in his disposition, his scheme of life, 
 " and his actual performance, and at the same time so
 
 VI PREFACE. 
 
 " characteristic of wliat is best in the social movement of 
 " our time among the educated classes, we hoped to com- 
 " memorate by a series of lectures, to be delivered not at 
 " one place, but alternately at different great industrial 
 " centres, wherever there might seem to be a real demand 
 " for them — lectures dealing with political economy on its 
 " social side, at once instructive and inspiring. They were 
 " to be, if I might use the phrase, pio7ieer lectures, breaking 
 " open the road in different places, along which others, if 
 " there was interest shown and zeal to turn that interest to 
 " good account, might subsequently march. The lecturers 
 " were to be the forerunners of the university extension 
 " movement in political economy, teaching it, always, in 
 " Toynbee's spirit ; and in sending them out we hoped to 
 " benefit both the industrial centres, which they were to visit 
 " and to enrich with the learning of the university, and the 
 " university itself, to which they would return strengthened 
 " by that experience and touch with actual life, the flesh and 
 " blood of economics, which could be gained nowhere else so 
 " well as in the industrial centres. The lecturer was thus to 
 " be both a teacher and a learner, bringing back fresh 
 " knowledge of a new kind to the seat of learning, in 
 " exchange for that which he had taken with him, or rather 
 " bringing back his old knowledge mellowed by experience. 
 " Hence the provision, which is an essential part of our 
 " scheme, that the lecturer shall not be overwhelmed with 
 " teaching and class-work, but shall be so amply supplied 
 *' with means and with leisure as to be able to make a fresh 
 " contribution to economic science in the shape of a special 
 " study of some point illustrated by the industrial life of the 
 " particular community in which he teaches." 
 
 I knew Arnold Toynbee first when he had just begun to 
 lecture at Oxford on Economics. He was full of enthusiasm 
 for his work, but also he was a little anxious about it ; as all 
 earnest people are when the responsibility first presses on 
 them of giving opinions that may influence the actions of 
 others on a subject wiiich is so subtle and intricate, and yet
 
 PREFACE. Vll 
 
 for which academic training by itself is so inadequate a 
 preparation. He had indeed been brought at an early age 
 into contact with tlie realities of life, and had been impelled 
 in the first instance to economic studies by seeing with his 
 own eyes, and hearing with his own ears, the results of that 
 physical and moral degradation and suffering which are 
 caused by poverty. He was struck by the fact that the 
 sources of evil have their roots very far below the surface, 
 and that what at first sight appears to be the best remedy 
 for them, scarcely ever turns out to be the best, and in fact 
 often aggravates them. 
 
 But he was impatient with the attitude of passionless 
 observation, which he thought many of the older economists 
 took. Some of their studies of the way in which competition 
 works itself out, seemed to him like the exercises of a chess 
 player, delighting in brilliant combinations, and without a 
 sigh for the knights or the pawns who may be sacrificed on 
 the way. Economic problems were to him pregnant with 
 the fates of the suffering toilers whom he knew so well, 
 and he could not bear to have them treated as mere exercises 
 of analytical reasoning. 
 
 But as time went on he somewhat changed his attitude 
 towards the earlier economists. He learned to understand 
 their difficulties better, to see what led them at times to make 
 assumptions which at first sight appear perversely unreal ; 
 and he got to distinguish their own opinions from those 
 which are attributed to them by people who want to quote 
 economic authority for partisan purjDoses. Gradually he 
 settled himself down to work very much on the old fashioned 
 lines, but giving prominence to historical studies, and never 
 for a moment losing sight of the question whether it may not 
 be possible to prevent any class from being so poor as to be 
 debarred from a healthy, happy, and cultured life. 
 
 He had many sides, as the readers of the memoir of him 
 by the Master of Balliol will know. But on the few occasions 
 which I met him, the talk ran chiefly on social and economic 
 questions. He was always brilliant in thought, eager in
 
 Vlll PR'ZFACE. 
 
 speculation ; but liis intellect, fresh and vigorous as it was, 
 was not the chief part of him : the leading controlling strain 
 of his character was emotional. He was thus the ideal 
 modern representative of the media3val saint : strong every 
 way, but with all other parts of his nature merged and con- 
 tained in an earnest and tender love towards God and man. 
 
 I knew this in a way when talking to him ; but I did 
 not realise it fully till he had left us ; not until 1 had heen 
 invited to Oxford to lecture in his place, and had got to see 
 there how his life had influenced many of the best of those 
 around him. As time goes on this influence spreads : in 
 London and Cambridge no less than in Oxford his name is 
 familiar as the watchword of a great movement. The 
 media3val saint of whom he was the modern representative 
 was St. Francis, the founder of a new order, the leader of a 
 new and more direct attack on the evils of the age. In this 
 modern age, as in earlier times, it is through his personal 
 influence that the leader has made himself felt ; and the new 
 impulse that Toynbee gave was towards a more intimate 
 personal contact of those who are well nurtured, well 
 cultured and strong, with those who are ill nourished and 
 ignorant and weak. 
 
 Such he waSj, and such his portrait would tell him to be if 
 it could speak clearly. The frontispiece of the present 
 volume is reproduced from the best likeness of him that there 
 is; but it is not quite satisfactory, it does not adequately 
 represent the beauty and strength of his character. It will 
 however help those v^ho knew him to freshen their own 
 memories of him, and it will enable others to form some 
 imperfect notion of what he was. 
 
 In complying with the request of the Trustees of the 
 Toynbee fund to write a preface to Mr. Price's admirable 
 Report, my chief thought has been how it would have given 
 joy to Toynbee. It is work after his own heart on subjects 
 in which he was deeply interested. He held that the 
 organised warfare of strikes and lock-outs on a modern 
 pattern was In some respects less evil than the old fashioned
 
 PREFACE. IX 
 
 guerilla warfare, which attracted less public attention ; but 
 which was really more bitter, and had more mean and cruel 
 incidents in it. He welcomed the growing power of trades 
 unions, because they brought generally the best men to the 
 front, and clothed them with a grave responsibility, which 
 was itself an education and fitted them to educate others by 
 their leadership ; and he welcomed the effect of public 
 criticism which was brought to bear on boili the belligerents 
 when the war was carried on opeidy in the full hght of the 
 day. But he yearned for a time of Industrial Peace; and 
 his praise of trades unions was never warmer than Avhen he 
 was speaking of the way in which they had promoted the 
 growth of arbitration and conciliation. The chief purpose of 
 this essay is to inquire how, without recourse to industrial 
 war, wages may be adjusted to the varymg circumstances of 
 trade in such a way as will bo held by both sides to be 
 relatively fair. 
 
 An absolutely fair rate of wages belongs to Utopia. There 
 is much to be learnt from trying with the Socialists to 
 ascertain how far it is thinkable, and how far it is attainable. 
 But these are not the questions which we are asked to 
 consider by Mr. Price. It is sufficient to say that all 
 socialistic schemes which have any claims to be practical 
 avowedly involve a compromise; they do not venture to 
 dispense entirely with material reward as an incentive to 
 industrial energy, though they rely less on it and more on 
 the sense of duty than our present sj^stem does. But this 
 compromise prevents them from claiming to be logically 
 thought out schemes of absolute fairness. Fairness then 
 cannot be absolute, but must be a matter of degree. Even 
 for the purpose of day-dreams we must deliberately fi-ame 
 our notions of equity in the distribution of wealth, with 
 reference to the methods of industry, the habits of life, and 
 the character of the people for whom we are trying to 
 discover a realisable ideal. And much more must we do
 
 X PREFACE. 
 
 tliis when we are trying to construct a working plan, which 
 will so accommodate itself to tlie actual conditions of 
 business as to be accepted in preference to the excitement of 
 conflict by people as they are, with all their hot impulses, 
 their combative instincts, and their inherited selfishness. 
 
 There may indeed be a question whether there is room 
 within these narrow limits for any useful definition of " a 
 " fair rate of wages." But the phrase is constantly used in 
 the market place ; it is frequent in the mouths both of 
 employers and of employed ; and almost every phrase in 
 common use has a real meaning, though it may be difficult 
 to get at. Those who use the phrase, when pressed to 
 explain it, often give an account that will not bear examina- 
 tion ; but after the matter has been discussed for a time, the 
 meaning that is latent in their minds works itself to the 
 surface. This process seems to be going on with regard to 
 the phrase " a fair rate of wages." in spite of the hasty 
 contempt that has been poured on it by some economists ; 
 and Mr. Price's essay will help the process forward. 
 
 The basis of the popular notion that there should be 
 given "a fair day's wage for a fair day's work,"^ is that 
 every workman Avho is up to the usual standard of efficiency 
 of his trade in his own neighbourhood, and exerts himself 
 honestly, ought to be paid for his work at the usual rate for 
 that trade and neighbourhood; so that he may be able to 
 live in that way to which he and his neighbours in his rank 
 of life have been accustomed. But further, the popular 
 notion of fairness demands that he should be paid this rate 
 ungrudgingly, that his time should not be taken up in fighting 
 for it, that he should not be worried by constant attempts to 
 screw his pay down by indirect means. This doctrine is 
 modified by the admission that changes of circumstances 
 may require changes of wages in one direction or the other : 
 and again, the rule might not be held to apply to cases such 
 
 • See an instructive lecture with tins title by Mr. Leonard Courtney, 
 given at Plymouth in 1879, and published in the twenty-fifth volume of 
 the " Fortnightly Eeview."
 
 PREFACE. XI 
 
 as that of needlewomen, where the customary Avages are 
 too low to support a healthy life. But substantially it is 
 accepted and acted on in ordinary life : and it is so far 
 justified by economic analysis that it may be accepted as the 
 starting point of our present inquiry. Let us look at it a 
 little more closely. 
 
 If a carpenter has made a box, or a surveyor has made 
 a map of some land for us, we consider that he acts fairly 
 by us if he does not attempt to take advantage of our not 
 having made a bargain beforehand, or of our ignorance, or of 
 any special hold he may have over us; but charges us the 
 price of his services at the rate at which he would expect to 
 be able to dispose of them regularly to those who understand 
 his trade. In this we are not trying to settle according to 
 any absolute standard of justness how much of a carpenter's 
 labour ought to be paid as highly as an hour's work of the 
 surveyor. We are not inquiring whether the social system 
 which permits great inequalities in their usual rates of remu- 
 neration is the best possible : but taking the present social 
 system as it is, we want to know whether those with whom 
 we are dealing are doing their part to make it work smoothly. 
 
 The average rate of earnings of a surveyor is limited on 
 the one hand by the demand for a surveyor's work : but it is 
 determined chiefly by the difficulty and expense of acquiring 
 the knowledge and skill required for his work. The rate of 
 earnings which are required to induce a sufficient number 
 of people to become surveyors is, in economic phrase, the 
 " normal " rate of surveyors' earnings. This normal rate 
 has no claim to be an absolutely just rate ; it is relative 
 to the existing state of things here and now. It might 
 be altered without any fundamental change in the rights 
 of private property ; the normal earnings of a carpenter 
 and a surveyor might be brought much nearer together 
 than they are, by even so slight and easy an improvement 
 on our present social aiTangements as the extending to 
 all persons of adequate natural ability the opportunity of 
 receiving the training required for the higher ranks of 
 
 a 3
 
 Xll PREFACE. 
 
 iudnstiy. But we have to take things as they are ; and as 
 things are, the price at which a man in any trade can expect 
 to get steady emph^yment, from those who are good judges 
 of the value of his work, is a tolerably well known normal 
 rate. The surveyor or the carpenter who always charges 
 about this rate to any customers, however ignorant, and 
 without putting them to the trouble of beating him down, 
 is said to do his business fairly. 
 
 Similarly a fair employer when arranging for the pay of 
 a carpenter, does not try to beat him down, or take any 
 indirect advantage of him; but, at all events under ordinary- 
 circumstances, offers at once whatever he knows to be the 
 " normal " rate of pay for that man's work : that is the pay 
 which he would expect to have to give in the long run for an 
 equal amount of equally good work if that man refused to 
 work for him. On the other hand he acts unfairly if he 
 endeavours to make his profits not so much by able and 
 energetic management of his business, as by paying for 
 labour at a lower rate than his competitors ; if he takes 
 advantage of the necessities of individual workmen, and 
 perhaps of their ignorance of what is going on elsewhere ; 
 if he screws a little here and a little there; and perhaps in 
 the course of doing this, makes it more difficult for other 
 employers in the same trade to go on paying straight- 
 forwardly the full rates. It is this unfairness of bad masters 
 which makes trades unions necessary and gives them their 
 chief force : were there no bad masters, many of the ablest 
 members of trades unions Avould be glad, not indeed entirely 
 to forego their organisation, but to dispense with those parts 
 of it which are most combative in spirit. As it is, though 
 at great expense to themselves and others, they succeed 
 tolerably Avell on the whole in preventing individual masters 
 from taking unfair advantages of individual men. 
 
 The starting point then in our search for the fair rate 
 of payment for any task, in the limited sense of the word 
 " fair " with which alone we are here concerned, may be 
 found in the average rate that has been paid for it during
 
 PI^EFACE. Xlll 
 
 living- memorv ; or (luring a shorter period, if the trade has 
 changed its form within recent years. But this average rate 
 is often very difficult to determine ; and therefore for prac- 
 tical purposes it is generally best to take in lieu of it the rate 
 actually paid in some year when according to general 
 agi'eement the trade was in a normal condition.- This gives 
 very nearly the same result, and is more definite and less 
 open to disjjute. It is then assumed as a starting point that 
 the rate at that time was a fair rate, or in economic phrase 
 that it was the normal rate ; that is, that it was about on a 
 level with the average pa3anent for tasks in other trades 
 which are of equal difficulty and disagreeableness, which 
 require equally rare natui-al al)ilities and an equally expensive 
 training. And accepting this year as a normal year for the 
 trade implies an admission that the current rate of profits in 
 the trade was also normal. Differences in ability or in good 
 fortune may have been causing some employers to make very 
 liigh profits while others were losing their capital ; but taking 
 one with another it is supposed that at this standard time 
 thei]' net receipts gave them interest on their capital, and 
 earnings for their own work in managing the business, at 
 the same rate as wf)rk in other trades which was equally 
 difficult and disagreeable, and which required equally rare 
 natural abilities and an equally expensive training. 
 
 But changes in the course of trade may require a con- 
 siderable departure from this starting point. These changes 
 are of many different kinds. Some are gradual in action, 
 and work slowly for a long time in one direction. For 
 instance a new trade has at first normal wages higher than 
 other trades of equal intrinsic difficulty ; it is difficult 
 because it is unfamiliar. Gradually it becomes familiar, a 
 great many people have been brought up to it, and its wages 
 slowly sink to a lower level. Or, again, improvements in 
 machinery, which cause it to work more smoothly and with 
 less care, may lower the strain required for performing the 
 same nominal task, and thus lower the nominal rate of wage, 
 
 '^ See pp. 01, G9, 73, and 96 of Mr. Price's essay. 
 
 a 4
 
 XIV PREFACE. 
 
 even though the payment for work involving a given strain, 
 is stationary or rising. Or again, the mean level of the 
 general purchasing power of money may ])e moving slowly 
 upwards or downwards, in consequence of changes in the 
 supply of the precious metals, or of gradual changes in the 
 volume and character of banking and general business. All 
 these are slow changes ; there may be disputes as to the 
 facts of the case : but when once they are clearly ascertained, 
 the course is generally cl«ar. Setting aside all questions as 
 to the right of some to be rich while others are poor, it is 
 " fair " that full effect should be given to these changes. 
 For they have on their side natural forces so powerful that 
 opposition to them cannot be snc^cessful for long : and it 
 cannot as a rule be maintained even for a short time w^ithout 
 recourse to the harsher measures of trade combinations — 
 measures that involve war open or concealed between 
 employers and employed, or between both and the purchasers 
 of their wares. Industrial wars like other Avars involve so 
 much waste, that the net gain which they bring to the 
 winners, if any, is much less than the net loss to the losers. 
 And therefore the side which adopts measures of warfare in 
 opposition to changes that are irresistible, is generally acting 
 not only unwisely, but also unfairly. 
 
 It is, however, often difficult to know how lar any set of 
 tendencies is irresistible ; how f;ir the causes now acting in 
 one direction are likely to be overborne before long by others 
 acting in the opposite. The presumption that it is part of 
 the employer's business to undertake the risks of the trade, 
 makes it very difficult to know how soon and how far he 
 ought in fairness to concede to his men the full advantage of 
 any improvement in the condition of trade, which may after 
 all last but a short time ; and how soon and how far he may 
 require of them a fall in wages to meet a drooping condition 
 of trade which may l:>e Init temporary. 
 
 In the ordinary course of things the first benefit of an 
 improvement in the demand for their wares goes to the 
 employers; but they are likely to want to increase their
 
 PREFACE. XV 
 
 (Hitput while prices are liigli, and make lii^h profits wliile 
 tliey can. So they soon begin to bid against one another for 
 extra labour ; and tliis tends to raise wages and hand over 
 some of the benefit to the employed. This transfer may be 
 retarded, though seldom entirely stopped, by a combination 
 among employers, or it may be hastened on by the com- 
 bined action of the employed. As a general rule employers 
 will be bound in fairness to yield at once in such a case a 
 considerable part of their new profits in higher wages, 
 without waiting till their men force it from them by warlike 
 measures, which necessarily involve waste. Even if they 
 succeed temporarily they will set going a spirit of conten- 
 tiousness, and check the inflow of additional supplies of 
 labour into their trade ; the net gain which they get from 
 refusing to yield will probably be small, while the net loss 
 to the employed will be great ; their action will be unfair. 
 Fairness requires a similar moderation on tlie part of the 
 employed. If they try to force wages so high as to leave a 
 very scanty profit for their employers just at the time when 
 they might expect to make their best harvest, capital will be 
 discouraged from entering the trade ; probably even many of 
 those in it wall leave it Avhen work gets slack, even if they 
 do not fail when the first touch of depression comes. The 
 men will then find it difficult to get employment, and will 
 probably thus lose more than all they have gained by their 
 extreme demands, even if they should be successful in the 
 first instance ; the net gain to themselves will be little if 
 any, the net loss to their employers will be very great; their 
 claims will be unfair. 
 
 When trade declines, the loss in the first instance falls on 
 employers ; as prices generally rise before w^ages rise, so they 
 fall before wages fall. The duties of the two sides are now 
 reversed. The men ought in fairness to yield something 
 without compelling their employers to figlit for it ; and 
 nothing short of absolute necessity will make it fair for the 
 employers to demand a reduction of wages so great as to 
 cause much suffering to the employed, and drive many of
 
 XVI PREFACE. 
 
 tliem out of the trade. For such extreme demands will 
 bring them, even if temporarily successful, a very small net 
 gain in proportion to the net injury done to the employed. 
 
 Sometimes indeed, for tactical reasons, either side will 
 demand at first more than it expects to get ; but though this 
 may be inevitable in a state of suppressed industrial warfare, 
 it is injurious to the common interests ; it is fair only in the 
 sense in which eveiything is fair in war ; it is unfair from the 
 point of view of industrial peace. 
 
 From that point of view again it is unfair for the men to 
 spring claims for an advance on an employer suddenly, when 
 he has just taken important term contracts under heavy 
 penalties ; it is unfair for the employer to take advantage of 
 the fact that the men have had irregular employment and are 
 short of money, and to use this as a lever for compelling 
 them to Avork at a lower rate than the necessities of the case 
 demand. 
 
 These are typical instances of what is unfair ; there are 
 many other classes of action which are ungenerous, and 
 others again which would be avoided by an employer who 
 acted up to the highest. standard of unselfishness. But with 
 these we are not directly concerned just at present. We 
 have before us now only the narrow and limited inquiry, how 
 far it is possible for frank dealing in a friendly spirit between 
 employers and employed to remove those unfair dealings, 
 and suspicions of unfair dealings, which are the chief causes 
 of industrial war. The facts and the arguments Avhich are 
 brought before us in the following pages give reasons for 
 thinking that it may go very far. 
 
 The best method is that of Conciliation.^ This will 
 always be associated with the name of Mr. Mundella, who 
 has done more than anyone else to develop its strength and 
 overcome its difficulties. In the ideal form of this plan, 
 delegates of employers and employed meet from time to 
 time with the intention of speaking Avith perfect openness, 
 avoiding everything like special j^leading ; each side trying to 
 ^ See Y>ix 71 and 72, also pp. 37, &c.
 
 PREFACE. XVU 
 
 put itself into the point of view of the other side, and 
 resolving to demand nothing that does not appear reason- 
 able when looked at from that other side. 
 
 They have two kinds of inquiry before them. In the one 
 they move, so to speak, horizontally : they bring under com- 
 parison ditFerent kinds of work at the same time. Thus in 
 mining, different rates have to be made for different kinds of 
 coal, and even for different seams of the same coal.** While 
 in some trades, as for iuvstance, the hosiery trade, prices for 
 many thousand different kinds of work have to be agreed 
 on. And, the most intricate matter of all, allowance has 
 sometimes to be made for differences in the condition of the 
 plant of different manufacturers ; a rate which is fair in a 
 factory which has all the latest improvements, is bound to be 
 unfair in a badly organised factory -svath antiquated machi- 
 nery. But, complex as these details are, this horizontal 
 levelling of prices is comparatively easy; an agreement is 
 often obtained with surprising quickness where there is a 
 frank and genial disposition on both sides. The difficulty is 
 much greater when the exigencies of the time require the 
 price of the standard task — whether paid by the day or by 
 the piece — to move above or below its standard level, and 
 the calculations have to be maxle vertically instead of 
 horizontally. 
 
 It is clear that since working men get much less good 
 from a temporary rise of their wages above their usual level, 
 than they do hami fi-om an equal fall below it, therefore the 
 fluctuations of wages should be less in proportion than those 
 of the profits of the employers as a body. But here it may 
 be right to make some difference between specialised and 
 non- specialised workmen : skilled miners cannot turn to 
 other work when mining is depressed ^\dthout great loss, and 
 their numbers cannot be quickly increased when there is a 
 great demand for their work : their fortunes are more 
 intimately bound up with mining than those of the labourers 
 and others who work on the surface of the nn'nes. It is 
 
 * See pjx 38 aiid 76. 
 
 h
 
 XVIU PREFACE. 
 
 therefore in accordance with sound principle that the wages 
 of underground men should follow the fluctuations of the 
 trade more closely than those of " surface men."^ Next it is 
 not fair that the workmen should share in the good or ill 
 fortunes of the particular firm by which they are employed, 
 unless they have made a special agreement to do so. Profit 
 sharing arrangements when well managed are a gain to all 
 concerned : but it is difficult to make them, and more difficult 
 to keep them up. They require a good deal of mutual 
 knowledge and confidence on the part of employers and 
 employed ; they are essentially matters for individual dealing, 
 and not as a rule suitable for management by boards of 
 concihation, which often have to deal with very wide areas. 
 
 Speaking generally then boards of conciliation have 
 nothing to do with the profits of particular employers.® But 
 they are very much concerned with the profits of employers 
 taken as a body : for these are the chief measures of the 
 prosperity and adversity of the trade; and in some cases 
 where the relations on both sides are thoroughly confidential, 
 it may be possible to explain to the employed the general 
 course of profits. Often, however, all that can be done is to 
 enable" actuaries appointed by them to examine the books of 
 the firms concerned, and to ascertain from them the mean 
 prices got for the goods sold,'^ and in some cases a few other 
 broad facts; holding the rest of the knowledge thus acquired 
 under the oath of secrecy. These results are communicated 
 by them to the board, and are made the basis of the adjust- 
 ment of wages ; because they indicate better than any others 
 which are equally definite and easy of access, the amount of 
 the common net fund available for division between employers 
 and employed. 
 
 If the arrangement agreed on at any meeting is intended 
 to last only for a short time, and to be revised as soon as 
 there is any change in the circumstances of the trade, its 
 details may be handled with great freedom ; many of them 
 
 * See p. 73. « See pp. 81—87. 
 
 ' See pp. 59, 67, 74, and 89.
 
 PREFACE. xix 
 
 may bo determined in some measure by general impressions ; 
 they need not be calculated by rigid arithmetical processes 
 from definite numerical data. Account may be taken of 
 special circumstances which press heavily on employers or 
 employed, or any group of them. In particular Avhen 
 irregular employment and low wages have caused much 
 suffering among the employed and their families, the 
 employers may be willing to trench on their reserve funds, 
 and allow for a time wages to stand in such a relation to 
 prices as would, if adopted as the basis of a permanent 
 arrangement, soon land them in bankruptcy. If the meetings 
 are frequent, and managed with frankness and kindliness, 
 the future, though unknown, may cause no anxiety; it is 
 nearly as good for either side to know that a fair concession 
 will be made by the other whenever circumstances require it, 
 as to know what that change will be. And the elasticity of 
 this plan gives it great advantages over the rival plan of a 
 " sliding scale ;" that is a scale which determines beforehand 
 how great a rise or fall in wages is to be accepted as the 
 result of any given movement of prices upwards or down- 
 wards. 
 
 These advantages are of great importance in the case of 
 a board which represents only a small area ; for then frequent 
 meetings involve no great expense or loss of time ; the 
 delegates can quickly ascertain the views of those whom they 
 represent on any new turn of the situation. But if the area 
 represented by a board is very wide, it must proceed on 
 general rules ; the delegates may be authorised to act frankly 
 and fairly, but seldom to act generously, and therefore the 
 elasticity gained by frequent meetings of the board will not 
 be of much avail. For the settlement, then, of a price list for 
 a wide area, a well thought out sliding scale seems to be the 
 best means attainable under our present social conditions. 
 
 Studies such as those of Professor Munro and Mr. Price 
 will help much towards a clear understanding of the principles 
 on which slichng scales should be arranged. In some trades, 
 as for instance in coal mining, there is very little outlay for 
 
 t2
 
 XX PREFACE. 
 
 raw material, the circulating capital of the employers goes 
 almost wholly in wages, and the price of the product is the 
 best simjDle index of the prosperity of the trade. The plan 
 therefore of fixing wages in the coal trade at a fixed sum 
 together with a certain percentage of the price of coal is both 
 usual and satisfactory.** The profits or net receipts of the 
 employers of course oscillate more violently than theii- gross 
 receipts ; and as these vary, as a rule, rouglily with the price 
 of coal, this plan secures, as it should, that wages should 
 generally rise when profits rise, and fall when profits fall ; 
 but with oscillations of less amplitude, rising less when they 
 rise, and falling less when they fall than profits do. In the 
 iron trade the cost of raw materials is heavy: and probably 
 the best simple scale for it is based on the excess of the 
 price of a ton of iron • of a certain quality over the sums of 
 the prices of the coal and ironstone used in making it. As 
 however these latter prices are often subject to very much 
 the same influences as that of iron, the plan of basing the 
 scale on the piice of iron simply seems not to work badly. 
 But in the textile and some other trades the prices of the 
 raw material depend on a great variety of causes (such as 
 the weather in America or Australia), and the standard must 
 be, not the price of the finished material, but the excess 
 of that over the price of the raw material of which it is 
 made. 
 
 Next money is a bad measure in which to express any 
 arrangement that is intended to last long : because the 
 purchasing power of money is always changing. When 
 trade is good and piices are high, the employer's fixed 
 charges are light, and he borrows with a light heart : when 
 trade is bad the consequent fall of prices increases the 
 burden of his fixed charges, and if called on to repay his 
 debt he must make very great sacrifices of his goods. A 
 perfect standard of purchasing power is unthinkable : even 
 a nearly perfect standard is unattainable. But government 
 could easily publish from time to time the money value of a 
 
 " See p. 95.
 
 PREFACE. XXI 
 
 unit of purchasing power which wouhl be far more nearly 
 constant than the vahie of money is.^ 
 
 I think it ought to do that. And then nearly all wage 
 arrangements, but esiiecially all sliding scales, should be 
 based on that unit. This would by one stroke make both 
 wages and profits more stable, and at the same time increase 
 the steadiness of employment. It would perhaps be a 
 further improvement if a special unit could be made for 
 wages : that should be based on the general unit, but 
 differ from it by giving greater weight to the prices of the 
 commodities chiefly used by the working classes. Details 
 of this kind might, however, be arranged gradually and 
 
 " Government already does work of the kind desired in regard to the 
 tithe commutation tables. But instead of dealing with wheat, barley, 
 and oats, it would deal with all important commodities. It would publish 
 their prices once a month or once a year ; it would reckon the importance 
 of each commodity as proportioned to the total sum spent on it ; and then 
 by simple arithmetic deduce the change in the purchasing power of gold. 
 Employers could arrange to pay as wages, instead of a fixed sum of (say) 
 30s., a sum of money so varying that it always gave the wage receiver the 
 same purchasing power as 30s, did at the time of making the arrange- 
 ment. Borrowings again could, at the option of the contracting parties, be 
 reckoned in government units. On this jslan, if A lends B i,oooZ. at 4^ per 
 cent, interest, and after some years the purchasing power of money had 
 risen by an eighth, he would have to pay as interest, not 45^., bvit a sum 
 that had the same purchasing power as 45Z. had at the time of borrowing, 
 i.e., 40?., and so on. The plan would have to win its way into general use ; 
 but when it had once become familiar, none but gamblers would lend or 
 borrow on any other terms, at all events for long periods. The scheme 
 has no claims to theoretic perfection, but only to being a great improve- 
 ment on our present methods attainable with little trouble. Even the 
 rough results got by adding together (as the " Economist " does) the rise 
 or fall in the wholesale prices of each of several important commodities, 
 and taking the average of them, would provide a standard many times 
 more stable than can be given by gold or silver, or even a combination of 
 the two. But we might at once go a good deal beyond this, and gradually, 
 as the machinery of our statistical departments improved, we might get 
 very near to our ultimate aim — which is to obtain a unit (for the United 
 Kingdom) which will give a uniform power of satisfying his wants to the 
 average consumer ; that is to a person who consumes a 37,000,000th part 
 of the total of every commodity consumed by the 37,000,000 inhabitants 
 of the country. (See an article by the present writer in the " Contem- 
 " porary Review " for March, 1887 ; also Jevons's " Money," chap, xxv.)
 
 XXU PREFACE. 
 
 tentatively; and in fact this part of the work would probably 
 best be done not by the government, but by boards of 
 conciliation making use of the data supplied by government, 
 and taking account of conditions special to their trade and 
 locality. 
 
 So far we have supposed everything to work with 
 perfect smoothness: but even when there is the best inten- 
 tion on either side of a board of conciliation to be frank, and 
 to look at things as much as possible from the point of view 
 of the other side, there must sometimes be differences of 
 opinion which cannot be removed by discussion. A stage 
 must sometimes be arrived at when further explanations 
 seem to be worse than waste of time, and do but accentuate 
 a deep seated difference of opinion. Therefore provision 
 must always be made for referring some points to an 
 independent arbitrator.^" But here is a dilemma. If he is 
 connected with the trade he is likely, even though he has no 
 personal interest in the questions at issue, to enter on them 
 with a certain bias : if he knows nothing of the trade, a 
 great deal of time will be taken up in explaining to him the 
 position, and after all he may not understand it rightl3^^^ 
 There has been much discussion as to which of these two 
 evils is the greater. I venture to think that when there is 
 mutual confidence and good temper, and when the suspicion 
 of partisan bias is not likely to be strong, it is best to have 
 an arbiter who already understands the trade, and can give 
 his decision more promptly and more in detail than an out- 
 sider could. But when angry and jealous feelings have 
 already been roused, when there is already a tendency on 
 either side to impute unfairness to its opponents, then it is 
 more important to know that the arbiter comes to the 
 question without bias, than that he will understand it 
 quickly, and be able to enter into all its details. 
 
 The action of the arbitrator must in some respects 
 depend on the temper in which the case is presented to 
 him. Sometimes the true facts of the case will be put 
 '" See p. 39. " See pp. 49—53.
 
 PREFACE. xxiii 
 
 before him at once, neither side making ex people statements ; 
 and, Avhat is even more important, neither side so mis- 
 trusting the other as to refuse to make concessions lest 
 they should be taken to indicate weakness and fear, and en- 
 courage the other side to be the more aggressive. Sometimes 
 also he will be given to understand that he should determine 
 what is fair with reference only to the general tendency of 
 economic forces, and that he is not to take account of the 
 extent of the preparations for war ready on either side. In 
 other cases, in which hostile feelings are already roused, the 
 leaders may be unable to guarantee that the rank and file 
 will accept a decision that awards them much worse terms 
 than they could get for themselves by a sharp strike or 
 lock-out. The arbitrator then is compelled to take some 
 account of the fighting forces of the two sides; the neces- 
 sity to be practical may compel him to go further than he 
 would otherwise have done, away from an absolute standard 
 of fairness. In such cases, too, he must take for granted 
 that the statements made by either side will be ex parte, 
 and conduct his inquiry more or less after the manner of the 
 law courts. This method of investigation is so cumbrous 
 and slow that it cannot be very often resorted to ; but if it 
 does its work thoroughly in a typical case, the indirect 
 influence of its final award may extend very far: it may 
 help many other difierences to be settled quickly and quietly 
 in private conversation or by boards of conciliation, and. 
 thus may be well worth the time and trouble it requires. 
 
 When a board of conciliation meets in angry temper, 
 and it is certain from the beginning that the questions at 
 issue must be fought out before an arbiter, the procedure, 
 though technically difierent, is practically the same as in 
 the plan which usually goes by the name of arbitration. It 
 may be convenient sometimes to contrast sharply the two 
 methods of conciliation and arbitration, but Mr. Price seems 
 to be right in treating them together, and regarding them 
 as two forms of the same tiling. Arbitration technically so 
 called must begin with a more or less conciliatory meeting
 
 XXIV PREFACE, 
 
 of delegates to agree on an arbiter, and draw out a case to 
 be submitted to him ; and the principles on which he has to 
 act are generally the same as they would have been if the 
 case were put before him by a board of conciliation in an 
 angry mood. 
 
 An arbiter, even if he starts with a knowledge of the 
 trade, cannot deal with a detailed price list as easily as a 
 board of conciliation, in which there is a healthy spirit, and 
 which can appoint sub -committees to draw up the first drafts 
 of portions of the price lists relating to special branches of 
 the trade. Therefore when there is a great variety of detail, 
 any other course than that of conciliation seems hopeless; 
 there is little room even for the action of trades unions, 
 except in the matter of accustoming the workers to know 
 and trust one another, to select able delegates, and to submit 
 bravely to their decision.*^ But this is a most important 
 exception : independently of any direct effect on wages, 
 trades unions have done an inestimable service by teaching 
 members of the same trade to know and trust one another, 
 to act together, and to discuss imder the guidance of the 
 ablest minds among them questions of wide and far-seeing- 
 policy. 
 
 In this connection it becomes very important to know 
 how far the working classes are migratory in their habits. 
 Mr. Ravenstein has recently found that they are much more 
 migratory than is generally supposed; and the study of this 
 question with which Mr. Price ends his essay, ^^ is an impor- 
 tant contribution to the data of economics. 
 
 It has been suggested that boards of conciliation may 
 lead employers and employed to set themselves to exclude 
 competition, even perhaps to resist improvements in produc- 
 tion that would diminsh their own employment, and in short 
 to follow the example set them by many mediaeval guilds, of 
 hardening themselves into organised conspiracies for promot- 
 ing the well being of the privileged few at the expense of 
 the great mass of the people. But thanks to the publicity of 
 '2 gee pp. 104 and 105. " See pp. 106, &c.
 
 PREFACE. XXV 
 
 modern times, to the rapid migration of industries, and to the 
 -keenness of foreign competition in most trades, there is very 
 httle fear of this great evil. There is more danger that 
 improvements in the organisation of some ckisses of workers 
 may lead to the oppression of other classes who are joined 
 with them in the same production, but are not organised ;^* 
 and thus in all economic questions considerations of the 
 higher ethics will always assert themselves, however much 
 we try to limit our inquiry for an immediate practical 
 "purpose. Conciliation is helpless to secure for the feeblest 
 and most ignorant class of workers a decent wage. The 
 " sweater," who, as some sweaters do, works hard himself, 
 earns but a moderate income, and pays promptly and 
 ungrudgingly the highest wages that the trade will bear, 
 cannot be said to act unfairly ; but yet few are bold enough 
 to say that he pays fair wages. The fact is that the root 
 of this difficulty is not so much in our methods of business, 
 as in those of education in the broadest sense of the term. 
 Production is at fault, but it is the production of humail 
 beings. The fundamental wrong is in allowing large classes 
 of people to grow up with so poor an education, physical, 
 mental, and moral, that they are unfit for intelhgent and 
 energetic work, and must crowd into and pull do^vn the 
 wages of the few kinds of work of which they are capable. 
 For this evil the ultimate remedy is in the higher education 
 of the mass of the people. School work is useful as a 
 foundation : but by itself it reaches only a little way. 
 Trades unions have increased the intelligence of the work- 
 man, by opening his mind to broader problems; boards of 
 conciliation, together with the great co-operative movement, 
 are carrying his education further. They are giving him an 
 acquaintance with the real problems of business, which is 
 the one thing wanted, provided he has good natural abilities, 
 for enabling him to do the higher work of organising the 
 world's production. Every increase in the ranks of those 
 who have this power, increases the competition of employers 
 '< See for instance the case of the platers and their helpers, p. 15.
 
 XXVI PREFACE. 
 
 for the aid of tlie employed, and diminislies the toll which 
 has to be paid by the working classes to those who organise 
 the work of the community. And further, anything that 
 widens the intelligence of working men of ordinary ability, 
 Avho have no natural capacity for the highest work, improves 
 the prevailing tone with regard to the manner of expending 
 the family income, and the responsibilities of parents towards 
 their children. 
 
 Conciliation is thus a powerful means of raising the 
 working classes : it is scarcely less powerful a means of 
 raising their employers. The frank and free intercourse at 
 the boards is helping employers to look at their business on 
 its human side, to see that sometimes what is little more 
 than a mere move in a game to them, may affect the whole 
 future of many families ; may help happy lives to expand 
 in full vigour, or may turn them into a sour and stunted 
 feebleness. The knowledge and sympathy thus gained by 
 the employers raise those even of the rich who are not in 
 business, widen their notions of justice, and aid them in 
 realising the responsibihties of wealth. 
 
 All these are steps upwards: they have not the rapid 
 pace of a revolution : but a revolution generally rushes 
 backwards faster and further than it had moved forwards ; 
 and steps such as these move steadily onwards. 
 
 Alfred Marshall. 
 
 28^/i June, 1887.
 
 NOTE BY THE AUTHOR. 
 
 The material for tins report was collected in the spring of 
 1886, during a residence of some fifteen weeks in the city of 
 Newcastle-upon-Tyne ; and the report itself was written during 
 the summer of the same year. Some of tlie details, therefore, 
 in the text may not be correct to date; and this is more 
 especially the case with regard to the sliding scale in the 
 Northumberland coal trade, which terminated last December, 
 in accordance with a notice given by the employers. 
 
 It has been thought better, however, to leave the text as it 
 was written, and to indicate in the notes the subsequent 
 changes, so far as it has been possible to ascertain them. This 
 has been done because it is difficult to obtain accurate data of 
 minute details without actual residence in the industrial 
 districts where those changes have taken place — and this has not 
 been possible — and also because it is hoped that the conclusions 
 which have been drawn from the facts collected in the report 
 cannot have been as yet materially affected by subsequent 
 events. Nor indeed can there be much doubt that after a period 
 of time — which may be brief or may unhappily be long — the 
 Northumberland masters and men will return to the system of 
 arranging wages by a sliding scale. 
 
 The subject of the migration of labour may perhaps appear 
 to have been discussed at disproportionate length. But the point 
 is at present involved in such obscurity that it is difficult to 
 deal with it at all without being led on to a lengthy treatment, 
 and the discussion — inadequate as it is — will, it is hoped, serve 
 to illustrate and support the main contention of the report. 
 
 The number of references contained in the notes is, it is 
 feared, abnormally great ; but an endeavour has been made to 
 supply them in each instance in order to show that — so far as it
 
 NOTE BY THE AUTHOR. 
 
 has proved to be possible — the statements in the report are 
 based upon actual fact. 
 
 The author's indebtedness to those who have kindly 
 furnished him with information upon the several points 
 discussed will be found for the most part, it is hoped, to be 
 acknowledged in the notes. But to the names specially men- 
 tioned a number of friends must be added, who most readily 
 gave their assistance, and whose spontaneous kindness will 
 always cause him to associate the most pleasant recollections 
 with his residence on Tyneside. To Professor Marshall, for 
 •lending to the report the honourable distinction of a preface 
 from his pen, the author feels that he cannot better express his 
 gratitude than by saying that it is only one out of the many 
 acts of kindness which Professor Marshall has shown to a 
 pupil who is conscious that he owes to his teaching at 
 .Oxford the first practical guidance in economic study. 
 
 Oriel College, Oxford, 
 4th May, 1887.
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 Introductory Mattee. 
 
 The need of Diversity of Character in Economic and Industrial Reform ; 
 and in the special Question of the Peaceful Settlemeut of Industrial 
 Disputes 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 The First Stage in the Theoretical Obdeb: Ireegular 
 Negotiations. 
 
 The First Stage in the Theoretical Order of Development of the Methods of 
 Industrial Peace is Irregular Negotiations, as illustrated by a Shipbuild- 
 ing Strike on the Tyiie and the Wear, and the manner in wliich it was 
 
 brought to a conclusion 9 
 
 (a). The History of the Negotiations y 
 
 (b). The Remarks suggested by that History 11 
 
 (i). The Hopeful Signs 11 
 
 (ii). The analogy between a Strike and a War 12 
 
 (a). The Evils of Industrial Warfare 13 
 
 (b). The Representative Character of Negotiators ; and 
 
 Trades Unions 14 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 The Second Stage : the Ceeation of Boaeds of Arbitration 
 AND Conciliation. 
 
 The Second Stage in the Theoretical Order of Development is the Creation 
 of Boards of ArlUration and Conciliation, as illustrated by the Manu- 
 factured Iron Trade of the North of England \E' 
 
 (a). The circumstances of the Manufactured Iron Trade of the North 
 
 were unfavourable to the success of such a Board 18 
 
 (i). Because of the Fluctuating Character of the Iron Trade 19 
 (ii). Because of the previous unfriendliness between Masters 
 
 and Men 24 
 
 Cb). The plan on which the Board is constituted 27 
 
 (c). Its resemblance to the Continental "Conseilsde prud'liorames ;" 
 
 and the objections to the Legalisation of English Boards 29 
 
 (i). The Legal Character of the Conseils 29 
 
 (ii). This Legal Character is not in harmony with English 
 
 traditions or inclinations 30 
 
 (iii). It might encourage the growth of elaborate Precedents 31 
 (iv). It could hardly be applied to arrangements for the 
 
 future Rates of Wages 36
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 (p). Conciliation is preferable to Arbitration, which has serious 
 
 (lifBculties 37 
 
 (i). Conciliation is more frequently employed 37 
 
 (ii). But some provision for final resort to Arbitration is 
 
 necessary 39 
 
 (iii). The DiflBculties of Arbitration are 41 
 
 (a). The possibility that the Award may not be 
 
 Accepted 41 
 
 (b). The element of Contentiousness in Arbitration 
 
 Proceedings 44 
 
 (e). The length of the Arguments and Discussion .... 48 
 This may be avoided by appointing (1) an Arbi- 
 trator who is a Member of the Trade ; (2) an 
 
 Arbitrator who has sat before 49 
 
 (iv). The Determination of the Principle 53 
 
 (rt). This cannot be supplied by Economic Science .... 53 
 (6). And resolves itself into Two Difficulties (1) as to 
 
 the Basis; (2) as to the Data 55 
 
 (e). It may be illustrated by the Northumberland 
 Coal Trade, (1) the Basis of Selling Prices is 
 generally accepted ; (2) but other considera- 
 tions are also advanced j (3) the Difficulty of 
 Ascertaining the Data ; (4) the Diificulty of 
 Fixing on a "Normal" Period when Wages 
 and Prices were Fair, and of instituting 
 
 Comparisons 55 
 
 (rf). It may also be illustrated by the Manufactured 
 Iron Trade of the North of England, (1) the 
 Determination of a Basis ; (2) the Ascertaining 
 of Data J (3) the Fixing of a Normal Relation 
 
 of Wages to Prices 62 
 
 (v). The difiiculties of Arbitration compared with those of 
 
 " Strikes " and " Lock-outs," and those of Concihation 71 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 The Thied Stage : the Establishment oe Sliding Scales. 
 
 The Third Stage in the Theoretical Order of Development is the Establish- 
 ment of Sliding Scales, as illustrated by the Durham and Northumberland 
 
 Coal Trades 73 
 
 (a). The general Character of Sliding Scales 73 
 
 (i). The Scales in the Durham Coal Trade 73 
 
 (ii). The Scales in the Northumberland Coal Trade 75 
 
 (iii). Local Diversities, and Conciliation in the Northumber- 
 land Trade 75 
 
 (b). The Advantages of Sliding Scales 77 
 
 (i). They give a steadiness to Trade 77 
 
 (ii). They give a steadiness to Wages 79 
 
 (iii). Their Relation to Industrial Partnership 81 
 
 (a). Their tendency to lead to Industrial Partnership 
 
 may be doubted on some grounds 81 
 
 (b). But is confirmed on others 87
 
 CONTENTS. XXxi 
 
 PACE 
 
 (c). The Difficulties of Sliding Scales 89 
 
 (i). The ascertaining of Accurate Data 89 
 
 (ii). The Fixing of a Basis 90 
 
 (rt). The Basis of Selling Prices, and the Manufac- 
 tured Iron Trade ...". 90 
 
 (b). The introduction of otiier Elements, and Economic 
 
 Theories of Distribution 93 
 
 (c). The difficulties of Detail 96 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 Indtjsteial Cikcumstances FAVOFEiNa Peace. 
 
 Industrial Circumstances favouring Peace 99 
 
 (a). The Relation of Trades Unions to Industrial Peace, and the 
 
 difficulty of discovering tlieir Actual Strength 99 
 
 (b). But Trades Unions do not guarantee certainty of Success to 
 Conciliation ; and Variety of Detail, though adverse to Trades 
 
 Unions, is favourable to Conciliation 104 
 
 (c). The Migratory Character of the Men in a Trade is not favourable 
 to the Establishment of Permanent Relations between Masters 
 
 and Men 106 
 
 (i). The Economic Theory of the Mobility of Labour 106 
 
 (ii). Migration from place to place 108 
 
 (a). As a General Phenomenon 108 
 
 (b). With relation to the Characteristics of Special 
 
 Classes of Industry 112 
 
 (1). Industries Localised in particular Dis- 
 tricts 112 
 
 (2). Industries not Localised in particular 
 
 Districts 116 
 
 (iii). Migration from Trade to Trade 118 
 
 (a). Migration in the case of those actually Engaged 
 
 in an Industry 118 
 
 (b). The Influence of Apprenticeship, and the Sub- 
 division of Labour 120 
 
 (c). The Movement from Grade to Grade within an 
 
 Industry 122 
 
 (d). The Action of Trades Unions with regard to 
 
 Apprenticeship 123 
 
 (e). The Migration of Youthful Labour 125 
 
 (iv). Conclusion 127
 
 lO.USTRIAL PEACE: 
 
 ADVANTAGES, METHODS, AND DIEFICULTIES. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 Introductory Matter. 
 
 If tliere is one fact more tlian another which seems to be forced 
 home upon the mind of the inquirer by the study of industrial and 
 economic problems, it is this — that there is not, nor indeed is it 
 probable that there can be, any single panacea for social ills. But 
 the recognition of this fact, paradoxical as the inference may at 
 first sight appear, really supplies no adequate warrant for any 
 deadening or pessimistic despondency as to the prospects of the 
 future improvement of society, but is rather the necessary condition 
 of a healthy and sturdy optimism. For so seldom is it really the 
 case, in the economic sphere of things at least, that history exactly 
 "repeats itself," and so diversified are the details of even con- 
 temporaneous industrial society, that any scheme which professes to 
 cure all economic maladies by an uniform unalterable method of 
 treatment may almost be said to carry with it its own condemnation. 
 And were we to rest all our hopes of the improvement of society 
 upon any one of the many panaceas which are prescribed from 
 time to time by ardent enthusiasts, whose ardour perhaps is more 
 conspicuous than their discretion ; were all our " ventures " "in one 
 " bottom trusted," then indeed the prospect might well be gloomy 
 enough to call for the most despairing pessimism, for then to the 
 success or failure of a single scheme would be linked, for better or 
 for worse, the fortunes of society. The significance, however, of 
 this fact is often neglected. Again and again the world is told, 
 and the tale has been reiterated so often that it now falls, in some 
 cases, we are afi'aid, upon deaf or unwilling, in others upon dis- 
 appointed and incredulous ears, that a " simple yet sovereign 
 " remedy " for social ills has been found — a remedy of universal 
 
 3
 
 '2 JNDCSTRIAL PEACE : 
 
 application, and a remedy of undoubted and indubitable efficacy. 
 And on the other hand, again and again is the kindred fallacy 
 committed of arguing from the failure or success of a remedy in a 
 particular case, to its necessary failure or success in all cases and 
 under all conditions. 
 
