Transcribed from the 1873 Longmans, Green, and Co. edition by David
Price.
WAGES IN 1873.
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ADDRESS
READ BEFORE THE
SOCIAL SCIENCE ASSOCIATION
AT NORWICH.
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BY
THOMAS BRASSEY, M.P.
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LONDON:
LONGMANS, GREEN, AND CO.
1873.
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LONDON: PRINTED BY
SPOTTISWOODE AND CO., NEW-STREET SQUARE
AND PARLIAMENT STREET
WAGES IN 1873.
Rise in Wages.
IN the following Address I shall devote myself to the task of reviewing,
I hope in an impartial spirit, the most recent phases of the labour
movement. The great advance of wages is a conspicuous feature of modern
English industry, and is obviously due to the rapid growth of the general
trade of the country. The long depression following on the panic of 1866
has been succeeded by a period of unprecedented activity in every branch
of our export trade. The demands upon the labour-market have far
exceeded the supply; and the artisan and labourer have not been slow to
take advantage of a situation which afforded to them a brilliant
opportunity. Between 1866 and 1869 the value of the exports of the
produce and manufactures of the United Kingdom had remained stationary;
while it rose from £190,000,000 in 1869, to £256,257,000 in 1872. Such a
leap was not possible without imposing a strain upon the powers of our
labouring population, which must inevitably have led to a material
alteration in the rate of wages.
Not attributable to strikes.
It is too often alleged that the recent advance of wages is attributable
to a series of successful strikes. I maintain, on the contrary, that a
strike against a falling market is never successful, and that Trades
Unions, as an organisation for the purpose of raising wages, can never do
more than assist the workman to obtain an advance at a somewhat earlier
date than that at which the competition among employers would have
brought about the same result. I may quote the unfortunate strike in
South Wales, at the commencement of this year, as a signal instance of
the inability of Trades Unions to cope with the superior resources of
employers when firmly united together.
The recent strike in South Wales.
It may be worth while briefly to recapitulate the most important
incidents of the South Wales strike. In June 1872, the miners had
proposed to apply for an advance of 20 per cent. on their wages. They
were, however, advised by the executive council of their Union to limit
their demand to an advance of 10 per cent. The advance was granted, and
three months later the men asked for an additional 10 per cent. Their
application was refused, and shortly afterwards the masters gave notice
of a 10 per cent. reduction. The men thereupon desired that their case
should be referred to arbitration. This request was refused by the
masters, who were so fully convinced of the strength of their own case,
that they offered to submit their books for the inspection of the
workmen. The miners were unwilling to avail themselves of this offer;
and, encouraged by large promises of support from Mr. Halliday and Mr.
Pickard, they went out on strike.
Without venturing to apportion to either of the contending interests
their share of responsibility, it is clear that the ironmasters were
alone in a position to know whether their business was sufficiently
remunerative to make it possible to dispense with a reduction of wages;
and it was stated by Mr. Crawshay that he had taken a contract for 2,000
tons of rails at £9. 2_s._ 5_d._ per ton nett, and that he lost money by
selling rails at that price. Mr. Crawshay expressed an opinion, founded
on the statements made by his workmen in daily interviews, that, but for
the interference of the Union, they would have been satisfied with the
explanations which he had given them, and returned to their work. In
short, it became a point of honour with the masters to prove to their
workmen that they were able, when acting in concert, to fight a
successful campaign against the united forces of the Miners’ Union.
The miners, on the other hand, were in the embarrassing position in which
workmen are always placed whenever they are engaged in similar disputes.
They had to struggle in the dark, and had no means of correctly
estimating the profits of their employers. The responsibility of the
Executive Council of the Miners’ Union, during the labour crisis in South
Wales, was immense. Although the miners connected with the Union were
only 10,000 in number, by their cessation of labour 50,000 of their
fellow-workmen, engaged in various branches of the iron trade, were kept
out of work. The ‘strike pay’ distributed by the Colliers’ Union
amounted to a total of £40,000, a sum quite insignificant, by comparison
with the amount of £800,000, which the men would have earned, had they
continued at work; and yet the burden of sustaining a vast population
proved eventually insupportable. In point of fact, the men were only
enabled to continue the struggle by the assistance of the tradesmen of
the district; and when, at length, the latter found themselves unable to
continue the supply of the necessaries of life on credit, surrender was
inevitable.
The reaction against the International Society among the working classes
in Belgium originated in a similar cause. In 1871, during the strike in
Flanders, the International was unable to fulfil its promises of support,
and it has consequently lost credit with the operatives, many of whom, as
we are informed by Mr. Kennedy, have withdrawn from the Society. It was
the same with the miners at Waldenburg, in Silesia, where 6,000 men went
out on strike. After all their savings had been exhausted, they received
a grandiloquent despatch from the Central Council at Berlin, urging them
to emigrate _en masse_. A few obeyed the advice. The majority who
remained were compelled to surrender, being consoled by the assurance
that the most valiant armies must sometimes yield to superior numbers,
and that they had won for themselves the admiration of Germany.
Almost to the last the originators of the strike in South Wales opposed
the generally felt desire to return to work. Never, perhaps, was the
magical power of eloquence over an imperfectly educated audience more
conspicuously displayed than at the meetings held by the workmen towards
the close of the South Wales strike. Men, who had gathered together, for
the express purpose of negotiating a peace with their employers, were
turned aside against their own judgments by the eloquent exaggerations of
orators, who were interested in the continuation of the struggle.
Overwhelming, indeed, is the influence of speech over the uninstructed
mind. Well may Carlyle exclaim: ‘He who well considers, will find this
same right of speech, as we moderns have it, to be a truly astonishing
product of ages; and the longer he considers it, the more astonishing and
alarming. I reckon it the saddest of all the curses that now lie heavy
on us.’
In the event, as I have said, the workmen returned to their work on the
terms, which their masters had originally proposed. Happily they had not
long to wait for an improvement of their position; and, in less than a
fortnight after the close of the strike, the workmen received an advance
of 10 per cent. on the reduced wages, which they had accepted.
Proposal of the International for an universal strike.
The defeat of the miners in South Wales offers, as I have already said,
one more illustration of the inability of workmen to force a concession
from employers possessed of abundant resources, when the state of trade
is such, that a concession cannot be made, without involving the employer
in direct pecuniary loss. We have evidence that this fact is becoming
generally recognised. The inability of Trades Unions to control the rate
of wages was frankly admitted by the members of the International Society
in their last congress, when the working men were informed that
hereafter, if they wished to secure any substantial advantages for
labour, there must be a strike _en masse_ of all the working men of every
country in the world.
In extreme cases strike may produce results beneficial to workmen.
Orderly conduct of men on strike in South Wales.
While I feel bound to assure the working man of the certain frustration
of his expectations, if he seeks to obtain from capital impossible
concessions, I am at the same time ready to acknowledge that a strike
will sometimes make an impression on employers, even in cases, in which
the demand for an increase of wages is not immediately conceded. If the
trade, in which the workmen on strike are engaged, is prosperous for the
employer; cessation of production means loss of profit. The apprehension
of a recurrence of such loss may, on a future occasion, induce
concessions; and the wage-earning classes may rest assured that, in the
long run, and without the assistance of Trades Unions and the disastrous
interruptions to their business occasioned by protracted strikes, the
competition among employers, to secure the services of workmen, will
infallibly lead to a rise of pay, proportionate to the amount of profit,
derived from the particular industry, with which they are connected. It
was a noteworthy feature in the South Wales strike, that the men never
had recourse to physical violence. I attribute their good conduct in
this regard in part to the influence of Mr. Halliday and his colleagues.
Advance in price of coal.
I now pass to the graver subject of the recent rise in the price of coal.
It will be remembered that, on the motion of Mr. Mundella, a Committee of
the House of Commons was appointed in the last Session to inquire into
this subject. After a long investigation the Committee reported, as
might have been expected, that, in their judgment, the rapid development
of the iron industry was the primary cause of the advance in the price of
coal. It appears from statistics, compiled under the direction of the
Committee, that the total production of coal in 1869 was 107,000,000
tons, of which 79,000,000 were used in manufactures. The total
production in 1871 was 117,000,000 tons, of which 85,000,000 were used in
manufactures. It will thus be seen how large a proportion of the total
quantity of coal raised is consumed in manufactures, and specially in the
manufacture of iron. In 1867, 567,000 tons of pig iron were exported,
4,193,000 tons of pig iron were converted into rolled iron, 1,317,000
tons of rolled iron were exported, and 28,331,000 tons of coal were used
in the manufacture of iron. In 1872, 1,333,000 tons of pig iron were
exported, 5,390,000 tons of pig iron were converted into rolled iron,
2,055,000 tons of rolled iron were exported, and 38,229,000 tons of coal
were consumed in the manufacture of iron.
Mr. Lothian Bell.
In the evidence, which he gave before the Committee, Mr. Lothian Bell
stated that the greatly increased demand for the manufacture of iron,
although not the sole cause, was one of the causes, of the rapid advance
in the price of coal.
In his district the iron trade gave a great stimulus to the coal trade.