 " Co-operation," for example, it has been strenuously urged, 
 " is destined to heal all our industrial sores. Let it only be applied 
 " to the production of wealth as it has been to its distribution, and 
 " we shall see no more the glaring contrast between rich and poor, 
 " which is so striking a feature of modern society, nor shall we 
 " hear any longer of those disastrous conflicts between capital and 
 " labour which are now apparently chronic affections of our indus- 
 " trial system, for capital and labour will be harmoniously united 
 " in the same persons." But upon this point the experience of the 
 j3ast has not been very encouraging. Distributive co-operation, 
 indeed, or, more correctly speaking, " consumptive co-operation," 
 can point to a record of brilliant and rapid progress — so rapid, 
 that Mr. Gladstone^ once described it in the House of Commons 
 as a "social marvel" — but co-operative production, in striking 
 comparison with this, has scarcely made any real advance. An 
 estimate^ of its extent in England made at the beginning of the 
 year 1884 showed that only 800,000/. of capital were employed in 
 this direction ; that the value of the annual production was 
 3,080,000/., and the number of employees 6,300 ; and these figures, 
 we must remember, included not a few associations which did not 
 carry the co-operative principle so far as to give a bonus upon 
 labour. A more exact analysis, too, of industx'ial society has 
 revealed fresh difficulties in its path. The essential object at 
 which it aims has been shown to be, not the union of capital and 
 labour in the same persons, but the far more serious matter of 
 " getting rid of the employer," to use Professor Walker's^ instruc- 
 tive phrase ; and so, in proportion to the magnitude of the work 
 he pei'forms in modern industry, must be the difficulty experienced 
 in discovering any effectual substitute for him in the way of co- 
 operative production. 
 
 A system, however, of "industrial partnership" or " profit- 
 
 ' Cf. in 18G4. Cf. " Working Men Co-operators," by A. H. D. Acland and 
 B. Jones, p. 20, foot note. 
 
 2 Cf. op. cit., p. 102. Cf. also the report of a committee on productive and 
 distributive co-operation to the Co-operative Congress, publislied in the Report of 
 the Seventeenth Annual Co-operative Congress (1885), pp. 9 and 78 — 116. The 
 committee say, " that as a committee we are agreed that the time is not ripe for 
 " general work." The report, however, it must be said, gave rise to a heated 
 discussion, pp. 9 — 11. 
 
 3 Cf. "The Wages Question," by F. A. Walker, ch. xv, p. 265 (edition 1884), 
 and also " Economics of Industi-y," by A. and M. P. Marshall, iii, ix, 4.
 
 ITS ADVANTAGES, METRODS, AND DIFFICULTIES. 3 
 
 "sliaring" seems to meet these specific difficulties; for by this 
 scheme the benefit of the interested and experienced management 
 of the employer is secured, together with that of the interested 
 and organised labour of the workmen. But it would be rash to 
 conclude that even this system is likely to be universally adopted. 
 It is more reasonable and more in accordance with the experience 
 of the past to look for the development of industrial reform in 
 various directions, and to expect diversity rather than uniformity 
 of method. 
 
 Thus, despite of the difficulties which have to be met, we may 
 hope to see in the future many varieties of co-operative production 
 put into practice. We need not be disheartened by such a failure 
 as that of the Ouseburn Engine Works in Newcastle^ — conspicuous 
 and disastrous as it was, and prejudicial as it has been to the cause 
 of co-operative production in the north. For, if zeal be but 
 tempered with discretion, if the experience of the past be used to 
 impress the necessity of precautions against special dangers and 
 peculiar difficulties, if progress be made slowly but surely, if a 
 favourable sphere of action be chosen where the difficulties of 
 management are small and the fluctuations of trade reduced to a 
 minimum, where the enthusiasm of the workers is effectually 
 kindled, and their knowledge of the conditions of successful 
 business extended, then co-operative production may attain success 
 — and marked success — on a large scale ; and on a small scale the 
 principle may be applied in various degrees and accoi'ding to 
 various methods.^ The system of industrial partnership, again, is 
 full of promise for the future ; and it is the more promisino- 
 because it seems to possess in a high degree the quality of elasti- 
 city, and to be capable of ready adaptation to different circum- 
 stances. 
 
 But we may still expect to see the old relation of wage-payer 
 and wage-receiver continuing side by side with these new develop- 
 ments. There is a great deal of truth in the contention of M. Leroy- 
 Beaulieu,*' that profit-sharing does not do away with wages, but is 
 rather supplementary to them, and that the profits thus shared are 
 to wages what salt and pepper, oil and vinegar, are to bread and 
 meat — a kind of relish which imparts a savour to food, and renders it 
 healthier and more agreeable, but does not of itself constitute food. 
 And there is a capriciousness about the spread, even of co-operative 
 distribution, in England which is very suggestive. Mr. Thomas 
 
 * " Tifctures on tlie Labour Question," by T. Brasscy, pp. 131 — 1.33. 
 
 5 E.g , in the form of contracts or sub-contracts, as under the system of 
 " T'lt-work " and " Tribute " in the Cornish mines. 
 
 « Cf. " Essai sur la repartition des richesses," par P. Leroy-Beaulieu. 
 Deuxieme edition, p. 370. 
 
 B 2
 
 4 INDUSTRIAL PEACE : 
 
 Hughes,' wlien seconding a vote of thanks to Mr. Lloyd Jones for 
 his presidential address at the Co-operative Congress of 1885, 
 compared the position of Oldham, the town where the Congress 
 was sitting, with that of Birmingham, — " the centre," as he said, 
 " of industrial radical reform," with " the centre of political 
 " reform" — and pointed out that the latter " had no co-operative 
 " society until three years ago," and that it now " only numbered 
 " 1,500 members," while Oldham could set its "thousands of 
 " co-operators ." against the " twenties " of Birmingham. Some 
 tables^ appended to the report of the Congress illusti^ated this 
 point, and showed that the north-western section could point to a 
 membership of 376,234 in the year 1884, and to a list of societies 
 amounting to 437, while the midland section had only 196 societies 
 and 68,394 members. And yet co-operative distribution does not 
 seem to be a very recondite principle, or one which is very difficult 
 to put into practice. 
 
 If then we may, for a considerable time at least — so long 
 indeed that it is difficult, if not impossible, as yet to see cleai'ly 
 beyond this point — expect the existing relation of wage-j)ayer and 
 wage-receiver to survive, it is of the highest importance to examine 
 the methods by which that relation may be made more harmonious 
 and the danger of friction reduced. And, even if we might hope 
 with any reason for a rapid extension of co-operative production 
 or a speedy development of industrial partnership, the examination 
 would not on that account lose its value. For it does not seem to 
 be by any means certain that either the one or the other of these 
 two systems will entirely remove all occasion for industrial conflict, 
 though they may render it very improbable. Lord Brassey** has 
 drawn attention to the occurrence of a strike in the Ouseburn 
 Co-operative Engine Works, and the incident, despite of the 
 peculiar circumstances of that unfortunate undertaking, is of no 
 little significance. Nor would it be difficult to show from a theo- 
 retical standpoint, that there are many possibilities of friction in 
 the working of co-operative production or industrial partnership ; 
 and the disputants may, not inconceivably, avail themselves of the 
 habitual weapons of industrial warfare. The proportion of the 
 bonus to be paid out of profits to wages earned or work done under 
 a system of industrial partnership, and the relative position of the 
 different classes of workers in this respect — if there is to be any 
 attempt to reward special assiduity or extraordinary skill — the 
 choice of a manager, and the decisions of committees of direction 
 
 ' Cf. Co-operative Congress Report, p. 7. 
 
 » Cf. op. cit., p. 147. The nortliern section with 138 societies showed a 
 membership of 105,521. Cf. also •' Worldiig Men Co-operators," p. 31. 
 » Cf. " Lectures on the Labour Question," p. 131.
 
 ITS ADVANTAGES, METHODS, AND DIFFICULTIES. 5 
 
 in co-operative production, must, so long as human nature remains 
 unaltered in its main characteristics, present occasions of possible 
 difference of opinion, and may not improbably be used as a casus 
 helli by the dissatisfied party. 
 
 In examining the special question of the peaceful settlement of 
 industrial disputes, we must never lose sight of these general con- 
 siderations. For here, as elsewhere, we must not expect to find 
 that there is one uniform method which can be applied with 
 certainty of success to all industries and to every dispute, but we 
 must rather be prepared to recognise the greatest diversity of 
 detail. It is because the principle of conciliation is capable of the 
 most varied application, and can, while it remains unaltered as a 
 principle, be readily adapted and modified in its details so as to 
 suit the different circumstances of different industries, that 
 Mr. Crompton, in his essay on "Industrial Coiiciliatiou,"^" has 
 claimed for it the title of a " panacea." It is not rigid and 
 inflexible, but is, on the contrary, as ductile and plastic as could 
 well be desired. 
 
 And yet we must not forget that, just as it seems fanciful to 
 expect that a time will ever come in this dispensation, when 
 throughout the length and breadth of the world swords wdll be 
 turned into plough-shares and spears into pruning-hooks, and just 
 as it needed a poet's imagination to discern 
 
 " The Vision of tlie world, and all the wonder that would be ;" 
 
 and to look further and further into the future, 
 
 " Till the war-drum throbb'd no longer, and the battle-flags were fiirl'd 
 In the Parliament of man, the Federation of the world." — 
 
 So too in the industrial sphere, he would be a rash prophet who 
 would predict an entire cessation of conflict, and would therefore 
 erase the words " strike " and " lock-out " from his econonaic 
 vocabulary. What we have to remember is that it is something 
 gained to diminish the frequency and to mitigate the bitterness of 
 these conflicts, though it would be better — were it possible — to 
 dispense with them altogether, just as it is something gained, as we 
 shall have occasion to notice, to procure a peaceful settlement of 
 industrial disputes, when once they have come to an open quarrel, 
 by means of negotiation or arbitration, though it would be better to 
 entirely prevent the quarrel by previous conciliation. Mr. Bevan, 
 indeed, in a paper^' read before the Statistical Society of London, 
 and published in the March number of its Journal for 1880, drew 
 
 "• " Industrial Conciliation," by H, Crompton, p. 10. 
 
 " Statistical Societ^^'s Journal, vol. xliii, March, 1880, " The Sti'ikes of the 
 " Past Ten Years," by G. P. Bevan.
 
 b INDUSTRIAL PEACE : 
 
 up a catalogue of the strikes which had occurred — so far as any 
 tolerably accurate chronicle could be obtained — in the years 1870-79, 
 and arrived at a grand total of 2,352. Hence he concluded that 
 strikes were chronic diseases of our industrial constitution, and 
 that the "success of arbitration " had been "far too doubtful " for 
 it to be regarded as an effectual remedy. And, in the discussion 
 which followed, Mr. Bunning, who has had a very considerable 
 experience in the peaceful settlement of industrial disputes,^^ stated 
 that he " did not think that " in the " nature of things," " strikes 
 " would ever cease." 
 
 But there are, on the other hand, several encouraging facts to 
 be noticed in the history and the working of the many various 
 methods which may perhaps be correctly embraced under the one 
 generic name of "industrial conciliation." It is at least certain 
 that no little amount of the barbarity which accompanied the 
 strikes of the early part of this century — barbarity not perhaps 
 wholly unnatural considering the circumstances of the times, and 
 the anomalies of the laws, though none the less deserving of the 
 sternest condemnation — has now passed away ; and, if the ultimate 
 appeal is made to force, it is not, as a general rule, before reason 
 has been invoked ; nor are the disputants on either side entirely 
 deaf to reason when the struggle of force has once commenced. 
 We hear even now, and we must expect to hear, of isolated cases 
 of unmanly intimidation. We sometimes see, even in England, 
 an outburst of passionate violence, when the safety of property 
 is menaced and the security of person endangered. But these out- 
 bursts are very occasional ; and it may be fairly said that — despite 
 of such indications as the satisfaction expressed by the silk manu- 
 facturers^^ of Macclesfield before the Royal Commission on the 
 Depression of Trade at the decline or even disappearance of trades 
 unions from their town — there is a growing consensus of opinion 
 that the legal recognition of trades unions has run side by siJe with 
 the disuse of illegal practices, and that the growth of organisation 
 is almost coincident with increasing willingness to listen to reason- 
 able argument. 
 
 We noticed before that the peaceful settlement of industrial 
 disputes might be effected in various ways, and proceed on 
 different lines. In one case there may be no organised system 
 
 '2 In connection with the coal trades of Northumberland and Durham, as 
 secretary of the " Steam Collieries' Defence Association," and also of the " Durham 
 " Coal Owners' Association." Mr. Bunning added that their number could be, he 
 thoight, "much diminished." 
 
 " Cf. Report of the Royal Commission appointed to inquire into the Depres- 
 sion of Trade and Industry." Q. 7239—42, V391', and 7493. Despite of the dis- 
 appearance of nnions from Macclesfield, a strike seems to have occurred in April, 
 1886. Q. 13831—4.
 
 ITS ADVANTAGES, MKTUODS, AND DIFFICULT! liS. 7 
 
 for the settlement of disputes, but merely occasional and irregular 
 negotiations between the two parties, either before the open 
 declaration of conflict or during the continuance of the struggle ; 
 and the question in dispute may sometimes be referred to the 
 decision of an arbitrator. In another case there may be an 
 organised machinery for the prevention of disputes and the 
 harmonious adjustment of points of difference. There may be, in 
 short, established boards of conciliation or courts of arbitration. 
 These boards, again, may vary in their constitution and action. 
 They may settle the industrial relations of the future as well 
 as the quarrels of the past ; and they may for this end adopt 
 different lines of conduct. They may from time to time arrive at 
 definite agreements as to the rate of wages ; or they may construct 
 a "sliding scale," as it is called, by which wages may almost 
 be said to regulate themselves automatically in accordance with 
 fluctuations in price or some other standard. Nor is one principle 
 only employed in the construction of these scales. 
 
 It would be absurd, therefore, to pretend that there is any 
 regular law of development in the peaceful settlement of industrial 
 disputes. For the varieties we have mentioned above are not 
 mutually exclusive. We may distinguish arbitration from con- 
 ciliation on the ground that the one is chiefly applicable to the 
 settlement of disputes as to the past, and the other to the arrange- 
 ment of industrial relations for the future, or on the more solid 
 ground that the latter is voluntary and the former compulsory in 
 character. But in making this distinction we must remember 
 that provision for arbitration is often, nay generally, made in the 
 constitution of boards of conciliation, and that it is employed to 
 settle the rate of wages for the future as well as to adjust the 
 quarrels of the past. Nor, as we shall see hereafter, does the 
 " automatic " regulation of wages by a sliding scale exclude the 
 occasional intervention of arbitration or conciliation ; for a 
 common ground of action must be agreed upon at starting, and 
 modifications may from time to time be necessitated by fiuctuations 
 in trade, which were not contemplated at the first construction of 
 the scale. To lay down, then, a definite order of succession in 
 which one method of the settlement of disputes is and must be 
 developed from another, would be as open to objection as it would 
 be for philologists to suppose that in all cases languages have passed 
 from a monosyllabic to an agglutinative, and from that again to an 
 inflexional stage ; or for students of sociology to maintain that all 
 Taces of men have gone through the various steps of development 
 j)ut forward by different theories of primitive society." If there 
 
 " -E"^., the writings of Morgau and McLcuiian.
 
 8 INDUSTRIAL PEACE : 
 
 are differences between different industries, then a method of con- 
 ciliation suited to the circumstances of one may conflict with the 
 traditions and unwritten law of another ; and here, if anywhere, 
 it seems necessary to clearly recognise the fact that, if the 
 principle is to work smoothly, the details must be left for settle- 
 ment in each case to the interested parties. 
 
 But though it would be impossible and irrational to lay down a 
 necessary historical order of development, it will be convenient, as 
 it has been found to be in analogous cases, to construct a theoretical 
 order, and to endeavour to group our consideration of the different 
 varieties of conciliation round some central points. We may then 
 distinguish, roughly and hypothetically, three stages of develop- 
 ment ; one, where there is no organised machinery for the 
 settlement of disputes, but merely occasional and irregu.lar nego- 
 tiation ; another, where there is an oi'ganised machinery, but 
 wages are settled periodically by definite arrangement ; and a 
 third, where wages are regulated automatically by a sliding scale. 
 We must remember of course that these stages overlap one 
 another, and that the distinction between them is arbitrary. But 
 with this proviso, we may take for a typical instance of the first 
 stage the negotiations in a recent strike in the shipbuilding 
 industry on the banks of the Tyne and the Wear. For the second 
 stage we may select the board of conciliation and arbitration in 
 the manufactured iron trade of the north of England ; and for the 
 third and last stage, the sliding scales in operation in the coal 
 trades of Northumberland and Durham. I have chosen these 
 three instances because I have had special opportunity of acquiring 
 information about them. But they are also very instructive for 
 our purpose, as they are all connected with the same industrial 
 district, and yet exhibit very considerable differences with regard to 
 the question under discussion.
 
 ITS ADVANTAGES, METHODS, AND DIFFICULTIES. 
 
 CHAPTER 11. 
 
 The First Stage in the Theoretical Order of Development : 
 Irregular Negotiations. 
 
 (a). First, then, let us take the case of the shipbuilding strike 
 upon the Tyne and the Wear. Into the details of the question 
 under dispute and the merits of the contentions put forward by the 
 opposing parties, it is not relevant to our present purpose to enter. 
 What we are concerned with is tlie course of the negotiations 
 which resulted in a final settlement of the quarrel. 
 
 At the close of the year 1885, according to the monthly report 
 issued for March, 1886,^^ by the general secretary to the United 
 Society of Boilermakers and Iron Shipbuilders, the shipbuilders 
 throughout the whole of the north-east coast of England gave 
 notice of a " very heavy reduction" in wages applying to all the 
 members of the society in their employment. This reduction 
 affected directly, or indirectly, " more than 8,ooo " members of the 
 society, and was the fourth which had taken place within two 
 years. A strike thereupon followed, but during the month of 
 January the men opened negotiations with the masters and 
 submitted a proposal, which was however rejected. 
 
 Towards the end of the month, again, rumours began to spread 
 of fresh negotiations. It is worthy of notice in passing, that 
 inasmuch as the district had not as yet been formally put upon 
 the "strike allowance," as it is termed, by the council of the 
 society, the negotiations for the settlement of the dispute rested 
 entirely with the workmen immediately concerned, and the council 
 could only act " upon special invitation " instead of taking 
 complete control over the matter, as it would have done supposing 
 the district had already been receiving " strike allowance."^" The 
 men, indeed, were apparently beginning to suffer "considerable" 
 pecuniary distress, and their committee issued a circular appealing 
 for " sympathy and support " to the various trade-societies in the 
 
 '5 Cf. " Newcastle Daily Chroniflo." 19th March. 1886. 
 
 '« Cy. " Newcastle Daily Chronicle, " 1st February, 1886; "Newcastle Daily 
 " Leader," 1st February, 1886.
 
 10 INDUSTEIAL Pb^ACE : 
 
 district. In this circular tliey were careful to draw special attention 
 to the fact that they had offered a proposal for the settlement of the 
 dispute to the employers before making any appeal for pecuniary 
 aid/' A mass meeting- of men representing the different lodges of 
 the society on Tyne-side, and numbering some 700 or 800, was 
 held at Wallsend on the 1st of February;^* and, though the pro- 
 ceedings were private, it was generally understood that the whole 
 question of the reduction of wages was thoroughly discussed. 
 On 5th February ^^ a meeting of the Tyne and Wear shipbuilders 
 was held at Sunderland, and a deputation from the Boiler- 
 makers' Society — comprising four representatives from the Tyne 
 and four from the Wear, together with two "delegates" — ■ 
 was present. The views of the opposing parties were inter- 
 changed aud their relative position explained. The deputation 
 then withdrew, and on being readmitted was informed that the 
 employers were " prepared to take into favourable consideration 
 " any modification which the men " might " propose of the reduc- 
 " tion already notified." A strong recommendation was offered to 
 the effect that deputations of the men should be invested with full 
 powers to treat for a final settlement of the dispute, and an 
 arrangement was made for a meeting on the following Thursday to 
 receive the reply to the proposal of the employers. The 
 deputation met that evening and discussed the position of affairs, 
 and a Newcastle paper^'' of the next day reported that a proposal 
 was about to be submitted to the various districts which might 
 bring about a solution of the difficulty. On Saturday, the 6th of 
 February, the first distribution of "strike-money" took place at 
 Sunderland at the different lodges ; for the executive of the society 
 had granted a sum of 5,000/. for that purpose to be distributed in 
 weekly allowances of 8s. a man.-' On 10th February, the evening 
 before the adjourned meeting of the employers, a meeting of the 
 representatives of the men was held, when the returns from the 
 various lodges with reference to the proposal of the employers 
 were received.^- The next day the masters met the deputation 
 from the Boilermakers' Society, and were infoi^med'^ that not only 
 were the votes of the men opposed to any reduction, but that they 
 also refused to give the deputation powers of negotiation. The 
 employers expressed their "surprise and regret" at a course of 
 action which "virtually closed the door to negotiation;" but, 
 after a private discussion, they themselves offered the men a 
 modification in the proposed reduction, reminding them, through 
 the mouth of their chairman, that for their part they had adopted 
 
 ■' Cf. op. cit. 18 Ibid , 2n(l February, 1886. 
 
 i» Ibid., 6th Febrnary. 20 Qf. op. cit. 21 cf op cit., 8th February. 
 
 2- Ibid., lltli February. 2^ ibia., 12th February.
 
 ITS ADVANTAGES, METHODS, AND DIFFICULTIES. 11 
 
 a "conciliatory attitude" througliout the dispute, that they had 
 asked the representatives of the men "to meet them in friendly 
 " conference " prior to the issue of the notice, and that they had 
 requested them to send a deputation to a meeting even after the 
 men had passed a resolution against the acceptance of "any 
 " reduction whatever." The employers' proposal was again 
 submitted in the usual way to the various lodges ; and it seems 
 that, while some of the lodges were opposed to any reduction, 
 others — and more especially those on the Wear — were anxious to 
 come to terms.** On the 18th the masters again met the repre- 
 sentatives of the men, who submitted a proposal for a reduction 
 indeed, but not of the same amount as that demanded by the 
 masters. A long discussion ensued, and ultimately the masters, 
 without accepting the proposal, made a further modification in 
 their terms.^^ Finally, after some further negotiation, the dispute 
 was settled about the end of the month. 
 
 B (i). The history of this dispute is not without its hopeful 
 signs, although we cannot but echo the words of Mr. Knight, the 
 general secretary of the Boilermakers' Society, when he states, in his 
 monthly report for March, that it was " a pity that the compromise 
 " was not come to before these weeks were spent in idleness.""" 
 What we have to remember is that it is something gained to 
 mitigate the bitterness of these conflicts ; and there can be no 
 doubt that, if a comparison were instituted between the history of 
 such a strike as this, and the history of the strikes of some thirty 
 or forty, perhaps even some ten or twenty years ago, there would 
 be abundant evidence to prove that a considerable change had 
 taken place in the nature of these conflicts, and that many of their 
 old barbarous accessories had passed away. Mr. Knight himself 
 remarks in the report to which previous reference has been made, 
 that "of this strike or lock-out, or whatever it may be called, it 
 " must be said that it has been conducted in the most excellent 
 " spirit possible on both sides. There has been little recrimination. 
 " There has been no violence." 
 
 Nor is this statement by any means exaggerated. From both 
 sides we have an expression of reluctance at the occurrence of 
 the dispute. To quote Mr. Knight again, he states that " these 
 " violent stoppages may be necessary, but they are the wars of 
 " the industrial world, and should never be lightly resorted to." 
 And, in his annual report for 1885,^' he notices the fact, that 
 
 2< Cf. " Newcastle Daily Clironlcle," IStli February. 
 ■" Cf. "Newcastle Daily Leader," 19th February, 
 •-'fi Cf. "Newcastle Daily Clironicle," 19th March. 
 
 2' Cf. Annual Report for 1885 of the United Society of I3nilerniakers and 
 Iron Shipbuilders, p. xi.
 
 12 INDUSTRIAL PEACE : 
 
 3,593/. has been spent daring the year on disputes, and, while 
 declaring that " these civil wars are necessary evils sometimes," 
 he adds, " we are always favourable to peace with honour." On 
 the part of the masters we have the statement made by their 
 chairman at the meeting of 11th February, to which reference has 
 already been made, and throughout the course of the negotiations 
 they again and again express a desire to arrive at a peaceful 
 settlement. 
 
 On both sides again there is evidence of a wish to be accurate 
 in the statements made and the contentions put forward. During 
 the continuance of the dispute a letter appeared from Mr. Knight 
 in the " Newcastle Daily Leader " of 17th February, with reference 
 to an extract from his monthly report for February, which had 
 been published in that paper, and contained an assertion which he 
 had since discovered to be incomplete, and therefore to reflect 
 unfairly upon the conduct of the managers of a certain ship- 
 building firm. In this letter he asks to be allowed to supplement 
 the former statement, "as," he says, "we should be very sorry to 
 say anything, or make a partial statement, that might in the 
 " slightest degree reflect unjustly on the ofiicials of the firm at 
 " Elswick." The masters in like manner are reported by the " New- 
 " castle Daily Leader " of 19th February to have expressed a 
 willingness, at a meeting of masters and representative men, " to 
 " allow any chartered accountants, mutually agreed on, to inspect 
 " their wages-books and verify " the " averages " v^'hich they had 
 put forward at a similar meeting on the 11th. 
 
 (ii). Of course in all such disputes we must expect to find 
 irritation and friction on either side. The fact cannot be disguised 
 that in such a dispute as this we have an industrial war ; and it is 
 because these contests, like wars, have an inevitable tendency to 
 engender bitterness of feeling, and to stereotype an attitude of 
 mutual hostility, that they are to be so deeply regretted. Mr. Knight's 
 monthly report for March, to which we have so often referred 
 before, supplies a very apt illustration of this point. In reading 
 his account of the dispute, we cannot fail to be reminded again 
 and again of the analogy between a strike and a war. We have, 
 first, looking at the matter from his point of view, the formal 
 declaration of war, in the notice of reduction issued by the 
 employers. Then follows an estimate of the resources of either side. 
 " The employers fi'om the outset had circumstances considerably in 
 " their favour, so far as ine^-e fighting went. Work was not very 
 " plentiful. The most important work was work that could wait, 
 " and in the chief contracts strikes were provided for. The 
 " stoppage to them caused little inconvenience, and when it was 
 " over work would be all the brisker They had the
 
 ITS APVAXTAGKS, METHODS, AND DIFFIClT/n KS. ] .'5 
 
 " strongpst battalions, they had hunger on their side." Then 
 he examines the position of his own side, " The members, on the 
 " other hand, had all the prevailing circumstances against them. 
 " An exceedingly large number are without employment of any sort. 
 " Many families are without food. The season has been painfully 
 " severe, and all funds available for support have been strained to 
 " the utmost." And then after remarking that " it was inevitable 
 " that there should be a compromise in the end, unless the men 
 " were to yield the whole," he states the essence of the matter in a 
 single sentence. " They have made a very gallant stand, looked at 
 " purely as a stand for better terms, and they have iron half the 
 " hattle."^^ Here then we have a description of an industrial war, 
 and we may expect to find evils somewhat analogous to the evils of 
 war resulting therefrom. 
 
 (a). Now it would be easy to draw up a lengthy catalogue of 
 the possible evils occasioned by these conflicts. It is a very common 
 practice to calculate on the one side the sum which these strikes 
 entail in the loss of wages during the stoppage of work, and on the 
 other the sum gained in the shape of an increase, or a prevention of 
 a reduction, of wages ; to construct an imaginary balance sheet ; to 
 pi'ove incontestably that the former of these two sums is very much 
 larger than the other, and then to throw this in the teeth of the 
 workmen, and to point out in a ruanner forcible rather than 
 persuasive, the unmistakable error of their ways. 
 
 But such a balance sheet is vei^y unsatisfactory. It is difficult 
 to arrive with even approximate accuracy, at an estimate of either 
 side of the account. To the loss of wages we have to add the 
 possibility of falling into debt, which it may take a lifetime to 
 redeem ; the departure it may be of trade from the district, and as 
 a consequence of this, the permanent curtailment of employment; 
 and last, but by no means least, the abiding injury inflicted upon 
 body, mind, and character, by irregular habits, and, in all likeli- 
 hood, irregular meals. On the other side of the account thei'e 
 are moral considerations which do not admit of reduction to a 
 pecuniary standard, and a workman of the north of England once 
 remarked to me, that he thought that any of the privations he 
 mio-ht have endured during tlie famous Nine-hours' strike, were 
 abundantly compensated by the advantages of the increased 
 leisure and independence he had since enjoyed. 
 
 From a sti'ictly economic point of view again, it is now 
 generally allowed that it is dangerous to conclude that a strike is 
 in all cases prejudicial even to the permanent economic interests 
 of the workmen. For the increased efiiciency of labour due to 
 
 28 The italics arc my ov/n.
 
 14 INUUSTRTAL PEACE : 
 
 better health, to better education, to better character, may con- 
 ceivably compensate for the diminution of the working hours of a 
 day, or for increased wages, or for temporary stoppage of produc- 
 tion ; and the growth of that capital which is so necessary to 
 industry may depend upon the willingness to save, not merely of 
 employers — ^who indeed may conceivably habituate themselves to a 
 lower rate of interest and to smaller profits — but also of workmen, 
 who may find in their larger wages at once greater ability and 
 greater inducement to save. Here then also there are moral 
 elements which baffle exact calculation. The one thing which 
 does seem certain is this, that an industrial conflict, like a war 
 between nations, does leave behind feelings of bitterness, and does 
 by its very nature prevent the growth of harmonious and amicable 
 relations. These are certain calamities and indisputable evils. 
 And hence, if there is to be provision for war, it is eminently 
 desirable that there should also be provision for negotiation. 
 
 In this negotiation, indeed, we must expect to find some 
 irregularity of working, and to see some irritation displayed. For 
 we must remember that in such cases as that we have just 
 described, the negotiation is conducted between two disputants 
 who are actually engaged in a fray where vital interests are at 
 stake ; who have probably not a little soreness of feeling towards 
 one another ; who in all likelihood are suffering pecuniary injury 
 from the conflict, and who are not habituated, as they would be 
 were there a regular board of conciliation, or traditional method of 
 arbitration, recognised in the industry, to meet one another round 
 the same table, and to adjust their difi^erences by formal argument 
 or mutual concession. There is, in fact, no common basis from 
 which to start ; and the matter is rather to be settled by the 
 estimate which either side forms of the comparative strength of 
 its opponents and itself. Nor, be it noticed, does there seem to be 
 any economic standard which can be called into requisition in such 
 disputes, for as Professor Sidgwick^" has pointed out, where two 
 combinations meet one another, political economy is pei-force 
 silenced. Each side then is determined to secure all it can ; each 
 side is naturally suspicious of the attitude of the other. The 
 hopeful sign is this, that the parties are willing to meet one 
 another, and that they ai'c desirous of arriving at a settlement. 
 
 (h). And here we must in the last place notice a point to which 
 we shall again have to draw attention when we consider other 
 forms of conciliation. It is of little use for negotiations to be 
 commenced unless the negotiators are invested with plenipotentiary 
 authoi'ity, or are at any rate the accredited representatives of the 
 
 2s Cf. "Principles of Political Economy," II, X, 1, p. 3i9, foot note; 
 2, p. 355.
 
 ITS ADVANTAGES, METHODS, AND DIFFICULTI RS. 15 
 
 opposing forces. In the sliipbuildiug strike which we have jnst 
 examined, there was one fact of a very melancholy character which 
 could not but impress itself foi-cibly upon the mind of the observer. 
 The labourers in the shipbuilding yards, the "helpers" as they are 
 commonly called, had no part or lot in the strike, and yet with the 
 suspension of industi'y they were thrown out of employment. It 
 need hardly be said that the resources on which they could fall 
 back were far more slender than those of the skilled workmen. A 
 system is in vogue, with few exceptions, in the yai'ds on the Tyne 
 and the Wear, by which the " platers," &c., are paid by the piece, 
 and the " helpers " by the time.^" And thus during the halcyon 
 days of prosperity in the shipbuilding trade — and even in brisk 
 times we must remember the average working days in a week do 
 not seem to be more than four — the platers might earn high wages, 
 and yet the helpers might derive little benefit. For the platers 
 working by the piece, might stay away from the yards during 
 some days of the week, trusting to make up for the time lost by 
 extra-hard work upon the remaining days, but the helpers would 
 lose their time- wages during the days when the platers were idle, 
 and would have to take their share of the high pressure speed on 
 the other days. An attempt was made some few years ago by 
 a Mr. Lynch, who was himself at one time a labourer in the 
 yards, to organise a union among "the helpers," and to obtain an 
 alteration of the system ; but the attempt had only a temporary 
 success, partly, it seems, from the natural want of cohesion which 
 is so characteristic of unskilled labourers, and partly also it is to 
 be feared through the opposition of the members of the Boiler- 
 makers' Society, and the importation of labourers from outside to 
 take the places of the recalcitrant helpers.^^ And so, when the 
 time of the strike came, the helpers were thrown out of employ- 
 ment, with little, if any, resources to meet the distress by which 
 they were confronted ; and to add to the hardness of their position, 
 they were apparently deemed ineligible for relief from the general 
 distress fund set on foot during the winter in the city of New- 
 castle, because they were regarded as concerned in the strike.^" 
 In one district, however, at least, they organised a committee, and 
 appealed to the public for pecuniary aid. But the fact which is 
 so forcibly impressed upon the mind is this, that during all the 
 negotiations between the shipbuilders and the members of the 
 Boilermakers' Society, the helpers seem to have been entirely 
 
 3" Cf. "Industrial Remuneration Conference Report," pp. 114 — 118, paper on 
 Skilled and Unskilled Labour in tlie Sliipbuildiug Trade, by J. Lyncii. 
 
 ^' Cf. Of. cit., pp. 117 and 118. This account is also based in part upon a 
 personal interview with Mr. Lyncb. 
 
 32 Cf. " Newcastle Daily Leader," 1st, 2nd, 6tb, and 8th February, 1886.
 
 16 INDUSTRIAL PEACE: 
 
 unrepresented. Had they possessed an organisation they could 
 hardly have been placed in this melancholy position. 
 
 It is in this way, moreover, that increased organisation seems 
 to have paved the way for increased harmony. A manufacturer of 
 the north of England infoi-med me^^ that, although he was not 
 expressing the opinions of his class, yet he personally thought 
 that employers had reason to be thankful to trades unions. He 
 was not alluding, indeed, to the small unions, but to the large 
 well-organised unions. For now, when disputes occurred, in small 
 matters as in great, employers had not to deal with a large body 
 of men of conflicting views, and to fear that, when they had 
 arranged a settlement with some members of the body, they might 
 find themselves still in conflict with others. But they now had the 
 advantage of meeting a few representatives, and they knew that, 
 if they could arrive at a settlement with them, their difiiculties 
 would be over for the time. 
 
 And there are collateral advantages attaching to this. In a 
 large well-organised union it is probable that the best men will 
 come to the front, and that they will bring the calmest heads and 
 the widest experience— and withal a natural anxiety to relieve the 
 strain occasioned by a dispute to the funds of the society — to bear 
 on the negotiations into which they enter. It may be, indeed, and 
 sometimes is, the case, that under the thoroughly democratic con- 
 stitution which is characteristic of most trades unions — with the 
 habitual reference of questions to the decision of the whole 
 body — the advice of the oflicials may be overborne by an impulse 
 of prejudice or passion. But the fact still remains that the 
 opinions of the officials are, in the nature of things, likely to have 
 considerable weight, and that the course of the negotiations will, 
 in all probability, run more smoothly when the employers meet the 
 same, or very nearly the same, representatives on each occasion. 
 The employers on their part, even if they are not regularly com- 
 bined together into an association, are generally, in comparison 
 with the men, so few in number, that they can readily unite 
 together in such an emergency as a strike. 
 
 It may then perhaps be the case that the "principle of degene- 
 " ration," by which, according to Jevons,^^ associations of men 
 are subject to a tendency to fall away from their original pui'pose, 
 may, in the case of trades unions, assume this pacific form. It 
 may be that, as they have undoubtedly contributed to the ediicaHon 
 of the workman, in the broadest sense of the word, by acquainting 
 him with some of the conditions of business and teaching him tlie 
 
 3' Cf. Report of Royal Conamission on tlie Depression of Trade for a similar 
 testimony from a sliipbuikler on the Clyde. Q. 12018. 
 
 a-i Cf. " The State in Relation to Labour," by VV. S. Jevons, pp. 124— 127.
 
 ITS ADVANTAGES, METHODS, AND DIFFICULTIES. 17 
 
 responsibilities of ofBcial position ; as they have developed their 
 function as friendlj societies (a function, be it remembered, which 
 "was originallj in some sense forced upon them in order to escape 
 the disabilities of the law), and developed it to such a degree that 
 it now occupies the most prominent position in their expenditure, 
 so that, in the years 1876-80,^'' 1,393,466/^. was spent on benefit 
 purposes by seven of the most representative unions, as compared 
 with 158,361^. on strikes; so in the future they may be chiefly 
 known as the confessed promoters of peace. Mr. Frederic 
 Harrison, ^"^ speaking at the Trades Union Congress of 1883, has 
 called attention to a significant passage in the report of the 
 parliamentary committee for that year : " The measure of value of 
 " a strong Union lies not so much in the conduct of successful 
 " strikes, as it does in the number of disputes its moral strength 
 " prevents." 
 
 '* Cf. " Contemporary Eeview," September, 1883 ; " The Work of Trade 
 " Unions," by G. Howell. On one day during the winter of 1885-86, the Nor- 
 thumberland Miners' Association distributed 3,561/. in relief 108,398 miners in 
 thirty collieries. Cf. " Newcastle Daily Chronicle," 8th March, 1886. 
 
 3" Cf. " Contemporary Review," October, 1883. " The Progress of Labour," 
 by F. Harrison. Cf. also "Trade Unions," by W. Trant, pp. 100 — 106, and 
 Typographical Association's Rules IV, XVII, XVIII.
 
 18 INDUSTRIAL PEACE 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 The Second Stage : the Creation of Boards of Arbitration 
 AND Conciliation. 
 
 We may now pass on to the consideration of what we have 
 distinguished as the second stage in the peaceful settlement of 
 industi'ial disputes. The nncei-tainty and friction which must 
 almost of necessity attach to such occasional and irregular negoti- 
 ations as those we have described in connection with the ship- 
 building industry of the north, are chiefly due to the fact that the 
 two parties are not accustomed to meet one another round a 
 common table, and that they therefore come to the negotiations 
 with a natural suspicion of each other's attitude and arguments. 
 But if there is a regular board of conciliation in existence in the 
 trade, or even if there has grown up a traditional habit of referring 
 disputes to arbitration, then a presumption is established in favour 
 of mutual concession or peaceful argument in lieu of a resort to 
 actual force. There is an organised machinery in existence, and 
 there is a habit, which may become almost instinctive, of using 
 this machinery. The two parties are accustomed to meet one 
 another, and to endeavour to oppose argument to ai-gument rather 
 than force to force ; and they can scarcely pursue this practice 
 without learning to recognise the difficulties which either side may 
 have to confront, and without entering, to some extent at least, 
 into the position of their opponents. 
 
 A. The board of conciliation and arbitration in the manufac- 
 tured iron trade of the north of England, which we propose to 
 take as the typical instance of this second stage, has now been in 
 existence for some seventeen or eighteen years. Mr. Crompton^'' 
 has drawn very marked attention to its formation and wojking. 
 He maintains that there is no portion of industrial history which 
 is more interesting than the improvement effected in the relations 
 of masters and men in the manufactured iron trade of the north 
 of England. For here there have been most exceptional diflBculties 
 to overcome. 
 
 ••" Cf, " Industrial Conciliation," p. 49.
 
 ITS ADVANTAGES, MKTUODS, AND DIFFICULTIES. 19 
 
 (i). lu the first place the trade itself has been subject to 
 considerable fluctuation. Sir Isaac Lowthian Bell,^** in examination 
 before the Rojal Commission on the Depression of Trade, states 
 that " the conditions of producing iron in this country have varied 
 " so greatly and so frequently in the last 30 or 40 years that the 
 " trade, like that of metals generally, stands in a somewhat excep- 
 " tional condition." He shows, both in his oral evidence before the 
 Commission, and in a written statement^^ printed as an appendix, 
 how the production of iron has shifted from district to district. At 
 one time, in the year 1806, " 3 i per cent." of the iron made in the 
 United Kingdom, amounting in all to 258,000 tons, was made in 
 South Wales; and in the "North-Eastern district" — including 
 Northumberland, Durham, and the North Riding of Yorkshire — 
 the production at that time was " nil." In 1884, with a total 
 production of 7,811,720 tons, the proportion supplied by Wales 
 had fallen to 1 1 per cent. ; that furnished by Staffordshire had 
 declined from 19 to 7 per cent. ; but on the other hand the Nortli- 
 Eastern district contributed 32 per cent, of the total production, 
 and Cumberland and Lancashire 20 per cent. He adds that 
 " changes of a similar character have affected the position of almost 
 " all the seats of the iron trade ; " and he specially alludes to 
 the Cleveland district as " a striking example of a i-apid develop- 
 " ment." He calls attention also to the " excessive irregularity in 
 " the demand " for iron, — a circumstance which " certainly does 
 " not apply, at all events to the same extent, to other bi'anches of 
 " industry." " Iron being wanted for almost every industry, is 
 " the one of them upon whose head the misfortunes of all the 
 " other industries ultimately fall. If the cotton trade is bad, the 
 " cotton spinners require less machinery. If the mineral trade is 
 " bad, the railways require a smaller amount of accommodation ; 
 " fewer rails are required and less rolling stock. And the same 
 " observation applies with regard to ships." 
 
 He specially indicates^" the way in which that substitution of 
 steel for iron, which seems to be, perhaps, the chief inventive 
 change of the times, has affected the rtianufactured iron trade and 
 diminished the number of puddling furnaces. In 1 860 there " were 
 " in existence some 3,000 to 3,500 of these furnaces." In 1870 the 
 number had doubled, and amounted to 6,699; ^^^ "^^ ^^^^ year 
 " the value of the Bessemer process began to be recognised," 
 Despite of this, however, the iron manufacturers continued to 
 extend " their powers of production," and in 1875 the number of 
 puddling furnaces had increased to 7,575. Another decade passed, 
 
 38 cf. Report. Q. 1929. 
 
 3" Cf. op. cit., Second Report, part i, App. A (1). 
 
 " Cf. Ibid. q. 1957—71. 
 
 C2
 
 20 INDUSTRIAL PEACE: 
 
 and in 1884 there were only 4,577 furnaces, and many of these 
 were standing idle. He also supplies a table of the annnal 
 production of mauufactui'ed iron between the years 1872-84 by 
 " certain firms " in the Noi^th of p]ngland, which, he says, consti- 
 tute "about nine-tenths of the makers there;" and this table 
 illustrates very vividly the fluctuating character of the trade. 
 Perhaps the most noticeable fact is the remarkable and sudden 
 decline in the rail trade about the year 1877: and there can be 
 no doubt that, had it not been for a rapid, extension in the contem- 
 p oraneous demand for plates and angles in the shipbuilding 
 industry, the diminution in the production of manufactured iron 
 would have been "very much more alarming" and prolonged than 
 was actually the case. This decline, indeed, in the iron rail trade, 
 a s we shall subsequently notice, was so unmistakable, that masters 
 and men declare before the arbitrator on different occasions that 
 the iron rail trade is practically dead ; but Sir Isaac Lowthian Bell 
 says that the same fate which befell iron rails now " threatens to 
 " overtake iron plates and angles for shipbuilding."''^ 
 
 Mr. Spence Watson, again, who has sat as arbitrator on four 
 occasions, and has given a succinct but exhaustive account of the 
 history of the board in a paper read before the Barnsle}^ Chamber 
 of Commerce,*' writes that since the formation of the board "it 
 " has been tested in every way. Prices have gone up to their 
 " highest point and down to their lowest. There have been 
 "'booms' and intense depressions. Demand has far exceeded 
 " supply, and has died away." The shorthand writer's reports*^ 
 of proceedings at the different arbitrations supply abundant con- 
 firmation of this, and in the employers' rejoinder,** before Sir 
 
 « Cf. Report. Q. 10953, 11906. 
 
 ■•^ Cf. Lecture on Boards of Arbitration and Conciliation and Sliding Scales, by 
 R. Spence Watson. Extracted from tlie " Barnsley Chronicle " of 20tli March, 
 1886. 
 
 ■" As frequent reference will have to be made to these reports, it will abbi-e- 
 viate the notes to distinguish and refer to them by numbers as below : — 
 
 I. Arbitration before Mr. Dale in July, 1877. 
 II. „ Shaw-Lefevre in December, 1878. 
 
 III. „ Dale in August and October, 1879. 
 
 IV. „ J. W. Pease in April, 1882. 
 
 V. „ Sir J. W. Pease in November, 1882. 
 
 VI. ,, Mr, Spence Watson in January, 1884. 
 
 VII. „ „ April, 1884. 
 
 VIII. „ „ November, 1884. 
 
 IX. „ „ October, 1885. 
 
 All these reports are printed and published at the Ironworkers' Association Office, 
 Grange Road, Darlington, and I have to thank the secretary of the association, 
 Mr. Edward Trow, for kindly supplying me with copies. 
 " Cf. V, p. 7.
 
 ITS ADVANTAGES, METHODS, AND DIFFICUI/IIES. 
 
 21 
 
 Josepli Pease, in November, 1882, we find the significant assertion 
 that " anticipations in connection witli the iron trade are always 
 " doubtful, and the foresight of the most experienced is of little 
 " real use." Tlie following table, which illustrates the greater 
 part of the history of wages and of arbitration in the ti'ade, proves 
 that this language is by no means exaggerated, and we may fairly 
 say that the board of conciliation in the manufactured iron trade 
 of the north of England has had as serious difficulties to confront 
 in the Avay of changes in the conditions of industry as could well 
 be imagined : — 
 
 Table I. 
 
 Nunilier 
 of 
 
 Settle- 
 
 Date 
 
 of 
 
 Settlement. 
 
 Occasion and Nature 
 
 of the 
 
 Wages Settlement. 
 
 Duration 
 of Settlement. 
 
 Average 
 
 Selling Price 
 
 of 
 
 .Amount 
 
 over 
 
 Shillings 
 
 for 
 
 Wages 
 
 Ar- 
 ranged^ 
 
 (Long 
 
 Per- 
 centage 
 
 of 
 .\dvaiice 
 or Re- 
 
 ment. 
 
 
 
 
 Iron.i 
 
 Pounds 2 
 
 Weight) 
 
 duction. 
 
 
 
 
 
 £ s. d. 
 
 s. d. 
 
 s. d. 
 
 Per cut. 
 
 — 
 
 18G9* 
 
 — 
 
 Jan. — .\pril iuclnsive 
 
 — 
 
 1 9 
 
 8 - 
 
 — 
 
 1 
 
 May, 1869... 
 Jan., 1870... 
 Feb. 6,1871 
 
 Mr. R. Kettle's award 
 
 May — Dec. inclusive 
 1870 
 
 6 II 35 
 
 2 C'l 
 
 8 6 
 
 -1- .'>6 
 
 2 
 
 .Mr. T. Hu'^lies' award 
 
 7 - II 257 
 7 - 8' 
 
 
 
 bo 
 
 9 6 
 9 - 
 
 + 10 
 
 3 
 
 Mr. T. Hughes' awaid^ 
 
 Jan. 1— June 30, 1871 
 
 - 5 
 
 4 
 
 July 25, 1871 
 
 .Mr. T. Hughes' award (in London). 
 Workmen claim advance 
 
 From July 1,1871 ... 
 
 7 2 0-2510 
 
 > 
 
 9 6 
 
 -t- 5 
 
 5 
 
 Oct. 17, 1871 
 
 Employers sive 5 per cent, advance 
 on condition of acceptance of 
 sliding scale 
 
 Until March 31, 1872 
 
 12 
 
 1 9 
 
 10 - 
 
 + 5 
 
 6 
 
 Oct., 1871 ... 
 
 Sliding scale arranged by Mr. D. 
 Dale 13 
 
 For 3 months ending 
 June 30, 1872 
 
 7 16 6 isi-* 
 
 2 9 
 
 10 6 
 
 + 5 
 
 7 
 
 July 22, 1872 
 
 The figures for the three months 
 ending May 31, 1872, gave an 
 advance of 75 per cent.; but a 
 few days after an advance of 
 20 per cent, was given to the 
 men in Staffordshire, and this 
 created dissatisfaction in the 
 Norl h of Envihind. At a meeting 
 of the Hoard the employers gave 
 an advance, in addition to the 
 75 per cent., of 125 per cent , 
 thus equalising the rales with 
 those in Staffordshire i^ 
 
 To March 31, 1873 ... 
 
 8 II 682 
 
 4 - 
 
 12 6 
 
 + 20 
 
 8 
 
 April, 1873 
 
 Mr. 'K. Kettle's award at Salt- 
 bum 16 
 
 To Sept. 30, 1873 
 
 10 12 10 
 
 2 6 
 
 13 3 
 
 + n 
 
 9 
 
 Oct., 1873... 
 
 Mr. R, Kettle's award at Purham. 
 Employers claim reduction of 
 12^ per cent. 
 
 Till end of 1873 
 
 11 19 36317 
 
 — 
 
 13 3 
 
 — 18 
 
 10 
 
 Dee, 19, 1873 
 
 Conference of employers and men 
 from north of England and 
 Staffordshire at Birininsliani, 
 and mutual reduction of 7^ per 
 cenl.is 
 
 Jan.3— ApriU, 1874 
 
 II 15 842 
 
 
 12 5 
 
 - n 
 
 11 
 
 April 10,1874 
 
 Meeting of the same at York, and 
 reduction of 10 rer cent, agreed 
 upon, alter which Derby sliding 
 scale to come into operation '^ 
 
 April 4— July 4, 1874 
 
 II iS 338 
 
 
 II 6 
 
 -10
 
 22 
 
 INDUSTRIAL PEACE : 
 
 Table I — Contd. 
 
 dumber 
 
 
 
 
 Averasre 
 
 Amount 
 
 Wa 
 
 ges 
 
 Per- 
 
 
 Date 
 
 Occasion and Nature 
 
 
 
 .. _ . 
 
 over 
 
 A 
 
 r- 
 
 centage 
 
 of 
 
 
 
 Duration 
 
 Se lins fnce 
 
 
 
 
 of 
 
 
 of 
 
 of tbe 
 
 
 
 " 
 
 ^hillings 
 
 ran 
 
 ged 
 
 Ad\ance 
 
 Settle- 
 
 
 
 of Settlement. 
 
 
 of 
 
 for 
 
 (Lc 
 
 
 
 Settlement. 
 
 Wages Settlement. 
 
 
 
 
 ng 
 
 (;r he- 
 
 ment. 
 
 
 
 
 
 Iron. 
 
 Pounds. 
 
 Weight). 
 
 duction. 
 
 
 
 
 
 £ 
 
 s. d. 
 
 s. d. 
 
 s. 
 
 d. 
 
 Per cut. 
 
 12 
 
 ISTi" 
 
 Derby sliding scale 
 
 I'or 3 montlis ending; 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Sept. 30, 187i ..."... 
 
 10 
 
 18 ii->8^- 
 
 - 9 
 
 II 
 
 9 
 
 + 21 
 
 
 
 
 Dec. 31, 1874 
 
 9 
 
 19 ro8 
 
 - 9 
 
 10 
 
 9 
 
 -10 
 
 
 
 
 March 31, 1875 ... 
 
 9 
 
 I 5' 13 
 
 - 9 
 
 9 
 
 9 
 
 -10 
 
 
 
 
 June 30, 1875 
 
 8 
 
 14 3-09 
 
 - 9 
 
 9 
 
 6 
 
 - 2i 
 
 13 
 
 July 15, 1875 
 
 Mutual arrangement at Darling-- 
 ton between enipbiyers and 
 men of north of England ^3 
 
 Till end of 1875 
 
 8 
 
 3 1-23 
 
 - 9 
 
 9 
 
 - 
 
 - 5 
 
 !•! 
 
 Jan, 18, 1876 
 
 Messrs. 'Williams and Mundella's 
 award 2* 
 
 Jan. 17— .Aug.l7, 187-1 
 
 7 
 
 10 4-09 
 
 - 9 
 
 8 
 
 3 
 
 - n 
 
 15 
 
 Aug. 2, 1877 
 
 Mr. Dale's award at Darlington. 
 ICniployers claim lo per cent, 
 reduction 
 
 Till Dec. 31, 18772'i... 
 
 6 
 
 17 1-43 
 
 1 62f' 
 
 8 
 
 3 
 
 = 
 
 16 
 
 Aprill3,1878 
 
 Mr. Dale's award 27 
 
 - 
 
 6 
 
 7 4'oi 
 
 I 3 
 
 7 
 
 6 
 
 — 7- 
 
 17 
 
 Jiin. 13,1879 
 
 Mr. Shaw-Lefevre's award at Dar- 
 lington. Employers claim re- 
 duction of 5 per cent.2« 
 
 For 2 months, and 
 thencefoi'th subject 
 to 1 month's notiie 
 
 6 
 
 - 5'37 
 
 I - 
 
 7 
 
 - 
 
 - 5 
 
 
 Sept. 18,1 879 
 
 Mr. Dale's award in tlie matter of 
 a special claim for reduction of 
 15 per cent, in tbe wages ot 
 sbinglers, rollers, heaters, and 
 shearmen 29 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 -12| 
 
 18 
 
 Sept. 18,1879 
 
 .Mr. Dale's award at Darlington. 
 Employers claim reduction of 
 5 per cent.30 
 
 Till December 21, and 
 then sul)ject to 1 
 month's notice 
 
 5 
 
 7 7-41 
 
 1 6 
 
 7 
 
 - 
 
 = 
 
 19 
 
 Dec. 22, 18:9 
 
 Employers concede advance of 
 i2i per cent.32a 
 
 Till May 1, 1880 
 
 5 
 
 5 _32b 
 
 3 - 
 
 8 
 
 3 
 
 +m 
 
 20 
 
 Dec. 22, 1879 
 
 Sliding scale fixed bv award of 
 
 For 3 months ending 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Mr. Dale (April 23, 1880) on 
 
 July 31, 1880 
 
 6 
 
 2 ir45^- 
 
 1 6 
 
 7 
 
 9 
 
 - 5 
 
 
 
 basis of \s. bd. over shillings 
 
 Oct. 31,18hO 
 
 6 
 
 10 8-90 
 
 1 6 
 
 8 
 
 
 + 2i 
 
 
 
 for pounds.si Sliding scale was 
 
 Jan. 31, 1881 
 
 6 
 
 8 0-0 1 
 
 1 6 
 
 8 
 
 _ 
 
 — 
 
 
 
 to last fur two years, Mav 1, 
 
 April 30, 1^81 
 
 6 
 
 4 396 
 
 1 6 
 
 7 
 
 9 
 
 - 2| 
 
 
 
 1880— May 1, 18S2 
 
 July 31, 1881 
 
 6 
 
 3 745 
 
 1 6 
 
 7 
 
 9 
 
 
 
 
 
 Oct. 31, 1881 
 
 6 
 
 2 1-74 
 
 1 6 
 
 / 
 
 6 
 
 -~2i 
 
 
 
 
 Jan. 31, 1882 
 
 5 
 
 19 804 
 
 1 6 
 
 7 
 
 6 
 
 
 
 
 
 April 30, 1882 
 
 5 
 
 18 1118 
 
 1 6 
 
 7 
 
 6 
 
 = 
 
 21 
 
 Feb. 6, 1882 
 
 At meeting of Board by mutual 
 arrangement. Advance of 7^ 
 per cent, conceded ^3 
 
 Till April 29, 1882 ... 
 
 5 
 
 18 iri8 
 
 2 334 
 
 8 
 
 3 
 
 + n 
 
 22 
 
 April 29,1 883 
 
 Mr. J. W. Pease's award at Mid- 
 dlesbrough.35 Workmen claim 
 advance of 7I per cent, for 
 current quarter, and arbitrator 
 is empowered to settle wages 
 from May 1 to October 28, 1882. 
 He awarded: — 
 
 Till Oct. 28, 1882 
 
 6 
 
 2 11 '23 
 
 32c 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 May 1— July 31, 1882. No 
 
 May 1— July 31, 1882 
 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 8 
 
 3 
 
 = 
 
 
 
 alteiatiim 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 August 1 — September 16. 
 
 Aug. 1— Sept. 16, 1882 
 
 6 
 
 6 11-97 
 
 — 
 
 8 
 
 6 
 
 + 24 
 
 
 
 24 per cent, advance 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 September 16— October 28. 
 
 Sept. 16— Oct. 28,1882] 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 8 
 
 9 
 
 -f 2i 
 
 
 
 2\ per cent, advance 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 23 
 
 Nov. 23.1882 
 
 Sir J. W. Pease's award at Mid- 
 dlesbrough. Workmen claim 
 advance of 7I per cent., and 
 employers a reduction of 7i per 
 cent. 
 
 Till last Saturday in 
 J'ebruary,1883,'and 
 then subject to 1 
 mouth's notice 
 
 6 
 
 8 6-49 
 
 1 93fi 
 
 8 
 
 3 
 
 - 5
 
 ITS ADVANTAGES, METHODS, AND DIFFICULTIES. 23 
 
 Table 1—Conid. 
 
 Number 
 
 of 
 Settlc- 
 ineiit. 
 
 Date 
 
 of 
 
 Settlement 
 
 Occasion and Nature 
 
 of the 
 
 Wages Settlement. 
 
 Duration 
 of Settlement. 
 
 Average 
 
 Selling Price 
 
 of 
 
 Iron. 
 
 Amount 
 
 over 
 Shillings 
 
 for 
 Pounds. 
 
 Wages 
 
 Ar- 
 ranged 
 
 (Long 
 Weight;. 
 
 Per- 
 centage 
 
 of 
 Advance 
 or Ke- 
 duction. 
 
 24 
 
 Mar.l9,188.S 
 
 Durliani agreement between mas- 
 ter and men, by which existing 
 rates of wages were continued 
 until September 29, and then a 
 sliding scale was to come into 
 force sinnlar to the former one 
 
 Till Sept. 29, 1883 ... 
 
 £ 
 6 
 
 s. d. 
 6 - 
 
 s. d. 
 
 s. d. 
 8 3 
 
 Per cut. 
 
 Zo 
 
 Mar. 19,1883 
 
 
 For 2 months endins;''* 
 Nov. 30, 1883 ...'... 
 Jan. 31. 1883 
 
 6 
 6 
 
 2 4-o8''9 
 -6 66 
 
 1 6 
 1 6 
 
 7 6 
 
 
 
 
 -J\ 
 
 26 
 
 Jan. 24,1884 
 
 Mr. R. S. Watson's award at 
 Newcastle. Employers claim 
 reduction of 5 per cent. 
 
 For 3 months ending 
 March 29, 1884 
 
 S 
 
 17 ii'.^4 
 
 1 6« 
 
 7 6« 
 
 =r 
 
 27 
 
 April 18,183) 
 
 Mr. R. S. Watson's award at 
 Newcastle. Employers claim 
 reduction of lo per cent. 
 
 .\pn\ 12— June 28, 
 1884 
 
 5 
 
 13 720 
 
 1 e*" 
 
 7 3 
 
 - 2J 
 
 28 
 
 June 9, 1884 
 
 Mutual arrangement between eni- 
 j)loyers and nien.^^ Employers 
 claim reduction of lo per cent. 
 
 For 3 months to Sep- 
 tember 27, 1884 
 
 5 
 
 8 11-41 
 
 1 6« 
 
 7 - 
 
 - 2i 
 
 29 
 
 Dec. 1, 1884 
 
 Mr. R. S. Watson's award at 
 JNewcastle. Employers claim 
 reduction of 5 per cent., and 
 workmen clann advance of 5 
 per cent. 
 
 Sept. 27— last Satur- 
 day in Jan., 1885 
 
 5 
 
 I 857« 
 
 
 H -46 
 
 
 RO 
 
 Oct. 28, 188.^ 
 
 Mr. R. S. Watson's award at 
 Newcastle.*" Employers claim 
 reduction of 7^ per cent. 
 
 For 3 months 
 
 
 17 7-75" 
 
 1 9 
 
 6 9 
 
 - 2i 
 
 Notes to preceding Table. 
 
 1 The average selling price is based upon the prices of bars, angles, plntes, and rails. 
 
 2 The custom of the tiade is to pay shillings of wages (and a certain amount over) for pounds of prices. Cf. II, 9. 
 
 3 There are two weights : imperial ton = 2,240 lbs., and long weight = 2,400 lbs., and the custom in the trade was to 
 pay by long weight; and even when in 1879 they were compelled by Act of Parliament to pay imperial weight (cf. II, ]), 
 still tlie calculations continued to be based upon long weight. Cf. VI, 4. 
 
 * This was the year in which the Hoard was formed. The figures from this time to January 18, 1876 (inclusive), are 
 based partly upon the figures supplied to Mr. Dale as arbitrator in July, 1877, and extracted from the minutes of the Board. 
 Cf. I. 18. 
 
 5 The average selling price for the previous yearly period, and based upon the statements of orders upon the books, 
 and the prices to be realised from them. These returns were not subjected to verificatiou by an accountant until 
 Vebruaiy, 1872. fy. I. 11, 15. 
 
 ^ 5 per cent, advance in other tonnage rates = 6d. per ton on puddling. Cf. II, 10 ; VI, 3. 
 
 ' Cf. I, 15. 
 
 8 Prices on hooks, but tlie award, according to the men [cf. II, 7), was really based on the prices quoted in the "Iron 
 " and Coal Trades lleview," which averaged 61. i2s. 6d. 
 
 9 Against this award the men protested. Cf. HI, 20. 
 
 10 Cf II, 7. 
 
 11 (f. statement in Mr. J. W. Pease's award. IV, 24. 
 
 12 Tlie principle was now adopted of fi.xing the rate of wages in accordance with the returns of selling prices in the 
 past. Cf II, 7. 
 
 '3 Tlie wages for the ensuing quarter were to be based upon the selling prices of the preceding quarter. 
 
 '* The returns of Mr. Waterhouse, the accountant to the Board, here begin. These are tlie figures for the three 
 months ending February 28, 1872, and are obtained by examination of the employers' books according to a method fully 
 described below. Cf. VI, 7, and infra, p. 67. 
 
 15 (f. IV, 7. 
 
 16 On this award the men base a contention that as wages have not followed prices in this case up to their highest 
 point, so they ought not to follow them down to their lowest point. Cf. IV, 7. 
 
 1' The prices were also placed before the arbitrator of the returns up to September .30, and =11/. I2S. 5'99d. Cf IV, 7. 
 
 1* = signifies that no alteration was made by the arbitrator. Cf. IV, 7. 
 
 18 A basis for a sliding scale for the two districts was also agreed upon, and a joint committee appointed to arrange 
 details. Cf.\W,l. 
 
 20 Meetings of the joint committee were held at Derby and London. At York the North of England employers at 
 first demanded a reduction of 20 per cent., but the Midland employers suggested a compromise of 10 per cent. Cf. IV, 8.
 
 24 INDUSTRIAL PEACE : 
 
 (ii). But the history of tlie successful working of tlie board is 
 icstructive on several other accounts, and it is hard to suppose that 
 any board of conciliation could have greater difBculties with which 
 to contend than those which have been triumphantly overcome 
 in the case of the manufactured iron trade of the north. And 
 hence we may fairly argue from its undoubted success to the 
 likelihood of equal, and if possible greater, success in other 
 industries and other districts. 
 
 Previously to the formation of the board the relations between 
 masters and men seem to have been of the most unfriendly descrip- 
 tion. The trade itself had been characterised by a development of 
 
 21 The figures from this point to De<"enil)er 31. 1881 (Feliruary 6, 1882), are hased partly on those placed before the 
 iirbitriitor bv llie employers on January 4, 1884 (cf. VI, 3 and 4), and, so far as mere accuracy goes, recognised as correct by 
 the men. C/^. VI, 4. 
 
 22 Based upon the prices for the three moiiHis pmling May ?t\. Obtained in a manner described below. Cf. 1, 11. 
 
 23 At a meeting at Newcastle on Mardi 6, 1875, tlie jiorth of Kiigland employers resolved to give notice of the 
 discdutinuance of the scale after the oOth of June following. I, 18. The masters .say this was necessitated by the dicline 
 <if the iron rail trade. I, 11. 
 
 2* At this arbitration a single umpire, together with two arbitrators, was appointed, and tlie award was made by the 
 arbitrators. The award gave great dissatisfaction to the men, and they claimed that a new principle was introduced, 
 i.e., that the decision was based on the depression of trade, and not on the' selling prices. Cf. I, 6; I, 17 ; VI, II. 
 
 25 And thenceforward subject to tliree months' notice of alteration. 
 
 2* It seems to have lieen aliout this figure, and to have risen to is gd. and 2s. Cf. VI, 5. 
 
 27 The men contend that this award \mis not based upon selling iirices. 11, 6. 
 
 28 The men contend that the \\'ords of tlie aibitrator show that the award was based not upon selling prices, but upon 
 Staffordshire rates. Cf. VI, 5. Here too there was a single umpire together with two arbitrators. VI. 11. 
 
 29 Some doubt was felt as to the e.xact intcrprelalion of the award, and Mr. Dale was asked liis opinion upon the 
 matter in October. At this meeting the nominal I2| per cent, on the gross earnings, and the 8j per cent, on the net 
 earnings, was modified (07^ per cent. (cf. Ill, 21). But the "heliiers" still olijeeted, and Mr. Dale sat as arbitrator in a 
 ease wliere the hrlpers at Consett were specially concerned, on November 29, 1879, and a furtlier modification seems to have 
 been made {if. IV, 19). An unsuccessful apjieal was also made to Mr. Dale on November 27, 1880, and to Mr. J. W. Pease 
 on .^pril I.i. 1882, to restore this special reduction. Cf. IV, 19 (= 22 in the table.) 
 
 3" This awaid established no "pernianent" relation between selling prices and wages (rf. Ill, 15). 
 
 31 In the previous negotiations the employers offered shillings for pouiuls, and tlie men claimed is. 6d. Tlie 
 employers tlini advanced to is. 31/., and the decision between this and is. bd. as the basis of the scale was referred to 
 Mr. Dale, « ho fixed it at is. 6d. Cf. VI, 4 and 5. 
 
 32 These figures are for the quarter ending March 31, 1880, &c., and so on throughout the scale. Cf. VI, 3. 
 
 32a Cf. IV, 9. Given in consideration of the American boom, and in anticipation, and to induce the acceptance of the 
 sliding .scale, but not "justified" by actual results. IV, 11, 24; VI, 10, 14; VIl, 9 
 
 32b r/-. VI, 13. 
 
 32c The amount of sliillings for pounds would apparently be for No. 1 in the table 2s.; 2, 2s. 6J ; 3, 2s.; 4, 2s. 6</. ; 
 9, Ii 3/ ; 10,91/; 11, 6(/. below shillings; 22, 2i. aliove shillings, 2i. 3c?., 25. 61/.; and for No. 29, 2i. The general principle 
 on which the calculation is made is set-mingly of the fnUowing natuie: for every pound, one shilling; for every quarter of 
 a pound (i.e., 5s.), a quarter of a shilling (i.e., ^d.}. Until prices have reached the half-crown, coming liaif way between 
 the 5.S., wages are calculated on the basis of the previous j.t., but when prices have passed beyond the half-crown, on 
 tne succeeding ^s. Thus on the basis of is. 6d. over shillings fur pounds, 5/. would give 6s. 6d ; 5/. 5*., 6s. gd.; 5/. los., 
 •js. ; 5/. IS. 6d., 6s. 6d. ; 5?. ^s. 6d., 6s. gd. Cf. IX, 5. Cf. also " Shding Scales in the Iron Industry," by J. E. C. Munro, 
 p 10. 
 
 33 The men were dissatisfied with the returns of prices for the quarter ending December 31, 1881, and some of them 
 intimated by notice to the employers their intention of stopping work after January 31, 1882. The Board passed a 
 resolution stating that immediate inquiry should be made into the question of wages, but that all must continue at work. 
 Ill some cases, however, a stoppage actually took place, and a demand for 74 per cent. aJ'vance was coueeded by the Board 
 on Kebruary 6. 
 
 3* C/-. Mr. J. W. Pease's award. C/. IV, 23. 
 
 35 Cf. 29 supra. A strike followed this award, but Mr. (then Sir) J. W. Pease was again selected as arbitrator in 
 November. Cf. V, 6. The award was partly based on prospective prices. 
 
 36 (7A. VI, 6. 
 
 37 iVntice was given on November 22, 1883, to suspend the scale on December 29, 1883. 
 
 38 Prices were to be ascertained every two instead of every three mouths. Cf. VII, 6. 
 
 39 = prices for the two months ending August 31, 18S3. 
 
 ■*° Cy. VI 6; Vil,9. -ii Cy. VII,4. 42 fy, VIII, 3. 
 
 *3 Cf. VIII, 8. The application of the award dated from October 1, and the last ascertaiiinient previous was for 
 July — August, and = 5/. 35. iiogti., but the aibitrator bad also before him the September— October returns. Cf. IX, 10. 
 ■" '1 he question of a shding scale had heen discussed since the last arbitration. IX, 4. 
 ■15 Cf IX, 4. « Cf. IX, 6 and 17. *7 Cf. IX, 10. 
 
 N.B. — For the compilation of this table I ought to say that /am sole!;/ responsible. Errors of detail may have crept 
 ill, and the table is unfortunately not complete in all particulars. But I have endeavoured to secure as much completeness 
 and freidoin from error as the e.vaniination of the reports of arbitration cases has enabled me to attain, and in a numlier of 
 instances I have fortunately had the opportunity of copying veibutiia from these reports. The particular sources of my 
 jnlormalioii on each point are indicated in the preceding liotes.
 
 ITS ADVANTAflES, METHODS, AND DIFFICULTIES. "•) 
 
 extraordiuai'j rapidity. I'lie labour, Mr. Crompton" tells us, had 
 been chiefly supplied by immigrants from other districts or trades, 
 and among their number were several Irishmen. The sudden 
 increase in the population of Middlesbrough between 1861 and 
 1871" abundantly illustrates this point, and the men employed in 
 the trade were thus to a large extent complete strangers to the 
 masters. This fact alone was of very unfavourable promise for the 
 existence of amicable relations. 
 
 The labour again of puddling iron calls for a considerable 
 amount of hard physical toil, and is so exhaustive in character that 
 it is anything but calculated to promote intellectual self-culture 
 among the workmen in their leisure hours. 
 
 In this respect at least there can be no doubt that the substitu- 
 tion of steel for iron is attended by great advantage. For, by the 
 Bessemer process of manufacturing steel almost direct from the 
 blast-furnace, and the Gilchrist-Thomas and otber modifications 
 of that process, the exhaustion of the iron puddling- furnace" is 
 avoided, and the burden of the physical labour is shifted from the 
 shoulders of men on to the shoulders of nature. The change has 
 indeed its melancholy side, for, like most similar changes, it is 
 apparently producing a temporary displacement of specially-trained 
 labour. But if there is any truth in Mr. Nasmyth's assertion, that 
 " if you call for the brute force of a man, you will degrade the 
 " man," and will compel him to seek excitement rather than intel- 
 lectual improvement in his leisure hours,*® then on this ground, if 
 on no otlier, the change is to be welcomed. 
 
 Again and again at coui-ts of arbitration do the workmen's 
 representatives allude to the exhaustive nature of their work. Thus 
 in July, 1877, we read in the workmen's reply :*** " In no ti-ade are 
 " workmen subject to more physical exhaustion than in the iron 
 " trade .... in fact the nature of our employment is so dirty, 
 '• disagi-eeable, and uncertain that very few can be induced to enter 
 " it, and from its exhaustive nature men are unable to follow their 
 " employment after reaching 45 or 50 years of age .... A few 
 " years at the puddling furnace makes a man prematurely old, 
 " saps his energy, and makes him unfit for further emplojment." 
 Before Mr. Shaw-Lefevre in December, 1878, the workmen main- 
 tain a similar position.^" " We would," they urge, " ask them " 
 (i.e., the employers) " to pause and consider the laborious nature 
 
 « Cf. " Industrial Conciliation," p. 54. *"= io8 per cent. 
 
 •" It should be noticed, however, that niachii ery has also been invented to 
 relieve the labour of the puddling furnace. 
 
 ••« Cf. Tenth Report of Trades Union Commissioners, 1868, p. 65, quoted in 
 the " Economics of Industry," I, VIII, 9. 
 
 *« Cf. I, p. 8. *» Cf. II, p. 4.
 
 26 INDUSTRIAL PEACE : 
 
 " of our work, the vast numbers that have left our trade, never 
 " to return, the difficulty in inducing youths to enter a trade so 
 '' exhaustive, uncertain, and unremunerative in its character." And 
 again,''' " It is well known that our labour is the most exhaustive 
 " and disagreeable that is voluntarily undertaken by man, and as 
 " Mr. C. M. Palmer, M.P., stated, unfit for human beings to per- 
 " form ; that in no trade do workmen destroy so many clothes 
 " and shoes, require so much food to support and enable them to 
 " follow their employment ; that no trade is so uncertain," and in 
 no other trade do " men suffer so much loss of time on account of 
 " sickness caused by physical exhaustion, inability to continue at 
 " work during hot weather, breakages, and various other causes 
 " over which men have no control." Nor are these statements 
 put forward by one side only, for Mr. Whitwell, an employer and 
 Pre.sident of the Board, affirms''" before Mr. Dale, in August, 1879, 
 that "ironworkers' labour is hard." 
 
 We may, then, readily believe that a puddler, who was asked to 
 speak at a meeting at Sunderland, was expressing a gi*eat deal of 
 truth in a small number of words, when he said that he was sorry 
 that he had been asked to speak, because he was " not educated, hut 
 " loas a pr(,ddler,^^ and the comment of one of the workmen's dele- 
 gates at the board upon this is veiy significant, and can hardly be 
 suspected of excessive exaggeration. " Puddlers," he says, "as a 
 " class ai'e not very intelligent, and if they were very intelligent 
 " they would not be pnddlers."^^ We need not therefore be 
 astonished, the wonder would rather be that it should be otherwise, 
 if we meet with evidence to which we may again have occasion to 
 refer — of difficulty experienced in some instances by the representa- 
 tives of the men in obtaining the adherence of their constituents to 
 the decisions of the board. Thus the workmen state before the arbi- 
 trator in April, 1882,^^ that " at various times the existence of the 
 " board has been jeopardised, but the loyalty of the majority has 
 " enabled us to be successful." And again, ''^ " many times owing 
 " to the action of either employers or workmen, the continuance of 
 " the board has been in great danger." Mr. Trow, the workmen's 
 secretary, ^"^ urges before the arbitrator at Newcastle, in January, 
 1884, that he is " often told " that he is an " employer's man," and 
 the employers frankly recognise the difficulties of the position 
 occupied by the representatives of the men. Thus Mr. Whitwell, 
 in July, 1877, says," that he quite admits that there is " an amount 
 
 s' Cf. II, p. 17. '- Of. Ill, p. 11. 
 
 =3 Cf. IX, p. 18. Cf. contra, VI, p. 12. 
 
 5* Cf. IV, p. 6. 55 Cf. IV, p. 16. 
 
 5« Cf. VI, p. 19. " Cf. I, p. 17.
 
 ITS ABVANTACIIOS, METHODS, AND DIFFlCUr^TIES. 27 
 
 " of covert irritation'^'^ tliroughoat tlie lodges connected" with the 
 hoard, and he adds, " we have no opportunity to know exactly 
 " how strong- it is, and therefore I feel great sympathy, more than 
 " I would, like to express at this table, for the operative members 
 " present at this meeting. They have a great deal to contend with. 
 " Whereas we only represent our individual firms, they speak for 
 " hundreds and thousands of men, who all have something to say 
 " to them when they meet them at their various meetings." 
 The ai'bitrator himself, who was on that occasion Mr. Dale, says^" 
 that he believes the difficulties of the workmen have been great 
 in inducing large bodies of men to appreciate the reasons for 
 their conduct at the meetings of the board. 
 
 But if there are these difficulties connected with the working of 
 the board, the position of affairs previous to its formation was still 
 more unpromising. In 1866 there was a strike and. lock-out lasting 
 for some five months, and. " producing a great deal of misery on the 
 " one side, and a great deal of poverty on the other." '^° This was 
 followed by an arrangement among the masters for " combined 
 " action," and the formation of a large "guarantee fund," out of 
 which payment was to be made to employers who were " troubled 
 " by strikes," as compensation for any reasonable loss they might 
 thus have sustained. The relations between the two parties, which 
 indeed were far from amicable before this, now became even more 
 unfriendly, and we find more than one allusion ''^ in the arbitration 
 reports to this unsatisfactory state of affairs. In 1869, however, 
 steps were taken which led to the formation of a board of conciliation 
 and arbitration. A demand for an advance in wages had been made 
 by the men, and their representatives met the masters at a con- 
 ference, and it was as the outcome of this conference that the board 
 was established. The plan on which it is formed is described in 
 detail by Mr. Watson in the pamphlet to which we have referred,''* 
 and in its broad outlines it may be said, if we except the absence 
 of a legal character and of legal sanctions, to resemble the consti- 
 tution of the French and Belgian conseils de prud'hommes,'^^ and 
 may be taken as a type of most, if not all, of the boards of con- 
 ciliation and courts of arbiti^ation established in this country. 
 
 (b). It is of the following nature. The men belonging to the 
 different works are represented in each case by one delegate who is 
 chosen by ballot, and the employers, after a similar fashion, have 
 also in the case of each firm a single representative. The members 
 
 ** This feeling seems to have been occasioned during a special dispute with a 
 particular firm. 
 53 Cf. I, p. 18. 
 
 6" Cf. II, p. 9. «• Cf. T, p. 6; VI, p. 18, 
 
 (i2 Qj> <i Boards of Ai-bitration," &c., pp. 3 and 4. 
 •*■' Cf. infra, p. 29.
 
 28 
 
 INDUSTRIAL PEACE 
 
 of the Board elect a President and one Secretary from among the 
 representatives of the masters, and a Vice-President and a second 
 Secretary from among the representatives of the men. There are 
 also two auditors, two treasui^ers, and a referee. Besides this 
 a Standing Committee is elected by the Board, consisting of five 
 representatives (exclusive of the Vice-President) of the men, and 
 ten representatives (exclusive of the President) nominated by the 
 employers, five of whom alone are able to discuss or vote upon any 
 question ; for the larger number is merely allowed to meet the 
 difficulty occasioned by the greater frequency v^^ith v^hich the 
 employers, as contrasted with the men, may be called away from 
 home upon business-engagements. The President and Vice-Presi- 
 dent, who are by virtue of their office members of all committees, 
 have no power of voting. The regular meetings of the Board are 
 held twice a year, and on other occasions when specially summoned 
 by the Standing Committee, which holds its own meetings every 
 month, or, should business require, at more frequent intervals. 
 
 All questions are in the first instance investigated by the Com- 
 mittee. They must be submitted in writing to the secretai-ies seven 
 days before the meeting, and the written reply of the other side is 
 usually laid before the same meeting. " Prior to the investigation 
 " an agreement of submission is signed " by the representatives of 
 the employers and employed concerned in the matter under dispute. 
 Should the Standing Committee be unable to agree, the assistance 
 of the referee, who has power to take evidence, is invoked. All 
 questions can be settled in this way with the exception of a general 
 rise or fall in wages and the appointment of an arbitrator ; and 
 these can be determined by the Board alone. The Board also 
 decides matters referred to it from the Standing Committee, and 
 selects an arbitrator if it cannot itself arrive at an agreement. 
 
 The arbitrator holds a " court," as it is called, at a time and 
 place which he appoints. Some time before the court sits, the 
 party making the application furnishes the arbitrator and the 
 individual members of the board with a pi'inted statement of the 
 arguments on which it bases its claim, and the opposing party 
 replies with a printed answer. " The members of the Board attend 
 "the court ;" the advocates appointed by either side commence the 
 arguments for and against the application ; the discussion is con- 
 tinued, and opportunity given to any member of the board, who is 
 desirous of so doing, to contribute his share. The arbitrator 
 requires any evidence which he considers necessary ; and, when he 
 has determined upon his award, it is printed and sent to each 
 member of the board. The necessary expenses connected with the 
 board are defrayed by the subtraction of id. every fortnight from 
 the wages of every workman who earns from 2s. 6/1. a day, and by
 
 ITS ADVANTAGES, METUODS, AND Dll'FiriJLTIKS. 29 
 
 the payment bj each firm of an amount equal to that deducted 
 from the wages of the workmen in their employment. All members 
 of the board, employers and employed alike, are paid at one and the 
 same rate out of these common funds. 
 
 (c). With some exceptions, then, on points of detail, to which 
 we shall aftei'wards allude, the broad outlines of this system 
 reappear in the constitntion of most of the boards of conciliation 
 and courts of arbitration established in this country ; and there can 
 be little doubt that the type on which they have been modelled is 
 the constitution of the " conseils de prud'hommes " found on the 
 Continent in France and Belgium. The features of these "conseils 
 " de prud'hommes" have been familiarised to English economic 
 students by the description given of them in Jevons's " State in 
 " Relation to Labour."''* He traces their origin to the " experts " 
 or "prud'hommes" selected by the mediaeval French guilds to 
 appraise the genuineness of manufactured goods, and to adjust such 
 disputes as might arise between manufacturers and merchants at 
 the various markets and fairs. He shows how such institutions of 
 this character as still survived were abolished at the revolution ; 
 how scarcely a decade passed before the necessity of some form of 
 trade-tribunal was felt by the city of Lyons at least, and how the 
 " conseil " which was legally established thera became the type of 
 similar tribunals in other towns. 
 
 The members of these French " conseils " are, he states, elected 
 in equal numbers respectively by masters and men, the " maire " 
 performing the functions discharged by our English overseers iu 
 connection with the registers of parliamentary electors, and the 
 " prefet " taking the part of our returning-ofBcer. The president, 
 however, and vice-president are nominated by the central govern- 
 ment. The " conseil " retains its authority for three years, and is 
 divided into two bureaux or committees. The " bureau particulier," 
 consisting of one master and one man, sits every day for two hours • 
 and the disputants are, in the first instance, "invited" to come 
 before this bureau to explain their difficulties and to arrive if 
 possible, at an amicable settlement by means of conciliation. 
 Should this result, however, not be attained, they are then 
 formally summoned before the " bureau general," which must be 
 composed of five members at least, and holds weekly meetinc^s. 
 The " bureau general," after the same fashion as an English 
 arbitrator, disposes authoritatively of the matter. 
 
 (i). Here then we have a legalised machinery of arbitration and 
 conciliation. The " conseils " seem upon the whole to have worked 
 with considerable success. Mr. W. H. S. Aubrey, in an euloo-istic 
 
 64 (y_ <« Tije gj;atc in Kelation to Labour," jip. 159 and 160.
 
 80 INDUSTEIAL PEACE : 
 
 article in the "Contemporary Review,""^ shows by an "illustrative 
 " instance " how " substantial justice " may be obtained through 
 their agency in a brief space of time and at a nominal cost ; and 
 M. Chevalier is said to have termed them " une des plus nobles 
 "creations dont notre siecle s'lionore.""" 
 
 But from an English point of view there seem to be considerable 
 disadvantages inherent in their constitution ; and these disadvan- 
 tages attach to them by reason of their legal character. The " maire " 
 of the " commune," as we have noticed above, is to prepare the voting 
 lists ; the " prefet " is to act as returning-officer ; the president" and 
 vice-president are — or were until lately — to be nominated by the 
 executive government ; and petitions for the establishment of the 
 " conseils " are to be addressed to the Minister of Commerce. The 
 " conseils " are thus closely connected with, the municipalities ; and 
 Mr. Aubrey draws attention to an incidental drawback attaching 
 to this when he states that in Paris, with all its variety of trades, 
 there are only four separate "conseils." The appeal again from 
 the decisions of the "bureaux" lies to the "tribunals of com- 
 " merce," and failing these, to the civil courts.®® It is true that 
 Mr. Aubrey tells us that few such appeals are made, but the fact 
 that this provision exists is corroborative proof, — if proof be 
 needed, — of the legal character of the "conseils;" and he also 
 states that in districts where there are no " conseils" established, 
 the mattei'S which would come under their cognisance are decided 
 by the ordinary "justices of the peace." 
 
 (ii.) Now, the first and fundamental objection to this legal 
 character is that it is not in harmony with English, traditions or 
 inclinations. It has been forcibly argued by Mr. Rae"' in his 
 " Contemporary Socialism," that the "secret of the pathetic story 
 "of modern France" is to be found in its "over-government." 
 Revolution has followed revolution ; but, with every change in the 
 form of government, its authority has remained the same. " The 
 " struggle for freedom has thus been corrupted into a struggle for 
 " power." This tendency has thoroughly permeated the theory 
 and practice of the French ; and a familiar but instructive indica- 
 
 •^^ Cf. " Contemporary Review," April, 1883, vol. xliv, " Conseils de 
 " Prud'hommes," by W. H. S. Aubrey. 
 
 68 Cf. Eeport on the Practical Operation of Arbitration and Conciliation in 
 the Settlement of Difterences between Employers and Employees in England, by 
 J. D. Weeks, p. 2, sec. I. 
 
 "' M. Leroy-Beaulieu alludes to a " loi nouvelle qui donne aux conseils de 
 " prud'hommes le droit de choisir eu.x-memes leur president " {cf. " Essai sur la 
 " repartition des richesses," 2nd edit., 1883, p. 39-J.) ; but 1 have not been able to 
 discover the particulars of this law. 
 
 "* M.g., the Court of Cassation. 
 
 «■' Cf. " Contemporary Socialism," by John Pae, pp. 23 and 24.
 
 ITS ADVANTAGES, METHODS, AND DIFFICCLTIKS. 31 
 
 tion of this is to be found in the ambition commonly attributed to 
 the ordinary French boy of becoming a government official.''" 
 
 But in England there can hardly be said to be as yet any such 
 decided tendency. There was scarcely anything more significant 
 tban the difference of attitude exhibited" by Fi'ench and English 
 working-men, at a conference of trades unionists held in 1883 
 in the French metropolis, and attended by a deputation fi'om the 
 English trades unions. The former looked to the State as the 
 one agency of economic improvement ; the latter, taught by the 
 history of the past, felt and maintained that they must rely in the 
 main — as they had done with conspicuous success — upon their own 
 efforts for their own amelioration. A similar difference of attitude 
 was shown at the Industrial Remuneration Conference which met 
 in London in the January of 1885, and may be seen by com- 
 paring a paper read'' by a representative of French workmen, a 
 M. Adolphe Smith — a delegate, it is true, of the '" Federation des 
 " Travailleurs Socialistes de France," but still a writer whose paper 
 contains sufficiently typical indications of the general position of 
 French workmen — with the papers" of Mr. J. G. Hutchinson and 
 — more especially— of Mr. J. Mawdsley. And in considering this 
 point — as indeed in considering the general question of concilia- 
 tion — it must be borne in mind that the operation of any system 
 of industrial arbitration or conciliation must command the active 
 support, or at least insure the acquiescence, of trades unionists, if 
 it is to succeed in the primary aim it ought to have in view — the 
 aim of minimising the friction between employers and employed. 
 
 It is true indeed — and should be mentioned — that upon this 
 special point there is some evidence of a contrary effect to that to 
 which we have already alluded. For the President of the Trades 
 Union Congress at South port in the autumn of 1885 declared that 
 it was his oijinion'* that the time had " arrived for compulsory 
 " arbitration ;" and the legal sanction of the principle which does 
 exist on the English statute-book was appai'ently due in a great 
 degree to the efforts of trades unionists." 
 
 But it can hardly be doubted that the balance of evidence shows 
 that there is likely to be far more opportunity for the growth of 
 
 70 cy, "The Man versus the St.ite," by Herbert Spencer, pp. 30 and 31. 
 
 71 Qj- ,c Trade Unions," by W. Trant, p. 63. This report was written before 
 the meeting in Paris in 1886, but the text would be in the main correct even if it 
 were applied to this later meeting. Cf. also Second Report of the Eoyal Com- 
 mission on the Depression of Trade, part II, App. E, p. 135. 
 
 '2 Cf. Industrial Remuneration Conference Eeport, p. 473, &c. The italics 
 are my own. 
 
 " Cf. op. cit., especially pp. 57, 58, and 160. 
 
 '■» Cf. Report of the Eighteenth Annual Trades Union Congress, held at 
 Southport, 7th— 12th September, 1885, p. 18. 
 
 " Cf. " Conflicts of Capital and Labour," by G. Howell, X, 32 ; XI, 4
 
 32 INDUSTRIAL PEACE : 
 
 amicable relations where compulsory action is absent. Mr. Weeks, 
 in an exhaustive report on arbitration and conciliation furnished 
 to the Government of the United States of America in 1878, '" states 
 that the " conseils de prud'hommes " themselves have not proved 
 as successful in Belgium as they have been in France, and the 
 reason he urges for this result is that the Belgian conseils " have 
 " in some cases criminal jurisdiction." And, were there no other 
 evidence of English opinion forthcoming, it would be sufficient to 
 point to the fact that there is provision upon the English statute- 
 book for legalised arbitration, and that this provision apparently 
 remains a dead letter. 
 
 Jevons alludes" to a " series of acts" passed in the eighteenth 
 century " for the settlement of disputes in particular trades ;" and 
 states that these various acts were "consolidated" in an act of the 
 fifth year of the reign of George the Fourth,''* which apparently 
 still remains in force, and established a " general law relating to " 
 the " arbitration of disputes in every branch of trade and manu- 
 " facture." The arbitration was to be effected by the agency of a 
 body of "persons" — consisting of equal numbers of masters and 
 men — " nominated by the justice of the peace." Out of this body 
 the disputants were on either side to choose one referee, and the 
 referees thus selected had full powers to decide the matter. In 
 case, however, of disagreement, other referees " could be appointed, 
 " and, in the last resort, the justices " of the peace might settle 
 the dispute. 
 
 So late, again, as the year ISG?,'^ an act was passed to establish 
 " councils of conciliation " in England, after the model of the 
 French " conseils.'' The Queen or the Home Secretary could grant 
 a license for the formation of such a council, on the presentation of 
 a joint petition from any number of masters and men who had 
 resided for six months previously in the district, and — in the case of 
 the men — had worked for seven years previously at the trade. The 
 council, which was to be elected by the petitioners in the first 
 instance — and afterwards annually by all inhabitant householders 
 who enjoyed similar qualifications — was to consist of not less than 
 two or more than ten masters, and two or more than ten men — 
 three of whom were to constitute a quorum — together with a 
 chairman who was to have a casting vote, and was not to be 
 connected with the trade. A committee of conciliation " appointed 
 " by the council, and consisting of one master and one vrorkman," 
 was to try to reconcile the disputants in the first instance; and 
 
 '6 Cf. Keport of J. D. Weeks5, p. 2, sec. I. 
 
 " Cf. " State in Relation to Labour," p. 151, &c. 
 
 " 5 Geo. IV, cap. 96. 
 
 " Cf. op. cit., pp. 161 — 163 ; 30 and 31 Vict., cap. 105.
 
 I'J'S ADVANTAGES, METHODS, AND DIFFICULTIES. 33 
 
 then, slionkl the attempt fail, the inatler was to go before tlio 
 rouncil. Its award was to be final, and might be enforced by 
 "distress, sale, or imprisonment." 
 
 An Arbitration Act*"' was also passed in 1872, at the instance 
 of Mr. Mundella. This Act gave facilities for the creation of an 
 elastic system of arbitration, the local details of which were to be 
 laid down in each, case in an agreement made between individual 
 master and individual workmen, and were therefore to be binding 
 as part of the contract of hiring. 
 
 Here then we have the machinery for legalised arbitration, and 
 yet it seems never to have been put into working. Mr. Bevan, 
 indeed, in the paper upon strikes to which we have before 
 referred,*' recommends the establishment of a system in England 
 analogous to that of the French " conseils " — with twelve councils 
 in different districts of the kingdom, and a superior boai"d of 
 appeal. But this seems, if we may say so, to be rather the 
 opinion of an outsider than the opinion of those acquainted with 
 the internal relations of industrial workers. 
 
 The reports of the Royal Commission on the Depression of 
 Trade supply some meagre information upon the point, but the 
 evidence thus obtained is conflicting. Among the answers furnished 
 by diiferent Chambers of Commerce to the questions addressed to 
 them by the Commissioners, we find that the Metal Trades' section 
 in London is " very much in favour " " of the establishment of 
 " boards of arbitration and conciliation between masters and 
 " workmen, to minimise the national loss from strikes;" and would 
 apparently wish such boards to be established by legislation.**- The 
 Macclesfield Chamber of Commerce thinks that a "remedy" for 
 " unfortunate misunderstandings between capital and labour," 
 " might be found in the establishment of boards of arbiti'ation and 
 " conciliation, similar to those in existence on the Continent."*** 
 But the North Shields and Tynemouth Chamber, while advocating 
 " a board of arbitration between capital and labour," and holding 
 that " the want of sympathy between capital and labour has tended 
 " to strangle trade," thinks that such a board " would be beneficial 
 " independently of legislation."**^ The Derby and Hull Chambers 
 allude to " strikes and the fear of strikes," but do not advocate any 
 method of conciliation.*^ In the evidence given before the commis- 
 sioners, we find Mr. Holmshaw,** a representative of the Sheffield 
 
 8» 35 and 36 Vict., cap. 46. 
 
 *i Cf. supra, p. 5. 
 
 8'^ Cf. Second Report, part I, A))p. R, p. 393, ans. 13 (a). 
 
 8» Cf. First Report, App. A, p. 96, ans. 14 («). 
 
 ** Cf. op. cit., p. 107, ans. 13 and 11 {a). 
 
 «5 Cf. Second Report, part I, Aj'p. B, pp. 386—387, ans. 10 and 14. 
 
 8« Cf. Q. 1245—47.
 
 34 INDUSTRIAL PEACE : 
 
 Trades Council, stating that if a " council or chamber of industry," 
 consisting of an equal number of representatives of operatives and 
 of manufacturers or middlemen, " were invested with power to 
 " settle by amicahle^'' negotiation the rate of wages by piecework" 
 in certain of the Slieffield trades it " would be a powerful agency 
 "for preventing strikes," and for "bringing about a better under- 
 " standing between capital and labour," and would be warmly 
 welcomed by the trade-societies. And Mr. Albert Simpson, ®® a 
 cotton-spinner at Preston, is of opinion that " tribunals of arbitra- 
 " tion " " woiild not answer." 
 
 An opinion has indeed been put forward that the existence of 
 such a legalised machinery for the settlement of industrial disputes 
 as official tribunals of arbiti-ation, would tend to diminish the 
 frequency, and to mitigate the severity, of these disputes, even if 
 recourse to it were optional and not compulsory. But there does 
 not seem to be any more adequate reason for incurring the expense 
 necessitated by the establishment of such a machinery, than there 
 was for passing an Agricultural Holdings Act in 1875, out of the 
 provisioDS of which the parties concerned could at once contract 
 themselves, and then arguing that it had proved useful as a pattern 
 on which to model voluntary agreements between landlord and 
 tenant with regard to compensation for unexhausted improvements. 
 
 (iii.) If indeed the two parties of employei's and employed 
 looked with favour upon the institution of legalised industrial 
 tribunals, it is doubtful whether there are not further disadvan- 
 tages incidental to such a method of procedure, and whether these 
 disadvantages ai*e not of so grave a character as to outweigh any 
 possible advantages. For we are at once confronted by the 
 imminent probability of the growth of a body of elaborate law 
 attaching to the practice and decisions of these courts. In France 
 indeed, according to Mr. Aubrey, no arg'uraent is admitted at the 
 time of hearing but merely a simple statement of the case and 
 equally simple explanations. In England the act of 1867 laid 
 down the important principle that " no counsel, solicitors, or 
 " attorneys " were to be heard before the councils or committees 
 witliout the consent of both parties. But against this we have to 
 set the fact that a body of law has actually grown up around the 
 French conseils, and that more than one special manual upon the 
 subject has proceeded from the pen of French advocates. And 
 the danger of the growth of elaborate technicalities, and possibly 
 of a regular body of professional advocates, is forcibly illustrated 
 by the experience of voluntary arbitration, and the tendency 
 there exhibited to institute and enforce precedents. Thus in the 
 
 8' The italics arc iny own. »» Cf. Q. 5493.
 
 ITS ADYANTAGE.S, METHODS, AND DIFFICULTIES. 35 
 
 Nui-tliuniborlaiid c-oal tratlo, we find the men protesting *"" before the 
 arbitrator in December, 1875, against the action of the employers^" 
 in carrying back their comparison of wages and prices to 1871, 
 and thus apparently " ignoring " the award of Sir Rupert Kettle 
 in March, 1875, instead of using that as a basis for the case now 
 before them ; and Lord Herschell himself in his award expresses'" 
 his agreement with tlie view urged by the men "that the last 
 " award ought, as a rule, to be taken as the starting point." "To 
 " act otherwise," he adds, " would be to necessitate going over the 
 " same ground on every occasion that a dilfference arises as 
 " to wages, and to prevent anything like a settled system being 
 " arrived at. Prior matters ought only to be looked to, I think, 
 " on clear proof of misapprehension or mistake." Despite of this, 
 in the next arbitration before Sir Lyon Playfair in September, 
 1876, we find, the same complaint urged by"* the men about the 
 action of the masters, and a similar expression of opinion from the 
 mouth of the arbitrator. Nor are the facts dissimilar from this 
 in the case of arbitrations in the manufactured iron trade of the 
 North of England. Objection is also raised, as we shall sub- 
 sequently notice, both in the Northumberland coal trade and in 
 the maniifactured iron trade, to changes in the general character of 
 the basis on which the award is to be given — whether for instance 
 the relation of wages to selling prices is to be the guiding con- 
 sideration, or whether the current wages in other districts, and 
 such circumstances as depression in trade, fluctuations in the 
 labour market, and alterations in the cost of materials and of 
 management, are to be taken into account. 
 
 Changes, too, in the method of procedure are jealously watched 
 In the iron trade Mr. Cullen objects^'' before Mr. Dale in 1877 — ■ 
 an objection indeed which is overruled by the arbitrator — to an 
 " innovation " by which the employers' case is to be read and 
 opened by a master other than the employers' secretary. " It is 
 " different," he urges, " to what we have done before, and we 
 " should not allow any changes to crop up at these ai'bitrations 
 " without explanation." And later on he contends : — " It is our 
 
 •^8 Cf. H, pp. 22 iind 25. We sliall liuve occasion to refer more tliun once to 
 tliree cases of arhitrsition in the Nortliuniberhincl coal trade; and it will abbreviate 
 tlie notes if we distingnisli the re]K)rts (copies of which I owe to the kindness of 
 Mr. Ralph Young, Secretary of the Northumberland Miners' Mutual Confident 
 Association) as under : — 
 
 K, report of arbitration before Sir (then Mr.) R. Kettle in March, 1875. 
 H, „ Lord (then Mr.) F. Herschell in December, 
 
 1875. 
 P, „ Sir (then Dr.) Lyon Playfair in September, 
 
 1876. 
 "» Cf. H, p. 7. '^i Cf. H, p. 237. 
 
 '« Cf. V, pp. 28 and 132. "» Cf. I, p. 4. 
 
 D 2
 
 3G INDUSTEIAL PEACE: 
 
 " duty to prevent any innovations on the recognised forms of the 
 " Arbitration Board, because, if we once break the rules, v^^e may 
 " never see the end of it." And his colleague, Mr. Trow, adds: — 
 " In every case that crops up there is something new introduced 
 " by the employers' side. We first fixed on a basis to settle wages, 
 " and that was abandoned by the employers. Now we have a 
 " precedent established the first time that this Board " " met, and 
 " acted upon on every occasion since, about to be departed from 
 " because the present secretary is not so well able to take the case 
 " as Mr. Jenkins.""^ 
 
 But if there is, almost of necessity, this tendency to create and 
 appeal to precedents, and a consequent liability to dispute which 
 of two contlicting precedents should be adopted in the particular 
 case under discussion, it seems to be in the highest degree 
 probable that, if once a legal character were given to the system, 
 these precedents might be multiplied on precedents until it might 
 require experts to deal with them, and that that desire to get at 
 the truth — if necessary — by an informal method which is evinced^* 
 by different arbitrators might be effectually crippled by obligatory 
 compliance with rigid forms. Industrial disputes might, indeed, 
 be settled by this method; but the irritation which prompts to 
 the dispute would remain, and the peace thus obtained would be 
 hollow and insecure. 
 
 (iv.) But there is an objection still more fatal than those we 
 have already mentioned to the interference of the law in these 
 matters. In the English acts of 1824 and 1867, there is an express 
 declaration that the authoritative settlement of industi'ial relations 
 for the future is not to be intrusted to the legalised courts or 
 committees. Thus in the first of these two acts the provision is 
 inserted'-"' that " nothing in this act contained shall authorise any 
 " justice or justices acting as hereinafter mentioned, to establish 
 " a rate of wages, or price of labour or workmanship, at which the 
 " workman shall in future be paid, unless with the mutual consent 
 " of both master and workman." And the act of 1867 in a similar 
 way declares''^ that *' nothing in this act contained shall authorise 
 " the said council to establish a i-ate of wages or price of labour 
 " or workmanship at which the workman shall in future be paid." 
 Mr. Mundella's Act of 1872 would indeed permit this settlement 
 of wages for the future, if such a provision were inserted in the 
 agreement between mastei's and men ; but, as such an agreement 
 is part of the contract for hiring, and only in force so long as the 
 
 "* Cf. for similar cases of insistance upon precedent IV, p. 4 ; IX, p. 3. 
 
 "5 Cf. I, p. 5 ; K, pp. 28, 34. 
 
 ■'« Cf. 5 Geo. IV, cap. 96. 
 
 ■" Cf. 30 and 31 Vict., cap. 103.
 
 ITS ADVANTAGES, METHODS, AND DIFFICUr/l'lES. 37 
 
 relation between employer and employed continues, tlie legal 
 compulsion woiild have little practical effect, and therefore in this 
 respect the act may be likened to the act of 1824.^" Mr. Weeks, 
 it is to be remarked, states^" that the continental conseils are 
 similarly destitute of powers to settle wages for tlie future, except 
 by mutual agreement. 
 
 But these are the very questions on which it is most important 
 to obtain a settlement if the course of industry is to run smoothly; 
 and it might possibly be argued, in answer to the considerations 
 we have advanced above, that it is because the laws have contained 
 no provision for the compulsory arrangement of these questions, 
 that they have proved a dead letter. On the other hand it is clear 
 that, were they to meet this requirement, they woiild as a matter 
 of fact be reverting to a condition of affairs not very dissimilar 
 from that which prevailed when the justices of the peace settled 
 the wages of the district ; and this can hardly be seriously desired. 
 
 D (i). It is I think also apparent that conciliation is far more 
 satisfactory in industrial matters than arbitration, and that indeed 
 mutual concession is as much to be preferred to authoritative 
 arbitration, even when the reference to arbitration is voluntarily 
 made, as willing arbitration is to be preferred to the compulsion 
 of a legalised tribunal. Even under the French system of legalised 
 arbitration, out of thirty or forty thousand or more cases annually 
 submitted to the conseils, some 70 per cent, appear to be settled by 
 the conciliatory action of the " bureau parti culier. " ^"" In the manu- 
 factured iron trade of the north of England during the seventeen 
 years of the existence of the board of conciliation and arbitration, 
 the Standing Committee had, up to the 1st of March, 1886, held 
 276 meetings, and adjusted nearly 800 disputes, while the board itself 
 had only met 97 times, and in some 17 cases alone had reference 
 been made to arbitration."" At the annual meeting of the board 
 held on 1st February, 1886 — at which it is worthy of notice tha,t 
 the president expressed"'' a hope that "before long there would be 
 " an organisation in connection Avith the shipbuilding trades some- 
 " thing like that which existed amongst the iron trade, by which 
 " reference to an arbitrator could be made " — the report for the 
 year stated that " with one exception, the committee had been able 
 
 98 Cf. " Industrial Coneillatiou," pp. 113, 172. 
 
 9" Cf. Report, p. 2, sec. I. 
 
 ""> Cf. Statistical Society's Journal, vol. xliii, pp. 35 — 64, Mr. Bovan's paper on 
 "Strikes of the Past Ten Years/' Marcli, 1880. 
 
 In Bplgiuin the proportion settled by conciliation appears to be poinewliat 
 similar. 
 
 •"> CJ. " Boards of Arbitration," &c., pp. 4 and 5, and Table I, supra, p. 21. 
 
 102 qy_ i< Newcastle Daily Leader," 2nd February, 1880. 'I'liere is an appa- 
 rently permanent referee, who is consulted by the Standing Committee, and an 
 arbitrator may be appointed for special occasions by the board. Cf supra, p. 28. 
 
 204058
 
 38 INDUSTRIAL PEACE : 
 
 " to dispose of fill the cases brought before tliem without the 
 " necessity of calling- in the referee." 
 
 In the Durham and Northumberland coal trades, wliere, as we 
 shall see hereafter, sliding scales have been in successful working 
 for some years, the general principle of conciliation and arbitra- 
 tion has been applied during a still longer period, but latterly 
 since the introduction of the sliding scale it is conciliation which 
 lias been chiefly employed. In the Durham trade a joint com- 
 mittee of masters and men was formed some fourteen years 
 ago, and is now composed, according to Mr. Watson, ^"^ of twelve 
 members — six selected by the Durham Coalowners' Association, 
 and six by the Durham Miners' Association — and a chairman 
 chosen annually by the two associations. All disputes arising 
 at particular collieries between masters and men which are 
 laid before the committee, may be settled by its own decision or 
 referred to arbitration ; and, should the arbitratoi-s disagree about 
 the appointment of an umpire, the selection is to be made by the 
 Judge of the Durham County Court. A considerable number of 
 cases come before the committee ; for even under a sliding scale 
 there are occasions for minor disputes, as wages still vaiy from 
 colliery to colliery, or even from seam to seam, according to the 
 special degi'ee of difficulty of working. In most of these cases, which 
 numbered 390 in the year 1881, and in 1882 amounted to 493, 
 in lb88 to 562, and in 1884 to 629, arbitration is not invoked; and 
 in 1883 only 37 of the 562 cases were referred, to arbitration, and 17 
 '■\ere reported upon by persons "nominated to inquire into the facts." 
 In 1884 23 questions were treated in this latter fashion, and 45 were 
 settled by arbitration. In Northumberland^"^ also a joint com- 
 mittee was founded upon a similar basis in March, 1873, to discuss 
 " all questions " (according to a statement made^"° at an arbitration 
 in March, 1875) " of mere local importance affecting individual 
 " pits or portions thereof." Six members of this committee are 
 chosen, as in Durham, by the masters' association (the " Steam 
 " Collieries' Defence Association"), and six by the miners' union 
 (the "Northumberland Miners' Mutual Confident Association"). At 
 first, unlike the Durham board, its decision " was not to be final, 
 " but was to take the form of a recommendation," and to be sub- 
 mitted for approval or rejection to the votes of the general body 
 of the trade. But since then the rules have been remodelled, and 
 now, as in Durham, its decision is final. During its existence it has 
 adjusted with very little delay more than 3,000 questions.""' 
 
 '«3 Cf. " Boards of Arbitration," &c., pp. 6 and 7. 
 '«* Cf. op. cit., p. 10. '0^ Cf. K, p. 6. 
 
 lOB ]yii._ Watson says "not more than half a dozen dajs have been lost 
 " thronghout its entire jurisdiction." Cf. p. 10.
 
 ITS AnVAXTAGKS, MRl'HODS, AND DIFFICULTIKS. 39 
 
 Joint committees liave similarly been formed in other coal 
 mining districts/"' as for instance iu Cumberland in connection 
 with the slitling scale arrangement of 1882, where the committee 
 consists of four coalowners and four representatives of the men, 
 and a secretary appointed by either side ; and in South Wales a 
 joint committee was established iu 1875, and consisted originally of 
 five representatives of either side, but the number of this committee 
 has since undergone some modification. The principle of concilia- 
 tion has also been successfully introduced into other trades, and 
 notably by Mr Mundella into his own trade of hosiery at Notting- 
 ham in 1860. Here, where the board consisted, according to 
 Mr. Weeks,""* of twenty-one members annually elected, there was a 
 triple provision for conciliation. Endeavours to arrange disputes 
 were to be made in the first instance by the two secretaries. Then 
 the matter Avas to be brought before a committee of inquiry, 
 consisting of two representatives of either side ; and only in the 
 third place, if reconciliation were not previously effected, the board 
 was to decide the question. Should there be disagreement here, 
 provision was made for the intervention of a referee. 
 
 (ii). The advantages of conciliation over arbitration, as the 
 evidence w^e have mentioned abundantly indicates, are in a certain 
 sense obvious, but they will perhaps be brought into clearer relief 
 by the negative method of examining the difficulties and disadvan- 
 tages attaching to arbitration. It must, however, be premised that 
 it seems to be necessary to make some provision for resort to 
 ai'bitration. There must be a final court of appeal, though that 
 court be habitually kept in the background ; for otherwise there 
 will be no w^ay out of a deadlock. Nor must it be forgotten that 
 in cases where there is no permanent board of conciliation in 
 existence it is sometimes found better to end a dispute by 
 reference to a neutral arbitrator. 
 
 For an illustrative instance of the necessity of this jjrovision 
 for the occasional intervention of an arbitrator, we may take the 
 lace trade at Nottingham. ]\Ir. Brooksbank, the president of the 
 Lace Manufacturers' Association, and also of the board of con- 
 ciliation, states, in his evidence^™ before the Royal Commission on 
 the Depression of Trade, that there are three branches in the 
 Nottingham lace trade : the lace used for millinery, di-ess, and 
 
 ">' Cf. " Slidin": Scales in the Coal Industry," by J. E. Crawford Mnnro, 
 pp. 32, 34 and 35, 37 and 39. 
 
 108 cy_ " Keport on tlie Practical Working of Arbitration and Conciliation in 
 " the Settlement of Differences between Employers and Employes in England." 
 By J. D. Wee^is, sec. iii, p. 6. 
 
 '<"• Gf. Report, Q. G602. Originally tliere seems to liave been a standinsr 
 referee. Cf. " Industrial Conciliation," p. 46. This board has now ceased to 
 exist.
 
 40 INDUSTRIAL PEACE C 
 
 fancy purposes, tlie lace used for curtains, and the lace used for 
 plain nets ; and that there are three corresponding sections of the 
 board of conciliation. Each section meets and arranges the prices 
 to be paid for various kinds of work, and if the members of the 
 section fail to come to an agreement the matter is brought before 
 the whole board. "But," he adds, "one weak point in our 
 " present arrangement is, that if we fail to agree we must either 
 " lock the men out or the men strike ; in fact the m.en refuse to 
 " allow any question to be referred to any referee." 
 
 A way out of a deadlock of this nature may he provided in 
 more than one direction, but in the final resort there must 
 inevitably be a single arbitrator, referee, or umpire. In the 
 manufactured iron trade of the north, if the standing committee 
 fail to come to an agreement, the referee, whose appointment is 
 apparently permanent, is summoned ; and in a similar way, if the 
 board cannot agree upon any point, an arbitrator is chosen. lu 
 the Durham coal trade questions are sometimes referred by the 
 joint committee to an umpire, and sometimes to persons nominated 
 to inquire into the facts, and before the construction of the 
 sliding scale in March, 1877, disputes about the general rate of 
 wages had for some time been adjusted by arbitration. In the 
 Northumberland coal trade a similar practice has been followed, 
 and like provisions appear to exist in connection with most of the 
 sliding scales '^° which have been put into operation. 
 
 If indeed the chairman of the committee or board be invested 
 with a casting vote he has, for all practical pui-poses, the power of 
 an~ai'bitrator ; and in the case of the sliding scale arranged in the 
 year 1877 in the Durham coal trade,"^ the chairman of the joint 
 committee is actually named as umpire in the event of any 
 dispute arising, and, should he be unable to act himself, he is 
 to appoint some other umpire in his stead. In the manufactured 
 iron trade of the South Staffordshire district, wages have been 
 arranged by the president of the board since the abolition of the 
 sliding scale in September, 1883;"^ but in this case, on the 
 reconstitution of the board, which was effected some years ago, 
 a provision was made^^^ for the election of a president who could 
 take no part in the discussion, but enjoyed the possession of a 
 ■ casting vote. In this way the delay caused by the necessity 
 of specially summoning the referee, on particular occasions when 
 
 i"> Cf. " Sliding Scales in the Iron Industry." By J. E. Crawford Munro, 
 pp. 29, 35, 38, and 41. Cf. also '•' Sliding Scales in the Coal Industry," pp. 21, 
 34, 45, 50, and 53. 
 
 "' Cf. op. cit., p. 21. 
 
 i'2 Cf. " Sliding Scales in the Iron Industry," p. 17. 
 
 "' Cf. " Industrial Cjnciliafcion," p. 64.
 
 ITS ADVANTAGES, METHODS, AND DIFFICULTIKS. 41 
 
 liis intervention was required, was avoided ; and in addition to 
 the president the board lias also a chairman.'" There seems 
 indeed to be considerable weight in the argument urged by 
 Mr. Mundella,'*'^ that it is more in accordance with the principle 
 of conciliation, and niore likely to conduce to the permanence of 
 amicable relations, if there is discussion at the meetings of the 
 boards and the committees without actual voting. Each party 
 should, endeavour to work towards a common unanimous agree- 
 ment, and then, should this prove impossible, a referee should be 
 summoned who should indeed be a member of the board, but 
 should attend those meetings alone where his presence is needed to 
 adjust a dispute, or, at least, should only intervene where his 
 mediation is required. Mr. Whitwell, the president of the board 
 of conciliation in the manufactured iron trade of the north, who 
 has frequently acted as the employers' advocate at courts of 
 arbitration, states himself'" before Mr. Watson in April, 1884, 
 that he is "placed in an awkward position in being president of 
 " the board and advocate for the employers as well," and that he 
 " would rather occupy the judicial position of president." And 
 from this we may fairly argue a fortiori that a chairman or 
 president of a board who has, unlike Mr. Whitwell, the possession 
 of a casting vote, is better situated if he has no direct interest in 
 the matters he is called upon to decide, and is not an active 
 contributor to the discussions which take place, or the arguments 
 which are advanced. 
 
 (iii) (a). Some provision, then, it is clear, for a final appeal to 
 a single individual is necessary. But it seems equally evident that 
 the occasions for such an appeal should be reduced to as limited a 
 number as possible. For there are, as we stated before, several 
 difificulties attaching to arbitration. There is one indeed which is 
 involved, in only a less degree, in conciliation, and that is the 
 possibility that the decision may not be loyally accepted. That 
 this may happen, even in the case of conciliation, is proved by the 
 occurrence of strikes against the decisions of the joint committee 
 in the Durham coal trade. But Mr. Watson states"^ that since the 
 formation of the committee the strikes, which have indeed been 
 only of a local character, have been also " of short duration," and 
 that a " very small percentage " alone have been against the 
 decisions of the committee. " The stoppages of work," he adds, 
 
 n* Cf. VIII, p. 14. 
 
 115 Cf. " Economics of Industry," by A. and M. P. Marshall, III, VIII, 1. 
 Cf. also " Industrial Conciliation," p. 36. In the Nottingham Hosiery Board the 
 chairman had at one time a casting vote, but Mr. Mundella says that this casting 
 vote was always getting them into " trouble." 
 
 ••o Cf. VII, p. 12. 
 
 1" Cf. " Boards of Arbitration," &c., p. 7.
 
 42 INDUSTRIAL PEACE : 
 
 " from whatever cause, have steadily decreased, and were in 1884 
 " scarcely one half of what they were in 1882." And, with regard 
 to the Northumberland committee, he affirms ^^* that "its decisions 
 " have scarcely ever been called in question, and no serious opposi- 
 " tion to them has been raised upon any occasion." In the case 
 of conciliation indeed it is very unlikely that adherence should not 
 be ffiven to the decision of the committee or board. For, when 
 once the principle has become thoroughly established, the two 
 parties meet prepared to arrive at a mutual agreement, and are 
 ready to give and accept concessions, to discuss arguments with 
 fairness, and weigh them with cai-efulness and without bias ; and 
 they do not come to the meetings of the board or committee with 
 the intention of enforcing at all hazards a foregone conclusion. The 
 spirit in which the decision is obtained is likely to be the spirit in 
 which it will be observed. 
 
 But in the case of arbitration there is ex liypothesi initial 
 disagreement between the two parties, and either side in the 
 nature of things cannot help feeling that its case is the stronger 
 It is indeed for this reason that the argument sometimes advanced 
 for the legalisation of courts of arbitration has some weight, for 
 the decision of the ai'bitrator would thus be accompanied by a 
 legal sanction. Under Lord St. Leonards' Act of 1867^^^ it might 
 be enforced by proceedings of distress, sale, or imprisonment; 
 and in the Wolverhampton building trades, where a permanent 
 arbitration court for the three trades of plasterers, carpenters, 
 and bricklayers was established by Sir Rupert Kettle,^"" and lasted 
 until the year 1875, when the bricklayers and plasterers seceded 
 in consequence of dissatisfaction felt by the former with reference 
 to a particular award, a code of working rules was drawn up 
 by the representatives of the employers and the employed, and 
 posted in the different workshops. A breach of this code was a 
 breach of contract, and could be legally punished. In the pottery 
 trade, where, Mr. Weeks^'^ tells us, there had been no general strike 
 between 1836 and the time when he was writing {i.e., 1878), a clause 
 had been inserted in the contracts for hiring, providing for the 
 reference of disputes to arbitration ; and Mr. Mundella's Act of 
 1872'" seems to have aimed at an object somewhat similar to this. 
 But there appear to be very powerful reasons for excluding law 
 and lawyers as such from the matter, if there is to be any 
 genuine feeling of conciliation as the result of acts of conciliation. 
 There may however be an agreement of a definite character, 
 
 "8 Cf. op. dt., p. 10. 
 
 "9 80 and 31 Vict., cap. 105, Cf. supra, p. 32. 
 
 vio Cf. " strikes and Arbitrations'" by R. Kettle, p. 35, &c. 
 
 '2' Cf. Report, p. 3. '" 35 and 36 Vict., c. 46.
 
 ITS ADVANTAGES, METHODS, AND DlFFlCUf/ll ES. 43 
 
 binding in liononr, whatever may be the case at law, between the 
 two parties to an arbitration. In the manufactared iron trade 
 of the north an agi'eement of submission has to be signed by the 
 representatives of the employers and the workmen concerned in 
 a dispute, before the standing committee commences its investi- 
 gation of the affair. And even if such an agreement is not put 
 into writing, it is generally taken for gi^anted, and in the majority 
 of cases the decisions of industrial arbitrators aie loyally observed. 
 There are however instances to the contrary effect. 
 
 In the manufactured iron trade of the north we find more ihan 
 one allusion'-'' to dissatisfaction felt on the part of the men at the 
 influence of the board of conciliation upon their position as 
 compared with that of the workmen in other districis and trades. 
 A formal protest seems to have been raised against the award of 
 Mr. Hughes in February', 1871, and a successful appeal was made 
 to Mr. Dale in 1879 to explain, if not to reconsider, a decision he 
 had given in an arbitration affecting the wages of special classes 
 of ironworkers.'^^ An actual strike, though of a momentary nature, 
 appears to have taken place against the first award of Sir 
 Joseph Pease in 1882,'-'' and indeed immediately previous to that 
 award there had been a suspension of work on the part of some of 
 the operatives, in violation it is true of a special resolution of the 
 board, which had not aj^parently been fully understood, but also it 
 appears in contravention of the habitual and recognised rules. ^'^ 
 The employers on their part are charged by the operative delegates 
 with infringement of the principles'^' and actual rules of the board, 
 both in meeting'-- — with the best intentions, it is admitted, but 
 still in direct violation of principle — the men who had ignored the 
 authority of the board on this occasion, and pledging themselves, 
 through the mouth of the president, to vote for an advance in 
 wages if the men would on their side resume work ; and in 
 enforcing at other times alterations in the conditions of working 
 without allowing the men affected the right of appeal to the board. 
 And Sir Joseph Pease in his awai-d states'-" his opinion that the 
 operatives alleged, as he thought, " with considerable truth, the 
 " fact that their loyalty to arbitration had stood the test better 
 " than had always been the case with some of the employers." 
 But he adds that he " recognised on both sides a strong desire to 
 " do that which was right and reasonable, and abide by the 
 " decision of an arbitrator in whose award one side or the other 
 
 '■-' Cf. I, pp. 5 and 16 ; 11. p. 16 ; IV, p. 6 ; V, p. 3. 
 
 •-'♦ Cf. Ill, pp. 17—21 ; IV, p. 19, &c., and IV, p. 5. 
 
 •" Cf. V, p. 6. '■■^« Cf. IV, p. 7. 
 
 ^■" Cf. VIII, p. 5. '28 Cf. IV, pp. 7 and 8, 
 
 '29 Cf. IV, p. 21.
 
 44 
 
 INDUSTRIAL PEACE : 
 
 " miglit not fully unite, rather than jeopardise the enormous 
 " industries in which they were mutually so greatly interested." 
 
 And against the facts which we have mentioned above we have 
 to set no little amount of evidence of an opposite character. " The 
 " partial stoppage of works," urges'^" Mr. Trow, the advocate for 
 the men in 1877, "on one or two occasions owing to misunder- 
 " standing, has in the north of England been within the narrowest 
 
 " possible limits and the career of our board has been one 
 
 " of almost uninterrupted triumph and success." And seven years 
 later, after the board had had to pass through troublous waves, 
 we find him asserting before Mr. Watson in November, 1884, that 
 " during the fifteen years preceding " the previous " December the 
 "board" had "been the most successful institution in settling 
 " wages, locally or generally, of any institution that was ever 
 " established in connection with the trade of this or any other 
 " country." " I challenge," he eloquently adds, "the employers or 
 " any historian to point to a parallel in the history of the trade of 
 " the whole universe, where so many disputes have been settled 
 " amicably, where such a strong confidence has been established 
 " between employers and employed, or where such a spirit of 
 " conciliation has been displayed between employers and workmen, 
 " as has been displayed in this district during the fifteen years of 
 " this board's existence." ^^^ Nor is this in any sense the language 
 of empty exaggeration ; for on the 4th of October, 1881, Mr. Dale 
 was publicly presented with his portrait at Darlington as a 
 testimony to his services in connection with arbitration, and at 
 the gathering of representatives of capital and labour which took 
 place upon that occasion, abundant testimony was borne to the 
 " undeniable success of arbitration in connection with^^^ the north 
 " of England iron trade ;" and the loyalty evinced both by 
 employers and employed to the principle met with ample recog- 
 nition. 
 
 (i). The second disadvantage attaching to arbitration is closely 
 connected with the first, and it is this : there is necessarily an 
 element of contentiousness in arbitration proceedings. The two 
 parties come before the arbitrator resolved to secure victory if pos- 
 sible, and to prove that the position of the other side is untenable, 
 and that its arguments are inconclusive. But in the case of 
 conciliation they are — or should be — desirous of arriving at a 
 common agreement by means of mutual concession. It is true 
 that the discussion before an arbitrator may be conducted with 
 perfect courtesy, and indeed with few, if any, exceptions it is 
 so conducted. In the Northumberland coal trade for instance 
 
 "0 Cf. I, p. 5. 
 
 '" Cf. VIII, p. 4. Cf. also II, p. 4. "^- Cf. IV, p. 6.
 
 ITS ADVANTAGKS, Jl l-JTIIODS, AND DIFFICULTIES. 45 
 
 we find the two parties commencing their cases with appreciative 
 remarks of their opponents. The owners speak'^-' of the miners as 
 forming', " both physically and morally, a most advanced type of 
 " mankind, from which some of our most talented and clever 
 " inventors and senators have been drawn, and from which, with 
 " great skill and judgment, some of the ablest advocates have been 
 " selected that ever repi'esented any body of men." They allude'^* 
 more than once to the friendly relations which have existed in the 
 trade, to the absence of any great strikes, and to the adjustment 
 of difficulties by amicable negotiation and conference; and they 
 express a hope that these relaticms may continue. The miners, on 
 their side, refer"^ in similar terms to the "tone and spirit" in which 
 the employers' case is advanced before Sir Rupert Kettle, in March, 
 1875. They accept "frankly, in the spirit in which it is given," the 
 ofFer of the employers to submit certain accounts to the inspection 
 of the " umpire," and they do not attempt to throw any doubt upon 
 " the mathematical accuracy of the figures given, or to call in ques- 
 " tion the fairness of the data supplied " to the accountants who have 
 prepared the statement in question. On both sides again there is 
 evidence of a desire to be fair and accurate in their arguments. 
 The owners ^^^ "have endeavoured to conduct" their " investigations 
 " with perfect fairness and justice to both parties." They " are 
 " willing and wishful and desirous to lay everything fair and 
 " above-board open to " the umpire."' The men acknowledge^-'* 
 the difficulty the ownei\s may feel in acquainting them with the 
 details of their accounts, and hold that it would be " unjust and 
 " ungenerous not to admit that large sums have been expended by a 
 " majority of the employers in building new houses of abetter kind, 
 " and in improving the old houses " provided for their miners'"*^ and 
 not to take this into account in discussing the monetary value and 
 pecuniary expense of such accommodation. The arbitrators, again, 
 on successive occasions, take the opportunity afforded when giving 
 their awards to recognise the fairness and justice of either side. 
 Sir Rupert Kettle alludes to " the implicit confidence with which 
 " each side has received any verbal statement from the other 
 "during the whole progress" of the arbitration, and to "the 
 thoroughly friendly spirit in which, from first to last, the discus- 
 " sions have been conducted." ^^^ Lord Herschell affirms that the 
 arbitration " could not possibly have been conducted in a more 
 " excellent spirit or more ably than it was."^" And Sir Lyon Playfair 
 
 '« Cf. K, p. 2 ; P, pp. 23, 24, and 82. 
 
 "♦ Cf. K, p. 2 ; H, p. 6. "' Cf. K, pp. 42, 56, and 114. 
 
 >36 Cf. K, p. 13. '^' Cf H, p. 8. 
 
 "8 Cf. H, p. 10. '^" Cf. P, p. 19. 
 
 »" Cf. K, p. 129. "' Cf H, p. 240.
 
 46 INDUSTRIAL PEACE : 
 
 expresses"" bis "strong sense of the eminent fairness and ability" 
 witb whicli tbe arbitration "• has been conducted on both sides." 
 
 Similar language is to be found in the awards and utterances 
 of arbitrators"^ in the manufactured iron trade of the north. 
 Warmth is indeed displayed by the different parties in urging 
 tlieir views; but Mr. Shaw-Lefevi'e in 1878, in answer to a remark 
 from one of the employers, apologising for the unusual noisiness 
 characterising their proceedings, says"* that he has " nothing to 
 " complain of ;" and Sir Joseph Pease in 1882 thinks"^ that he 
 " may congratulate both sides on the way " the " matter has been 
 " discussed. There have been," he states, " strong remai-ks, but 
 " not an irritative word," Mr. "Watson in April, 1884, uses very 
 significant language to a similar effect : " I can only say," he 
 remarks."'' " that to me sitting here and hearing the arguments 
 " which have been adduced, and remembering what it all means, 
 " and the personal importance of the issues to those who have 
 " been debating the questions — I must say that I have felt more 
 " impressed than ever with the vast advantage and importance of 
 " a Board of Arbitration and Conciliation like this. It has been 
 " my fate in life to attend many hot discussions where the matters 
 " in debate have not been of that immediate advantage to persons 
 " discussing them ; but the fact that it is possible to discuss such 
 " questions with so much calmness and faii-ness is a very gratifying 
 " one indeed." 
 
 The employers here, as in the North amberland coal trade, 
 recognise the courtesy of the operatives. The President acknow- 
 ledges"'' in 1877 the " pood feeling" with which the case has been 
 argued " on both sides ;" and on the same occasion another employer 
 expresses a " hope that the operatives will understand " that the 
 employers " have no desire to hide anything from them," and have 
 tried to be as " frank " as their opponents, and as " temperate and 
 " moderate " as they can. " If any i-emark has fallen from me," 
 he adds, "that could not be supported and sustained by facts," 
 " I hope " " that it will be overlooked." " We have attempted," 
 savs"* the President, again, addi-essing the arbitrator in 1882, "lo 
 " put before you, Sir, the case for the employers honestly and I 
 " hope fairly, and I am sure from the men's side it has been fairly 
 " done." And, before Mr. Watson in 1884, he says"** that-if he has 
 " hurt" the feelings of the men, he is "exceedingly sorry," and 
 that the employers are willing to " withdraw" any remarks which. 
 
 "-• Cf. V, p. ]34. 
 
 "3 Cf. II, p. 16 ; IV, pp. 22—24 ; VII, p. ]3 ; VIII, p. 11, ar.d IX, p. 22. 
 
 1" Cf. II, p. 16. "-^ Cf. IV, p. 22. 
 
 'iii Cf. VII, p. 13. "' Cf I, p. 25. 
 
 118 c^. IV, p. 23. »«(?/: VII, p. 12.
 
 ITS ADVANTAUKS, METUODS, AND DIFFlCUI/l'IKS. 47 
 
 have liad such an effect. Ami later in tlic yeai^ lie declares'"'" that 
 he wishes to see "fairness" dealt to "both sides," and that he 
 " himself will always try to see that facts and figures before" them 
 " shall be viewed from both sides." More than once, again, the 
 employers express'*^ their sympathy with the operatives, both with 
 the representatives themselves and with their constituents ; and on 
 one occasion''- the jieriod of holding the arbitration was postponed 
 for two months, in order to secure the presence of the workmen's 
 secretary, who had been ill at the time. 
 
 The men on their side do not fail to make known'^^ before 
 Mr. Shaw-Lefevi-e in 1878 their sense of the courtesy of the 
 employers. Their secretary says on this occasion, "We have 
 " always treated each other with courtesy, and have accepted the 
 " statements of each other. We do sometimes say hard things 
 " of each other when we get heated, but as soon as the meeting is 
 " over we forget them." And on another occasion he remarks,'^* 
 " We cannot but admire the conciliatory spirit in which we have 
 " been met to-day, and we will try to reply in the same spirit. You 
 " know that, as a rule, thei'e is no ill-feeling around this board ; 
 " although we may get warm sometimes, it is simply the result of 
 " excitement that we get into, and our earnestness in defending the 
 " cause we advocate." 
 
 The President of the Board himself describes'^'^ in 1878 the 
 history and character of the Board, in words which may be 
 employed as a sammary of the evidence we have just been con- 
 sidering. " We have had," he says, " considerable experience of 
 " the working of ai-bitration, and it has been our custom to tell 
 " each other the truth as far as possible round this table .... 
 " Since the formation of the Board we have had very few 
 " difficulties or differences amongst its members. We have varied 
 " in our opinions, and I think we may truly say we have learnt to 
 " respect each other. I think that statements made from either 
 " side of the table are believed by the other side. There was a 
 " time when each side was inclined to doubt each other. We have 
 " gained wisdom by experience, and learnt to respect the views of 
 " each other, and learnt to believe in the statements made by each 
 " side." 
 
 But, despite of this evidence, it is hardly to be supposed that 
 wdien either party has pecuniary interests at stake, and on one side 
 at least it may well be that the very means of subsistence ai'e 
 imperilled ; when either party is endeavouring, with all tlie force 
 and abundance of argument that it can command, to convince the 
 
 •50 Cf. Vni, p. 15. 151 Cf. I, pp. 9 :md ]2; II, p. 11. 
 
 >5'^ Cf. VI 11, pp. 3 and 0. 1^3 Cf. II, p. 15. 
 
 '■" Cf. Ill, p. 13. '•55 Cf. II, p. y.
 
 48 INDUSTRIAL PEACE : 
 
 arbitrator of the justice of its own contention and the erroneous 
 nature of that of its opponent ; and when they both know, as 
 Sir Joseph Pease remarked ^^^ on one occasion, that somebody must 
 be " hurt " by the award on whichever side it may be — under such 
 a condition of things as this it can hardly be supposed that arbitra- 
 tion is not calculated to excite some contentiousness, and in all 
 probability to leave behind a little soreness of feeling. Either 
 party may, as Sir Joseph Pease adds, learn the difficulties which its 
 opponents have to confront, if it hears those difficulties stated in 
 the strongest terms and enforced with the greatest emphasis at an 
 arbitration court, but in the natui^e of things it can hardly help 
 feeling that its own difficulties are steimer and more serious. The 
 regular statement then of arguments on either side seems not 
 unlikely to accentuate the grounds of mutual opposition, and the 
 irregular discussion of points which may arise incidentally during 
 the arbitration is calculated to create some feeling of irritation. 
 
 (c). This considei'ation naturally conducts to another objection. 
 In an arbitration case either side is eager to bring forward any and 
 every argument which is likely to tell for its advantage, and hence 
 tlie discussion must be carried to a considerable leng'th. This evil 
 may, to some extent, be avoided by the observance of a definite 
 form of procedure, and by the selection of an ai-bitrator who is 
 thoroughly conversant with the details of the trade. The first of 
 these provisions is generally, if not universally, adopted ; and 
 indeed some irritation is felt and some objection raised if any 
 departure is made from the established procedure. 
 
 The details of the procedure may indeed be varied from time 
 to time, and the court may sit for a longer or a shorter period. 
 But in its broad characteristics it remains unaltered, and in some 
 instances there has been, as we have before noticed, an insistance 
 on rigid and almost pedantic adherence to recognised forms which 
 seems to emphasise the danger, if a legal character were given to 
 these courts, of sacrificing the spirit of conciliation to the letter 
 of legal technicality, and of calling into being a body of profes- 
 sional advocates, whose services Avould be absolutely needed to 
 understand and handle the precedents which might, in industrial 
 as in otlier matters, be multiplied on precedents according to 
 the traditional usage of English law. Defined, however, as the 
 procedure is in its main outlines, it is open to variation on 
 points of detail ; and even in its broad characteristics it admits 
 of lengthy and aliuost prolix discussion. And indeed, if the real 
 facts of the case are to be brought within the cognisance of the 
 arbitrator or umpii-e, there must be an elasticity of detail and a 
 
 '^6 Cf. IV, p. 23.
 
 ITS ADVANTAGES, METHODS, AXD J)1I'JTCU l/l'[ i:S. 40 
 
 possibility of prolonged investigation. Thus Sir Rupert Kettle, 
 sitting as arbitrator in the Northnniberland coal trade, insists'" that 
 the parties to the case have not come there to " reserve or hold 
 " back anything," and he disclaims for himself any intention to 
 give countenance to the theory sometimes propounded that 
 arbitrators' awards are given by "some splitting of the difference," 
 or " softening the way," or " making things pleasant." On his 
 part he requires " to go to the root of the matter minutely as a 
 " man of business before " he gives his " judg-ment." In a similar 
 spirit Lord Herschell is reported to have said that'^*^ he would not 
 " confine " the discussion " in any technical way," but, if any fresh 
 point was dealt with at any stage which the other side had not 
 " heard before, he should always desire that the matter should be 
 " discussed until each side had heard all that the other has to put 
 " forward." And in the iron trade, Mr. Dale really sums up the 
 " matter by saying,'"^ We want to get all the facts out. We don't 
 " want to stand on a mere formality." 
 
 (1). If indeed the arbitrator is thoroughly conversant with the 
 details of the trade, there is less necessity for elaboration of argu- 
 ment or prolonged discussion. This familiarity with detail may be 
 secured by the appointment of an arbitrator who is himself a 
 member of the trade. To this course, however, it is obvious that 
 there may be objections ; for it may conceivably arouse suspicions 
 of bias in the minds of either side, and, though these suspicions 
 may be entirely unfounded, yet they are hardly unnatural. 
 
 For, as Mr. Dale points out in. 1877,"^" the feelings not mei'ely 
 of the repi'esentatives of either party, who may be proof against any 
 tendency to mistrust the arbitrator — who, indeed, in the majority 
 of cases has been selected by a body of which they themselves form 
 part — but the feelings of their constituents also have to be taken 
 into account. And hence he states that he hesitated to accept the 
 office of arbitrator, which had been pressed upon him, because of 
 his own connection with the trade. But the success with which he 
 has tilled the post upon more than one occasion, and the confidence 
 felt in him by both parties, and especially — although he is an 
 employer — by the men, and expressed through the mouths'"' of 
 their advocates, and shown in actual fact by his appointment as 
 referee to their standing committee,'"^ prove that in his case at 
 least the advantages of tried experience have been sufficient to out-' 
 weigh the probability of suspicions of personal bias. We must not, 
 however, forget that he occupies an unusual position ; that he had 
 been a prime mover in the establishment of the boai'd in 1869 ;'®* 
 
 1" Cf. K, pp. 28 ami 37. '^» Cf. H, p. 5. i^' Cf. T, p. 5. 
 
 >"» Cf. I, p. 3. >«' Cf. I, p. 18 ; IV, p. 3 ; VJI, p. 8 ; YllI, p. 6, 
 
 •'^•■^ Cf VI, p. 8 ; IX, p. 4. "^^ Cf. II, p. y. 
 
 E
 
 50 INDUSTRIAL PEACE : 
 
 that lie liad bimself acted as President for some years, and " liad 
 " won tlie confidence of both employers and employed ;"^" and that 
 in one case at least it seems'"'^ to have been thought undesirable 
 by some of the workmen — though not apparently by their repre- 
 sentatives — to refer a point to him for decision, because he was 
 himself " largely interested in the trade." 
 
 Nor must "we neglect to notice the advantages of securing a 
 comparative stranger for the office. Thus, in the Northumberland 
 coal trade, Sir Lyon Playfair states^"" at the conclusion of an arbi- 
 tration, in which he has been sitting as umpire, tliat he is a " blank 
 " sheet at present, except as regai'ds the interesting information " 
 he has gathered from the discussion ; and in the iron trade, Sir 
 Joseph Pease says^^' in 1882 that he "comes with a very blank 
 " mind with regard to the whole question." " My mind," he adds, 
 " is a complete ' tableau recevant,' as the French would say, and 
 " liable to any impression that can be made upon it." Nor, indeed, 
 as a matter of fact, is success in the conduct of arbitrations by any 
 means confined to men actually engaged in the same trade as that 
 in which they sit as arbitrators, or indeed to those engaged in trade 
 at all. Sir Rupert Kettle's experience in arbitration has been 
 of the widest description, and his success has been equally 
 undoubted,"'® but, according to Mr. Weeks, ^'^^ he has had no 
 practical knowledge of the iron and coal trades in which he has so 
 often sat; and Mr. Hughes, Mr. (now Lord) Herschell, Mr. (now 
 Lord) Brassey, Mr. Crompton, and Mr. Shaw-Lefevre could not 
 be called experts in trade, and yet they have all been selected as 
 arbitrators. 
 
 The chief difficulties, moreover, involved in the selection of an 
 outsider can be to some extent overcome. In the first place there is 
 the necessity of explaining to him such technicalities of the trade as 
 may be necessary to render intelligible the terminology employed 
 by either side. In the second place he must be acquainted with 
 such of the past history of the trade, and of the proceedings at 
 previous arbitrations, as nuiy enable him to appraise at their 
 proper value the contentions and arguments of either party. Thus 
 Sir Rupert Kettle has to be informed^'" by the Northumberland 
 miners that the underground men are there divided into " hewers " 
 and " off-hand men," and that the above-ground men are called 
 " bankmen ;" whereas in Staffordshire the latter are termed 
 
 >«^ Cf. IV, p. 6. i"^5 cf. IX, pp. 4 and 12. 
 
 i«6 Cf. P, p. 131. 
 
 "" Cf. IV, p. 3; i.e., because lie "had liccn so little engaged in tlie actual 
 ■ detail of iron manufacture, at any rate (or a great number of years." 
 
 '«« Cf. H, p. 22, and VI, p. 4. "■>» Cf. IJciiort, sec. x, p. 22. 
 
 "" Ct. K, p. 17.
 
 ITS AOVANTAGKS, METHODS, ANM) DIFinCUT/l'IES. 51 
 
 " banksmen," and the former are classifie.l as " pikemen " and 
 " bandmen;" and Lord Herschell has to be told^" that there are 
 classes of men employed in and about the mines, who are not con- 
 nected with the miners' union. And in the iron trade the presi- 
 dent, in opening the proceedings of the lioard be^oi'e Mr. Watson, 
 expresses'" the gist of the matter when he says, " we cannot 
 " expect him (i.e., Mr. Watson) to be so well acquainted with the 
 " details of our trade as one who for years has been intimately 
 "connected with it ;" and Mr. Watson himself remarks that this 
 ignorance may " occasion from time to time some slowness " in the 
 proceedings. "I shall require," he adds, "an explanation of 
 " technical terms." 
 
 (2). N^ow these difficulties may possibly be in some measure 
 avoided by the method generally followed in the Northumberland 
 and Durham coal trades, by which either party appoints two 
 arbitrators who are really representative of either side, and 
 generally possess local knowledge, and these arbitrators select an 
 umpire who occupies the position of an independent mediator. 
 Then, as Sir Rupert Kettle puts it,'" the arbitrators and umpire 
 form one body of live, and the umpire will only stop in if the arbi- 
 trators fail to agree. Up to this point he merely lends his assistance 
 and counsel to the arbitrators who are the primary judges. This 
 method however does not seem to work with very considerable 
 success, for the arbitrators, being representative of either side, do 
 not apparently as a general rule come to an agreement, and the 
 final award is left to the umpire. In the iron trade the men again 
 and again express"* dissatisfaction with the award given by Messrs. 
 Mundella and Williams, when they sat as arbitrators in 1876. A 
 workman declares'" before Mr. Dale in 1877 that they had told Mr. 
 Mundella that the " award must come from the umpire and not from 
 " him alone, or from a compromise between him and Mr. Williams." 
 Mr. Mundella, it seems, had asked the operative members of the 
 board to authorise him to efi^ect an amicable settlement of the 
 case, and they had refused ; and another of their number main- 
 tains''" before Mr. Watson in 1884 that the arbitrator who repre- 
 sented the masters, Mr. Williams, " contrived to frighten " their 
 own arbitrator, Mr. Mundella. Nor did Mr. Shaw-Lefevre's award 
 give greater satisfixction, although in this case the umpire himself, 
 and not the arbitrators, who were Messrs. Lloyd Jones and AVilliams, 
 gave the final decision. The men declare before Mr. Watson that, 
 although they had no doubt of Mr. Shaw-Lefevre's " integrity," and 
 
 '■' Cf. H, p. 50. 
 
 '"s Cf. VI, p. 3. '"3 Cf. K, p. 30 ; H, p. 14 ; II, p. 16. 
 
 '" Cf. I, pp. 13 and U, &c. '" Cf. \, p. 14. 
 
 "« Cf. VI, p. 11. 
 
 r2
 
 52 lNDU«rRIAL PEACE : 
 
 loyally adhered to bis award, yet they " always felt that had the 
 " secretaries been permitted to be present with the arbitrators 
 " before the umpii'e in January, 1870, the award would have been 
 " more favourable to the workmen."^" At any rate they concluded 
 that the old system of a single arbitrator was the better of the two ; 
 aiid in 1882, when the question of reference to arbitration arose, we 
 find^^® that the " operatives expressed themselves strongly in favour 
 " of a sole arbiti^ator, as against two arbitrators r.nd an umpire," 
 and Mr. J. W. Pease was selected to act in that capacity. These 
 compiainis indeed may be said to have been caused by accidental 
 circumstances, and not to affect the essence of the system. But 
 this point is open to question, for there can be little doubt that, if 
 avowed representatives of opposing parties sit together upon the 
 same judicial bench, the judgment pronounced must of necessity 
 partake of the nature of a compromise ; and when a dispute has 
 passed beyond the stage of conciliation and has reached that of 
 arbitration, additional machinery for eifecting a compromise can 
 hardly be said to be located in its proper place. If on the other 
 hand the final decision f;ills to the lot of the umpire, then the 
 arbitrators might more suitably appear as open advocates than as 
 " quasi-judges." The system, in short, of two or more arbitrators 
 and a single umpire, seems to be at the best an unnecessary piece 
 of mechanism, and the greater the simplicity that can be obtained 
 in these courts of arbitration, the less will be the expenditure 
 entailed, and in all probability also the more satisfactory will be 
 the results achieved. We must not however forget that in some 
 trades the practice may have become traditional, or may meet with 
 ready acceptance ; and, should this be the case, then on the 
 principles laid down at the beginning of this repoi-t, the incon- 
 venience which seems to follow from the practice would probably 
 be more than counterbalanced by the advantage of habitual or 
 approved usage. 
 
 But the special difficulty which the practice may pei-haps in 
 some cases meet, seems to be solved in a more satisfactory 
 manner by retaining, if possible, the services of the same arbi- 
 trator time after time. Of course there may be adequate reasons 
 for making a change, and in the iron trade Mr. Trow argues"^ 
 that they did not select Mr. Dale as arbitrator in 1882, because 
 they thought it well to get a " new man," " free from all former 
 " traditions," to preside at proceedings, which involved " a depar- 
 " ture from that which for some years " had " governed their 
 " action." But, save in these exceptional cases, there are manifest 
 advantages in having the same arbitrator. The president of the 
 board puts the matter in a nutshell before Mr. Watson, sitting as 
 
 1" Cf. VI, p. 5. '" Cf. IV, p. 5. "■' Cf. IV, p. 3.
 
 ITS ADVANTAGES, METHODS, AND DIFFICULTIES. 53 
 
 arbitrator for the second time, in April, 18^4, wlien lie sajs,""" " we 
 " shall approach the question to-day as it were with an old friend, 
 " because we feel that the time we occupied on the last occasion 
 " was so exceedingly long, that we shall not have to ask him 
 " (i.e., Mr. Watson) on the present occasion to sit for any length 
 " of time." In the previous case, when Mr. Watson was acting as 
 arbitrator for the first time, the past history of tlie board had to 
 be laid before him, and a similar course was followed before Mr. 
 Pease in April, 1882, ;.nd Mr. 8haw-Lefevre, in 1878.'"^ But 
 this was not required^*'" before Mr. (then Sir Joseph) Pease in 
 November, 1882, or before Mr. Watson in April or November, 
 1884, or October, 1885. 
 
 (iv) (a). Nor is the avoidance of detail the only advantage con- 
 nected with the reappointment of the same arbitrator on successive 
 occasions. But there is another consideration of the highest 
 importance, and this is stated ^""^ by Lord Herschell in his award in 
 the Northumberland coal trade of 81st January, 1876. He 
 recommends the- adoption of a sliding scale in the trade, and also 
 the creation of an arbitration-tribunal of a permanent character; 
 and he argues that in this way " a uniform principle would " "be 
 " applied," and " justice would more certainly be done to all parties " 
 than it would if the tribunal were " different on each occasion," and 
 were " unable to know completely and accurately the principles on 
 " which its predecessors proceeded." This uncertainty of the basis 
 on which the award is to rest is perhaps the greatest difficulty 
 connected with arbitration. Mr. Lloyd Jones, in a paper read 
 before the Industrial Remuneration Conference, maintained '*^^ that 
 arbitration was " slow, expensive, and at the same time very uncer- 
 " tain in its results ;" and he alluded to a possible insufficiency 
 and inaccuracy of data, and to a suspicion of prejudice in the 
 mind of the arbitrator. A passage in an article on Trade- 
 Unionism in the " Co-operative Wholesale Society's Aimual"^*^ for 
 1886, puts forward a somewhat similar indictment. Now of course, 
 if the alternative were to lie between the method of arbitration and 
 the method of strikes and lock-outs, this objection could hardly be 
 regarded as valid. For the irritation caused by a strike or lock- 
 out must in all likelihood be greater and more permanent than the 
 irritation caused by the decision of an arbitrator, before whom the 
 contending parties rely upon argument and not upon force. And, 
 if an arbitratoi' be liable to error, it may be urged with as much 
 
 '«» Cf. VI I, p. 3. 
 
 •«> Cf. II, p. 6 ; IV, p. 7 ; VI, p. 4. '"^ Cf. V, p. 4 ; VII, p. 3. 
 
 '^» Cf. 11, p. 240 "*♦ Cf. I. R. C. Report, j). 33. 
 
 "*^ Cf. "Co-operative Wholesale Society's Annual," 1886, p. 271. This 
 ditficulty of course applies also to conciliation.
 
 54 INDUSTRIAL Pl!;ACE : 
 
 reason that a strike or lock-out is not free from suspicion of 
 error. Nor indeed, if the idea commonly held that arbitrators' 
 awards were given by " some splitting of the dilference," or 
 " softening the way," or " making things pleasant,"'**'' were strictly 
 and literally true, could it even in that case be denied that it is 
 something to soften a feeling of hostility between unfriendly parties, 
 by referring the dispute to a neutral mediator who is guiltless of 
 unfriendly feelings, and is consequently able to " make things 
 "pleasant." But nevertheless, after giving full weight to all these 
 considerations, there still remains the undoubted fact that theie is 
 this difficulty inherent in arbitration — the difficulty of determining 
 upon the principle which is to be recognised in the decision of 
 industrial disjiutes. The two parties must, as Lord Herschell hfis 
 said,^**' " proceed on some pi'inciple or other, if it is not to Le a 
 " ' leap in the dark.' " 
 
 But this principle can hardly be supplied by Political Economy. 
 Sir Rupert Kettle,'^'* indeed, sitting as arbitrator in the North- 
 umberland coal trade, says that he is a " political economist," 
 bat he adds that he requires " to go to the root of the matter 
 " minutely as a man of business," before he gives his judgment. 
 And, as Jevons'"'' has shown in his "Theory of Political Economy/' 
 in all bargains about a single itidivisihle object "there may arise 
 " a deadlock," because neither party can read the mind of the 
 other, and discern the exact length to which it is prepared to 
 go in pushing demands or accepting concessions. Nor indeed, did 
 they possess the gift of clairvoyance, would the problem be 
 necessarily solved. For even then there might be no definite 
 point fixed in the mind of either. After alluding to this passage in 
 his " State in Relation to Labour," he proceeds'"" to point out that 
 the existence of indivisihle combinations in trade disputes usually 
 reduces them to a bargain of this " indeterminate " nature. To 
 avoid a strike it may be the interest of either party to relinquish, 
 or at least to relax, its demands ; but theoretic economics cannot 
 resolve the problem. It is, in mathematical phraseology, " indetei- 
 " minate." There is moreover in the case such an element of 
 extra-economic considerations — of feelings of justice, for example, 
 or suspicions of ^' tnala fides '^ — that it seems obvious that a trade 
 dispute — especially when it has reached the "acute" stage of an 
 open quarrel — " has little or nothing to do with economics." It is 
 rather to the traditions of the trade and the past history of indus- 
 trial relations that arbitrators must look for guidance. If then 
 
 '"6 Cf. supra, p. 49. ^^^ Cf. H, p. 71. '«" Cf. K, p. 37, 
 
 189 Cf. " Theory of Political Lcoiiouiy/' by W. S. Jevous, 2iid edit., 
 pp. 130—137. 
 
 '^» Cf. " State ill Relation to Labour," p. 15 ], &c.
 
 ITS ADVAXTAliKS, METKODS, AND DIFFICULTIES. 55 
 
 tlierc have boeu previoas arbitrations, reference to them is almost 
 necessitated, for "it would" "be the height of presumption" "to 
 " ignore the labour of those who have previously been consulted 
 " by both parties."'"' Slioukl the precedents, however, appear to 
 conflict, an additional element of difficulty is imported into tho 
 matter — the difficulty of determining which precedent ought to be 
 allowed the greatest validity. But this difficulty is evidently 
 reduced to the smallest dimensions if the arbitrator on successive 
 occasions is the same individual, for he naturally adheres to his 
 own precedents, and tends in this way to establish a permanent 
 tradition. 
 
 (h). The difficulties of this nature arising in arbitrations may 
 be roughly divided into two classes, although the separation is to a 
 certain extent artificial. In the first place there is the difficulty of 
 deciding upon the data which are to be taken into consideration as 
 a basis for the arbitrator's award ; and in the second place there is 
 the additional difficulty of ascertaining these data with accurate 
 exactitude. This will be more clearly apparent if we consider some 
 illustrative instances. 
 
 Let us take, for example, the three arbitration reports of the 
 Northumberland coal trade, and the nine arbitration reports of the 
 manufactured iron trade of the North, to which previous reference 
 has been made ; and let us notice some of the leading arguments 
 which have been adduced on successive occasions. 
 
 (c) (I). In the case of the Northumberland coal trade there is 
 an agreement of tolerable uniformity with regard to the general 
 character of the data on which the decision is to be based. " Both 
 " parties," remarks Lord Herschell in his award of 1876, " are 
 " pretty well agreed that the change of prices must mainly be the 
 " basis in determining what changes should be made in wages."'"' 
 
 The owners, in their written case before Sir Rupert Kettle in 
 1875, "unhesitatingly deny"'"^ that the award "shall be based 
 " upon a question of profits," because, they say, labour would thus 
 share in profits without sharing in losses, and because the " price 
 " of labour really and truly depends upon supply and demand, 
 " and cannot legitimately be governed by any otber law." " To a 
 " certain extent," indeed, they urge, the same objections apply to 
 the basis of prices; but "there seems to be a sort of recognised 
 " feeling shared by employers and einplo^-ed," with which " the 
 " public at large scarcely agree," " that the price of an article may 
 " be used as a rough, unskilful, but practical mode of settling the 
 " question between capital and labour." And hence they accept 
 
 '»» Cf. IV, p. 24 ; Sir J. W. Pease's iuvard. 
 
 '»2 Cf. H, p. 231). >^3 Cf. K, p 9.
 
 ^6 INDUSTRIAI, PEACE : 
 
 " tills mode of dealing with the question" as an "expedient" — 
 though only as an " expedient " — and they base their demand for a 
 reduction in wages upon the fact " that the wages-cost of producing 
 " coal has risen in a greater degree than that in which prices have 
 " advanced;" and the previous mutual arrangements, to which they 
 refer in detail, seem to have rested upon a similar basis. ^''^ Before 
 Lord Herschell they " are content to let " the basis of prices 
 '' rest," for " though an unskilful, it is a rough and practical mode 
 " which, iu the hands of experienced arbitrators, may pei-haps be 
 " the least objectionable way of dealing with all the difficulties 
 " which suri'ound the subject."'''''' And in this instance again they 
 rest the burden of their case upon the basis of selling prices. On 
 the third occasion, before Sir Lyon Playfair, they once more 
 allude''"^ to a decline in prices as one reason at least for a redu.ction 
 in wages. 
 
 The men on their part cordially accept this basis. " As a matter 
 " of fact," they urge, "this has been the basis accepted by both 
 " sides during all the negotiations relative to wages of late 
 "years."'''' "For our part, although we are far from believing 
 " that it is a perfect method, and firmly hold indeed that profits 
 " and losses are an important element in the question, and that 
 " these should always be taken into the account, we yet trust that 
 " our present system will only be abandoned when we see our way 
 " to the adoption of a better, more equitable, and more satisfactory 
 "method of adjusting our differences." "The only principle on 
 " which both parties seem to be agreed or — whether agreed or 
 " not — on which they have practically acted hitherto, both in the 
 " advances and reductions of recent years, is the relation between 
 " price and wages." ^"^ "We have always expressed our readiness 
 " to have wages regulated by the prices received for the coal, and 
 " we have shown our confidence in this principle, and our readiness 
 " to abide by it, by adhering to it not only when the markets 
 " were rising, but also since they began to fall."'"^ " We will only 
 " say now " (in answer to the point of declining prices advanced 
 by the owners) "that whatever fall can be proved to have taken 
 " place in the price of coal since last arbitration, will be a(!know- 
 " ledged by us as a reason for a reduction in wage, provided that 
 " all other matters are allowed for on our side as they have 
 " hitherto been on the side of employers in past arbiti'ations."""" 
 ' In all our previous arbitrations this " (fall in prices) "has been 
 " the ground selected by the owners, and we fail to see why they 
 " should now import other matters into the case, and seek a wholly 
 
 '»' Cf. K, pp. 3, 6, 8, 11. '"5 Cf. H, p. 7. 
 
 '■'« Cf. P, p. 7. '■'" Cf. K, p. 49. 
 
 '■'« Cf. H, p. 23. '"■• Cf. H, p. 25. " a™ Cf. P, p. 19.
 
 ITS ADVANTAGES, METHODS, AXD DIFKICULTIKS. o7 
 
 " uew basis to work upon."""^ "We have always recognised the 
 " })rinciple of wages rising and falling with tlie prices received by 
 " the coal-owners.""'^ 
 
 (2). But other considerations besides the bare relation of the 
 figurts of wages to the figures of prices are, as a matter of fact, 
 introduced into the different cases. It is difficult to distinguish 
 exactly between the amount of expenses of production which is to 
 be charged to wages, — if we do not rest content with the mere 
 numerical statement of the total sum actually received by the 
 workmen — and the amount which is to be charged to other 
 elements ; and hence in this, if in no other way, some other 
 elements are almost of necessity introduced into the arguments 
 of the one side or the other. 
 
 Let us take, for an illustration of this, the arbitration at which 
 Sir Rupert Kettle presided in March, 1875, The accountants 
 appointed to examine the books have, according to the owners'^"^ 
 taken into consideration only the " amount of wage paid in 
 " bringing coal to baiik." But the owners allude in their case*"* 
 to the increased cost occasioned by the effect of the Mines 
 Regulation Act, which came into force in the year 1873, and of 
 the IS'ine-hours' movement of the year 1871, upon the number of 
 Avorking hours in a week. They also refer to the augmented 
 number of " hewers " and to the consequent increase in the 
 cottages and fuel pi-ovided for their accommodation, and in the 
 time expended in taking them up and down the pits. The miners 
 reply*"* to this by saying that it is unfair to charge them with the 
 cost, direct or indirect, entailed by beneficial legislation ; and that 
 the argument about the diminution of working hours is met by the 
 fact that the miners are paid, not by time, but by the amount of 
 coal that tliey respectively " send to bank." In answer to this the 
 employers point'"" to the " standing charges " — " such as house- 
 " rent, fire-coal, horses, plant and machinery," and the fixed wages 
 paid to certain classes of workmen — and they contend that these 
 " charges are constant," whether the " hewers " are working or 
 not; and this the miners "readily admit."*"'' The mere relation, 
 then, of the figures of wages to the figures of prices does not seem 
 to be fully accepted by the owners. 
 
 2"' Cf. P, p. 26. 202 cf. P, p. 27. 
 
 2113 (jj-^ \^ p_ X3 . or, more fully, " the actual lump sum of money paid at each 
 " colliery for liewiug and bringing the coal to liank," together tvith "the cost of 
 "extra cotlage accommodation required." "The average net price per ton" 
 which the "coal cost the owners in wages" is thus compared witli the "average 
 " net price per ton " at which the coals were sold " at the pit's mouth." Cf. K, 
 p. 11. 
 
 2o< Cf. K, p. 7. 205 Cf. K, p. 45. -"" Cf. K, p. 93. 
 
 -'' Cf. K, p. 115.
 
 58 INDUSTRIAL TEACE : 
 
 The men on their part contend that they can only be credited 
 with the advance of wages wliich. they (I.e., the hewers) have 
 actually obtained.^"* Bat they also maintain-"^ that ifc is " altogether 
 " unjust to throw the whole bui-den of all increased cost in wages 
 " on the shoulders of the workmen." Tliey allude, for example, to 
 the difficulty of working " thinner and harder seams " — althougli 
 the facts they adduce upon this point are contested by the owners. 
 They urge that, to produce the same amount of coal, these seams 
 require a greater number of hands, whether of the " hewers " 
 themselves or of the " off-hand men"'^" or labourers, who have to 
 " make height for the ponies and to keep the roadways in proper 
 " order." As the workings extend further from the shaft the " cost 
 " of labour for the transit of the coal " must also be increased ; and 
 these " natural disadvantages of working," they claim, ought not to 
 be charged against them. Nor, if the whole of the increased cost 
 of loages is to fall on their shoulders, is the " injustice " avoided of 
 crediting them with the expense entailed by errors of management 
 in applying and directing labour. For in recent years alone 
 the owners in their anxiety to augment pi^oduction had "imported" 
 " great numbers " of " untrained hands " into the mines. 
 
 Nor is the other element of price allowed by the arbitrator to 
 rest upon the mere figures ; for he addresses a question to"^^ either 
 side with the object of ascertaining whether there had been any 
 alteration in the quality of the coal sold ; and in his award he 
 states^'^ that some difference was discovered " in the relative 
 " proportions of the yield of ' I'ound ' and 'small' coal," " at the 
 " two test periods," ^'^ " which affected to a small extent the 
 " average selling value of the (unit) ton of coal." The direct 
 comparison, then, of the figures of wages with the figures of 
 prices does not seem to be fully accepted by either paity before 
 Sir Rupert Kettle. 
 
 Nor is this condition of affairs materially altered before Lord 
 Herschell or Sir Lyon Playfair. For the men again contend^^^ 
 before Lord Herschell, that the " cost of wages " is a misleading 
 expression ; and that they ought not to be credited with the 
 expense entailed by " natural disadvantages and difficulties," by 
 official " carelessness and luismanagement," or by " special privi- 
 
 2'« Cf. K, p. 53. -»» Cf. K, p. 51. 
 
 2'" The general statements of the accountants are liuppleraented during the 
 course of the arbitration hy detailed percentages, giving separately the increase in 
 the average earnings of the "hewers," and in those of the "off-hand men," and 
 the " mechanics," &c. Cf. K, pp. 98 and 99. 
 
 2'i Cf. K, p. 90. 2'- Cf. K, p. 121. 
 
 2'* And also " some slight difference in the average thickness of the seains 
 " working at the two" periods. Cf. K, p. 121. 
 
 -'* Cf. H, p. 26 ; P, p. 103.
 
 ir.S ADVANTAGES, MKTllODS, AND DIKi-ICULriKS. 59 
 
 " leges," or " Liglier salaries " granted to particular classes of work- 
 men who are not members of the Miners' Association. They also 
 institute a comparison between their own position and that of the 
 miners in otiier districts ;'"'^ and the owners in their case before 
 Sir Lyon Playfair, ■'" follow in the same line, calling special 
 attention to the fact that it is the pecnliar practice in Durham and 
 Northumberland to supply the colliers with houses and fuel. With 
 regard to prices, again, the difiiculty of disposing of the "small" 
 coal, is urged'"'' before Sir Lyon Playfair, and is described in his 
 award as the " chief element " in the arbitration. 
 
 (3). But, even if the general character of the data on which the 
 award is to be based is determined, the difficulties are not thereby 
 entirely resolved. For these data have to be ascertained with accu- 
 racy. The information, for example, obtained by the two parties 
 with reference to the comparison of the position of the miners in 
 Northumberland with that of the men in other districts seems to 
 have been of so conllicting a nature that the point was abandoned 
 by mutual consent before Lord Herschell ;"'* and, befoie Sir Lyon 
 Playfair, one of the representatives of the men remarks :"'^ "It has 
 " been stated again and again that it is almost impossible to get 
 " the wages of hewers in other districts" (i.e., besides Durham). 
 He affirms that he has data which are entirely contrary to those 
 furnished by the owners, and that, in addition to this, the nature of 
 the work in other districts is very different from that in Northum- 
 berland. Finally the owners abandon comparison with any other 
 districts save that of Durham alone,"" and with that they only 
 compare a " portion " of Northumberland ; but even to this the 
 miners object^-^ bj' urging that Durham "contains every variety of 
 " coal, and a great number of different seams," and that, to make 
 the comparison " in any degree fair and relevant, collieries of a 
 " similar kind, working the same seams, exactly under the same 
 " circumstances, and sending their coal to the same market, should 
 " alone be compared." Nor, if we turn to other elements in the 
 expenses of production besides wages, is any information at all to 
 be procured ; for the owners stoutly deny that profits have any 
 concern in the matter, and emphatically refuse to supply evidence 
 about the expenses of management.-'" 
 
 But, supposing that the basis of selling prices, as contrasted 
 with the cost of wages, is accepted as suitable and fair: here also 
 difficulties arise. The owners, indeed, permit chartered accountants, 
 sworn to secrecy, to inspect their books. Before Sir Rupert Kettle 
 
 •■^'s Cf. H, p. 22. 
 
 21= Cf. P, pp. 9—11. -'' Cf. P, pp. 8, 133, iuul 134. 
 
 218 Cf. H, p. 165. ■-'■' Cf. P, i)p. 21 iind 74. -''> Cf. F, p. 83, 
 
 «i Cf. P, p. 120. ^■-- Cf. P, p. 42.
 
 60 INDUSTRIAL PEACE: 
 
 tliej produce a statement drawn np by the accountants, and a 
 letter describing the method which had been followed in obtaining 
 the figures ;^-^ and this statement is accepted"^ by the men as 
 "arithmetically" correct. Before Lord Herschell, indeed, they 
 ask"^ that the figures presented by the owners, — and obtained in 
 this instance through the agency of the " ordinary staff " of their 
 association — shall be verified by accountants nominated by the 
 umpire; and this course is actually followed. But the "arithme- 
 " tical accuracy " of the figures, when verified by accountants,'^^'' 
 is acknowledged as a fair basis on which to proceed ; for, as Sir 
 Kupert Kettle puts it, ~~'' " the figures are taken from books kept 
 " quite independently of" the "arbitration by clerks who have no 
 *■ other interest in them than the receipt of their salaries ; and the 
 " tables are copied from the books, and these books are examined 
 " by public accountants who, if they are worth their salt, are like 
 " a two-foot rule." 
 
 The principle, however, on which they ai*e based may be open 
 to objection. For the men can only obtain detailed information 
 with the "utmost difficulty." "The employer has ready at his 
 " command all the data in the shape of books, documents, and 
 " figures requisite for the preparation of his case,""^ but the miner 
 is in this resjDect placed at a great disadvantage. The figures 
 submitted by the accountants are necessarily given in averages or 
 percentages, because the owners do not wish to render the public — 
 and still less their rival traders — acqua'nted with the details of the 
 inner working of their business. ^'^'' But the objection to this 
 course is fairly stated"^" by one of the workmen's advocates, when 
 he ui'ges before Lord Herschell that, if he knew the figures of 
 particular collieries, he might be able to " thoroughly investigate " 
 the matter, and inseit in his reply " some statement in relation to 
 " it which might modify" some of the figiires put in, and account 
 for the increased cost occurring in special cases. 
 
 The method, also, of uniting and separating the several per- 
 centages may undergo variation ; and in this way a fresh element 
 of difficulty in comparing the fig'ures of the present with those of 
 the past may be introduced. Thus in the figures supplied to Sir 
 Rupert Kettle contracts were not included,'^^ but in those supplied, 
 to Lord Herschell the contrary course was adopted, and objection is 
 taken to this by the umpire"^ on the ground that it prevents exact 
 
 2-'3 Cf. K, pp. 10 and ]1. 
 
 ■■=-■< Cf. K, p. 55. --'5 Cf. H, pp. 2, 7, 21, and 236. 
 
 2-'' Cf. K, p. 58. -■■-■ Cf. K, p. 2fi. 228 Cf. K, p. 43. 
 
 -2'' Cf. H, p. 9, &c. ; cf. also K, pp. 27 and 28. 
 
 -••" Cf H, pp. 15 and 220. 
 
 -^' Cf. K, p. 10. -■3'- Cf. H, p. 33.
 
 ITS ADVAN'J'AGKH, METHODS, AND Dll-KKUiLTIKS. Gl 
 
 comparison. In tlie former case, agfiin, a distinction was made 
 between the men work in o^ in tlie "soft-coal collieries" nnd those 
 in the " steam-coal collieries," and a special redaction demanded in 
 the case of the foi-mer ; and Lord Herschell insists'^'" that a similar 
 distinction ought to be made before him in the returns of selling 
 prices; for otherwise the result of an average may be to injure 
 the relative position of the workmen at one cla.ss of colliery to the 
 benefit of those at another. A further question is raised before 
 him Avith reference to the separation of tlie increased cost of 
 wages due to members of the Miners' Association fi'om that due 
 to outsiders ;~^^ for, if the wages of the one class be maintained in 
 adverse times at the point they reached in prosperity, it would 
 apparently be unfair to chai-ge the whole increase in the relative 
 cost of wages to the other class. But in this instance, as in that 
 of the question of contracts, the difPerence resulting from inclusion 
 or exclusion was shown to be only about i per cent."*'' Lastly, it 
 was argued before the same arbitrator that certain collieries in 
 connection with the Masters' Association pi'oduced clay and other 
 commodities besides coal, and that the cost incurred when the men 
 were producing clay ought to be excluded from the calculated cost 
 of wages, if the selling price only of coal entered into the calculated 
 prices;"^'* but this objection, the owners reply, had been met by 
 taking account of the sales of clay in the calculations of prices. 
 
 (4). When these difficulties about the accuracy of the data 
 placed before the arbitrator have been resolved, there remains yet 
 another of very considerable importance. For it is evident that, 
 if wages are to be regulated by selling prices, there must be some 
 aofreement with regard to the time when the two are to be con- 
 sidered as standing in a normal i-elation towards one another. Thus 
 before Sir Rupert Kettle the owners instituted a comparison 
 between the month of January, ]875, and the month of April, 
 1871 ; and it seems to have been generally acknowledged by the 
 men that April, 1871, was properly chosen as a test month, 
 i-epresenting, in the words of the arbitrator, the " normal condition 
 " of rate of wages and price of commodity in the coal trade." "^^ 
 But Sir Rupert Kettle himself held"^ that the month of January, 
 1875, was an abnormal period in these respects ; and the men 
 protest^^ before Lord Herschell against the fairness of the com- 
 parison. They argue, indeed, for general reasons that in view of 
 
 23^ Cf. H, p. 39. -•" Cy. H, pp. 27, 41—59. 
 
 2« Cf. H, p. 181. 2»' Cf. H, pp. 61—63. 
 
 •■'" Cf. K, pp. 69, 71, 95, and 121. ^ss cf. K, p. 123. 
 
 ■■'■'•' Cf. H, p. 28. April, 1871, is hIso now regarded by the men as an abnormal 
 period, becanse two days more than tlie average were worked per week. Cf. H, 
 V. 80.
 
 62 INDUS'IRIAL PEACE : 
 
 the " fluctuations in the coal trade " a single month is not an 
 adequately broad and reliable basis for snch a comparison.^'" But, 
 even accepting this narrow basis, they point out that, whereas in 
 the month of April the "Baltic trade" is "opened out," "the 
 " month of January is usually one of the worst in the year," both 
 from the dulness of trade and the prevalence of holiday festivities. 
 And hence the comparison pressed unfairly upon the men in two 
 ways. It raised " the average price," and lessened the " propor- 
 " tionate cost of wages in Api'il, 1871." It lowered the average 
 price, and increased the cost in J;inuary, 1875. The justice of this 
 contention is admitted by the arbitrator ; and the investigations 
 made by the accountants which he appointed to inquire into the 
 matter showed^" that, comparing November, 1875, with April, 1871, 
 there was an increase of 74 per cent, in the wages-cost, but that, 
 comparing the same month with January, 1871, there was only an 
 increase of ^j^ per cent., although the prices in the two months of 
 January and April were about the same. And hence it is evident 
 that tliese peculiar circumstances must be borne in mind in 
 estimating the fair and normal relation of wages to prices, and 
 in instituting comparisons between one period and another. 
 
 (d) (1). Throughout the nine reports, again, in the manufac- 
 tured iron trade, there is a general agreement that the basis of the 
 award is to be primarily the relation of wages to selling prices. 
 But the agreement is not uniformly maintained, and a number of 
 additional considerations are advanced. The table which is given 
 in an earlier portion of this report ''" affords evidence of a general 
 cori'espondence between selling prices and puddling wages, and 
 the fact is noticed by more than one ai'bitrator,'^^ by Mr. Dale, for 
 instance, in 1870, and by Sir Joseph Pease in 1882. The Yevy 
 existence of sliding scales in the trade on four separate occasions 
 is proof of a tendency to adopt this relation as a basis. The 
 masters appeal'^* to the evidence of prices before Mr. Dale in 1877, 
 Mr. Shaw-Lefevre in 1878, Mr. Dale again in 1879, Sir Joseph 
 Pease in 1882, and Mr. Watson in 1884 and 1885, and in fact rest 
 the chief burden of their cases upon this. " It is quite impossible," 
 their advocate maintains"" before Mr. Dale in 1879, " if wages do 
 " not in some degree comport with " the " market price, for us to 
 " carry on our business successfully." Before Sir Joseph Pease he 
 alludes''*'' to "the eight years' settlements based on the selling price 
 " of iron," and he adds these words: "The eight years' sliding 
 
 2« Cf. H, p. 74. 2,1 cf. H, p. 237. 
 
 "'■' Cf. supra, p 21. "-'^ Cf. Ill, p. 14.; lY, p. 24. 
 
 2" Cf. I, p. 5; II, p. 3; III, p. 9 ; IV, p. 10; V, p. 5 ; \I, p. 4; VII, p. 3 ; 
 VIII, p. 3; IX, p. 4. 
 
 ■-i'5 Cf III, p. 11. ■-'^'' Cf. IV, p. 12.
 
 ITS ADVANTAGES, METHODS, AND DI KEICULTIES, 63 
 
 " scale arrano-ement, we believe, was the principle of determining 
 " wages by the selling price of iron, and it wonid be extremely 
 " difficult, if not dangerous, permanently to depart from that." 
 The men on their part recognise the same general basis. Befoi-e 
 Mr. Dale in 1877 tliey argue'~*^ that "the selling price of iron does 
 " not justify the employers in demanding any reduction." "As 
 " our wages in the past," they urge, " Itave been regulated by 
 " the selling price of iron and not by the condition of trade, we 
 " protest against the plea of depression being used for the purpose 
 " of reducing our wages, and maintain that we have a right to 
 '• claim that our Avages shall now be regulated on the former 
 " basis, viz., selling* price of iron, and not on the state of 
 '■ ti-ade." " We entirely agree that our wages should be regulated 
 " by the selling price of iron."-'* " We have a right to demand 
 " that a full inquiry shall be made, and that our wages shall only 
 " be ruled by the former basis, viz., the selling price of iron." 
 And they warmly protest'*" against the award of Messrs. Mundella 
 and Williams on the ground that it was given on a new basis — on 
 the depression of trade. But on the other hand the suspension of 
 the sliding scales is evidence of an unwillingness to abrde entirely 
 by the clianges in selling prices ; and the men, in the very case to 
 which we have just alluded — that before Mr, Dale in 1877 — say-"° 
 that "it is not always fair to base wages on the price of the article 
 " produced." Before Sir Joseph Pease in 1882 they maintain '^^^ 
 that the " value of their labour, in addition to the selling price, 
 " had been recognised" (with one exception) from the ibrmation 
 of the board in 1809 until September, 1873; that in that and the 
 following year the employers made the utmost use of the sur|)h;s 
 of labour in the market ; that in 1875 it was the state of the labour 
 market that gave the employers the advantage, and enabled tliera 
 to effect a reduction; and that now in 1882 the men ought in 
 their turn to reap the fruits of the comparative scarcity of labour. 
 Before Mr. Watson in 1884 they protest'*- again.st following prices 
 down to their lowest point, and argue that in the days of pros- 
 jierity they did not follow them up to the highest point. 
 
 The condition, then, of the labour market, as well as the position 
 of wages relative to prices, is urged by the men upon the attention 
 of arbitrators. The reduction of j\ per cent, effected by mutual 
 arrangement at Birmingham in December, 1873, was expressly 
 agreed to by the operatives, according to the contention -*■' of their 
 advocate, Mr. Trow, before Sir Joseph Pease in 1882, because of 
 their knowledge of the congested condition of the labour market. 
 
 = '■ Cf. I, p. 5. 248 cf. I, pp. 15 and 23. 
 
 -'» Cf. 1, p. 17. -•'" Cf. I, p. 8. -'^1 Cf. IV, p. 7. 
 
 «•■' Cf. VIII, ]). 5. -'" Cf IV, p. 10„
 
 64 INDUSTRIAL PEACE : 
 
 The success of the board is atti-ibuted'-"* by them on the same 
 occasion to the fact that in its early history " each arbitrator dealt 
 " with the question submitted not on a narrow basis, but took a 
 '' hroad view, and gave awards in accordance with the value of 
 " labour and the conditions of the labour market at the time of 
 "• the sitting." Sir Joseph Pease once more, in his award on the 
 same occasion, sums up their objections"® to the exclusive basis 
 of selling prices, and notices that an additional fact in support of 
 their contention had been brought into the light during the course 
 of tlie inquiry — the fact that certain allowances under the names of 
 "prize money" and "Monday working money" were "freely 
 " given during times of scarcity in the labour market," and 
 " immediately withdrawn by certain employers " when the con- 
 ditions of that market inclined in their favour. 
 
 Somewhat akin to the condition of the labour market is another 
 consideration Avhich has had no little weight from time to time in 
 the history of the board. This is the relative position of the 
 ironworkers in the north of England as compared with that of 
 the Staffordshire men. The sliding scale of 1871 was suspended 
 because the rates in Staifordshire were raised above those given 
 by the scale in the north of England. The Staffordshire men 
 obtained an advance of 20 per cent. The sliding scale in the 
 north gave an advance only of 7I per cent."'''' The scale was 
 suspended, and an immediate advance of 12^ per cent, accorded. 
 The Derby scale of 1874 was the result of a joint arx*angement 
 between the employers and employed of the north and of Stafford- 
 shire. The average selling price under this scale was to be 
 ascertained"*' by an examination into the books of all the firms in 
 the north of England and of twelve selected firms in Staffordshire. 
 The average selling prices of the one were to be added to those of 
 the other and divided by two, and the result of this calculation 
 was to be the price recognised by the scale. Mr. Shaw-Lefevre's 
 award, again, was apparently"^* based in a considerable degree upon 
 the Staffordshire wages. Men and masters both appeal"'"' before 
 him to the Staffordshire rates and to the wages of the ironworkers 
 in other districts as well; and this same standard of comparison is 
 invoked on more than one other occasion. "'''° The relative position, 
 also, of ironworkers as compared with the men engpged in othei- 
 trades finds a place in some of the arguments both of masters and 
 
 -^^ Cf. IV, p. 15. -'" Cf. lY, p. 23. 
 
 •■=-^» Cf. II, p. 6. 
 
 2" Cf. I, p. 11; II, p. 10. 
 
 •■;^8 Cf. II, p. 19 ; III, pp. 10 and 11. Cf. contra, VI, p. 9. 
 
 -■">" Cf. II, pp. 3 and 6; III, p. 11 ; IV, p. 8. 
 
 -'•=<> Cf. I, pp. 10 and II; IV, p. 10; VIII, p. 9.
 
 ITS ADVANTAGES, METHODS, AND DIFFICULTIES. 65 
 
 of men ;-^' and another contention advanced ujjun some occasions is 
 indirectly connected with this. 
 
 Thus the men appeal before^"" Mr. Dale in 1877 to the fact that 
 a diminution in the expenses of production has been occasioned 
 by a fall in the prices of pig iron and of coal, and consequently 
 ui'ge that a reduction in selling prices does not necessarily imply a 
 decrease in profits ; and the masters admit that this contention is 
 one of considerable strength if supported by actual facts, and do 
 not call in question at the moment the accuracy of the figures put 
 in by the men with regard to the prices of pig iron and coal. But 
 they argue ^"^ that the workers in the manufactured iron trade have 
 not contiibuted towards these redactions ; that the Dur-ham colliers 
 have had their wages decreased on three occasions since the last 
 award in the manufactured iron trade ; that the cokemen have 
 undergone a similar process, and so have the colliery mechanics 
 and engine-men. Reductions have also been effected in the wages 
 of the Cleveland ironstone miners and in those of the blast furnace- 
 men. And so the cost of other items in the expenses of production 
 over and beyond the cost of labour is urged upon the attention of 
 arbitrators.""^ The men advance this consideration on the occasion 
 to which we have just referred, and the masters admit that it is a 
 " strong argument. "'^^ The masters urge the same consideration'^®® 
 upon Sir Joseph Pease in 1882 ; but in this case the men contend 
 that they have "nothing to do" with the cost of material, and 
 that Sir Rupert Kettle on a previous occasion^" had ruled that 
 it had " no bearing upon " the wages question, although the 
 employers had based the chief burden of their argument for a 
 reduction of wages on the high rates of coal and iron. 
 
 But on their part they maintain that a searching inquiry 
 ought to be made into all the details of management, and that 
 the results of careless or incapable direction of industry ought 
 not to be charged to their account;^"* and they urge before 
 Mr. Watson in 1885 that relief should be sought by the employers 
 in diminished royalties and lessened railway rates rather than in 
 decreased wages."''''* The employers, however, emphatically refuse^"" 
 to allow investigation into the inner working of their business with 
 the object of ascertaining the causes of profit or loss ; although 
 indeed on their side they appeal more than once to depression in 
 trade as an argument for reduction in wages. The decline^" in 
 
 2«> Cf. I, p. 10; II, p. 15; IV, p. 11 ; V, p. 10. 
 
 ■■"'2 Cf. I, p. 7. "« Cf. I, p. 11. 26* Cf. I, p. 11 ; VII, p. 8, 
 
 •-=«= Cf. I, pp. 7, 9, and 16. -«« Cf V, pp. 5 and 7. 
 
 •-" Oclober, 1873, at Durham. Cf. IV, pp. 9 and 10; and also at Saltluru 
 in April, 1873; cf. IV, p. 10. 
 
 2«» Cf. I, p. 7 ; II, p. 8 ; IV, p. 16 ; IX, p. 14. 
 
 «^ Cf. IX, pp. 5, 14 and 15. ^^ Cf I, p. 9. ^71 cf. I, p. 5. 
 
 F
 
 66 INDUSTRIAL PEACE : 
 
 the demand for iron is impressed upon Mr. Dale in 1877 ; tlio 
 " great depression in the manufactured iron trade" is advanced 
 before Mr. Shaw-Lefevre in 1878,*" and again before Mr. Dale in 
 1879;^" and the abandonment of the joint sliding scale in 1875 
 is justified"'^ on the ground of the "great depression in the rail 
 " trade." The men, on the other hand, stoutly protest against 
 the award of Messrs. Mundella and Williams because this plea of 
 depression of trade was taken into consideration ; and they main- 
 tain that the loss of the rail trade is no concern of theirs, but is 
 " one of those risks to which every capitalist is liable when he 
 " embarks on an industry so precarious and liable to fluctuation as 
 " the iron trade.""'* 
 
 There is one other argument of some importance which appears 
 in the arbitration reports from time to time ; and this is in one 
 respect at least analogous to the question of profit and loss. 
 For if the men have nothing to do with the " details of manage- 
 " ment," which are the private concerns of the employers, it may 
 be similarly argued, from one point of view, that the employers 
 have nothing to do with those details of household expenditure 
 which are tlie private concerns of the men. The argument is, 
 however, scarcely sound, and as a matter of fact both employers 
 and men have appealed to what is closely connected with the 
 details of household expenditure — the cost of living or the pur- 
 chasing power of money. The men allude to the cost of living'"' 
 before Mr. Shaw-Lefevre in 1878; and, in arguing upon the rela- 
 tion of wages to selling pi-ices, they insist that there should be a 
 minimum below which wages should not fall, whatever may be the 
 position of prices.""'^ The masters maintain,*" with considerable 
 detail, in November, 1884, and October, 1885, that the purchasing 
 power of money has increased. 
 
 Here then we have a numerous list of arguments advanced on 
 different occasions, in addition to the bare relation of wages to 
 selling prices — the condition of the labour market ; the wages 
 paid to ironworkers in Staffordshire and elsewhere, and to men 
 employed in other industries ; the additional elements over and 
 above wages in the expenses of production (including the cost of 
 materials, and the amount of royalties and of railway rates) ; the 
 character of the management of business undertakings ; the depres- 
 sion in the demand for iron ; and the cost of living. Some of these 
 considerations, of course, have been disallowed on different occa- 
 sions by the opposing parties, and may or may not have affected 
 
 272 Cf. TI, p. 3; III, p. 9. 273 Cf. I, p 11. 
 
 2-1 Cf. I, p. 6. 275 Cf. II, p. 4. 
 
 27" Cf. I, pp. 8 and 15. 
 
 277 Cf. VII, p. 10; VIII, pp. 10 and 11; IX, p. 11.
 
 ITS ADVANTAGES, METHODS, AND DIFFICUf/riMS. &7 
 
 the final awai-d ; but the fact remaius that they have been advanced 
 as data deserving attention. 
 
 (2). There is, again, some difficulty experienced in ascertaining 
 these data with exactitude. It is by no means easy to gauge with 
 accuracy the depression of trade, or the conditions of the labour 
 market. The details of management are a closed book, so far as 
 the operatives are concerned ; and they can only rely upon the 
 roseate reports of the directors of joint-stock companies.^'® The 
 ]iurchasing power of money is ascertained by the masters from 
 the prices supplied to them by officials connected with the Middles- 
 brough Co-operative Society,"" but the men contend^^° that they 
 do not " deal with co-operative stores ;" that they " live on the 
 "credit system," and that therefore " 25 per cent." must be added 
 to co-opei-ative prices before they can fairly be put in as evidence. 
 The comparison of the rates in the north of England with those in 
 Staffordshire is somewhat complicated ^^^ by the special " extras " 
 which appear to be paid in the former case ; but an additional 
 allowance of 6d. in favour of Staffordshii'e seems to be generally 
 made in calculations of wages. There appears however to have 
 been some irregularity in the payment of these so-called " north- 
 " country extras. "^^- The amount of selling prices, on the other 
 hand, is regularly ascertained by the accountant to the board; and 
 this evidence is generally, though not indeed invariably, accepted 
 without question by masters and men.'®^ The provision under 
 which these prices are ascertained dates back to the year 1872,^^* 
 and the first quainter for which the accountant's returns were made 
 out was that ending on 29th February in that year. The method 
 pursued by him is described by the president of the board before 
 Mr. Watson in 1884. The figures, he states,*^®^ are " arrived at by 
 " the examination of the books of all the firms connected with the 
 " board, and also of several others," by Mr. Waterhouse, the 
 accountant to the board. " He takes out and verifies for the two 
 " months' period, and he takes off from the invoices the discounts 
 " and commissions which have to be given by the firms on each 
 " special order, and he arrives at the net price of each ton which 
 " has left the works. And adding these two together, he finds 
 " exactly the total number of tons sold, delivered, and invoiced by 
 " all the firms in the north of England connected with the board. 
 " He gives these figures in certificated retiirns every two months. 
 " He sends round to the works, and he examines the books himself, 
 
 2" Cf. IX, p. 14. 2-s Cf. VIII, p. 11 ; IX, p. 11. 
 
 28" Cf. VIII, p. 13. 28' Cf. II, pp. 7, 12, and 15. 
 
 2 2 Cf. II, p. 13 ami IG ; IV, p. 8 j V, p. 7 ; VIII, pp. 11 and 14 ; IX, p. 6. 
 
 283 Cf. contra, IX, pp. 5 and 9. 2S4 cf. I, p. 18. 
 
 '"" Cf. VI, p. 7. 
 
 f2
 
 68 
 
 INDUSTRIAL PEACE : 
 
 *' or by his officials, and vouches for them and their accuracy." 
 " Every ton of iron of any quality that has been sold by any 
 " employer " is included in these returns ;^*'' and by a mutual agi^ee- 
 ment effected at Durham in March, 1883, the period of ascertain- 
 ment was reduced from three to two months, in order to secure 
 the more rapid adjustment of wages to the changes in prices. 
 
 The two following tables will supply illustrations of the 
 character of these returns : — 
 
 Table II.^s' 
 
 
 Quarter ending 29th Februciry, 1873. 
 
 Description. 
 
 Weight Invoiced. 
 
 Percentage 
 
 of 
 
 Total. 
 
 Average Net Price 
 per Ton. 
 
 Bails 
 
 Tons. cut. qr. Hi. 
 
 71,639 1 3 2 
 43,268 4 3 19 
 14,398 13 - 27 
 15,869 14 I 12 
 
 49-35 
 
 29-80 
 
 9-92 
 
 10-93 
 
 £ .y. d. 
 6 18 1-66 
 
 Plates 
 
 9 4 6-68 
 
 7 19 0-89 
 
 8 - 7'99 
 
 Bars 
 
 Angles 
 
 
 Total 
 
 145,175 14 I 4 
 
 10000 
 
 7 16 6-15 
 
 
 The second table^^^ is given in the employers' case before 
 Mr. Shaw-Lefevre in December, 1878, and is founded on 
 Mr. Waterhouse's returns; but rails are omitted, "as they have 
 " ceased to be an element of any consequence in the ii'on trade of 
 " the north of Eng-land." 
 
 Table III. 
 
 Plates 
 Bars ... 
 
 Angles 
 
 18th January, 1870. 
 
 WiUiams and 
 
 Mundella. 
 
 £ s. d. 
 8 - 10-75 
 7 17 9-73 
 7 13 11-38 
 
 Tliree Months 
 
 ending 
 
 31st August, 1878. 
 
 d. 
 10-29 
 
 4" 3 7 
 8-43 
 
 FaU per Ton. 
 
 £ s. d. 
 
 1 16 0-46 - 1 7i, 
 
 1 16 5-36- 1 7J- I Pe''c®°''- 
 o o on- 1 I reduction 
 
 2 3 2-9o — 22^ 
 
 Sometimes, however, the prices likely to be realised in the 
 current or succeeding period, and not those actually realised for 
 the previous period, have been put in as evidence, and then an 
 element of uncertainty is at once introduced. ^^^ 
 
 Thus, before Mr. Hughes in January, 1871, the quoted prices, 
 as given by the "Iron and Coal Trades' Review," were brought 
 
 Cf. VII, pp. 5 and 6. 
 
 Cf. 1, p. 18. 
 
 Cf. II, p. 7 ; V, p. 11. 
 
 Cf. II, p. 3.
 
 ITS ADVANTAGI'lS, METHODS, AND DIFFICDI/I'IES. 
 
 69 
 
 forward by tlie employers, but tlie retui-ns for the six months 
 following that date indicated a considerable difference from these, 
 and may be illustrated by the following table, which is based upon 
 figures supplied by the men to Mr. Shaw-Lefevre in Decembei*, 
 1878.-'"' 
 
 Table IV. 
 
 Dcscriptiiiii. 
 
 " Iron and Coal Trades' Review." 
 
 Returns for Six Months. 
 
 Rails 
 
 £ s. d. £ s. d. 
 
 5 17 6 to 6 - - 
 7 7 6 „ 7 lo - 
 
 6 7 6 „ 6 10 - 
 6 12 6 „ 6 15 - 
 
 £ s. d. 
 6 6 2 
 
 Plates 
 
 8 4 2 
 
 
 6 17 6 
 7-3 
 
 Angles 
 
 
 
 (3). The difficulty, once more, of agreeing upon a definite period 
 when wages are to be considered to bear a normal relation to prices 
 is again and again brought into clear relief in the manufactured iron 
 trade. The employers place before successive arbitrators tables 
 giving the history of the changes in wages between the award of 
 Messrs. Mundella and Williams in 1876, and the suspension of the 
 sliding scale in Febi'uary, 1882 ; and, if they do not adopt the year 
 1876 as a starting point, they go back to the Derby scale of 1874.^'^ 
 But the men take objection to this standard on more than one 
 ground. They declare that it is an unfair basis on which to calculate 
 the average normal relation of wages to prices. For they maintain'^'"^ 
 that the award of Messrs. Mundella and Williams cannot be 
 allowed to enter into the question, as the decision was based not 
 upon selling prices but upon the novel and dangerous foundation 
 of depression of trade ; and the arbitrators themselves stated both 
 in the written award — and in the case of Mr. Mundella in a letter 
 addressed^'"' to Mr. Trow, the workmen's representative, in answer 
 to a definite inquiry upon the point — that the reduction in v^ages 
 was not to be considered as " establishing any relative rate of wages 
 " to prices." Nor, they contend, does Mr. Dale's award of April, 1878, 
 have any real bearing upon the case, because in all probability,'^"* 
 like that of Mr. Shaw-Lefevre's'"'* of 1879, it was based upon the rela- 
 tive position of the wages in other districts and not upon selling 
 prices. At any rate, they urge, he did not by his award express^^'' 
 any approval of the rate established by that of Messrs. Mundella and 
 Williams, for he virtually awarded a higher rate than they had 
 
 «'>» Cf. II, p. 7. 
 
 2'i Cf. I, p. 5 ; II, p. 3 ; III, p. 9 ; IV, p. 10 ; V, p. 6 ; VI, p. 3. 
 
 2"2 Cf. I, pp. 6 and 7 ; IV, pp. 8 and 16. ^3 cf III, p. 13. 
 
 ^"* Cf. II, p. 6 ; IV, p. 8 ; V, p. 9 ; VI, p. 5. 
 
 2»5 Cf. Ill, p. 10 ; VI, pp. 5 and 18 ; VIII, p. 7. 
 
 *" Cf. VI, p. 5.
 
 70 INDUSTRIAL PEACE : 
 
 done, and he pursued a similar policy in refusing to alter tbe rate 
 of wages in August, 1877, and September, 1879. The sliding scale 
 of 1879, and the Durham arrangement of 1883, are considered by 
 the men to he unfair ; to have been accepted, partly because of 
 very important concessions accompanying them ;^'' and to make no 
 allowance for"'* the 5 per cent, which is generally admitted to be the 
 value of a time bargain in wages to the employers.^^® The basis 
 adopted in the Derby sliding scale was, they argue, forced upon 
 them owing to the state of the labour market,^"" and the reduction 
 which followed upon its suspension was occasioned by a similar 
 cause. If then an appeal is to be made to the past history of the 
 board in order to discover the proper relation of wages to prices, 
 the whole of that history should be taken into account, ^°^ and the 
 times when 2s. 6d. and 2s. gd., and even 45. above shillings for 
 pounds were given should affect the average struck as much as the 
 depressed times ^°" of the Mundella- Williams award or the times of 
 the IS. 6d. or 9^. scale. But the employers reply to this by 
 denouncing such references to the past as appeals*'^ to "Old 
 "Testament history," and " ancient " epochs; and by maintaining 
 that the decline, or rather the disappearance,^"* of the rail trade 
 revolutionised the character of the manufactured iron industry, and 
 necessitated the abandonment of the arrangement with Stafford- 
 shire ; that the average of is. 6d. over shillings, fluctuating between 
 a minimum of gd. and a maximum of is. gd., has prevailed for a 
 long period, and is a fair and normal relation ;^"^ that, in striking 
 the average, the times of abnormal and exaggerated prosperity 
 should be excluded ;^*"' that the awards of Messrs. Mundella and 
 Williams, and of Mr. Shaw-Lefevre, were made after long and 
 patient and exhaustive inquiry, and were based in the main upon 
 selling prices, although other matters may also have been taken 
 into consideration f-" that Mr. Dale's awards tended if anything to 
 confirm that of Messrs. Mundella and Williams, and probably 
 inclined in favour of the men;^"*^ and finally, that the figure of 
 
 2'J' Cf. VI, p. 13. 
 
 ■■"8 Cf. V, p. 9 ; VI, p. 6 ; VIII, p. 12 ; IX, p. 5. 
 
 2 9 Cf. VI, pp. 4 and 14 ; VII, p. 4. 
 
 ^"o Cf. Ill, p. 10; IV, pp. 7, 8, 10, 11 and 16 ; V, p. 9 ; VI, p. 4. 
 
 ^<" Cf. in, p 13 ; V, p. 9; VI, p. 4. '"^ cf. IV, p. 16. 
 
 s^s Cf. VI, pp. 6 and 7 ; VIII, p. 16. 
 
 304 Cf. I, p. 11. 
 
 3"^ Sir J. W. Pease makes it average for the seven years 1874-82 about i*. ^.d., 
 including the exceptional case of December, 1879, when it rose to 3*. by the 
 advance of 125 per cent.; cf. IV, p. 24. It was is. yz^d. exactly between 
 1876-85 ; cf. IX, p. 4. 
 
 M« IX, p. 9. 
 
 3«' Cf. Ill, p. 11 ; IV, p. 9 ; VI, pp. 7 and 9. 
 
 3»8 Cf. II, p. 11 ; IV, p. 17 J VI, p. 7.
 
 ITS ADVANTAGES, METHODS, AND DIFEICDLTIES, 71 
 
 IS, 6d. over sliilliugs does make full allowance for the 5 per cent. 
 value attacliing to a time barj^'ain.^^ 
 
 (v). Such then are the chief disadvantages and difficulties 
 which seem to attach to arbitration. In the first place there is the 
 possibility that the award may not meet with loyal adherence. In 
 the second place, despite of the courteous attitude of either side, 
 the formality of jirocedure which must to some extent be imported 
 into these matters, and the preparation of elaborate arguments 
 thereby entailed, are likely to engender some contentiousness, and 
 to leave behind a little soreness. And in the third and last place, 
 an element of possible uncertainty, and of real and serious difficulty, 
 is introduced by the necessity of discovering some definite principle 
 on which the award may be based, and of ascertaining with exacti- 
 tude the data which are to guide the application of the principle to 
 the particular circumstances of the moment. 
 
 It need hardly be shown in detail that these objections attach 
 in the same manner — and in the case of the second at least in a 
 very much more intensified degree — to "strikes" and " lock-outs," 
 and to irregular negotiations during the continuance of these 
 struggles. If indeed the ultimate appeal is made to force, it is 
 evident that the party which has proved the weaker must abide for 
 the time by the terms of capitulation, but it is only too likely to be 
 ready to take up arms again the moment it imagines that it is 
 stronger than its opponent. Peace is indeed secured for the time, 
 but the feelings which prompt to war are left behind, unchanged 
 and unchanging. Nor is either party likely to arrive at any definite 
 principle on which the decision of the dispute can be based, save 
 that alone of the might of the stronger, when they regard one 
 another as enemies, to whom they are unwilling to reveal, if they 
 can help it, the circumstances of their own position, and upon 
 whose advances and statements they look with suspicion, reluctant 
 to credit the former with genuineness or the latter with accuracy. 
 
 But it is with respect to the second of the disadvantages to 
 which we have just alluded, that industrial peace, however main- 
 tained, is so signally superior to industi'ial warfare. There is 
 indeed an element of contentiousness attaching to arbitration, but 
 it is as nothing compared with that attaching to "strikes" and 
 " lock-outs." Arbitration allows room for the growth — gradual 
 though it may be — of amicable feelings ; industrial strife stereo- 
 types and perpetuates an attitude of implacable hostility. Many 
 and many a failure in arbitration — disappointing as those failures 
 may be — may yet find ample compensation in a single instance 
 where the two disputants have agreed to refer the settlement of 
 
 ^M Cf. Y, p. 6 ; VI, pp. 4 and 14 ; VII, pp. 3 and 6 ; Vlf I, pp. 3 and 9.
 
 72 INDUSTRIAL PEACE: 
 
 their quarrel to the peaceful mediation of a neutral party. It is 
 the promise of the future which is the basis at once of the hope- 
 fulness of arbitration and the despair of industrial conflict. For 
 when once the opposing parties have met on an equal footing, 
 and have learnt to rely for the maintenance of their claims upon 
 argument rather than force, they have taken the first and most 
 difficult step upon the path which conducts naturally to con- 
 ciliation — to mutual concession instead of contentious argument. 
 
 For the value of conciliation chiefly lies in this — that from its 
 very nature it reduces the element of contentiousness to a minimum, 
 even if it does not dispense with it altogether. And, with this 
 element of contentiousness gone, the danger of infringement of the 
 articles of peace, and the difficulty of arriving at a definite principle 
 and of agreeing upon accurate data, do not indeed become incon- 
 siderable, but do lose half, or more than half, of their seriousness. 
 For, from the very statement of the case, it is clear that either side 
 is likely to abide by the decision to which it has willingly agreed ; 
 and the difficulties of the peaceful settlement of a quarrel have a 
 happy faculty of disappearing when either side is prepared to 
 make mutual concessions, is anxious to com to an agreement, is 
 habituated to friendly intercourse and courteous discussion. Nor 
 is accuracy of data more unlikely to be secured when both sides 
 are ready to furnish evidence, and to listen to the evidence 
 supplied by their opponents, and when the persons engaged in the 
 discussion are ex hypofhesi well acquainted with the technical 
 details and industrial history of the trade. 
 
 We must not however forget that these two disadvantages do 
 attach in a minor degree to conciliation as well as to arbitration. 
 For there is a possibility that the constituents may not abide by 
 the negotiations of their representatives at the board of conciliation, 
 and there is also some difficulty in determining the proper basis for 
 the settlement, and discovering the exact data required. And in 
 the background at least there must be provision for reference to 
 arbitration in some form or other, if there is to be any way out of 
 a deadlock.
 
 ITS ADVANTAGES^ METHODS, AND DIFFICULTIES. 73 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 The Third Stage : the Establishment of Sliding Scales. 
 
 (a) Conciliation, when tborouglily established and recog- 
 nised, may pave the way for what may be called the automatic 
 regulation of wages by sliding scales. These scales have been 
 successfully adopted in the mining industries, and especially 
 among the colliers in some parts of England ; and for a typical 
 example of their operation we may take the coal trades of Durham 
 and Northumberland. The principle on which they are based has 
 been explained with some detail by Professor Munro,^^" and is 
 briefly this : wages are to vary according to the selling price of the 
 coal. A time is settled when the relation between wages and 
 prices is agreed by both parties to be fair, and the scale is based 
 upon this relation. Tlie price paid at that time for coal is termed 
 the " standard " price, and the wages then paid are the " standard " 
 wages. This then is the general principle, although it admits, as 
 we shall see, of considerable variety upon points of detail ; and 
 Professor Munro gives an exhaustive definition of a sliding scale 
 in these terms: it is a "method by which wages, based on a 
 " standard wage payable at a standard price, rise or fall an agreed 
 " percentage with every agreed rise or fall in the average price of 
 " coal at the mines, such average price being ascertained at fixed 
 " intervals."^" 
 
 (i). Thus, according to the first sliding scale adopted^^" in the 
 Dui'ham coal trade, the standard wage was to be ^aid when the 
 standard price of ^s. 8d. to 6s. ^d. was realised. If the price fell 
 between 5s. 8d. and 5s. ^d. the wages for the " underground-men " 
 were to fall 5 per cent., and for " surface-men " 4 per cent, below 
 the standard rate. If again the price fell lower than 5s. 4c/., the 
 wages of the " undergTound-men " were to fall n^ per cent., and 
 of " surface-men " 6 per cent, below the same point. And if, on 
 the other hand, prices rose higher than 6s. 4c?., a rise of 5 per cent. 
 
 '"> Cf. " Sliding Scales in the Coal Industry ;" and also " Sliding Scales in the 
 " Iron Industry." 
 
 »" Cf. o-p. cit., p. 6. "^ Cf. op. elf., p. 20.
 
 74 INDUSTRIAL PEACE : 
 
 for " undei'ground-men " and of 4 per cent, for " surface-men " 
 above the standard wage was to be made for every advance of 8c?. 
 in prices. A minimum rate of 2S. gd. a day for " able-bodied men 
 " above ground " was also fixed. Prices were to be ascertained at 
 the end of every March, July, and November by two accountants 
 sworn to secrecy — the one selected by the owners, and the other by 
 the men, and paid at their joint expense — and the prices thus 
 obtained were to be the " average net price realised for all coal 
 " raised at the pit's mouth during the four months " preceding the 
 time of investigation. The agreement was to last for two years. 
 
 But it was found that the standard relation of wages to prices 
 had been fixed too high for the period of depression which followed. 
 The arrangement for the minimum wage seems also to have 
 created dissatisfaction, and a strike occurred which lasted some 
 weeks. Arbitration was invoked in July, 1879, to determine 
 whether or not a reduction should be made in the rates of wages ; 
 and it is to be noticed at this point that a sliding scale does not 
 necessarily dispense with all recourse to arbitration, for under the 
 scale of 1877 provision had been expressly made for reference to 
 an umpire, and the discontinuance of the scale in 1879 compelled 
 a return to the old system of fixing wages in accordance with the 
 awards of arbitrators. In the October, however, of the same year 
 a fresh sliding scale was adopted, and the award of Lord Derby 
 was now taken as the basis. The standard price was fixed at 
 4s. 2d. to 4s. 6d.^^^ For every advance of ^d. in prices, there w\ns 
 to be a rise of 2^ per cent, in the wages of " underground-men," 
 and of enginemen, mechanics, and cokemen, and of 2 per cent, in the 
 wages of all other " surface-men ; " and for every fall of ^d. there 
 vpas to be a similar reduction of 2^ and 2 per cent. The only 
 exception to this uniform rate of advance and reduction was to be 
 made in the event of a rise in price from 5s. lod. to 6s. 2d.., when 
 the rate of advance in wages was to be for this stage — and for this 
 stage only — 5 and 4 per cent. Prices were to be ascertained in the 
 same manner as under the previous scale ; and this second scale 
 was to continue in force until 31st December, 1881, and then to be 
 terminable on a six months' notice given by either party. 
 
 In April, 1882, a revision was once more made.^" The standard 
 price was now lowered to 3s. lOfZ. to 4s. ocZ., and the rate of advance 
 or reduction was fixed at ij and i per cent, in wages for every 2d. 
 in prices, the stage between 5s. iO(?. and 6s. 2d. being distinguished, 
 as before, by a double rate of advance or reduction. In addition to 
 the regulations for ascertaining the prices contained in the two 
 previous scales, it was provided that " the quantity of all coals 
 
 ^'^ Cf. op. cit., p. 22. 3'^ Cf. op. cit., p. 24.
 
 ITS ADVANTAGES, METHODS, AND DIFFICULT/ES, 75 
 
 " disposed of otborwise than for colliery pui'poses, be ascertained 
 " and priced at the average selling price of coal of a similar 
 " description, and the sum thus arrived at to be added to the 
 " sales;" and also "that the quantities raised be checked by the 
 " quantities sold, consumed, and stocked." The agreement was to 
 continue in force " absolutely " until 30th June, 1883, and was 
 thenceforward to be terminable on six months' notice from either 
 party ; and the periods of revision of prices and wages were to be 
 reduced under the scale from four to three months. 
 
 In June, 1884, a fourth scale^'* was established on the same 
 basis, to continue in force until 31st July, 1886, and then to be 
 terminable on the 31st July, either of that or of any succeeding 
 year, after a two months' previous notice had been lodged by 
 either party. 
 
 (ii). In the Northumberland coal trade the first scale was 
 adopted in 1879 after a period of some considerable dissension 
 between masters and men.^^*^ The standard price and wage were to 
 be those of November, 1878,^''' the former then being 5s. I'zSd., 
 the latter 4s. g\d. Wages were to vary 2^ per cent, in the case 
 " of underground workmen" and " bankmen," and 2 per cent, in 
 that of " screeners and other surface-labourers," for every variation 
 of ^d. in price — with the exception that every rise of is. 4c?. in 
 price was to carry an extra-advance of 2^ and 2 per cent, in 
 wages. The method of ascertaining the prices was similar to that 
 employed in Durham, and " changes in wage " were to be "based 
 " on the total sums of money received between the intervals of 
 " each ascertainment, divided by the total quantity of coal raised 
 " in the saine time." The period of ascertainment was to be every 
 three months, and the agreement was to last " for one year from 
 " the date of the first ascertainment subject to a month's notice." 
 In 1883 the scale was revised^^^ and the standard price reduced to 
 4S. 8d. The advance, or i*eduction, as the case might be, was fixed 
 at 1 5 and i per cent, for every 2d. in prices with an " extra i j per 
 " cent, advance," at the following prices : 6s., 6s. ^d., 7s. 2d., js. 8d., 
 8s. 6d., and 9s. An arrangement was made that, unless notice was 
 given one month previously to the 31st of December of any year 
 of intention to terminate the agreement at that date, it should 
 continue in foi'ce from year to year.^^^ 
 
 (iii). These sliding scales admit, as we have noticed, of 
 considerable diversity of detail. For both in Northumberland and 
 in Durham there is frequent occasion for the action of the joint 
 
 '■5 Cf. op. cit., p. 26. 316 cf. infra, p. 106. 
 
 '" Cf. " Sliding Scales in the Coal Industry," p. 28. 
 3's Cf. op. cit., p. 29. 
 ^'•' This notice was given towards the dose of 1886.
 
 76 INDUSTRIAL PEACE : 
 
 committees. The standard wage indeed is the average wage of 
 the county, but it by no means follows tliat this wage is paid to 
 every individual miner. For, as Professor Munro states,^"" " not 
 "only Avill wages vary from colliery to colliery," but "in the 
 " same colliery apparent differences of wages will exist." The 
 nature of the seam and the difficulty of working it are taken 
 into account ; and indefed it would appear that some other elements 
 as well enter into the matter, " for the different rates per seam " 
 supplied in a table printed in Professor Munro's pamphlet " do 
 " not result in an equal daily wage." " The real standard 
 " wages " then " for any particular colliery," in Northumberland 
 for instance, are the wages paid at that colliery to the different 
 classes of labourei's in JSTovember, 1878. For the prices and wages 
 then paid were taken as the starting point of the first scale in 
 the Northumberland coal trade. 
 
 And so side by side with the sliding scales in Northumberland 
 and Durham we find the action of the joint committees. The 
 average wage for the county fluctuates in accordance with fluctua- 
 tions in prices in the manner arranged by the scale, and the 
 particular wages at particular collieries fluctuate also in accordance 
 with the fluctuations in county prices; but in addition to this the 
 joint committee may be called upon from time to time to effect 
 local and special readjustments. We have before alluded^"^ to the 
 action of these committees, but the matter will perhaps be placed 
 in a clearer liglit by two illustrative instances. Thus we read in 
 a local newspaper^^^ that at two collieries the " hewers " had 
 received notice from the head manager of a "local reduction in the 
 "hewing prices." At one of these collieries zd. per ton was 
 demanded off' the prices for the yard seam, and 2d. per ton off the 
 Low Main, exclusive of the last i\ per cent, reduction effected by 
 the county sliding scale. The men held a meeting to discuss the 
 matter, and then offered i\d. reduction on the "pillar " working of 
 the Low Main, and 2d. a ton on the yard seam, including the last 
 I J per cent, by the county sliding scale. The offer was refused, 
 and another meeting was held. At this the men passed a resolu- 
 tion stating that they had made a fair offer, and tliat, shoiild it be 
 again refused, the case should be submitted to the joint committee. 
 At the other colliery, where the masters wanted a reduction of 
 4|tZ. a ton off the Telford way in the yard seam, a compromise was 
 effected, and. a reduction of 4c?. per ton on the "loose end" places, 
 and td. on the places "going in the fast" was arranged. Another 
 
 32» Cf. op. cH., p. 16. 
 
 ^■■'i Cf. supra, p. 38. 
 
 322 "Ncwcastlo Daily Clironicle," 1st February, 1886.
 
 ITS ADVANTAGES, METHODS, AND DlFFiCUETIES. 11 
 
 paper contains^-'' a reference to a dispute at a colliery where the 
 men decided by 75 votes to 39 to send in a fortnight's notice in 
 order to obtain an alteration in the standard of wages. A 
 deputation waited upon the executive of the Northumberland 
 Miners' Union, and was informed that, by the rules of the union, a 
 majority of two-thirds was requisite before the declaration of a 
 strike, and, as this had not been obtained, the notices could not 
 be issued. These two instances, about the first of which there is 
 nothing of an unusual character, may serve to exemplify the neces- 
 sity and the operation of the joint committees in the coal trades of 
 Northumberland and Durham. 
 
 B (i). The chief advantages of these sliding scales may be said 
 to lie on the one hand in their elasticity, and on the other in their 
 automatic action. For, as we shall see hereafter, and as the 
 diversity of local application which characterises the scales in the 
 Durham and Northumberland coal trades so strikingly illustrates, 
 they admit of adaptation — to an extent which has entered as yet, 
 perhaps not even into the conception, and certainly not into the 
 practice, of those actually engaged in industry — to the most 
 diversified situations. Nor is it necessary to prove the obvious 
 fact that during the time these scales continue in operation the 
 general fluctuations of wages proceed with automatic precision, 
 and therefore the possibility of general friction is inconsiderable. 
 And, as a consequence of this automatic regularity, it follows, 
 as Professor Munro has stated,^^* that sliding scales " give a 
 " steadiness " on the one hand to trade, and on the other to wages. 
 
 It is hardly necessary to say that the recurrence of industrial 
 disputes promotes instability in trade. It may indeed be argued tliat, 
 when a strike follows a period of over production in some branch of 
 industry, it may result in clearing the market more thoroughly than 
 would otherwise be done.*'* It rnay also be the case that conditions 
 have been inserted in contracts providing for the special con- 
 tingency of a strike. But the fact still remains that employers are 
 likely to prosecute their industrial undertakings with greater confi- 
 dence ; to avail themselves of fresh openings with more vigorous 
 enterprise ; aud to make a fuller use of existing opportunities, if 
 they are freed from all reasonable apprehension of a sudden and 
 forcible cessation of industry. The mere rumour of a strike must 
 
 323 cf. " Newcastle Daily Leader," 9th March, 1886. Mr. R. Young informs 
 me that in this case reference was not made to the joint committee because tlie 
 colliery owners did not belong to the Masters' Association, and therefore could not 
 appeal to the committee. In other cases the decision oi all disputes rests with 
 the committee, on appeal being made by either party. 
 
 324 Cf. " Sliding Scales in the Coal Industry," pp. 17 and 18. 
 
 325 cf_ "'I'lie VVagos Question," by F. A. Walker, p. 391, foot note; ako 
 Report of Royal Conunission on Depression of Trade. Q. 5267 — 9 and 5760.
 
 7b INDUSTRIAL PEACE : 
 
 exercise an appreciable influence upon the bold conduct of commerce ; 
 its actual occurrence is only too often an incontestable calamity. 
 And even under the more peaceful system of arbitration some 
 friction is likely, and some delay is occasioned, in the settlement of 
 a dispute ; and the least amount of friction, and the shortest 
 period of delay, must exercise — though indeed in a less degree 
 than a strike — a prejudicial influence upon commercial enterprise. 
 Nor again if the trade is one of great fluctuation can an arbitrator 
 fairly fix wages for a very long period, for he cannot foresee the 
 changes in prices which are likely to occur. ^~® But a sliding scale, 
 on the other hand, as Mr. Watson argues,^"" "is the simplest and 
 " therefore the best method. It does not settle trade disputes, it 
 " avoids them."'-« 
 
 In the manufactured iron trade, where indeed scales have been 
 introduced on four different occasions — in 1872, in 1874, in 1880, 
 and in 1883 — and have then been abandoned, we find the employers 
 insisting upon their advantages before different arbitrators. "We 
 '• thought," remarks^^^ one of their number before Mr. Dale in 
 1877, that a sliding scale " would avoid all kinds of contention, 
 " and all kinds of dispute with regard to the equilibrium between 
 " selling price on the one hand and the rate of wages on the 
 " other." " It was a great support to me to have such a thing as a 
 " sliding scale, and an Arbitration Board like this to step in to seize 
 " hold of my difficulties, and cut them as it were in a moment," 
 " without any trouble or any anxiety of my own." "I believe our 
 " umpire and every employer here would be only too delighted if 
 " we could get some standard or scale. "^^^ And similarly before 
 Sir Joseph Pease in 1882 they urge^^^ that the " system of sliding 
 " scales has its special advantages. It is exact and systematic." 
 " It has enabled the employers of the north to provide regular 
 " work for their men, and the development of the Northern Iron 
 " trade has been the result of the system." Before Mr. Watson, 
 again, in 1884, the president''^'- alludes to the " advantages " which 
 the sliding scale " gives to the employers in making their contracts, 
 " and insuring regular work;" and, as we have before noticed,^^^ a 
 controversy arose between them and the men in 1885, upon the very 
 question whether the 5 per cent., which was the admitted value of a 
 time-bargain, and therefore of a sliding scale arrangement, was, or 
 was not, included in the is. 6d. above shillings for pounds allowed 
 in the scales of 1880 and 1883. The men on their part, although 
 
 32B Cf. I, p. 4 ; V, p. 4. 327 cf. " Boards of Arbitration," p. 17. 
 
 *2s Cf. Report of Royal Commission on Dej^ression of Trade. Q. 11713— G, 
 12341, 12438—45. 
 
 329 Cf. I, p. 8. 330 Cf. I, p. 17. 331 Cf. IV, p. 10. 
 
 332 Cf. VI, p. 9. 333 Cf. supra, p. 70.
 
 ITS ADVAN'l'AGRS, METHODS, AND DIFFICULTIES. 79 
 
 disa[)proving of these two scales, and declining to attribute the 
 success of the board to any system of sliding scales,^^^ recognise 
 the value of the system on more than one occasion, " If we 
 " can agree," Mr. Trow, for instance, says before Mr. Dale in 
 1879,^^ " on some sliding scale to regulate onr wages, it will be 
 " mnch to the benefit of the trade and save much unpleasantness, 
 " as we shall know exactly at the end of each quarter what we 
 " shall have to receive the next quarter." 
 
 The arbitrator himself, Mr. Dale, is I'eported''"'^ to have once 
 observed of the sliding scale system, that it was not " alternative 
 " to, or competitive with, that of conciliation or arbitration." " It 
 " is," he added, "an outcome and development of conciliation, and 
 " its base may be made, and indeed has been made, the subject of 
 " arbitration." " The sliding-scale plan can be justified both on 
 " theoretical and practical grounds," and, when based upon the 
 independent examination of the employers' books, " it secures for 
 " the operative class a knowledge absolutely unobtainable other- 
 " wise of the relative condition of trade at all times." Sir Joseph 
 Pease,^^^ again, in his award of November, 1882, sums up the 
 benefits of a sliding scale in these terms. "It gives," he argues, 
 " to the capitalist an undoubted advantage in his competition in 
 " the markets of th.e world, wbich is also of essential service to the 
 " operative ; whilst it secures to the operative that increased pay 
 " for his labour, which naturally follows the increased demand for, 
 " and consequent profit upon, the article which his labour pro- 
 " duces ; and in times of depression its tendency must be to enable 
 " the capitalist to keep his works going, and his hands employed 
 " until brighter times dawn again upon them." And Mr. Watson, 
 in his award of December, 1884, strongly urges^^* the establishment 
 of a fresh scale, because, he maintains, " the automatic action of 
 " a sliding scale prevents even the slight collision entailed by the 
 " negotiations consequent upon conciliation." 
 
 (ii). But not only does a sliding scale thus tend to promote 
 stability in trade, but it also, as a necessary consequence of this, 
 tends to promote stability in wages. This latter point indeed may 
 not appear to be so obvious as the former. For at first sight the 
 tendency of a scale may seem to be the very reverse of this. If 
 wages are to fluctuate with variations in price, then it may seem 
 that they will be continuously moving up and down, and that 
 instability rather than steadiness will be the result. But, before 
 we accept this conclusion, there are several considerations to be 
 borne in mind. For under a system of periodical arbitration there 
 
 Ml Cf. IV, p. 15. 335 cf. Ill, p. 14. 
 
 336 Cf. VI, p. 9. 337 Cf. V, pp. 4, 11 ; IV, pp. 3. 23. 
 
 33^ Cf. VIII, p. 17; VI, p. 20.
 
 80 INDQSTEIAL PEACE : 
 
 may be a similar fluctuation in wages. Owing to tlie clianges in 
 prices there may be repeated recourse to arbitration. In the 
 Durham coal trade immediately before the institution of the first 
 sliding scale there were nine successive arbitrations within the 
 space of two years ; and in the manufactured iron trade the 
 workmen complain^^^ before Mr. Watson in November, 1884, that 
 the constant resort that had been made to arbitration within the 
 past year was calculated to undermine the very existence of the 
 board, and was in an eminent degree an "anti-conciliatory " policy. 
 Nor, as a matter of fact, do most sliding scales contemplate any 
 continual fluctuation in wages. In the coal trade the Somerset scale 
 is an exception — and apparently a solitary exception — in providing 
 that every rise or fall in prices shall be accompanied by a rise or 
 fall in wages. In most cases prices are to be ascertained only at 
 definite intervals — sometimes every six months, as in the South 
 Wales' Association scale of 1875 ; sometimes every four months, as 
 in the first two Durham scales and in the South Wales' scales of 
 1880 and 1882 ; sometimes, again, every three months, as in the 
 last two Durham scales, the Northumberland, the Cumberland, the 
 Ocean, and the Ferndale scales ; sometimes every month, as in the 
 Bedworth scale.^" Of course it may happen that the period of 
 readjustment fixed by the scale may prove to be too long ; and in the 
 manufactured iron trade, where the prices under the scales of 1871, 
 1874, and 1880, were ascertained every three months, the last 
 scale seems to have excited dissatisfaction and to have been 
 abandoned, partly^^^ at least, because it was too slow in its action 
 and was not speedy enough in giving the men the benefit of a rise 
 in prices, or in securing a reduction of wages when prices were 
 falling. At any rate the accountant's retuims, which continue to 
 be made in the north of England — but not in Staffordshire^*" — when 
 a scale is not in operation, were furnished, under the Durham scale 
 of 1883, every two months, ^^^ and this practice has since been 
 followed. But, even if the periods when prices are ascei'tained are 
 comparatively frequent, yet some definite interval at least is taken, 
 and there is no fluctuation of wage from week to week. Nor 
 again do wages vary with every fluctuation of price, but only 
 with those of a certain amoant. The sliding scale, once more, is, 
 to some extent, no inadequate guarantee for regular employment. 
 For there is little fear of the interruption caused by a strike or 
 lock-out ; and the very stability thus ensured to the conduct of 
 
 339 Cf. VIII, p. 4. 
 
 3<o Cf. " Sliding Scales in the Coal Industry," pp. 20—52. 
 
 3" Cf. IV, p. 6; V, p. 4. 
 
 3'-' Cf. VIII, p. 8. 
 
 3'3 Cf. VI, pp. 7 and 9 ; VII, p. 6.
 
 ITS ADVANTAGES, METHODS, AND DIFFICULTIES. 81 
 
 trade encourages the enterprise and confidence of employei's, and 
 tends to make the trade itself and the workers more prosperous. 
 
 The importance of this stabiUty of wage and regularity of 
 employment can hardly be over-estimated. Mr. Mawdsley is 
 but expressing the truth when he writes,^* the fluctuation of 
 wages is the "bane of our class;" and Pi'ofessor Marshall calls 
 attention^** to another aspect of the same truth when he states, 
 " forced interruption to labour is a terrible evil." For a constant 
 alternation between high and low wages unsettles the character 
 and the habits of a man ; and iri'egularity of employment affects 
 in a similar way his ph^^sical, his mental, his moral aptitude for 
 work. The habits of expenditure formed in a time of extravagant 
 prosperity may lead in a time of sudden adversity to debt, of the 
 burden of which it may take a lifetime to effect a riddance ; and a 
 period of leisure, which would recruit the exhausted energies of a 
 man if it came at regular intervals, will of itself be likely to 
 undermine his strength and efficiency for work if it occurs at 
 irregular periods, or amid the pressure of pecuniary embarrass- 
 ments. Far "better" were it "for a family," argues Mr. Mawdsley,^** 
 " to have 35s. per week for fifty weeks in the year, than 40s. for 
 " twenty.five, and 31s. per week for the other twenty-five;" 
 and better too, we may add, is it likely to be for employers and 
 for the nation as a whole, if the efficiency of labour be taken into 
 account, as it must be on any sound theory of production or 
 distribution. The coal and iron industries are liable to consider- 
 able fluctuations, because they necessarily suffer when other 
 industries are depressed — and in the Northumberland coal trade, at 
 least, the trade seems to have been periodically slack in the winter 
 when the Baltic is closed — but, if men and masters can look for- 
 ward for a period of three or more months to definite certainty 
 in industrial relations, this element of fluctuation loses half its 
 injurious effects, and the condition of things is yet further improved 
 when changes in wages only follow upon changes of a certain 
 amount in prices. 
 
 iii (a). A further question of no little interest suggests itself 
 with regard to the future consequences of sliding scales. Do they 
 or do they not tend in the dii'ection of industrial partnership ? 
 Jevons maintains^*' that " both the sliding scale and the system 
 " of arbitration genei'ally " ought to be regarded as a " stepping 
 " stone to some still sounder method of partnership and participa- 
 " tion in profits which a future generation will certainly enjoy." 
 
 3n Cf. I. E. C. Report, p. 158. ^45 cf. op. clt., p. 175. 
 
 3^'^ Cf. op. cit., p. 158. 
 
 3" Cf. " State in Relation to Labour," p. 158.
 
 82 INDUSTRIAL PEACE : 
 
 Mr. Watson says^^^ that the sliding scale "is no doubt a distinct 
 " step in the direction of industrial co-partnership." But we 
 cannot help thinking that this conclusion requires to be stated 
 with some modification ; for the evidence upon the point appears 
 to tell in a negative as well as an affirmative direction. 
 
 In the first place, the successful conduct of conciliation or arbi- 
 tration, and the continued operation of sliding scales, depend in a 
 very large degi^ee upon the streugth of the organisations of men 
 and masters on either side. It is indeed true that the first board of 
 conciliation in the manufactured iron trade of Staffordshire seems 
 to have failed because it was confined to the local branch of the 
 Ironworkers' Union, and those ironworkers who were outside the 
 ranks of the union did not consider themselves bound by the 
 decisions of the board ;^*' but this fact tends rather to show the 
 necessity of an union stroug enough to secure the actual 
 allegiance of at least the great majority of the men, and the 
 probable concurrence of the non-unionist minority. It is true 
 again that in the iron trade of the north of England we find 
 the representative of the men contending*^" before Mr. Watson in 
 1884 that both masters and men ought to " forget " their respective 
 associations at the meetings of the board, and that " the Board 
 " should be able to decide all questions submitted to it without 
 " the interference of any other association;" and this contention 
 seems to be reasonable. But on the other hand there appears to 
 be equal reason in the argument of the representative of the 
 employers,^" that the board is "founded upon the idea of organisa- 
 " tions on both sides;" and before Mr. Dale in 1877 the men 
 themselves allude^^^ to the possible diflBculty which might be 
 experienced in securing the adherence of the " strong non-union 
 " element " to the award of the arbitrator. It is indeed sufficiently 
 obvious that the decisions of courts of arbitration and the arrange- 
 ments of a sliding scale will be of little avail unless masters and 
 men are willing to abide by them. This they are not likely to 
 do unless the negotiators are thoroiighly representative ; and this 
 thorough representation can hardly be secui'ed save through the 
 medium of an association of masters on the one side and of men on 
 the other. Sir Rupert Kettle once stated^^^ that he confessed that 
 he saw" no organisation but " that of " trades unions " upon which 
 to fall back " for the purpose of conducting the business " of these 
 boards and of electing workmen's delegates; and the reply ^^^ of 
 
 3« Cf. " Boards of Arbitration," &c., p. 17- 
 
 3« Cf. " Industrial Conciliation," p. 64. 3-^» Cf. VIIT, p. 7. 
 
 Ki Cf. VIII, p. 10. «2 Cf. I, p. 14. 
 
 353 Cf. Report, by J. D. Weeks, sec. xi, p. 26. 
 
 3^^ Cf. Second Report, part i. Appendix B, p. 400, ans. 14 (a).
 
 ITS ADVANTAGES, METHODS, AND DIFFICUI.TIES. 83 
 
 the Newcastle Chamber of Commerce to the questions addressed 
 to it by the Royal Commission on the Depression of Trade very 
 aptly illustrates this point. " Very little change," it writes, " has 
 " taken place recently in the relations between capital and labour, 
 " except that they have become steadier, chiefly through the work- 
 " men's trade unions being well organised, and being met by like 
 " organisations of employers ; circumstances which, in some cases, 
 " have led to the formation of boards of conciliation and the 
 " regulation of wages by the market values of the productions." 
 
 But if, on the one hand, the existence of strong associations 
 on either side appears in this way to be necessary, if "increased 
 "organisation" really "means decreased war," it is, on the other 
 hand, obvious that the idea which lies at the bottom of trades 
 unionism is the antagonism of interests between masters and men ; 
 and hence it might seem that a system which rests upon trades 
 unionism, whether of masters or of men, as its basis, is scarcely 
 calculated to result in a system which is the very opposite of trades 
 unionism. Masters and men may indeed meet round a common 
 table and arrive at a common agreement ; but they meet as repre- 
 sentatives of associations which have been formed on either side for 
 the avowed purpose of protection against the other side, and they 
 arrive at an agreement on the negative ground of the injury and 
 irritation caused by a strike, rather than on the positive basis of 
 an acknowledged identity of interests. It is a great point gained 
 that they should meet and that they should agree ; and a sense of 
 identity of interests may be the ultimate outcome of this. 
 
 But even then it seems likely that, so far at least as the action of 
 the sliding scale itself is concerned, this identity will be an identity 
 not between the employer and employed of a certain business 
 undertaking, but rather between a combination of employers and 
 a combination of employed. There is apparently no necessary 
 tendency in such an arrangement to transpose industrial divisions 
 from the "horizontal" to the "perpendicular" — to use Jevons's 
 expressive illustration'^^ — from the opposition of workmen as a 
 body to employers as a body, to the opposition of the woi'kers, 
 employer and employed alike, in a single undertaking to the 
 workers in another undertaking. There are indeed grounds for 
 supposing that the tendency is in the opposite direction ; for to 
 some extent at least the respective capacity of men and mastei's 
 does not result in direct advantage to themselves, but affects the 
 condition of those engaged in the trade as a whole. Payment by 
 piece, indeed, which is the general practice in the coal and iron 
 trades, has, as Professor Marshall has pointed out,^'" an element of 
 
 355 Cf. " State in Eelation to Labour," p. 145. 
 '56 Cf. " Economics of Industry," III, IX, sec. ii, 
 
 g2
 
 84 INDUSTRIAL PEACE : 
 
 co-operation in its nature, for both employers and employed ai'e 
 directly interested in an additional output. But, so far as this 
 argument has -weight, the payment by piece is merely part of the 
 mechanism adopted by particular sliding scales, and is scarcely to 
 be regarded as belonging to the essence of the system. It is of 
 course true, over and beyond the results of payment by piece, that 
 the output is likely to be greater when prices are higher, and 
 consequently by the arrangement of the scale wages also are 
 higher ; and that therefore employers and employed have a 
 coincident interest in an increased output on account of increased 
 prices. But this identity of interest is so far only probable and 
 contingent, and belongs to them rather as a body than to those 
 connected with a particular mine. It is obvious also that the 
 workmen of a particular mine benefit in the way of regularity of 
 employment if their emploj'er exhibits more capacity than his 
 fellows, and can thereby secure a larger amount of business. But 
 on the other hand the method of ascertaining the average price is 
 likely, in the probable contingency that a particular employer is 
 enabled by his superior business capacity to obtain a greater 
 number of orders and sales at higher prices than his competitors 
 in the trade, to distribute part of the benefits of this over the 
 whole body of the workmen affected by the scale, and to subject 
 his fellow employers to a corresponding disadvantage. For the 
 net average price has been ascertained, in the case of the coal 
 naining scales, by the insiaectlon of the books of all the owners ; and 
 in the case of the iron industries by a similar examination of the 
 books — in some instances of all, in others of a selected number — 
 of the fir-ms. The net selling prices thus ascertained are added 
 together to form one sum ; this sum is divided by the total quan- 
 tities of the commodities sold, and the result of this division is 
 taken as the average price of the scale. It is on the variations in 
 this avei-age that fluctuations in the average wage, and the local 
 modifications of that, are based. But it is obvious that the exten- 
 sive sale of the coal of a particular colliery at a high price would 
 result in an increase in the average price, and would thus occasion 
 a rise of wages not only to the miners at the particular colliery, 
 the owner of which had by his business capacity, or from any 
 other cause, secured this sale, but also to the whole body of miners 
 affected by the scale. And a corresponding expense in wages would 
 be entailed not merely upon the particular owner who had secured 
 the high price, but also upon the other owners who had only 
 realised a lower price. And so there would be nothing in this to 
 separate the interests of the men in the particular colliery from 
 those of the general body, and to associate them closely with those 
 of their own individual employer ; but it would be far more likely
 
 ITS ADVANTAGES, METHODS, AND DIFFICULTIES. 85 
 
 that the general bodj of the men, finding that their wages were rising 
 as a wliole — setting aside variations of a local character — would so 
 far regard their interests as essentially common. 
 
 Similar conclusions may also be based upon cases like that of 
 the Northumberland coal trade, where there is a broad division 
 between the " steam-coal " and the " soft- coal " collieries. Before 
 Lord Herschell in 1875 an owner stated^" that " it would be found 
 " in investigating the accounts of any one particular colliery," that 
 " there would be a very great difference in the prices obtained for 
 " the different classes of coal." " At one colliery," he added, "it 
 " would be one price, and at another colliery it would be another 
 " price, and so on." In order therefore to avoid complication, the 
 gross sales and the gross prices had been taken by the owners as the 
 basis on which the average net selling price was to be calculated. 
 This statement was made in answer to an objection raised by the 
 men, and allowed by the umpire, on the ground that the sales of 
 coal at the " steam-coal " collieries had not been distinguished from 
 those at the " soft-coal " collieries in the accounts supplied by the 
 owners ; and that therefore by averaging the two the workmen in 
 the one branch of the trade which was prospering might " suffer " 
 because the other branch was not in a prosperous state. In the 
 same way it appeared in argument befoi^e Sir Lyon Playfair that 
 the sale of the small coal was a very variable element, sometimes 
 commanding a market and sometimes not ; and his award was based 
 in the main upon this consideration.^'® At some collieries also it 
 seems that some other commodity, such as clay or bricks, is pro- 
 duced in addition to coal, and this, the owners allege, docs enter as 
 an item into the calculations of selling prices.^^^ In Durham again 
 there are four great classes of coal — gas coal, manufacturing coal, 
 household coal, and coking coal ;^'^° but these classes do not appear 
 to be distinguished in the accountants' returns. In all these cases 
 then the men are treated as a whole, although it is manifest that 
 an increased sale of the coal which realises one price, and a 
 diminished sale of that which realises another, would affect the 
 average price. But, despite of this, it is as a whole that the men 
 are treated, so far as the alteration in the average wage, on which 
 the local variations are indirectly based, is concerned ; although the 
 average price, on which the average wage itself is based, is 
 influenced by circumstances peculiar, it may be, to the men of a 
 particular class of colliery — perhaps even to the men of a single 
 colliery. 
 
 This point is emphasised by the reports of the proceedings 
 
 3" Cf. H, pp. 37 and 39. 
 
 358 Cf. P, pp. 133 and 134, and siqn-a, p. 59. 
 
 359 Cf. H, pp. Gl and 63. ^m cf. \\, p. 109.
 
 86 INDUSTRIAL PEACE : 
 
 at courts of arbitratiou in the manufactured iron trade. For 
 the masters urge^^^ before Mr. Dale in 1877 that in the face 
 of the sudden decline — or indeed the practical disappearance — 
 of the iron rail trade, it would be fair to rest their claim for a 
 reduction upon a comparison of the prices of plates, bars, and 
 angles alone ; and before Mr. Shaw-Lefevre in 1878 they do, as a 
 matter of fact, omit^*^ the prices of rails from the statement they 
 place before the arbitrator. The men on their part contend^''* 
 before Mr. Dale in 1879, that the evidence furnished by a com- 
 parison of the past and present returns of the accountant must be 
 discounted by the consideration that in the averag'es of past years 
 the prices realised by certain firms which manufactured higher- 
 priced classes of iron had been included, but were now excluded ; and 
 that the appeal to the so-called " Thorneycroft basis," to which the 
 employers had referred, was similarly vitiated on the ground that it 
 had been based not upon the prices realised by all the firms con- 
 cerned, but only upon those secured by a few leading firms. Before 
 Mr. Watson again they maintain^* that the prices quoted by the 
 employers from the " Iron and Coal Trades Review" are misleading, 
 because they are based on those of the very lowest-priced classes 
 of iron, and their wages, according to traditional custom, are 
 determined by the average obtained by adding together into one 
 sum the prices of all classes and every quality. 
 
 The point we have noticed may of course be said to be in some 
 sense of an accidental nature, and by no means to attach of necessity 
 to sliding scales ; and this is true so far as the different classes of 
 iron and coal enter into the matter. It might indeed be difficult in 
 practice to effect a separation between the different classes and 
 qualities of the articles produced, if that separation were not confined 
 to the broadest differences, but were carried down to the minute and 
 manifold distinctions of quality which are to be found in almost any 
 industry. But the separation, it must be admitted, turns upon the 
 question of introducing fresh complications into the calculations of 
 the accountants, and of incurring additional expense.^®' It seems, 
 from a theoretical standpoint, to be possible, and the result we 
 have just been considering appears to be in some measure the 
 consequence of including in one combination of employers or 
 employed men whose circumstances are essentially different. For 
 by acting as a whole they must of necessity waive individual dis- 
 tinctions so far as the average price is concerned. But the way in 
 which the average price is affected by the individual enterprise of 
 
 3«' Cf. I, p. 5. '"^ cf. II, p. 3. 
 
 3« Cf. Ill, p. 10. 3" Cf. VII, p. 4. 
 
 3" Cf. "Sliding Scales in tliu Coal Industry," pp. 35, 37 and 38; and contra, 
 p. 41.
 
 ITS ADVANTAGES, METHODS, AND DIFFICULTIES. 87 
 
 a. particular employer is a factor which cannot be eliminated ; and 
 on this ground, if on no other, it seems that a sliding scale does not 
 necessarily tend in the direction of industrial partnership. 
 
 The point, however, is a nice one in theory, and its exact 
 influence in practice may not be very important. But it derives 
 support from other considerations of a similar purport and a more 
 obvious character. For a sliding scale, it must be remembered, 
 does not proceed upon any avowed theory of sharing in profits, 
 but only upon a theory of participation in prices. The amount of 
 profits indeed is jealously kept from the knowledge of the public, 
 the workmen and rival employers f*^^ and the accountants, who 
 investigate the books and compile the returns, are sworn to secrecy. 
 The employers stoutly maintain ^^' that the wages of the men have 
 nothing to do with profits ; and the consideration of " costs of 
 " production " is excluded from the arrangement of the scales. 
 The attitude thus adopted is scarcely calculated to lead to an avowed 
 industrial partnership. 
 
 One other point deserves a passing notice. Under a system of 
 industrial partnership the share allowed out of profits would be 
 paid on profits actually secured ; in a sliding scale the rate of 
 wages paid for the quarter, or the four months as the case may 
 be, is based upon the selling prices of the previous period, 
 which may not indeed be actually realised during the suc- 
 ceeding period ; and hence the reason for the greater frequency 
 with which prices have been ascex-tained in the manufactured iron 
 trade under the Durham arrangement of 1883. 
 
 (6). But although these considerations must discount to some 
 extent the probability of the development of a system of industrial 
 partnership out of a system of sliding scales, there are also oppos- 
 ing considerations which must not be forgotten. 
 
 In the first place, although the system of sliding scales is 
 generally based upon hostile combinations, and recognises as a 
 necessary factor the outward form of trades unionism, and there- 
 fore in some degree intensifies the latent spirit of opposition which 
 must underlie, in some measure at least, that outward form, yet 
 the mere fact that the two combinations meet and effect a mutual 
 arrangement, is a distinct step towards abolishing the open feud 
 and mitigating the hostile spirit. Nor should it be forgotten that 
 profit-sharing, as it has been hitherto practised in England, has 
 refused in most cases to recognise the position of trades unions, 
 
 366 (jj-^ for unwillingness of English employers to disclose profits, " Report of 
 " Royal Commission upon Depression of Trade," Q. 12, 13, and 4022. Under the 
 Ocean Scale even the average price is kept secret, and the rate of wages due by 
 the scale is alone made known. Cf. "Sliding Scales in the Coal Industry," p. 45. 
 
 367 Cf. K, p. 9.
 
 bo INDUSTRIAL PEACE : 
 
 and to extend its advantages to those who still adhere to an 
 association, and that therefore the reconciliation of trades unionism 
 with industrial partnership has scarcely as yet been subjected to a 
 fair or decisive test. 
 
 In the second place, the sliding scale is based upon an identity 
 of interests between employers and employed, so far as price is 
 concerned. The object of both sides is to secui*e the highest price 
 they can. "I have always considered," said Sir Rupert Kettle,^®* 
 sitting as arbitrator in the Northumberland coal trade, " that the 
 " interests of the employer and the workmen were identical until 
 " price was secured ;" and this identity is expressly recognised by 
 • the very construction of a sliding scale. So far there is a quasi- 
 partnership. The profits of the employer are likely to be increased 
 if prices rise — though this may indeed be outweighed by an 
 increased cost of materials or machinery — and according to the 
 sliding scale wages are also to follow the advance in prices. Here 
 then we may be said to have a species of profit-sharing, for we 
 have a sharing in the increased profits consequent upon higher 
 prices ; and there is also, it may be noticed, a similar share in losses 
 if prices fall. Both parties have then an interest in the prosperity 
 and adversity of the trade. There is indeed no sharing in losses 
 beyond such as result under this system, as under the ordinary 
 system of wages, in irregularity of employment, or such as follow 
 peculiarly under this system as the consequence of lowered prices. 
 But under a regular system of profit-sharing, as it is generally 
 practised, the only share in losses would be of a similar nature.^^* 
 
 In the third and last place, the difficulty of making known the 
 details of management to the workmen — an argument which is 
 often advanced against a system of profit-sharing — seems to be 
 met, to some extent at least, by the method adopted under the 
 sliding scale, according to which accountants, appointed by either 
 side, and sworn to secrecy, examine the books of the different 
 firms. The chief obstacle then which remains, and which the 
 system of sliding scales apparently tends almost as much to 
 establish as to remove, is the divergence of interests between 
 individual masters and the particular men in their employment. 
 It breaks down indeed the divergence between masters and men as 
 a body ; but it seems to be calculated to intensify the corporate 
 feeling on either side, and to hinder the growth of a sense of 
 •identity of interests between individual employers and individual 
 bodies of workmen. From this point of view, we may fairly 
 argue, there is no little truth in M. Leroy-Beaulieu's contention^™ 
 
 »«« Cf. K, p. 36. 369 cf. " Profit Sharing," by Sedley Taylor, p. QQ. 
 
 370 cy, «' Essai sur la repartition des ricliesses," par P. Leroy-Bcaiilicu, 
 deuxieme edit., p. 374.
 
 ITS ADVANTAGES, METHODS, AND DIFFICULTIES. 89 
 
 tiliat it is an error of classification to place tlie sliding scale ("le 
 " salaire mobile") under the generic head of industrial partner- 
 ship. 
 
 C (i). The difficulties attaching to sliding scales are similar in 
 their general characteristics to those with which we found that 
 arbitration was concerned. These were the possibility that the 
 decision might fail to secure loyal adherence, the contentiousness 
 connected with the preparation and discussion of elaborate argu- 
 ments, and the difficulty of determining upon a satisfactory basis 
 and of ascertaining accurate data. Of these three difficulties the 
 second is reduced to a minimum under any system of conciliation, 
 and thei'efore amongst these under a sliding scale. But it may be 
 necessary to have recourse to arbitration to determine the basis of 
 the scale; and in the iron trade the question whether the basis of 
 the scale for 1880 should be is. ^d. or is. 6d. over shillings for 
 pounds was referred for decision to Mr. Dale, and the latter figure ^^^ 
 awarded. Even when the scale is actually in operation there may 
 be occasion for arbitration in the case of local disputes ; and it 
 may be thought desirable by the one party or the other that the 
 basis of the scale should be altered to suit unexpected changes in 
 the nature of the trade. In these cases then negotiation and 
 arbitration, and the contentiousness connected therewith, may be 
 found in conjunction with a system of sliding scales. The third 
 difficulty also is present. There is little question indeed about 
 obtaining accurate data, for the books of the employers are readily 
 opened to the inspection of the accountants, and this point will be 
 sufficiently illustrated by the following extract from a local 
 newspaper : — ^'" 
 
 " Yesterday the certificate of the accountants showing the price 
 " of Cleveland pig iron was issued at Middlesbrough. Under the 
 " sliding scale the certificate will reduce the wages of Cleveland 
 " miners one-half per cent. The certificate is as follows : — 
 
 " MiddleshrougJt, Uh April, 1886. 
 " To the Cleveland Mine Owners' Association, the Cleveland Miners' Association, 
 and the North- Eastern Railway Company. 
 
 " Gentlemen. — In accordance with the provisions of a memorandum of agree- 
 ment, dated 10th day of July, 1885, made between the Cleveland Mine Owners' 
 Association of the one part, and the Cleveland Miners' Association of the other 
 part, for the establishment of a sliding scale, to regulate the wages of all classes of 
 men represented by the Cleveland Miners' Association, We the undersigned, having 
 obtained and verified returns from all the firms specified in the said agreement, do 
 hereby certify that the net average invoice price of No. 3 Cleveland pig iron for 
 
 3" Cf. VI, p. 4. 
 
 37:! Cf, " Newcastle Daily Chronicle," 6th April, 1886.
 
 90 INDUSTRIAL PEACE : 
 
 the three months of January, February, and March, 1886, ascertained in the 
 manner prescribed by the said agreement, was 315. 9"6— 5(?. per ton. 
 " We are. Gentlemen, your obedient servants, 
 
 " MONKHOUSE, GODDAKD, AND CO., 
 
 " Chartered Accountants, on behalf of the Cleveland 
 Mine Owners' Association. 
 " John G. Benson, 
 
 " Chartered Accountant, on hehalf of the Cleveland 
 Miners' Association. 
 " E. Mackat and Co., 
 
 " Chartered Accountants, on hehalf of the North- 
 Eastern Railtvay Comjpant/." 
 
 ii. (a). But there is considerable difficulty in fixing upon a 
 basis. There must in the first instance be an agreement with 
 regard to the general character of the basis. In most cases the 
 selling prices are adopted by common consent as the suitable 
 basis, and the variations in wages are to follow the fluctuations 
 in prices. In the ^Northumberland coal trade this basis was 
 generally recognised by masters and men in the arbitration 
 proceeding's to which we have referred — although other con- 
 siderations were, it is true, introduced — and therefore it was to 
 be expected that it should be readily adopted in their sliding 
 scales. The same course has been followed in most of the 
 scales throughout the country. In the scale which once existed 
 in Shi'opshire, but was afterwards abandoned, the selling price of 
 pig iron, and not that of coal, was taken as the basis, because the 
 chief use to which the coal was put was the smelting of iron.^" In 
 the Cleveland scales again'"* — one of which regulated the wages 
 of the ironstone miners, and the other those of the blast-furnace 
 men, and the second of which seems to have been recently 
 abandoned — the selling price not of the ironstone but of the 
 manufactured product, the pig iron, and that too of a special 
 quality, No. 3,^'^ has been adopted as the basis. But it is not 
 always easy to secure agreement to the principle that the selling 
 prices should be the basis of the scale. In the arguments before 
 the arbitrators in the manufactured iron trade there is, as we 
 have seen,'"*^ a general understanding running throughout the cases 
 and pleadings, both of masters and men, that wages should follow 
 the selling prices of iron. But other considerations are again 
 and again advanced, and the appeal to prices is by no means 
 uniformly accepted. Sliding scales have been adopted on four 
 
 3-' Cf. " Sliding Scales in the Coal Industry," p. 55. 
 
 374 fy_ " Sliding Scales in the Iron Industry," pp. 5, 6, and 8. VII, p. 6. 
 
 3" This is done because "it has been found that practically the price of No. 3 
 " usually approximates to the average price of all the numbers combined. — 
 " Sliding Scales in the Iron Industry," p. 6. 
 
 3'6 Cf. sujjra, p. 62.
 
 ITS ADVANTAGES, METHODS, AND DIl'^KICULTIES. 91 
 
 occasions, and have been based upon the selling prices of iron ; 
 and on four occasions they have been abandoned. 
 
 The scale which commenced in 1872 was the result of common 
 and unanimous agreement, and was " drafted and submitted " by 
 Mr. Dale, in consequence, as the men urge^" before Mr. Watson in 
 1884, of dissatisfaction with the award of an advance of 5 per cent, 
 given by Mr. Hughes in July, 1871. But, before it had been in 
 working for a year, it was abandoned, because the Staffordshire 
 ironworkers obtained an advance of 20 per cent, while the selling 
 prices in the north only wan-anted an advance of 7I per cent. Thus 
 the wages of the Staffordshire men were higher than those in the 
 north to the extent of is. 3^?.^'* The north of England men 
 appealed, as we have previously noticed, to a principle often pleaded 
 before arbitrators^" — and adopted, accoixling to the men, explicitly 
 by Mr. Shaw-Lefevre in 1879, and implicitly by Mr. Dale in April, 
 1878,'^**° as the basis of their awards — the pi-inciple that their wages 
 should be on an equality with the Staffordshire rates. The masters 
 agreed to the demand, the desired advance of I2| per cent, was 
 given, and the scale suspended. 
 
 In 1874 the second scale, known as the " Derby scale," was 
 adopted, and in this the principle of the equalisation of rates 
 between Staffordshire and the north was openly acknowledged. For 
 the arrangement emanated from a joint committee of employers and 
 employed of the north and of Staffordshire. The net selling price^*'' 
 was to be ascertained by the inspection of the books of all the firms 
 in the noi'th, and of twelve selecled firms of Staffordshire. The 
 average selling prices of the two were to be added together, and 
 then to be divided by two ; and the result of this process was to be 
 the average price recognised by the scale. The standard wage 
 adopted under this scale was considerably lower than that of 
 Mr. Dale's scale of 1871, for it was reduced from the 2s. gd. above 
 shillings for pounds of the 1871 scale to gd. above shillings. The 
 men urge^**' that this change was effected because the employers 
 availed themselves of the congested state of the labour market, and 
 that it was in this way also that they were enabled to enforce a 
 reduction of 10 per cent, by mutual arrangement at York before the 
 scale itself came into operation. The . employers, however, main- 
 tain that the cost of materials, which they had pleaded before 
 Sir Rupert Kettle at Saltburn and at Durham in 1873, and at the 
 meeting at Birmingham in the December of the same year, com- 
 pelled them to insist on this alteration.^-^ The special circumstances 
 
 '" Cf. VI, p. 4. 37S cf. IV. p. 7. 
 
 3'» Cf. VI, p. 6 ; IX, p. 5, and «(^m, p. 61. ^so cf. VI, p. 5. 
 
 3»' Cf. VI, p. 4 ; I, p. 11. as- Cf. VI, p. 4 ; IV, p. 8. 
 
 ^"3 Cf. IV, p. 9.
 
 92 INDUSTRIAL PEACE : 
 
 under which the scale of 1871 had been arranged were no longer 
 in existence, and the revival of the basis of that scale would have 
 been an anachronism. This scale was in its turn abandoned — and 
 this time the masters seem to have been the dissatisfied parties — 
 before it had been more than a year in operation, and a reduction 
 of 5 per cent, was effected by mutual arrangement at Darlington in 
 July, 1875. For this course of policy the masters plead the altering 
 cii'cumstances of the trade, — the general depression experienced, 
 and the decline of the demand for rails in particular. '"^^ But the 
 men affirm^* that the same reason is to be given for its abandon- 
 ment as that which they supplied for its basis, and that this was 
 the overcrowded condition of the labour market. 
 
 Five years afterwards, in 1880, a fresh scale was established 
 and Mr. Dale, who was asked to decide whether the basis should 
 be IS. yl. over shillings for pounds or is. 6d.^ awarded the latter 
 figure.^-*' The scale lasted for nearly two years, but a strike took 
 place at the beginning of 1882 in consequence of dissatisfaction 
 with the figures stated in the returns of the accountant, The men 
 contended ^^'' that the conditions of the labour market were now in 
 their favour, and that the scale did not give them the benefit of 
 this ; that the basis was unfair, and had been fixed by Mr. Dale at 
 a lower figure than he would have awarded had he possessed a " free 
 " hand ; " and that the scale had been accepted in 1879 because it 
 had been accompanied by the tempting condition of an immediate 
 advance of I2| per cent. The president of the board maintains, on 
 the other hand, that the scale did not act with sufficient celerity, as 
 the wages were paid in accordance with the prices realised during 
 the three previous months, and the prices rose with such rapidity 
 that those realised during the succeeding three months seemed 
 to be out of proportion to the wages then paid.^^ The scale was 
 at any rate abandoned, and an advance of 7^ per cent, given. 
 
 For the last three months of 1883 this scale was revived under 
 a mutual arrangement called the " Durham agreement," and this 
 time the prices were to be ascertained every two instead of every 
 three months.^*^ But to this agreement, the men state, ^"^ they only 
 consented because a second condition was attached providing for 
 the suspension of Monday work, and a concession was added of the 
 continuance of the existing rates for six months — a concession 
 which was tantamount to the payment of 5 per cent, above the 
 wages allowed by the scale. The employers, on the contrary, 
 contend ^^' that the "Durham agreement" was "confirmed and 
 
 Cf. I, p. 11 ; IV, p. 9. 
 
 Cf. IV, p. 8. 3S6 Cf. VI, p. 2. 
 
 Cf. IV, p. 11 ; VI, p. 5. ^» Cf. IV, p. 6. 
 
 Cf. VI, pp. 4, 9. 390 Cf VI, p. 13. '■" C
 
 ITS ADVANTAGES, METHODS, AND DIFFICULTIES, 93 
 
 " emphasised by the individual vote of every lodge " connected 
 with the board, and was "regarded by" themselves "as a full 
 " confirmation of the justice of the sliding scale, and its permanent 
 " acceptance by the ojDeratives as a written law to guide and 
 " regulate future wagfes." 
 
 The settlement of wages then by sliding scales has been 
 repeatedly abandoned in the manufactured iron trade of the north 
 of England. In the majority of cases this result has been pro- 
 duced because it has been contended by the one party or the other, 
 that other circumstances besides the mere selling prices should be 
 taken into consideration. Sometimes it is the relative position of 
 the ironworkers in other districts to which appeal is thus made; 
 sometimes it is the condition of the labour market ; sometimes an 
 alteration in the cost of materials and the nature of the trade, 
 and sometimes the unfairness of the particular relation of wages to 
 selling prices on which the scale was originally based. The last of 
 these contentions will occupy our consideration in a little while. 
 At present we are concerned with the other three, and they may 
 be practically resolved into two, the one being the cost of materials, 
 and the other the state of the labour market. 
 
 (6). It is hardly necessary at this stage to argue that the 
 arrangement which is to form the basis of the scale must be in 
 accord with the traditions of the trade to which it is to apply, and 
 must rest on a common agreement. If then these elements have 
 been allowed to have weight in the past, they ought also to be 
 considered in the establishment of a sliding scale for the future. 
 From an economic point of view indeed there is considerable 
 reason for having regard to them, but it is the traditions of the 
 trade which are of the greatest importance. For the existence of 
 combinations on either side banishes, as we have noticed, to a very 
 great extent all economic considerations, so far at least as the 
 determination of the exact basis of the settlement is concerned. 
 The two parties do, it is true, stand towards one another in the 
 position of buyer and seller of a commodity, and that commodity is 
 labour. There is little, if any, trace of the old mediaeval relation 
 between master and men — between the craftsman working at his 
 trade in his own house, and his journeymen and apprentices living 
 with him and eating at his table. It is of little use to sigh for the 
 revival of that relation, and it may even be questioned whether 
 " distance " has not lent " enchantment to the view " in this — as in 
 so many other cases — and whether that old relation did not possess 
 as full a share of disadvantages as that which is supposed to belong 
 to the " cash-nexus " of modern industry. But, though the two 
 parties have thus exchanged friendly, and in some respects even 
 paternal, relations for relations of strict business, yet the nego-
 
 94 INDUSTRIAL PEACE : 
 
 tiations into ■which they enter can hardly be reduced to a question 
 of pure economics, nor is there any economic touchstone which can 
 be brought into requisition to decide the matter. 
 
 In a certain sense, indeed, it may be said that the regulation of 
 wages by selling jirices does rest upon an economic basis, however 
 the particular details of that basis may be arranged. It is in a 
 measure in accord with the theory of wages, which starts not from 
 a predetermined fund of capital accumulated, in the past, and 
 fore-ordained to be employed in the remunei^ation of labour, 
 but — recognising the necessity of capital — from the price of the 
 product, or more strictly the total amount of wealth produced, as 
 the price of the product really means in the last analysis the 
 amount of wealth which can be obtained in exchange for it. But 
 it is to be noticed that the prices on which the wages are to be 
 based under a sliding scale are the realised prices of a previous 
 period, and not the pi-ices " realisable " for the period during 
 which the wages are to be actually paid. The rates of wages then 
 may not be directly related to the price of the actual commodity 
 for the production of which they are paid. And the economic 
 theory of distribution, again, takes into consideration the question 
 of the supply of labour and the demand for its services as well 
 as the total amount of wealth produced : and this element is not 
 explicitly recognised in sliding scales. It may well be that circum- 
 gtances may arise which "cause labour to be low" in price while 
 the "product" of labour is "relatively high," or which tend to 
 produce a contrary result;^''" and the economic theory of wages 
 takes account of this fact, while the sliding scale seems to ignore 
 it.^*^ On the other hand there is considerable ti'uth in the conten- 
 tion of the employers in the iron trade to which Sir Joseph Pease 
 alludes in one of his awards. " As^"^ the ai'ticle manufactured," 
 they argued, "advanced in price by the action of the laws of 
 " supply and demand, so would the desire to create the profitable 
 " article occasion a greater demand for, and a consequent improved 
 " price for, the labour which produced it ; and " " thus the scale 
 " produced by its gradations the correct figure for the payment of 
 " the item of labour." Nor must we forget that the sliding scale 
 is to some extent originally fixed upon a competitive basis, and 
 that it is " historically " connected with competition so far as the 
 action of competition has not been affected by combination or 
 arbitration. It starts from a time when wages are to some extent 
 settled by competition, or at least, through the medium of combina- 
 tion, by the condition of the labour market. There may moreover 
 be — and as a matter of fact there have been — readjustments from 
 
 2^2 Cf. K, p. 36. 3^3 cf. I. E. C. Report, p. 33. 
 
 39^ Cf. IV, p. 23.
 
 ITS ADVANTAGES, METHODS, AND DIFFICULTIES. 95 
 
 time to time of the regulations of the scales, if the circumstances 
 of the trade or the labour market have conspicuously altered. ^''^ 
 Thus a scale is not entirely divorced from competition, though it is 
 certainly based upon traditions of trade rather than conclusions of 
 economic science. In one colliery, indeed. Professor Munro statcs^^" 
 that he has been told that " higher rates than those allowed by the 
 " scale have been paid on account of the scarcity of miners." 
 
 With regard to the variation of other elements besides vpages 
 in the cost of production, there is comparatively little else to 
 consider in the case of coal and iron mining save the selling price 
 of the coal and iron. But in a manufacturing industry the cost of 
 the raw material is also an appreciable element ; and it is evident 
 that a rise in prices by no means carries with it the ability to pay 
 higher wages, if there is an equivalent — or more than equivalent — 
 rise in the cost of the raw material. Here then there are elements 
 in the cost of production, over and above wages, which can hardly 
 be neglected with impunity ; and the Derby sliding scale of 1874 
 in the manufactured iron trade of the north of England is said by 
 the employers to have been arranged on a different basis from that 
 of 1871, because of the increased cost of materials — of coal and of 
 iron.^^' But there is no reason why this element should not be 
 taken into consideration in framing the arrangements of a sliding 
 scale, unless indeed it be an apprehension of complicating the 
 scale by the introduction of too many variable elements. Such a 
 difficulty as this, however — practically important as it undoubtedly 
 is, and likely as it seems to delay the actual recognition of the 
 point — is by no means insuperable ; and it is surely because the 
 principle of the sliding scale holds out such great promise of 
 adaptation to these different contingencies, that Professor Munro 
 has described^^^ it as " the greatest discovery in the distribution of 
 " wealth since Rioardo's enunciation of the law of rent." He 
 strongly advocates its application to rent, and he notices the fact 
 that the septennial average adopted in the payment of tithes is 
 based upon a similar principle. A sliding scale, he urges,^'*" may, 
 and ought to, take into account those elements in the cost of 
 production which are subject to considerable variations. It may 
 
 3^5 Cf. \, p. 10. Since these lines were written the Northumberland coal 
 owners have given the notice requisite for the determination of their scale, and 
 demanded a reduction of 1 5 per cent, in wiiges (December, 1886). 
 
 396 Cf. " Sliding Scales m the Coal Industry,^' p. 19. 
 
 39' Cf. IV, p. 9. 
 
 398 cj-^ " Sliding Scales in the Iron Industry," p. 26. It has been applied in 
 some cases to royalties. Cf. " Report of Royal Commission on Depression of 
 " Trade." Q. 2313—4, 3570, 3609, 11823—6, 12178—9, 12353, 12408,— and 
 to railway rates, Q. 2609. 
 
 390 Cf. op. ciL, p. 4.
 
 96 INDUSTRIAL PEACE : 
 
 allow from the first for those which can be reduced to an average, 
 but the others should be introduced, if possible, into the scale 
 itself as governing factors. 
 
 One other consideration, it may be noticed in conclusion, is 
 met, and completely met, so far as seems practicable, by the sliding 
 scale. For there can be little doubt that the appreciation of gold is 
 at present a disturbing factor*"" of no small magnitude in industrial 
 relations, and that in some instances workmen exhibit a somewhat 
 pertinacious insistance upon nominal wages to the neglect of real 
 wages — upon wages expressed in terms of money, to the neglect of 
 wages expressed in terms of commodities. It is equally certain 
 that an employer, who has bought his raw material and entered into 
 his contract for wages or other matters when prices are high, and 
 is then compelled to sell his manufactured goods when prices have 
 become lower, is placed at a serious disadvantage. But the 
 automatic adjustment of wages to prices eifected by a sliding scale 
 entirely avoids the difficulty occasioned by a geveraV^^ appreciation 
 of gold ; and it would tell in a similar way in favour of the work- 
 men's fair demands, if the monetary disturbance were caused by a 
 general rise in prices and a depreciation in the metal adopted as 
 the standard of value. 
 
 (c). But the difficulties of a sliding scale are not entirely over- 
 come when the general character of the basis on which it is to 
 rest has been settled. For, supposing that the relation between 
 wages and selling prices is adopted as the basis, it then becomes 
 necessary to agree upon a period when this relation is acknowledged 
 to be in a normal condition. A time must be selected when, with the 
 consent of both parties, wages bear a " fair " relation to prices ; and 
 the prices realised at that time are regarded as the " standard " 
 prices, and the wages then paid are the " standard " wages. With 
 this as a starting point changes in wages are to follow fluctuations 
 in prices, — whether upwards or downwards — whether in advances 
 or reductions. But this agreement upon a fair and normal relation 
 is by no means easy of attainment ; and the history of arbitration 
 in the iron trade of the north abundantly illustrates this.*"^ And, 
 even when the two pai'ties have arrived at an agreement, the same 
 history proves that a change of considerable magnitude in the 
 circumstances of the industry may necessitate the substitution of a 
 new relation for that originally adopted. 
 
 400 fy. " Third Report of Royal Commission on the Depression of Trade," 
 Appendix B ; and C. 
 
 '"" So far indeed as a fall or rise of prices can be said to be " general," in the 
 sense of affecting with exact similarity the exchange of all commodities. Cf. 
 ibid., p. 423. 
 
 «2 Cf. supra, p. 69.
 
 ITS ADVANTAGES, METHODS, AND DlPFrCULTIES. 97 
 
 When tills point has been satisfactorily settled, it becomes 
 necessary to determine how often prices ore to be ascertained, and 
 wages revised ; and this point may also give rise to dissension. A 
 pei'iod. must be taken which is not so brief as to imperil that 
 stability of wages which is one of the chief benefits of a sliding 
 scale, or, on the other hand, so protracted as to give to one side or 
 the othei', as the case may be from time to time, an excessive 
 advantage, and thus to menace the other chief benefit of a 
 scale — the stability of trade. ^°^ Another question has then to be 
 settled. How great a variation in prices is to be held necessary 
 to warrant a corresponding variation in wages ? Here ngain an 
 interval must be fixed which will fulfi.1 the same two conditions as 
 those just mentioned ; and here the interval actually adopted 
 varies in the coal mining industry from i^d. in Cumbei'land to 
 ^^d. under the Ocean scale, and in the Somerset scale every 
 rise or fall in prices is to carry with it a rise or fall in wages. ^"^ 
 Under the Cleveland scale *°^ the interval is O'gSd. per ton for the 
 ironstone miners, &c., and for the blast-furnace men it was is. In 
 the manufactui'ed iron trade of the north of England, and 
 apparently also in that of Staifordshii"e, the interval was not less 
 than 5s."'^ 
 
 Nor must it be forgotten that the amount of the corresponding 
 variation in wages has also to be determined ; and this may proceed 
 according to an uniform succession — the same amount of variation 
 taking place at each successive stage — or a principle of graduation 
 may be introduced. Thus under the Durham scale of 1884 the 
 usual variation is to be i^- and i per cent, in wages for every 2d. 
 in prices, but for the interval of prices between 55. \od. and 6s. 2d. 
 the variation in wage is to be twice the ordinary rate.*"^ Somewhat 
 similar are the provisions of the Northumberland scale of 1879, by 
 which an extra rise of 2| and 2 per cent, of wages is contemplated 
 for every advance of is. 4^?. in prices, in addition to the ordinary 
 variation of 2^ and 2 per cent, of wages for every 4c?. of prices ; and 
 the scale of 1883 allows this extra rise at certain prices specially 
 named in the agreement.*"* In the iron industry the Cleveland scale 
 adopts a similar course.*"^ Under the Cumberland scale,"" the 
 
 ^"^ The difficulty at present experienced with reference to the pajment of 
 tithe may be partly ascribed to the fact that the arrangements of the " sliding 
 "scale" in this instance do not allow of a sufficiently 7-apid and palpable 
 adjustment of tithe-payment to existing selling-prices. 
 * "^ Cf. " Sliding Scales in the Coal Industry," p. 9. 
 
 «5 Cf. " Sliding Scales in the Iron Industry," p. 6. 
 
 «» Cf. op. ciL, pp. 10 and 16; IX, p. 5. 
 
 «' Cf. " Sliding Scales in the Coal Industry," p. 26. 
 
 "8 Cf. op. cit., pp. 28 and 29. 
 
 409 cf^ « Sliding Scales in the Iron Industry," p. 1. 
 
 "" Of. " Sliding Scales iu the Coal Industry," pp. 33, 44, and 48. 
 
 H
 
 08 INDUSTRIAL PEACE : 
 
 Ocean scale, and partly also under tbe Ferndale scale, tlie contrary 
 principle is followed, and a lower percentage is recognised when 
 prices are high. But Professor Munro thinks*" that this principle 
 is " unsound," and argues that if it be acknowledged that " wages 
 "are as much entitled as profits to share in the benefit" of 
 increased prices, the percentage ought to increase rather than 
 diminish. Such an arrangement, however, may be made, as in 
 the case of the Ferndale scale, in consideration of a change of the 
 basis of the scale in favour of the men."^ But Professor Munro's 
 answer*^^ to this plea is very cogent, when he ui-ges that in such 
 instances the " scale has not been constructed on a sound economic 
 " basis." Or again, the concession may be made to counterbalance 
 the recognition of a minimum wage — a principle which is recog- 
 nised in the Ocean scale."* This condition of a minimum wage 
 prevails also in the Bedworth scale, and, together with a maximum, 
 in the Somerset scale. "^ It was introduced into the first Durham 
 scale,*^" but there it seems to have occasioned no little dissatis- 
 faction, and consequently to have been abandoned in succeeding 
 arrangements. In the manufactured iron trade the same principle 
 was inserted in 1881, in the Staffordshire scale of 1880, and retained 
 in the scale of 1883, which lasted for the brief period of six months.*" 
 In the north of England difficulty seems to have arisen in the 
 course of the negotiations"^ conducted in 1885 upon the question 
 of the revival of the sliding scale, because the men insisted upon 
 a minimum wage ; and on other occasions they maintain that as 
 wages have not in the history of the trade followed prices up to 
 the highest level, so they ought not to follow them down to the 
 lowest point. If then this principle of a minimum be introduced — 
 and it is, we must remember, one of the cardinal points of a 
 trades unionist policy — it seems but a natural consequence that a 
 graduation in favour of the employers when prices are high should 
 also be introduced. On this point however we must not lose 
 sight of the consideration to which Professor Munro has drawn 
 attention. He shows that the migration of labour, so far as it is 
 operative, tends to establish an economic minimum ; for, if wages 
 fall below this, men will then migrate to other trades where the 
 rate of remuneration, allowing for advantages and disadvantages, 
 is higher than that which they are themselves receiving. And this 
 point is tacitly recognised*" by the men in the iron tirade in their 
 arguments before the arbitrator upon this very question of a 
 minimum wage. 
 
 ^n Cf. op. cit., p. 10. 
 
 ■"2 Cf. op. cit., p. 48. ■»» Cf. op. cit., p. 10. "" Cf. op. cit., p. 44. 
 
 "I'* Cf. op. cit., p. 50. ""' Cf. op. cit., p. 21. 
 
 ■"' Cf. " Sliding Scales In tlie Iron Iiidnstry," pp. 16 anrl 17. 
 
 «8 Cf VI, p. 17 ; IX, p. 4. '4>» Cf. I, p. 15 ; IX, p. 12.
 
 ITS ADVANTAGES, METHODS, AND DIFFICULTIES. 99 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 Industkial Circumstances favouring Peace. 
 
 (a). The third and last difficulty attaching to sliding scales is 
 that possibility of depai'ture from the arraugeoient which menaces 
 the success of all methods of conciliation and arbitration. The 
 exact legal validity of the agreement on which a scale is based is a 
 nice point in theory, and apparently has not as yet been defined in 
 practice. The question resolves itself into a moral rather than a 
 legal obligation, and the strength of that moral obligation depends 
 upon tbe representative character of tlie negotiating parties. The 
 same difficulty exists, as we have seen,^^" in all cases of conciliation 
 and arbitration, and it seems to be most satisfactorily met by the 
 organisation of trades unions. Hence it is a question of no little 
 interest to ascertain the number of trades unionists, and the propor- 
 tion which they bear in each instance to the total number of work- 
 men engaged in any particular industry. But upon this point it is 
 hardly possible to arrive at any but the most general conclusions, 
 whether we start from th.e one side or from the other. For, on 
 the one hand, that portion of the Census which relates to the 
 Occupations of the people is confessedly very inaccurate;^"' and the 
 returns must be accepted with, the greatest caution. If, on the 
 other hand, we commence our inquiry with the number of trades 
 unionists, we have only imperfect, and in some instances approxi- 
 mate, figures on which to rely. If we take the returns of the 
 Registrar, we have to recollect that registration is voluntary, and 
 that there may be societies which are not willing to conform with 
 the registration regulations. Mr. George Howell, who is probably 
 more intimately acquainted with the inner working of trades 
 unions than any other writer upon the subject, stated,^" in October, 
 1882, that there were some 177 societies included in the Chief 
 Registrar's returns, but that it was likely that there were not less 
 than 600 " independent societies " in Great Britain. If again 
 
 «o Cf. supra, pp. 14 and 82. 
 
 *^' Cf. Census returns, vol. iv ; general report, sec. vi. 
 
 422 Cf. " Nineteenth Century," October, 1882, " The Finnncial Condition of 
 " Trades Unions." 
 
 H 2
 
 100 INDUSTRIAL PEACE : 
 
 we were to endeavour to gather information by the toilsome 
 method of collecting together trades union reports, we should at 
 once be arrested by the insuperable obstacle that some societies do 
 not issue repoi'ts, and that in many cases the reports are merely 
 published for internal circulation. 
 
 The best information to be procured upon the point seems to 
 be that contained in the reports of the annual trades union con- 
 gresses/"^ to which are prefixed the names and addresses of the 
 delegates attending the congress from the various societies, 
 together with the number of the members which they represent. 
 But even here we must not forget that some societies do not 
 send delegates, and that the numbers seem to be only approxi- 
 raate."*^^ Nor are our difficulties at an end when we have reached 
 this point. For suppose that we take for example the Boiler- 
 makers and Iron Shipbuilders' Union, with a membership of 
 28,500, according to the congress report for 1885, and of 28,212, or 
 27,695, according to the annual report of the society itself. If we 
 then turn to the census returns for England and Wales for 1881, 
 and endeavour to find out the total number of workmen engaged in 
 these occupations, we can indeed ascertain the number of so-called 
 " boilermakers " (26,170), but when we look at the heading of 
 " shipbuilders" (2 1,741), we are told that it includes the builders of 
 boats and barges as well as of ships. Or, to take another illustration, 
 according to the congress report, the Amalgamated Association of 
 Operative Cotton Spinners includes 1 6, 1 1 5 members ; but the census 
 returns add together into one sum all the workers engaged in some 
 of the chief branches of the cotton industry, and at any rate do not 
 distinguish between spinners and weavers. In the iron industry, 
 once more, the Ironfounders' Friendly Society of England, Ireland, 
 and Wales has a membership of 12,410, the Associated Iron 
 Moulders of Scotland number 5,500, and the National Amalga- 
 mated Association of Iron and Steel Workers records a muster-roll 
 of 2,000 members. But here the census returns for England and 
 Wales are very vague, and merely enumerate "iron and steel 
 " workers;" and apparently it is only "nail makers" and "chain 
 
 423 cy. ic Trades Union Congress Report," 1885, pp. 1—6. 
 
 *2* According to the " Trades Union Congress lleport " for 1885, the nnmber 
 of the Boilermakers and Iron shipbuilders is 28,500; but according to the annual 
 report of the society itself for 1885 it is in the summary table 28,212; and in 
 the secretary's report dated 17th March, 1886, in which a decrease of 1,200 
 during the year is noticed, it is 27,695. 
 
 Cf. " Trades Union Congress Report for 1885," p. 1 ; " Report of the Boiler- 
 " makers' Society," pp. xi and xii. Similarly the Amalgamated Engineers are put 
 down in the Congress Report as 51,000, and in their own annual report, issued in 
 May, 1886, as 51,689, and as 50,68 i at the close of 1884. 
 
 Cf. "Trades Union Congress Report," p. 2; "Newcastle Daily Leader," 
 7th May, 1886.
 
 ITS ADVANTAGE,?, METHODS, AND DIFFICULTIES. 101 
 
 " and anchor makers" who are specially distinguished. Or again, 
 take the case of phimbers and tailors. The census returns may 
 include master-plumbers and master- tailors, and enumerate in the 
 one case 37,400, in the other 160,648. But the United Operative 
 Society of Plumbers of Great Britain and Ireland numbers 2,645, 
 and the Amalgamated Society of Tailors 15,378. 
 
 Thus we can at the best arrive at merely general results. 
 Mr. George Howell, for example, states ^^^ that in " a few instances " 
 the proportion of society to non-society men amounts to two-thirds, 
 or even three-fourths, of the workmen in a trade ; that the general 
 ratio is one- third society men to two-thirds non-society men ; and 
 that, even to command one-third of the workmen in a trade 
 throughout the length and breadth of the cotmtry, the trade must 
 be "exceedingly well organised." 
 
 There seems moreover to be a capriciousness about the growth 
 of trades unionism not unlike that which characterises co-operation; 
 and it may be noticed in passing that the two movements may 
 almost be said to be coincident in the general mass of their leaders 
 and adherents. An official of one of the trades councils in the 
 north of England informed me that the principles of unionism were 
 strong in Lancashire, weak in the Midlands, and fairly vigorous in 
 the North.*"*^ A similar fluctuation of strength is apparent between 
 trade and trade ; although in this case also, for the reasons we have 
 previously mentioned, our conclusions must be of a general 
 character. The miners appear on the whole to be well organised, 
 and the successful establishment of sliding scales is no small 
 evidence of this. In Northumberland and Durham not only do the 
 Miners' Associations number respectively 12,500 and 20,000, but 
 in the former county there is also a Mutual Aid Association formed 
 by the Deputies, and numbering 475, and a Colliery Enginemen 
 and Firemen's Mutual Protection Association, with a total member- 
 ship of 406 ;*^'' and in the latter^^** the Dui-ham Enginemen 's Associa- 
 tion, numbering 1,258, the Durham Colliery Mechanics' Association, 
 numbering 2,000, and the Durham Cokemen's Association, number- 
 ing 1,500, are expressly named as parties to the agreements for the 
 scales of 1879, 1882, and 1884, in addition to the Coal Owners' 
 Association and the Miners' Association. The Amalgamated Asso- 
 ciation of Operative Cotton Spinners has a membei-ship of 16,115 
 or 16,500, and is stated ^^^ by the secretary in his evidence before 
 the Royal Commission on the Depression of Trade, to include 
 " nearly the whole of the grown up men" that are in the trade — 
 
 ••2^ Cf. " Nineteenth Century," October, 1882. 
 
 «8 CJ. I, p. 14. 
 
 «' Cf. " Newcastle Daily Leader," 1st February, 1886. 
 
 428 Qj^ X Sliding Scales in tlie Coal Indnstry," pp. 22, 24, and 26. 
 
 *'» Cf. Second lleport, Q. 5038, 5059 ; part ii, Appendix D, p. 72, ans, 3.
 
 102 INDUSTRIAL PEACE : 
 
 the balance of the 54,000 operatives or so engaged in the cotton 
 spinning industry consisting of "young persons " and " children." 
 The Northern Counties Amalgamated Association of Weavers 
 numbers 40,000, the Amalgamated Society of Carpenters and 
 Joiners 25,750, the Operative Masons' Society 12,000, and the 
 National Union of Boot and Shoe Riveters and Finishers 10,317, 
 according to the congress report. But according to the same 
 report the Operative Bricklayers' Society only reaches the figure 
 of 6,069 members, and the United Operative Plumbers' Association 
 that of 2,645 members. The evidence furnished by the member- 
 ship of the different trades councils exhibits a similar fluctuation, 
 although we must remember in this case that the councils are volun- 
 tary organisations — as indeed the unions themselves theoretically 
 are — and that therefore they must be regarded as indications of the 
 vio^our of unionist principles rather than of the actual number of 
 unionists. In Oldham the council represents 10,000, in Manchester 
 7,000, but in Leicester only 1,950, and in Newcastle 2,000. In the 
 last place indeed it is a curious fact that, according to a state- 
 ment^^'- made by Mr. Laird, the president of the Newcastle Trades' 
 Council, at the congress of 1885, "about two-thirds" of the men 
 employed at the well known ordnance and engine works of Sir 
 William G. Armstrong, Mitchell, and Co., who came out of work 
 in consequence of a strike in the autumn of that year, " belonged to 
 " no association at all." 
 
 A casual glance at the answers furnished by the officials of 
 different trade societies to certain questions addressed to them by 
 the Royal Commission on the Depression of Trade,^^^ will supply 
 confirmatory evidence of the varying strength of trades unions. 
 
 The Secretai^y of the local branch of the Amalgamated 
 Engineers at Belfast writes,*^^ " we could form no idea of the 
 " number of non-society men employed;" and the local secretary 
 of the same society at Neath says,^^ " our own members number 
 " about 32, but I should think there must be at least four or five 
 " times the number non-society men, but this is a guess only, and 
 " not to be relied on." The Hartlepool secretary of the Boiler- 
 makers and Iron Shipbuilders reports*^* that there would be 
 " about as many more " men as he has mentioned " connected with 
 " the trade, but unconnected with his society ;" while in the Tees 
 district it appears from the answers*^* of the Stockton secretary 
 that there are no "non-members." The secretary of the Iron- 
 
 «o Cf. Eeport, p. 43. 
 
 ■**' Cf. Second Report, part ii, Appendix D. 
 
 <32 Cf. Report, part ii. Appendix D, p. 7. 
 
 "3 Cf. op. cit., p. 11. ^-x Cf. op. fit., p. 18. 
 
 «5 cj-^ o/?_ cjV., p. 19.
 
 ITS ADVANTAGES, METHODS, AND DIFEICULTIES. 103 
 
 founders at Derby states"" that there arc "212 society men 
 " engaged in his trade in his district, and about the same number 
 " of non-society men." The Leeds secretary of the Loyal Free 
 Industrious Society of Wheelwrights and Blacksmiths says,"' that 
 " about eight to one " do " not belong to our society." The general 
 secretary of the United Pattern-Makers' Association supplies"* 
 some figures relating to the Glasgow district, which show 
 250 pattern-makers belonging to his society, 150 to "other 
 " societies," and 400 to " no society at all." The Wolverhampton 
 seci'etary of the Tin Plate Workers reports ''^^ tliat 340 men belong 
 to his society, and that about 100 do not. In tlie case of the 
 Operative Bricklayers' Society, the secretary for Ironbridge says*^" 
 that it is " impossible to ascertain the exact number " of workmen 
 in his trade in his district, " as there are a very large number 
 " unconnected with the society ;" and in the case of the Operative 
 Stonemasons' Friendly Society the Doncaster secretary refers *^^ to 
 a "few non-society men," the Newcastle-upon-Tyne secretary ^^^ 
 gives a pi-oportion of "400 society-masons to about 100 non- 
 " society men," and the Nottingliam secretary*" of 150 masons in 
 " the society " to " about 50 not in " the society. In the case of 
 the Amalgamated Society of Carpenters and Joiners, the Cardiff 
 secretary reports*" "100 (or 120?) non-society men," to 120 
 " society men ; " and the Hammersmith secretary writes**^ that the 
 members of his society are " unfortunately " " in the minority " in 
 London. The Manchester secretary of the General Union of 
 Operative Carpenters and Joiners notices**" a defection from their 
 own ranks to those of the Amalgamated Society, and adds that 
 " a great many are out of society altogether." The Liverpool secre- 
 tary of the United Operative Plumbers' Association reports**'' 
 "about 300 non-union men" to "240 union men;" and the 
 London secretary of the Amalgamated Society of Gilders states*** 
 that there are 150 men "in the society," "about double that 
 "number" outside the society in the West End, and "about 
 " double the combined number of society and non-society men 
 " in the East End." In the case of the Typographical Associa- 
 tion, in the last place, we find the Halifax secretary referring**" 
 to " 36 members," and " probably about a similar number " " who 
 " are not members;" and the Huddersfield secretaiy states*^" that 
 
 "« Cf. Of. cit., p. 22. 
 
 "' Cf. op. cit., p. 33. "8 Cf. op. cit., p. 40. 
 
 "9 Cf. op. cit., p. 41. «» Cf. op. cit., p. 43. 
 
 "1 Cf. op. cit., p. 48. "2 Cf. op. cit., p. 50. 
 
 "' Cf. op. cit., p. 50. ''' Cf. op. cit., p. 54. 
 
 "5 Cf. op. cit., p. 57. ■'•"' Cf. op. cit., p. 64. 
 
 «" Cf. op. cit., p. 66. "8 Cf. op. cit., p. 69. 
 
 *« Cf. op. cit., p. 82. «« Cf. op. cit., p. 83.
 
 10-4 INDUSTRIAL PEACE : 
 
 " Trades Unionists' principles are very weak in this district ia 
 " our trade." 
 
 A few isolated indications may also be gathered from the 
 evidence actually given before the commissioners. Thus it appears 
 that, "with few exceptions," trades unions are "not at all in 
 " a flourishing condition in Sheffield at the present time.**' At 
 Leeds " there are some associations controlling the action of the 
 " weavers," but the woollen industry is "perhaps freer than most 
 " irom associations of that kind, owing to the variety of work 
 " which is involved in the woollen manufacture,"**" At Brad- 
 ford, where the work is also diversified, it seems that " there is 
 " no trade union connected with the staple industries of the 
 town,"**^ and at Macclesfield*** the silk manufacturers express 
 their satisfaction at the practical disappeai^ance of trades unions 
 from their town and industry. On the Clyde again a " considerable 
 " number of engineers " and a certain amount of the iron ship- 
 " building class, do not " belong to the unions.*** 
 
 (b). The variety of detail in the trade, to which the manufac- 
 turers of Leeds and of Bradford refer in their evidence before the 
 commission, may present hindrances to the organisation of trades 
 unions. But it has not by any means proved fatal to conciliation ; 
 for the success of the principle in the hosiery trades of the 
 Midlands has been conspicuous. And yet here — as has been 
 shown in a paper read before the British Association at Dundee 
 in 1867 — **** there was as much diversity of minute detail as 
 could well be conceived. There was variety of goods, variety of 
 pi-ices, and variety of workers. This diversity of detail is quite 
 consistent also with the institution and the successful working 
 of a sliding scale ; and as a matter of actual fact local variations 
 in wages are recognised in the coal and iron industries to 
 which the principle has been so successfully applied. Jevons 
 indeed ^goes so far as to maintain**' that conciliation is likely 
 to be more successful where the multiplicity of detail is greater ; 
 for in these cases the necessity of some arrangement — some 
 schedule of prices — must be obvious to the dullest observer. 
 Nor is the absence of trades unions so valid an objection to a 
 system of conciliation as to present insuperable obstacles to ita 
 success. For a rudimentary form of organised representation may 
 
 «i Cf. Second Report, Q. 2914 and 2725. 
 
 «2 Cf. op. cit., Q. 6317. «' Cf. op. cit., Q. 3976—7. 
 
 «^ Cf. op. cit., Q. 7239—42, 7394, and 7493. 
 
 "5 Q. 12020. Cf. also Q. 12105. 
 
 ■•^s Cf. Statistical Society's Journal, vol. xxx, Deoemher, 18G7, pp. 518 — 56, 
 Arbitration in tlie Hosiery Trades of the Midland Counties, by E. Keuals. Cf. 
 also Report by J. D. Weeks, see. iii, p. 5, &c. 
 
 «' Cf. " State in Relation to Labour," p. 156.
 
 ITS ADVANTAGES, METHODS, AND DIFFICULTIES. 105 
 
 conceivably prove to be an efficient substitute for an union, so far 
 as the regulation of wages is concerned. 
 
 And, on tbe other hand, the presence of an union is not an 
 absolutely sure guarantee for the success of principles of concilia- 
 tion. For, in the first place, there is a difference in industries. 
 Some, like the cotton and woollen trades, are localised in a 
 higli degree ; some again are settled in different centres, such as 
 the engineering, the shipbuilding, and the mining industries ; 
 some may be found in every town, and in this class we may 
 place the building, the printing, and the domestic trades. If 
 then there is only a comparatively small number of men located 
 in a particular district, the tirades union organisation does not 
 seem to secure the undoubted advantage of effecting negotiations 
 on behalf of a large body through the medium of a few represen- 
 tatives. It would rather be necessary, it appears, to create a 
 number of little boards of conciliation, and to institute a number 
 of minute sliding scales in each district ; and this might entail 
 considerable expense. But, on the other hand, it is conceivable 
 that the representative system might effect a solution of this 
 difficulty ; and the general arrangements of a sliding scale may, 
 as we have seen, admit of almost innumerable local diversities 
 and sectional adaptations. And so the advantage of the official 
 experience and influence of the central executive may perhaps on 
 a representative basis be satisfactorily combined with local variety 
 of detail. The difficulty then of instituting a system of conciliation 
 is certainly increased by these circumstances, but it is not rendered 
 insuperable. Where indeed the industry, though diffused in 
 different centres, is yet concentrated in considerable strength in 
 particular localities — like the manufactured iron trade, and the 
 shipbuilding trade, and to some extent also the engineering trade — 
 this difficulty is reduced to a minimum. For the case is assimi- 
 lated for all practical purposes to that of industries which are 
 highly localised; and as a matter of actual fact boards of con- 
 ciliation have been foi'med in the iron trades of the north of 
 England and of Staffordshire, and even in the building trades at 
 Wolverhampton and Birmingham. 
 
 In the second place, it may be stated as a general truth that 
 the success of the conciliatory system is most likely to be secured 
 where there is at the very beginning a kindly feeling between 
 masters and men, and that it is more pi'obable that those feelings 
 will be engendered where the same men come into contact with 
 the same masters, and the general body of men and masters 
 is not always changing in its component parts. It must not 
 however be forgotten that the relations of masters and men in 
 the manufactured iron trade of the north of England seem to have
 
 106 INDUSTRIAL PEACE : 
 
 been of the most unfriendly description before the institution of 
 the board of conciliation, and yet the board has undoubtedly been 
 a conspicuous success. In the Northumberland coal trade also, 
 despite of the friendliness existing between masters and men for 
 several years — a friendliness to which frequent reference had been 
 made before arbitrators, and a friendliness which had for long 
 secured the peaceful settlement of industrial relations by amicable 
 negotiation— that friendliness was strained to the utmost imme- 
 diately before the introduction of the sliding scale. These facts 
 are sufficient to warn us against a despondent and hopeless 
 inactivity, although they do not seem to affect the general correct- 
 ness of the statement we have advanced. 
 
 (c). i. An industry in which there is considerable migration — 
 both into and out of its ranks — or one within the ranks of which 
 there is frequent migration from place to place — whether it be 
 from district to district, or from shop to shop — is not an industry 
 in which permanent relations are likely to be established between 
 masters and men. Hence it becomes a matter of no small interest 
 to ascertain the leading characteristics of the industrial society of 
 modern England in this respect. But the difficulty of the inquiry 
 is as unmistakable as is its interesting nature. We can only hope 
 to arrive at the most genei'al conclusions. 
 
 Examination of industrial society has shown that there are con- 
 siderable hindrances to the " mobility of labour " from place to 
 place, and from occupation to occupation, if we interpret the phrase 
 in the extravagant sense sometimes given to it by unfair opponents 
 of the "orthodox" school. Cairnes has, however, finally shown *^* 
 that, to establish the validity of the " orthodox " theory, it is not 
 necessary to prove that every particular fraction of capital, and 
 every individual labourer, should possess the ability and the wish 
 to migrate to any place or any industry where economic advantage 
 would lead. But it is only requisite that a certain amount of 
 capital, and a certain amount of labour — enough to establish the 
 correspondence of abstinence and labour to their remuneration — 
 should possess this characteristic. Capital, he maintains, does 
 exhibit the requisite amount of mobility from occupation to 
 occupation, but labour does not. Following, with apparent 
 unconsciousness, in the lines laid down by Mill,"" he divides 
 economic society into four rough classes, which may be briefly 
 
 «' Cf. " Some Leading Princii^les of Political Economy," by J. E. Cairnes. 
 I, iii, 5. Cf. also, so far as capital is concerned, Kicardo's " Principles of 
 Political Economy and Taxation," ch. iv; J. S. Mill's "Principles of Political 
 Economy," II, xv, 4. 
 
 459 cy. " Principles of Political Economy," by J. S. Mill. II, xiv, 2 ; 
 III, iv, 3. Cf., however, "Some Leading Principles," I, iii, 3; edition 1885, 
 p. 53.
 
 ITS ADVANTAGES, METHODS, AND DIFFICULTIES. 107 
 
 described as unskilled labour, the lower ranks and the higher ranks 
 of skilled labour, — including in the former class small, and in the 
 latter superior, retail tradei"s, — and the professional and higher 
 mercantile classes. He holds that there is sufficient mobility of 
 labour within each group — not indeed of men actually engaged in 
 any industry, but of youthful labour constantly growing up and 
 seeking the most remunerative employment — to establish the truth 
 of the orthodox theory of value as applied to the mutual exchange 
 of the products of its labour alone ; but that these groups them- 
 selves are "non-competing" in the sense that competition, active 
 within the limits of any one of them, is not able to exercise its 
 equalising effects to any practical extent beyond these limits. 
 
 Professor Walker^"" has adopted the same general position, but 
 he has modified it in such a manner that his attitude seems to be 
 really more akin to that of Mill. On the one hand he does not 
 allow that competition and mobility cease for all " practical " 
 purposes, when they reach the limits of these " non-competing " 
 groups ; nor on the other hand does he recognise the existence of 
 " perfect" mobility within these boundaries. And this seems to be 
 the most tenable position. It would be rash to contend that there is 
 "perfect" mobility of labour, or indeed, for that matter, of capital, 
 in modern society ; but it does not for that reason appear to be true, 
 as Professor Ingram**^^ seems to agree with Cliff e-Leslie in 
 maintaining, that the economic theoiy of value must be constructed 
 on an entirely fresh basis, by the aid of careful and wide induc- 
 tion, and the most intimate connection with a science of sociology 
 which has indeed still to be created. We must have a hypothesis 
 from which to start — and to this Professor Ingram would himself 
 assent — and the hypothesis of pure comjjetition is the most con- 
 venient, and, indeed, may be said with some reason to be also 
 the most secure. 
 
 But its hypothetical character must always be borne in mind, 
 and its very security lies in the fact that it seems to be more 
 difficult to forget this hypothetical character in its case, than it 
 would be if Cairnes' modification were generally adopted as a 
 starting-point. Even in the economic world of " business men," 
 even in the "great commerce" " as it is known in England," 
 there are obstacles to the mobility of labour — whether it be the 
 labour of employers or employed. But society does not on that 
 
 460 f;y_ "Wages Question," eli. XI. It is to be noticed that Cairnes disclaims 
 for himself any intention to suppose that there is rigidity in the lines separating 
 his non-coDipeting groups ; but his argument in some places might tend to create 
 this impression. 
 
 *oi Cf. " Encyclopajdia Britannicn," 9th edit. Article on "Political Economy," 
 by J. K. Ingrain.
 
 108 INDUSTKIAL PEACE : 
 
 account seem to be divided into four groups — rouglily defined as 
 those groups may be — -but rather into innumerable groups within 
 groups. There does indeed appear to be one line of demarcation 
 establishing itself, but that line does not seem to lie — as platform 
 rhetoric is so fond of placing it — between the " working-classes " 
 so called and the rest of society, so much as it does between 
 skilled and unskilled labour. There does not appear to be any 
 broad "economic gulf" yawning between the "rich" and the 
 " poor ;" but on the contrary — with the exception of this division 
 between skilled and unskilled labour — class seems to run into class 
 with almost indistinguishable lines. The working-classes, in all 
 likelihood, contain as many classes within classes as do the profes- 
 sional and trading classes, and the " aristocracy " so called ; and 
 indeed a theory of non-competing groups — if we attempt to draw 
 anything approaching to a hard and fast line at any particular 
 point — really seems to be almost, if not quite, as much in conflict 
 with actual fact as a theory of pure competition. The latter 
 theory, indeed, as we said before, appears to be almost a safer guide, 
 for it is difficult to be blind to its hypothetical character ; but the 
 former theory may not impossibly mislead by an appearance of 
 conformity to actual fact. Economic motives and influences then 
 seem to be present in most cases, although they can only be 
 detected in their broad tendencies, and although now, as in the 
 past, they meet with many obstacles, arising in some cases from 
 ignorance, in some from poverty, and in some from the vis inertias 
 of custom and habit. 
 
 ii. (a). Let us take first the question of migration from place 
 to place. There is a quotation upon this point which has become 
 almost proverbial. " A man is of all sorts of luggage the most 
 difficult to be transported," wrote*" Adam Smith more than a 
 hundred years ago ; and even in these days of cheapened travelling 
 the words contain a world of truth. The only addition which at 
 first sight it appears ought to be made, is that a woman is yet 
 more difficult than a man. For there are fewer occupations open 
 to her, and her sex is, in the nature of things, more likely to be 
 fettered in its movements. But — surprising as it may seem — the 
 census returns actually show that " woman is a greater migrant 
 " than man." "3 
 
 This result, however, it would seem, must be attributed in the 
 main to the movements, not of married but of unmarried women 
 
 462 cf. "Wealth of Nations," by Adam Smith, book [, ch. viii, p. 34. 
 McCulloch's edition, 1863. 
 
 *"" I.e., within the limits of the lliiffdom of her birth. Cf. Statistical 
 Society's Journal, vol. xlviii, part ii, June, 1885. " The Laws of Migration," by 
 E. G. Ilavenstein, p. 196.
 
 ITS ADVANTAGES, METHODS, AND DIFFICULTIES. 100 
 
 find widows, and to tlie large numbers of women who are engaged 
 as domestic servants. ^"^ For a married woman is naturally tied to 
 her husband and her family; and this is a fact which is sometimes 
 forgotten in considering the economic theory of the mobility of 
 labour. That theorj only assumes that labour will move when it 
 secures a distinct economic advantage by so doing. But in estimat- 
 ing relative advantages we must remember that the family must 
 be taken as the true unit of working-power, and the family income 
 as the unit of wages ; and that it may happen, for instance, that a 
 man may secure higher earnings for himself by moving from Leeds 
 to Newcastle, and yet it may not be for his " economic " advantage 
 to do this, because in Leeds his wife and daughters could earn 
 money as machinists as well as himself, and in Newcastle there 
 would be comparatively very little opening for female labour. 
 
 Nor, again, in the case of an individual man, is it easy to 
 estimate exactly the comparative advantages and disadvantages of 
 diiferent places, or, indeed, of different occupations. It is difficult 
 to reduce "money wages" to their exact equivalent in "real 
 " wages." An agricultural labourer*''* may move fi'om Roxburgh- 
 shire to Newcastle, and think that he will secure higher remu- 
 neration. But when he arrives he may find that he is really in 
 a worse position, and may return to his fornaer home, where he 
 earns in actual cash, it is true, perhaps not more than 12s. or 14s. 
 a week, but receives in addition in all probability a free cottage, 
 coals, the use of a cow, the keep of a pig, some yards of potatoes, 
 and a month's provisions at harvest. It would be easy to multiply 
 instances of this nature ; but it seems clear, without any further 
 proof, that unless the economic advantage to be secured by a 
 move is very distinct — and this was clearly pointed out by Adam 
 Smith in the case of movement from occupation to occupation — the 
 move is not, as a general rule, likely to be made, although in this, 
 as in other cases, imagination may exaggerate, and fancy delude. 
 
 And even in the presence of this distinct advantage there may 
 be feelings of such a character that they cannot be easily reduced 
 to an economic standard, which hinder — and naturally hinder — 
 the mobility of labour. The love of home — as expressed by the 
 people who think "there's nee place like Walker,"*'^*' and attach- 
 ment to friends, present obstacles which few could wish removed. 
 Mr. Ravenstein, i-elying upon the census returns of 1881, has 
 
 *** Mr. Ravenstein states, however, that the " workshop is a formidable rival 
 *• of the kitchen and scullery." P. 196. 
 
 *^^ Cf. " Wages Question," ch. II, p. 22. There seems to be a tendency to 
 substitute money wages for these allowances in Northumberland at any rate. 
 Cf. Report of the Royal Coaimlssion on the Depression of Trade. Q. 8G88. 
 
 «6 Walker is one of the villages on Tyneside.
 
 110 INDUSTRIAL PEACE: 
 
 attempted ^^' to arrive at general "laws of migration " — as lie calls 
 them — and liis conclusions confirm the power of this love of home. 
 He made a similar examiaation'"'* of the returns of 1871, but in 
 both cases the results present the same general characteristics. 
 Migration is by no means inconsiderable, and seems indeed to be 
 more extensive than might have been imagined ; but in the cases 
 where it can be traced it is apparently to no great distance that the 
 migrants remove. In 1881, out of 34,534,048 persons enumerated 
 as natives of the United Kingdom, no less than 25,762,415 were 
 living in the county of their birth, 4,049,918 in border-counties, 
 and 33,315,868 resided in the kingdom where they were born. 
 The manufacturing counties in England and Scotland, as might be 
 expected, attract the population from the agricultural counties ; 
 and it is probably because Ireland is so largely agricultural that 
 migration within its borders is, in comparison with that in England 
 and Scotland, much more limited in extent. 
 
 But there is evidence that these migrants do not for the most 
 part continue their travels to any great distance. The Irish, who 
 come in the largest numbers, not from the West, but apparently 
 from Ulster, Dublin, Wexford, and Cork (together with Kerry and 
 Limerick), seem to linger in the ports at which they have dis- 
 embarked. These are of course in the main upon the West Coast 
 of England and Scotland ; and it is apparently only by compara- 
 tively gradual degi-ees, and in small detachments, that they make 
 their way into the rest of the country, although there is not a 
 single county in Great Britain in which they are not found. The 
 Scotch, again, are discovered in large numbers in the North of 
 England, and amount to as much as 5 per cent, in Northumberland, 
 and 4 per cent, in Cumberland, of the total population of those coun- 
 ties. But, as we go southwards, the proportion diminishes to 2 '8 5 per 
 cent, in Durham, i'63 per cent, in Westmoreland, i"62 per cent, in 
 Lancashire, 1*22 per cent, in Cheshire, and to 0*67 per cent, in 
 Yorkshire; and the case is similar with the English immigrants 
 into Scotland. An examination, too, of particular districts exhibits 
 analogous features with regard to migration from county to 
 county and town to town. The inhabitants of the country in the 
 immediate neighbourhood of a large town appear to migrate into 
 the town; their places seem to be taken by immigrants from 
 border districts and counties ; their place again by immigrants who 
 have come from a greater distance ; and in this manner, and 
 
 '"'' Cf. Statistical Society's Journal, vol. xlviii, part ii. " The Laws of 
 " Migration," by E. G. Raveiistein, pp. IfiS — 227. 
 
 468 (y, " xiie Bii-tli-places of the People and the Laws of Migration." 
 Reprinted from tlie " Geographical Magazine, 1870."
 
 ITS ADYANTAGES, METHODS, AND DIFFICULTIES. Ill 
 
 according to laws which exhibit these general features, the tide of 
 migration seems to ebb and flow. 
 
 It is interesting to find that Mr. Ravenstein selects the town of 
 Middlesbrough, as an illustration^"^ of one of his points ; and the 
 instance is peculiarly instructive for our purpose, as it is connected 
 with the rapid development of the Cleveland iron district. He 
 shows how the population of Middlesbrough increased io8 percent, 
 between 1861 and 1871, and 40 per cent, between 1871 and 1881. 
 In 1861 the proportion of the population of the city who were 
 natives of the county of Yorkshire was 73*2 per cent.;*'" in 1871, 
 owing to the immigration of iron-workers and miners from Durham, 
 South Wales, Staffordshire, and Scotland, together with an influx 
 of Irish labourers, it had sunk to 50" i per cent.; and in 1881 it had 
 risen to 55 in consequence of the diminution in the tide of immi- 
 grants and of the birth of children. But even in this case the chief 
 volume of the tide when it Avas at its height came, apparently, from 
 Yorkshire itself and the border-counties, although the population 
 of Middlesbrough includes contingents from all the counties of 
 England and Wales. Thus the population of the town amounted 
 to 39,563 in 1871, and 55,934 in 1881 ; and of these in 1871, 50*1 
 per cent., and in 1881, 54*8 per cent, were, as we have seen, natives 
 of Yorkshire; I3*3 per cent, in 1871, and I3'5 per cent, in 1881 
 came from the neighbouring county of Durham, and 2*4 in 1871 
 and 2"3 in 1881 from the more distant county of Northumberland. 
 Ireland contributed a contingent of considerable magnitude: 9*1 
 in 1871 (although the proportion in 1861 had only been 2*0), and 
 in 1881, 6*6. From the mining and ironworking districts of 
 Staffordshire and Wales (together with Monmouthshire) came a 
 proportion of 3-9 in 1871, and 3'0 in 1881 from the latter, and from 
 the former 2*6 in 1871, and 2'i in 1881. From Scotland, in the 
 last place, 2*9 came in 1871, and 2*8 in 1881. 
 
 Hence there does not appear to be, comparatively speaking, a 
 large amount of migration from distant place to distant place, — 
 though there may indeed be more than sufficient even here to meet 
 the conditions of the theory of value — save in those exceptional 
 cases where a fresh industry starts into life in a district, or moves 
 from an old to a new and more advantageous locality ; and even 
 in these cases the tide of immigration seems to flow in greatest 
 volume from the neighbouring districts. But we must not forget 
 
 «9 Mr. Eavenstein points out that the " rapid growth," the " heterogeneous 
 " composition of the popuhition," and the " preponderance of tlie male sex " in 
 the town, exhibit similar features to those commonly " credited only to the towns 
 " of the American west." 
 
 ^'^ The registrar's " district of Guisborough " (22,128 inhabitants) is taken as 
 representing the Middlesbrough (18,992 inliabitiints) of 1861, as no other details 
 of the birtli-places fur that year are " available."
 
 112 INDUSTRIAL PEACE: 
 
 the fact which is not indeed irreconcilable with this, and has been 
 brought into frequent prominence by the complaints of canvassei'S 
 in Parliamentary and municipal elections — when they urge that 
 their difficulties are increased by the extensive removal of voters 
 who were resident in the district a little while before, and have 
 left with their names still upon the registers. 
 
 (6) (1). Some industries, again, are naturally of a more migratory 
 character than others. For some industries are, as we saw before, 
 localised — either wholly or in part — in particular districts, and others 
 are scattered thi'oughout the length and breadth of the country. 
 
 Thus — to take an instance of the first class — the cotton-spinning 
 industry is settled in Lancashire and the neighbouring counties of 
 Yorkshire, Cheshire, and Derbyshire ; and consequently migration 
 outside the limits of this district would be an anomaly. But 
 Avithin its limits there seems to be considerable migration ; for the 
 general secretary of the Amalgamated Association of Operative 
 Cotton Spinners writes*" that the members of his society are 
 
 ^'' Upon tliis and some other kindred points I addressed some inquiries to the 
 secretaries of different important trades unions ; and the following is a list of 
 those from whom I have received answers. In the courteous letters which they 
 kindly sent to me iii answer to my questions, they state in most instances that 
 tliey can only give me information of a ''general character," hased upon their 
 "experience " and " impressions ": — • 
 
 Number of Members Kepresenteil, accnriliiig 
 to Trades Union Congress Report, 1885. 
 
 2^,7 SO Mr. J. S. Murchie | Secretary of the Amalgamated Society of 
 
 -^"-^ L Carpenters and Joiners. 
 
 ^ Ti/r T Tvr 1 1 f Secretary of the Amalgamated Society of 
 
 i6,ii<; Mr. J. Mawclsley < ^ v ^, , , „ ^. -^ 
 
 ' -^ I Operative Cotton Spinners. 
 
 M • T TJ • f t / late Secretary of the Amalgamated Society 
 
 -' ' ' ' \ of Engineers. 
 
 o Tir T) T- • 1,1. f Secretary of the United Society of Boiler- 
 
 28,500 Mr. K. Knight < , ■' ^j ai ■ u m 
 
 '•^ L makers and Iron Sliipbuiklers. 
 
 , ^ p 1 • 1^ r Secretary of tlie National Union of Boot 
 
 " ' ■ ■ ° \ and Shoe Riveters and Finishers. 
 
 TIT m TT <. r Secretary of the Durham Cokemen'8 
 
 1,500 Mr. T.Hart | ^^.J^^^^^^ 
 
 6,350 Mr.C.J.Drummond....j^^^^^^^^^,«^ *^^ ^°"'^°" ^'^"*'^^ "^ 
 "-' L Compositors. 
 
 1^ , -n Y f Secretary of the Northumberland Miners' 
 
 '5 ■ ■ ° \ Mutual Confident Association. 
 
 6^88 Mr H Slatter f Secretary of the Typographical Associa- 
 
 '^ ' ' \ tion. 
 
 14,000 Mr. Gr. Mackay Of the Trades Council, Edinburgh. 
 
 5,000 Mr. W. J. Strachan .... „ Hull. 
 
 24,523 Mr. G. Shipton „ London. 
 
 12,000 Mr. A. J. Hunter „ Glasgow. 
 
 Besides these letters I have also had the advantage of personal interviews with 
 Mr. Edward Trow, Secretary of the National Amalgamated Association of Iron 
 and Steel Workers (2,000 members), and Mr. J. C. Laird, President of the Trades 
 Council, Newcastle-upon-Tyne (2,000 mtmbeis), upon the subjects discussed in 
 this portion of the rejiort.
 
 ITS ADVANTAGES, METHODS, AND DIEFICULTIES. 113 
 
 " constantly moving about," and that be " should say that probably 
 " not one half lived in the same town all their lives," and in 
 " small towns and villages " this proportion would fall below " one 
 " fourth." 
 
 With regard to the second class of trades — those which are 
 localised indeed, but are settled in more than one district — there is 
 a general impression in the north of England — and the impression 
 seems to be substantiated by facts — about the miners, who form 
 the most numerous industry of this class, that the JSTorthumbrian 
 miner is of a type quite distinct from that of the Durham miner, 
 iilthough the river Tyne alone forms the chief boundary between 
 the two counties. The Northumbrian miner has been described*" 
 by the owners themselves before parliamentary committees and 
 arbitrators as belonging to a " most advanced type of mankind," 
 and to a body of men who are " very steady " and " do not move 
 " about." But in Durham there appears to be more of a foreign and 
 migratory element ; and this difference, it is to be noticed, seems 
 to be partly due to the fact that the steam coal, which forms the 
 staple coal of the Northumbrian district, requires a higher amount 
 of skill than that needed in the case of other coal before it can be 
 properly worked. If, indeed, there be migration from the Northum- 
 brian district, it appears to take the form of emigration to America 
 rather than that of migration to the other mining districts of 
 Great Britain. Within the district itself thei'e seems to be some 
 movement, though not to any considerable extent. The secretary 
 of the Miners' Union writes that " from 5 to "j^ per cent, do not 
 " stay more than twelve months at a place, and 15 or 20 per cent. 
 " stay from fifteen to twenty years. The average residence at a 
 " place will be from seven to eight years." 
 
 He also alludes to a special cause in connection with the mining 
 industries of Northumberland and Durham which seems to affect 
 this percentage of migration ; for in these two counties the miners 
 have an allowance in addition to wages in the shape of a house and 
 a certain amount of coals. But this house-accommodation is not 
 always sufficient to meet the requirements of all the colliers at a 
 particular pit ; and in lieu of this the owners in some cases make 
 a money-grant, varying from is. to 2s. a week, and then the men 
 have to seek for a house where they can. But, as this allowance is 
 " usually " not more than " half the rent " that has to be paid, 
 these men are placed at a disadvantage in comparison with those 
 who enjoy the possession of free houses. They are consequently 
 eager — and Mr. l^oung says that there is a " considerable per- 
 '' centage " of men in this situation at "nearly every colliery" in 
 
 *'2 Cf. K, pp. 2, 23, and 83.
 
 114 INDUSTRIAL PEACE : 
 
 I^ortliumberlancl — to move to any colliery where they can obtain a 
 free house. And so, when a new colliery is opened or new houses 
 are built, there is certain to be an influx of labour to the place. 
 
 This point is worth noticing on more than one ground. For 
 here we have a distinct case of movement in search of economic 
 advantage, and yet that advantage would not be detected by any 
 external examination of the comparative rates of wages. And, in 
 the second place, the matter is intimately connected with a very 
 interesting and important question, which was raised by the late 
 Bishop of Manchester in a sermon preached before the Co-operative 
 Congress at Oldham in 1885. In that sermon Dr. Fraser suggested"^ 
 the doubt whether it was " always an advantage " for a working- 
 man to live in a house of his own ; for in that case, should a sudden 
 change in the circumstances of industry compel him to seek 
 employment elsewhere, he might have to sell his house — pei-haps at 
 a loss — or travel a long distance to and from his work. The 
 secretary, however, of one of the largest building societies*''* in 
 Newcastle — and in the local newspapers of that town may some- 
 times be seen the successive advertisements of seven or eight 
 building*" societies appearing below one another in a single 
 column — writes that in his society, in which the range of monetary 
 advances extends " from London in the south to Cumberland in 
 " the west and North Northumberland " in the north, but " never 
 " crosses the border " into Scotland,*'® the " rank and file of build- 
 " ing society members in Newcastle consist chiefly of the business 
 " or middle class and the lower strata of tradesmen." " Very few 
 " of the working classes in proportion," he adds, "purchase their 
 "houses." "As a rule the working classes do not go in for 
 " purchasing or owning the houses they occupy. My experience 
 " is tbat they are more disposed to invest any moneys they can 
 " accumulate in Preference shares or Depository shares. In my 
 " society we bave a considerable number investing with us in 
 " these two ways. They prefer investing their moneys at interest 
 " rather than in bricks and mortar, so that they can draw upon 
 " their reserve at any time without inconvenience or loss. In this 
 
 ■"3 Cf. Co-operative Congress Report, p. 66. 
 
 4'* I.e., the Grainger Permanent Building Society. 
 
 <" I.e., (1). The Tyne Commercial Permanent Building Society. 
 
 (2). Monarch Building Society. 
 
 (3). The Newcastle-upon-Tyne Permanent Building Society. 
 
 (4) (?) The Old Established Building Societies Offices {aic). 
 
 (5). Victoria Permanent Building Society. 
 
 (6). Royal Arcade ,, 
 
 (7). Northern Counties „ 
 
 (8). Grainger „ 
 
 ■"8 The scarcity of building societies in Scotland is very noticeable. Cf, 
 H. Fawcett, " Manual of Political Economy." 6th edit., II, x, p. 276.
 
 ITS ADVANTAGES, METHODS, AND DIFFICULTIES. 1 15 
 
 " way my exjierience teaclies me that building' societies have 
 " been of great service indeed to the working classes." If this 
 testimony is confirmed by the general experience of building 
 societies, it would appear that the hindrance to free migration 
 to which Dr. Fraser alluded is not one of any appreciable extent. 
 
 Another instance of a trade localised in considerable strength 
 in different centres is that with which the Boilermakers' and Iron 
 Shipbuilders' Society is concerned. The secretary of the society 
 writes in these terms : " Our membei-s go all over the United 
 " Kingdom to work. We get to know where they are wanted 
 " through our branches, and then pay their fares to the situa- 
 " tions.'"*'^ During the recent strike on the Tyne and the Wear, 
 an actual instance of this kind of migration appeared in one of the 
 local papers. A paragraph in an issue of the " Newcastle Daily 
 " Chronicle " stated that the Sunderland representative of the 
 society had received an application from a shipbuilding firm at 
 Southampton for six squads of men and a " beanj-smith " (19 men 
 in all) to go there on favourable wages, and that the number of 
 workmen required had been despatched. This firm, it was added, 
 had obtained altogether about twelve squads of men from the 
 Tyne, Wear, and Tees district during the strike. 
 
 Migration of this character is of course more common during 
 a strike or any other suspension of industry than in times when 
 trade is brisk or regular. But, taking a general view of the trade- 
 societies of the country, it appears that "travelling" in search of 
 work is not now so usual as it once was. The rapidity and 
 comparative cheapness of locomotion have had, it «eems, a two- 
 fold effect. They have facilitated migration from one centre to 
 another ; but they have diminished the force of the motives which 
 prompt to that migration, for they have, so to say, given a cosmo- 
 politan and international character to periods of trade depression — - 
 so much so, indeed, that at such times emigration in search of 
 work may in some cases be as futile as migration.*''* Mr. Howell, 
 in an article in the " Contemporary Review," says*" that tramping 
 in search of work has become less "customary" and also less 
 " respectable " than it was ; and that of the two classes of 
 " donation " — as " allowance " for " oat of work " is frequently 
 termed — the " travelling relief," which was only sufficient to meet 
 the daily expenses of a single traveller, is being rapidly superseded 
 
 *■' Cf. Royal Commission on the Depression of Trade. Q. 14756, 14763. 
 Cf. for the opposite faot, tliat the " best men " remain in the stime phxce and do 
 not migrate. Q. 11165. 
 
 ■"8 Cf. op. fit. Q. 3408. 
 
 <^9 Cf. " Contemporary Review," September, 1883, vol. xliv. "The Work of 
 " Trades Unions," by G. Howell. 
 
 I 2
 
 ] 16 INDUSTRIAL PEACE : 
 
 by the " home donation," in which the family can share. It is 
 impossible, however, to estimate the rapidity of this change, as 
 the figures recording the sums expended in these two directions 
 are placed together under one head in the accounts given in this 
 article. 
 
 Another industry which is similai'ly situated to the shipbuilding 
 trade is that connected with the manufacture of iron and steel. 
 We have already noticed the rapid development of the Cleveland 
 district, and the consequent immigration of miners and iron- 
 workers from other parts of the country. The secretary of the 
 Ironworkers' Union stated to me that their industry was perhaps 
 more migratory than any other; for, with the exception of the 
 higher branches of the trade, the men moved from place to place 
 throughout the kingdom. The reports of arbitration proceedings 
 contain some testimony to a similar effect. Workmen state 
 before Mr. Dale in 1877 that they had come from Staffordshire 
 into the district;*^" and the employers argue before Mr. Watson in 
 1884 that iu the times when there was a " great demand for iron 
 " Trails " it "was necessary" to attract men "to the north" by 
 extra-rates of wages. *®^ One employer, indeed, says,*®'* before 
 Sir Joseph Pease in 1882, that " some years ago " he had taken 
 the "trouble of looking into" the "books" of his firm "to see 
 " how many puddlers were employed during the year," and he 
 found that " there passed through " their " books in the course of 
 " the twelve months just about three times the number that " they 
 " employed each day. That showed," he added, " the habit of 
 " migration — working only a few days here and there, and then 
 " going away." 
 
 (2). We may now pass on to another class of industries — those 
 which are not concentrated in any exceptional strength at one 
 place rather than another, but are dispersed throughout the length 
 and breadth of the land. And first the trades which may be 
 included under the general name of the building trades claim 
 attention. There is naturally some temporary migration con- 
 nected with these trades which it is scarcely necessary to notice. 
 If a contract of great magnitude is undertaken by a building firm, 
 the men employed may, in some instances, migrate to the district 
 where the work is carried on. An instance of a movement somewhat 
 analogous to this in general character has been supplied to me by 
 two oflficials connected with the Trades Councils in Edinburgh and 
 Glasgow. They both agree in stating that the masons in their 
 districts in many cases cross the Atlantic for the summer season 
 to obtain employment in the United States of America, and return 
 
 «» Cf. \, p. 14. «i Cf. VI, p. 7. «2 Cf. IV, p. 18.
 
 ITS ADVANTAGES, METHODS, AND DIFFICULTIES. 117 
 
 home foi' tlie winter; and the Glasgow writer adds that bricklayers 
 often follow the same custom. But we are not concerned so much 
 with this kind of migi\ation as with that of a more permanent 
 character. The secretary of tlie Amalgamated Society of Car- 
 penters and Joiners states that joiners are "made " in small towns, 
 and " consequently migrate " to the large towns when young and 
 there " settle down." He adds, however, that " few trades, if any, 
 " swell the ranks of emigration so much " as his; and in a discus- 
 sion at the Industrial Remuneration Conference he is reported to 
 have said*^^ that " it was now an uncommon thing for a man to be 
 " found in a shop for more than eighteen months or two years 
 " together." 
 
 Somewhat similar to the building trades in its distribution in 
 different localities is the printing trade. Here however there is 
 apparently not so much migration. The trade societies (the most 
 important of which seem to be the London Society of Compositors 
 in the metropolis, and the Typographical Association in the 
 provinces) in this industry, as in most others, provide " travelling 
 " relief ;" and the secretary of the Typographical Association says — 
 speaking generally of all trades — that full advantage is taken of 
 this provision. But the secretary of the London Society of 
 Compositoi'S states that "since the abolition of the vicious system 
 " of tramping some few years ago," the members of his society 
 have been " discoui'aged from leaving London in search'^*** of 
 " employment ;" and that, though permission has been given to 
 spend 300/. a year in emigration to the colonies, the largest sum 
 expended in this direction was 271/. in 1879. 
 
 In trades which are of a more domestic nature, the secretary of 
 the Boot and Shoe Riveters and Finishers says that men " move 
 " from town to town in search " of employment ; that " three- 
 " fourths of these journeys are made upon foot irrespective of 
 " distance," and that "young men frequently leave their homes in 
 " order to obtain a wide knowledge of the trade, picking np " 
 " experience in every town and shop in which they work ;" and 
 that they thus become " unsteady " in habits and continue so until 
 marriage.**^ In the tailoring trade, on the other hand, it appears 
 that formerly about 75 per cent, of the men went "on the road" 
 after their term of apprenticeship was over, to obtain a thorough 
 knowledge of the trade, but that this habit has become much less 
 prevalent of recent years. 
 
 In conclusion, we must not forget to notice some incidental 
 influences affecting migration. An engineer, for instance, will 
 
 *'^^ Cf. Industrial Remuneratiou Conference Report, p. 333. 
 *^* The italics are my own. 
 *>^ Cf. op. cit., p. 210.
 
 118 INDUSTRIAL PEACE: 
 
 often be sent out on a sHip bj tbe firm which, has constructed the 
 engines ; and it has been said that it will be generally found that 
 the engineer of a steamer is a Newcastle man. Or, again, the 
 well-known firm of Sir William Armstrong and Company is largely 
 engaged in the manufacture and erection of hydraulic cranes, and 
 the firm will send a man or men of their own to take charge of 
 these cranes in different parts of the country. 
 
 (iii) (a). The second kind of migration which calls for inquiry 
 is the movement from one trade to another. From an economic 
 point of view this may take place in two ways. A man who is 
 already employed in one trade may himself move into another, or 
 he may place his children at a different trade from that which he 
 himself entered. 
 
 Of these two kinds, the first seems to be so limited in extent 
 that it may almost be disregarded. There are several difficulties — 
 some natural, some, perhaps, artificial — in the way of such migra- 
 tion. Unskilled labour, indeed, may move from one employment 
 to another of the class on which the common labourer is engaged ; 
 but there seems to be little migration from the ranks of unskilled 
 to those of skilled labour. The migration seems rather to be in 
 the contrary direction ; and those who cannot find employment in 
 their own trades, are ouly too liable to fall into the unfortunate 
 class of unskilled labourers.*-^ Thus the secretary of the Northum- 
 berland Miners' Mutual Confident Association writes of the miners 
 in his county — who may perhaps be termed a skilled class of 
 unskilled labour — that they "seldom move into other trades," and 
 that, if they do take this step, they turn to shipbuilding or to 
 factory labour, and enter the yards or the factories "as labourers ^^'' 
 " with the intention of working their way into higher grades." 
 But he adds that the number of hewers who move from the mines 
 into these trades does not amount to more than " from 3 to 5 per 
 " cent. ;" and the secretary of the Durham Cokemen's Association 
 says that when onfce the men in his trade " settle down" and learn 
 to practise their ti*ade with efficiency, they " scarcely ever " seek 
 any other employment. But, should they leave through " slackness 
 " of trade " or " other causes," they generally endeavour to obtain 
 " employment at the blast-furnaces and ship-yards on the Tyne 
 " and Wear," returning however for the most part back to the 
 coke yards because the work there is as well paid and is more 
 regular in its character. We hear, again, of agricu.ltural labourers 
 coming from the couiitry into the steel trade which has been 
 opened to comparatively unskilled labour by the Bessemer and 
 
 488 Cf. First Report of the Eoyal Commission on the Depression of Trade, 
 App. A, p. 95, Alls. 2. Cf. Also Second Report, part 1, App. B, p. 403, Ans. 4. 
 <*' The italics are my own.
 
 ITS ADVANTAGES, METHODS, AND DIFFICULTIES. 119 
 
 Gilclirist-Tliomas and other processes of manufacture. And, if we 
 require an instance of the "degradation" — using the word in its 
 etymological meaning — of skilled labour to the ranks and the 
 occupation of unskilled, we may find it in the statement of the 
 secretary of the Amalgamated Association of Operative Cotton 
 Spinners, when he says that men "rarely, if ever," migi'ate from 
 the cotton spinning trade into another, except when they are 
 advanced in years, and then they turn to " hawking' " or any 
 employment that they can obtain. 
 
 In the case of skilled labour, the barrier between trade and 
 trade is, as we have said, pai'tly natural and partly also perhaps 
 artificial. In ruost industrial occupations special skill of a high 
 degree is needed ; and this takes time to acquire. The division of 
 labour, indeed, has gone so far that one branch of a trade is now 
 as sternly separated from another as in former times trade was 
 distinguished from trade. In the leather industry, for example, 
 it ap^^ears that a currier would not be employed in dressing 
 seal-skins unless he had had special training and experience in 
 the particular method of dressing applied to these skins. In the 
 manufacture of the pianoforte it is stated*"^ in the report of the 
 Industrial Remuneration Conference that some men are entirely 
 engaged in the work of " cleaning off and preparing for the 
 " polislier." The former secretary of the Amalgamated Society 
 of Engineers, who has been recently appointed to conduct^^' the 
 arrangements and action of the Labour Department of the 
 newly-created "Bureau of Labour Statistics," says that even 
 when trades are " closely analogous — such as cabinet-making, 
 " pattern-making, house-joinering, and machine-joihering — there 
 " is very little moving from one to another." The secretary of 
 the London Society of Compositors " knows of no " instance 
 " where compositors have become skilled artisans in any other 
 " trade," though they may sometimes start in business for them- 
 selves, relying upon the knowledge aild experience of others, and 
 often of their own wives. The secretary of the Cotton Spinners 
 states that the members of his society " never " — so far as his 
 " experience " goes — turn from one branch of the trade to another. 
 The Secretary of the Amalgamated Society of Carpenters and 
 Joiners says that the members of his society "do not leave" their 
 " trade for any other," nor yet for any other "grade," unless they 
 are compelled to adapt themselves to "natural changes brought 
 " about by scientific improvements." If they do leave the trade, 
 he adds, they generally " join the army " of " public officials " and 
 " distributors." On the other hand, it seems that in the boot and 
 
 4S8 Cf. Industrial Remuneration Conference Keport, p. 1G8. 
 •"'^ I.e., as the labour currespondeut.
 
 120 INDUSTRIAL PEACE : 
 
 shoe trade men " frequently " come into the trade from other 
 industries in consequence of the "facilities" afforded for leainiing 
 the trade by its domestic character and its extreme subdivision. 
 But, the secretary of the union adds, " very few " leave the trade 
 to enter another. 
 
 (b). The system of apprenticeshij), which is still acknowledged, 
 in theory at least, and — if we may draw any conclusions from the 
 answers furnished by the secretaries of local " lodges " to the 
 Royal Commission on the Depression of Trade*"" — to a considerable 
 extent also in practice, ***' accentuates this line of separation between 
 trade and trade, and one branch and another of the same trade. 
 The period of seven years, which seems also to be frequently 
 observed — despite of many exceptions — renders it unlikely that a 
 man will be willing', even if he is able, to sacrifice the advantage 
 he has gained from seven years' special training,*"- and to spend 
 another seven years of his life upon a fresh training. 
 
 And here too the practice of subdivision has been carried to a 
 very great length. At one engineering factory, at least, in the city 
 of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, it appears to be still the practice to make 
 the apprentice a thorough " all-round " workman, by giving him a 
 complete knowledge of the different branches of the trade ; and the 
 late secretary of the Society of Amalgamated Engineers writes 
 that there are in his trade " several branches neai-ly allied " to one 
 another, and that " many good all-round men work with equal 
 " readiness and skill at two or more " of these branches. But he 
 states that these are "exceptional," and "do not average 5 percent.," 
 and it seems to be a practice frequently followed to make a boy 
 acquainted with the working of only one or two lathes or machines ; 
 and similar customs appear to pi^evail in other industries. A 
 member of the Trades Council at Hull says that movement from 
 trade to trade and from branch to branch is " exceptional ; " but 
 that the latter does take place in cases where men have served 
 during their years of apprenticeship for some time, it may be, 
 to fitting, and for some time to turning, or for some time again 
 to fitting and some time to pattern-making. The secretary of 
 the Typographical Association writes that " at one time in a 
 " provincial town " a printer used to learn the " whole trade," 
 — " case and press " — but that now the latter kind of work is 
 "nearly obsolete," and that there is a "sharp" division drawn 
 between " compositors " and " machine-men," and in a few excep- 
 
 <"» Cf. Second Report, part ii, A])p. D. 
 
 ■"" It is to be noticed that in many cases there appear to be no formal 
 ndentures. 
 
 "'- Cf. on the " manufacture " of a skilled workman, op. cit., Q. 3362. 
 Cf. also Q. 6529, 6531.
 
 ITS ADYANTAGK3, METHODS, AND DIFFICULTIES. 121 
 
 tional cases alone the " macliiue-man " combines both branches of 
 the trade. It is hardly necessary to point out here that this sub- 
 division of trades — if carried to a great length — has some 
 tendency to limit the field of employment in the case of industrial 
 depression ; and it may well be that something of the nature of 
 technical education may help in a measure to counteract this. 
 It probably also exercises influence, in a manner worthy of notice, 
 on migration fi'om town to town. 
 
 And indeed, speaking in general terms, migration from trade to 
 trade, and migration from town to town, act and react upon one 
 another. For, if a town has few industries, there is at once little 
 opportunity of migration from one trade to another without leaving 
 the town altogether, and migration into the town is limited for the 
 most part to those who belong to the industries located there. In 
 many small towns, for instance, the building trades are the only 
 industries of any importance. The secretary of the London Society 
 of Compositors, states that he was himself " apprenticed to a 
 " printer, and learnt the three branches of ' compositor,' ' press- 
 " ' man,' and ' machine-manager.' " But when he came to London 
 he found that those three branches were "three distinct trades," 
 and he had to " elect " which of the three he would follow. " In 
 " no case," he adds, "do London workmen follow more than one of 
 " these branches," and to one alone is a boy apprenticed during the 
 seven years he is " serving his time." A member of the Edinburgh 
 Trades Council writes to a similar effect. He says that in his 
 own trade (that of a type-founder) a man begins as a " learner," 
 and "continually" changes to the "other stages of the trade," 
 and can therefore work at any grade. But in " other trades— such 
 " as blacksmiths, joiners, masons, and engineers " — the practice 
 varies according as the time of apprenticeship is served in town or 
 in country. These trades, it seems, are largely "recruited" from 
 the country districts ; and, when the apprenticeship is served with 
 a " small country-employer," the workmen are taught all the 
 branches of the trade, and are consequently able to turn from one 
 branch to another, if trade should be dull in one branch and better 
 in another. But, when the apprenticeship is served in the town, 
 only one department of the trade is usually learnt, and the men 
 therefore become " specialists," and cannot "shift " from branch to 
 branch. Thus the traditions of different districts vary. In the 
 South of England, we have been told, a man is trained in one class 
 of trade, to be a tin-smith, and nothing beyond ; if he migrates to 
 the North he will perhaps practise gas-litting and plumbing as well ; 
 and if he then returns southwards he will there find that plumbers 
 
 <M Cf. Report of the Royal Commission on the Depression of Trade, Q. 8049. ,
 
 122 INDUSTRIAL PEACE: 
 
 " do glazing- work ;" and, if lie once more turns his footsteps north- 
 wards, he will discover that here glaziers engage in painting. 
 
 (c). Within the rauks of a trade itself it seems that in many- 
 cases there are not a few opportunities of rising from a lower to 
 a higher grade. The secretaij of the Northumberland Miners' 
 Union says, that " from 90 to 95 p)er cent, of the Northumbrian 
 " miners enter the mine " at " 12 to 13 " years of age, and begin as 
 "doorkeepers, flatters (?) or switchers," receiving from is. to 15. 3CZ. 
 for a working day of ten hours. They next pass on to " driving," 
 then to " putting " or " hauling " at " 15 to 16 years of age," and 
 at this work they " continue " until they reach the age of 19 or 20, 
 and receive in wages from 2s. iid. to 3s. 8c?. for a day's work of 
 ten hours. From putting, &c., they pass on to "hewing," at about 
 the age of 20, and this is the "highest grade " to which " 90 to 95 
 " per cent, of them " can ever " hope " to attain. For " in a mine 
 " employing from 100 to 250 hewers there are never more than two 
 " 'overmen,' and there is also one 'deputy' for every 18 or 20 
 " ' hewers.' " These " deputies," however, are " invariably " 
 selected from the " hewers," and the " overmen " in their turn 
 from the " deputies." In the Durham coke trade, the secretary of 
 the men's association states that the sons of cokemen, who enter 
 their father's trade, are employed in " light work " " above bank," 
 and are then in some cases transferred at 17 or 18 years of age to 
 " small (P) running " or " overloading," and from that to " coke- 
 " di'awing." In cotton spinning, "overlookers, &c., are almost 
 " invariably taken from the ranks." In the printing ti'ade, the 
 secretary of the Typographical Association says that the positions 
 of "overseer" and "sub-overseer" are " usually filled " by "men 
 "who have risen" from the status of "journeymen;" and the 
 secretary of the London Society of Compositors writes that " com- 
 " positors, as a rule, become ' readers,' ' storekeepers,' ' overseei's,' 
 "'managers,' 'printer's clerks,' 'travellers,' &c.;" and he also 
 mentions the interesting fact that "not a few" "literary men" 
 have "originally" been compositors. In the manufactured iron 
 trade men move from grade to grade, but the process occupies 
 some years, and is retarded and limited by the fact that there are 
 comparatively few members of the higher grades.*^* In the engi- 
 neering industries in some departments — and " especially " that of 
 " machine-working" — "men frequently rise from the lower to the 
 " higher grades." "A skilful, intelligent man," writes the late 
 secretary of the Amalgamated Society of Engineers, " with natural 
 " aptitude, is sure to rise from a low grade to a higher, provided 
 " of course he is steady and reliable." In the boilermaking and 
 
 '•-<' Cf. IV, p. 21.
 
 ITS ADVANTAGES, METHODS, AND DIFFICULTIES. 123 
 
 iron-sliipbuilding " industry there are five brandies: — (1) "angle 
 "iron smiths," (2) " phiters," (3) "riveters," (4) "caulkers," 
 (5) " holders-u]?." Men " move upwards " from the lowest grade, 
 which is the last-mentioned one of the five, "as circumstances 
 " permit." A member of the higher branch does not often accept 
 work in a lower branch, unless indeed trade is " slack " in his own 
 branch and "brisk" in the other; and a rule of the society pro- 
 hibits him from acting in this way " if there is any man of the 
 " lower branch out of work in the district." 
 
 {(i). This rule, which is very similar to a regulation amongst 
 the engineers, requiring " every member to work as nearly as 
 " possible at his own branch," naturally conducts us to the con- 
 sideration of another question; and that is the extent to which 
 trades unions restrict the migration of labour by their conditions 
 with regard to apprenticeship. Very many, if not most, of these 
 associations have rules regulating the admission of new members, 
 and these rules appear in many cases to contain a reference to 
 apprenticeship. 
 
 But it seems doubtful whether in practice the actual production 
 of an indenture of apprenticeship is required. The chief requisite 
 appears to be evidence of ability to earn the wages current in the 
 district, and this evidence is obtained, it seems, by the testimony of 
 members of the society who have worked side by side with the 
 candidate for admission. Nor is the production of an indenture of 
 ap[)renticeship invariably regarded as adequate evidence of this 
 ability ; for there is an impression — perhaps not unreasonable — 
 whether the fault be ascribed to the workman himself or to his 
 teachei', or to the system of instruction — that the fact that a man 
 has "served his time" is no proof that he has learnt his trade. 
 And, in the case of a stranger, it is apparently often the practice 
 that he should not be admitted to the society until he has spent a 
 certain time in the district, and has given his fellow-workmen 
 opportunity of discovering his Avorking qualities — a practice, it 
 may be noticed, which has the collateral advantage of enabling the 
 new-comer to earn sufficient wages to pay his entrance-fee. 
 
 And on this last point it may be remarked that the combination 
 of the " friendly- society " with the " trade- society " in a "trade 
 " union " — strenuously as it has been assailed, and stoutly as it has 
 been defended, on other grounds — seems to be likely to operate in 
 a manner which appears to have escaped detection. For, as the 
 friendly-society payments must, if calculated on a sound actuarial 
 basis, vary according to the age of the new member, they may, in 
 some cases, be prohibitive to a candidate for admission. And, if the 
 unionist feeling is so strong in the district as to present moral, 
 if not actual, obstacles to his entrance into the trade as a non-
 
 124 INDUSTRIAL PEACE : 
 
 unionist workman, it may pi-event his adoption of a trade for 
 whicli he is otherwise qualified. Thus, to take a single instance, 
 in the Typographical Association it seems*^^ that the amount of 
 entrance fee payable on joining the association varies from 5s. for 
 those under 40 years of age, to 7s. 6d. for those over 40 and under 
 45, and los. for those over 45 and under 50, and for those over 50 
 it amounts to i /. 
 
 How far trades unionists have the power or desire to exclude 
 non-unionists from an industry or district it is scarcely possible to 
 determine. There has in all probability been no little exaggera- 
 tion upon the point, and, if we may believe Mr. Howell's estimate 
 of the strength of unionism, it does not seem to be likely, or 
 indeed possible, that a body of one-third can absolutely control the 
 action of a body of men of twice that number. Unionists may 
 however be concentrated in great strength in particular localities, 
 and may there use moral, perhaps actual, compiilsion to exclude 
 non-unionists. But on the whole there seems to be more elasticity 
 in the principles and practice of unionism than is popularly 
 supposed. 
 
 Mr, Howell in his valuable work on trades unions, published in 
 1878, has gone through^'^'' the rules and action of the chief trade 
 societies. He mentions stringent rules^^^ as existing amongst the 
 boilermakers and iron-shipbuilders, strictly limiting the number 
 of apprentices, and the age of admission to the trade. If we may 
 repose any confidence in local hearsay, these rules seem to be 
 enforced, in spirit at least, with some rigour in the Newcastle 
 district. They appear at any rate to exclude the labourers in the 
 yards from any but the most uncertain hope of rising to higher 
 occupations. Bat Mr. Howell states*^** that the exclusive rules of 
 the boiler-makers are "practically dormant." 
 
 He also alludes to very strict limitations on the number of 
 apprentices among the hatters,*^" and in the j)rinting trade ; and 
 in the case of the latter industry the secretaries of the London 
 Society of Compositors and the Typographical Association bear 
 similar testimony. But Mr. Howell himself says''"^ that, despite of 
 organised attempts to secure the observance of these rules, they 
 cannot be rigorously enforced in practice ; and the missionary 
 
 ■"^^ Cf. Rules of the Typographical Association fas amended hy tlie vote of 
 the members, Miirch, 1886),' XII, 1. 
 
 496 Cf. " Conflicts of Capital and Labour," by G. Howell, ch. V, sec. 24—74. 
 
 «' Cf. op. cit., sec. 29. 
 
 ■""* Cf. op. cit., sec. 29. Cf. Report of the Royal Commission on the Depres- 
 sion of Trade, Q. 14923—29. 
 
 ^'^ Cf. op. cH., sec. 4fi and 39 —43. 
 
 s"" Cf op. cit., sec. 40.
 
 ITS ADVANTAGES, METHODS, AND DIFFICULTIES. 125 
 
 efforts recorded '" in tlie Half- Yearly Report of tlie Typographical 
 Association for the latter part of the year 1885, and strenuously 
 urged''"* in o, letter inserted in the " Typographical Circular," the 
 organ of the Association, in May, 1886, seem to show that the 
 Association has not sufficient strength to make its rules the uni- 
 versal invariable practice of the whole of the trade. In many other 
 cases it appears that rules, nominally in existence, are practically 
 obsolete ; and in some instances — such as the iron- workers, the 
 carpenters, and the factory operatives — even nominal riiles do not 
 seem to be found. 
 
 The whole policy of apprenticeship, indeed, is one about which 
 there is no little difficulty in arriving at a correct decision. On 
 the one hand it seems that the traditional period of seven years 
 can hardly be required for learning merely a branch of a trade. 
 On the other hand trades unions have as much right to demand 
 evidence of efficiency as a condition of membership, as inns of 
 court and colleges of physicians and surgeons have to enforce the 
 test of examination. They may even be conferring as much service 
 upon the public in securing efficient workmen, as the "professional 
 " trades unions " — as they are sometimes called — presumably confer 
 by prohibiting, as far as they can, unqualified practitioners. But 
 the "professional trades unions" endeavour to secure quality 
 rather than to restrict quantity, while the industrial trades unions, 
 in theory at least, aim in some cases at the restriction of quantity ; 
 and the historical antecedents of the policy of apprenticeship (as 
 practised by the mediaeval guilds in their degenerate days) point 
 to a similar object as only too likely to be adopted. On the other 
 hand, again, it is difficult, as we have seen, even in cases where 
 these rules exist, to discover how far they are, or can be, rigidly 
 enforced in practice, and how far they are the result of an avowed 
 or tacit agreement between masters and men. For almost every 
 trade has its own unwritten law, and with the details of this it is 
 difficult for the lay mind to obtain acquaintance. 
 
 (e). So far, however, as the rules limiting the number of 
 appi'entices are enforced from the point of view of enlightened, 
 or unenlightened, selfishness, they raise another question of great 
 interest but of equal obscurity — the question how far do or do not 
 children follow the occupations of their parents. There can be 
 little doubt that here, as on other points connected with the 
 migration of labour, economic considerations exercise an appre- 
 ciable effect. But it is equally certain that here, as elsewhere, 
 there is no small amount of " friction " to be taken into account. 
 
 *"" Cf. Seventy-third Half-yearly Report of the Typognipliical Association, 
 pp. 3 and 4. 
 
 502 Cf. Typograpliieal Circidar, No. JOl, p. 4.
 
 126 INDUSTRIAL PEACE : 
 
 The information which can be gathered upon the question is of 
 the vaguest description. On the one side there is the familiar 
 impression felt and expressed by many, if not miost, men, that they 
 themselves would have done better had they pursued any other 
 occupation than that which they have actually followed. They 
 therefore desire to give their childi'en a better chance than they 
 have themselves enjoyed, by placing them at another trade. They 
 are acquainted — only too well acquainted, as they think — with the 
 disadvantages and drawbacks of their own trade. And the promise 
 held out by another trade has an attractive glamour lent to it by 
 the distance from which it is surveyed — a glamour which perhaps 
 might be dispelled by closer familiarity. Thus, to take a single 
 instance, we find constant references before arbitrators to the 
 unwillingness evinced — and in this case at least not unreasonably 
 evinced — by puddlers to place their sons in their own trade. Nor 
 is an unskilled labourer likely, if he can help it, to allow his 
 children to remain in the ranks of the common labourers. 
 
 On the other hand a man has in all probability more oppor- 
 tunities of securing a favourable start for his children in the race 
 of life in his own occupation than in any other. The secretary of 
 the Amalgamated Association of Operative Cotton Spinners 
 "would say" that in his trade "about three-fourths" of the 
 children follow the same occupation as their fathers ; the secretary 
 of the Boilermakers and Iron-shipbuilders states that " most " of 
 their members' sons are brought up to their father's trade. The 
 secretary of the National Union of Operative Boot and Shoe 
 Riveters and Finishers affirms that the children in liis trade 
 follow in a great measure the same trade as their fathers, and adds 
 that, in view of the fact that the trade is "more or less localised," 
 in some cases there is no altei^native industry to enter ; and the late 
 secretary of the Amalgamated Society of Engineers also writes that 
 children to " a lai-ge extent " follow their fathers' trades ; for-, he 
 adds, "it is generally easiest for a father to get his son into his own 
 " trade," and " in very many special cases no other trade or even 
 " branch of ti'ade is open " to him, Nor must we forget that some 
 allowance must be made for the special aptitude for special occupa- 
 tions which seems, in some cases at least, to be almost a matter of 
 inheritance,®"^ and to be beyond the power of alien blood to acquire 
 with adequate perfection. 
 
 In the case of the printing trade both the opposing motives 
 we have mentioned appear to be present, and to conflict with one 
 another. On the one side it seems that the stringent rules about 
 apprenticeship have been at times relaxed in favour of the eldest 
 
 5"^ Cf. Report of the Royal Commission on the Depression of Trade, Q. 3366.
 
 ITS ADVANTAGES, METHODS, AND DIFFICULTIES. 127 
 
 son of a compositor, wlio miglit exercise the " privilege " of serving 
 " without indentures."''"^ But on the other side the secretary of the 
 London Society of Compositors writes that, though " the eldest 
 " son " of a compositor is " sometimes a compositor " himself, yet 
 as " a general rule" " compositors' sons do not follovy their fathers' 
 " occupation." There is, he adds, such a strong sense of the mischief 
 done to the interests of the men by the plethora of " boy-labour" 
 in the trade, that " many compositors would hesitate before intro- 
 " ducing another lad, even though he be his own son." The 
 secretary of the Typographical Association states that there is not 
 any noteworthy evidence upon either the one side of the question 
 or the other. The secretary, in the last place, of the Amalgamated 
 Society of Carpenters and Joiners says that the question " depends 
 "very largely" npon the condition of the trade. If it is pros- 
 perous, then the children enter it ; if it is depressed, their fathers 
 will place them at any occupation in preference to their own. 
 
 (iv). This collection of opinion and facts upon the question of 
 the migration of labour — though falling far short of completeness 
 — is, we may hope, tolerably comprehensive in the variety and 
 number of industries to which it relates, and may perhaps be 
 regarded as being, in some measure at least, typical of the leading 
 characteristics of the industrial world of modern England. Difficult 
 as it is to arrive at detailed accuracy, and conflicting as some of the 
 evidence seems to be, two general conclusions may nevertheless be 
 drawn. In the first place it would be hardly possible, without the 
 assistance of a preliminaiy hypothesis, to evolve by any purely 
 inductive process — if such a process indeed be in any case really 
 possible — a satisfactory theory of value out of such a collection of 
 materials. The second conclusion is this, that different industries 
 have different chai'acteristics. 
 
 And thus we are led back to the proposition from which we 
 originally started, that methods of industrial reform must be mani- 
 fold and not single, must exhibit diversity and not uniformity of 
 detail, must admit, in short, of application to the varying circum- 
 stances of different industries. This is the lesson which has, it 
 would seem, to be learnt by enthusiastic optimists and despondent 
 pessimists alike. It is a hard lesson indeed ; but it is also a 
 lesson which is full of hope and abounding in promise, if once it 
 is thoroughly learnt. 
 
 ^"^ Of. " Conflicts of Capital and Labour," chap, v, sec. 39. 
 
 nAKRlSON AND SUNS, PRINTERS IN ORDINARY TO HER MAJESTY, ST. MARTIN S LANE,
 
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