‘But,’ he observed, ‘all industry throughout the country has been, and
still is, in a very flourishing condition. The manufacture of alkali in
the North, the increase of railways, the substitution of steam for
sailing vessels, all added to demands on an output not very greatly
increasing.’ It is to be observed that the rise in the price of iron
preceded the rise in the price of coal. Mr. Lothian Bell quoted figures,
from which it appeared that, in September 1871, forge pig iron was
selling for 50_s._, while coke was selling for from 10_s._ to 12_s._ a
ton. In July 1872, the forge pig iron rose to 120_s._—more than double
the price of nine months before—and coke, following the advance in iron,
rose from 37_s._ 6_d._ to 41_s._ a ton.
The Committee rightly observe, in commenting upon these figures, that,
although the disturbance in the proportion between the demand and the
supply of coal might not appear sufficient to explain fully the great
rise of prices, yet a comparatively small deficiency in the supply of an
article of paramount necessity may produce a disproportionate increase of
price, through the eagerness of buyers competing with each other, each
for his own supply.
Rise of wages in collieries.
Other reasons for the rise in the price of coal have been urged, and
among these more especially the reduction in the hours of labour, and the
great advance of wages. The advance in the wages paid to miners is in
truth extraordinary. In a large colliery, in which I have an interest, I
will give the advance in the weekly wages of some of the principal
trades. The weekly wages of hewers in 1869 were 24_s._ 5_d._; they have
risen in 1873 to 48_s._ 9_d._ The wages of timbermen in 1863 were
25_s._; in 1873 they are 53_s._ 4_d._ Haulers, in 1869, 20_s._; in 1873,
31_s._ 6_d._ Landers, in 1869, 21_s._; in 1873, 36_s._ 9_d._ Labourers
in 1869, 15_s._; in 1873, 24_s._ a week. The average wages of all the
men employed were 20_s._ 11_d._ for 1869, as compared with an average of
36_s._ 8_d._ per week in 1873.
A similar rise of wages has been established in other parts of the
country, of which I have no personal knowledge. Wages have risen, since
1870, 48 per cent. in Northumberland, and 50 per cent. in Durham. The
requirements of the Mines Regulation Act have involved an additional
expenditure, estimated by some authorities at 12½ per cent. upon the cost
of production. It was estimated by Mr. Pease that the total cost of
working, in the collieries with which he was connected, had increased 50
per cent. between 1870 and 1872. Mr. A. Macdonald, the president of the
Miners’ National Association, confirming the opinion of Mr. Pease,
estimated that the cost of getting coal in Northumberland had increased,
between 1868 and 1872–73, from 60 to 65 per cent., while the selling
price had risen 120 per cent.
Increased profits of colliery proprietors.
It might be easily made to appear that the rise of wages was the
principal cause of the advance in coal. But the case would be
imperfectly presented for examination, if the profit derived from the
working of the pits were not ascertained. The colliery, to which I have
already referred, had, for years, been worked at a serious loss—there
being no dividend for the proprietors in the years 1870 and 1871.
Indeed, the prospects were so gloomy in the latter year, that some of the
shareholders in the undertaking made over their interest to their
co-proprietors at a considerable discount. At length, however, the tide
suddenly turned, and in 1872 an ample dividend was earned; while there is
every prospect that the results of the present year may be still more
favourable.
Rise of wages has followed advance in price of coal.
My individual experience abundantly confirms the opinion expressed by the
Committee of the House of Commons, to the effect that the prices of coal,
which prevailed for years before the present rise commenced, were so low
that they did not afford a reasonable profit to the owners of collieries
in general, or such remuneration as the workmen might, with regard to the
hazardous and arduous nature of their labour, reasonably expect. The
rise in the rate of wages has not, under the exceptional circumstances,
been unreasonable; and it is certain that the real order of events has
been, first, the rise in price of iron, then a rise in the price of coal,
and lastly a rise in the rate of wages. On the other hand, great as the
profits in the coal trade have been, it is a question whether the last
two years have compensated the coal-owners for the former protracted era
of stagnation, and, in many cases, of serious loss.
In a letter addressed to _The Times_, early in the present year, in which
the case of the masters was ably argued, Mr. Laing narrated the history
of the Bleanavon Company. Owing to various causes, that concern had been
worked for several years without profit. Only within the last three
years had it become a profitable undertaking; and yet all through a long
period of adversity an amount of £3,000 to £4,000 a week was paid in
wages, at the same rate as by the most prosperous iron works; and the
capital sunk by the original proprietors was the means of creating a
town, and supporting a population of 9,000, in a secluded mountain valley
of South Wales.
Causes which will lead to a reduction in price of coal.
The present unprecedented prosperity may continue for a year or two years
at the most, but, at the end of that time, the influx of capital into the
coal trade, attracted by the present high profits, will infallibly lead
to some reduction of price. New coal pits are being sunk. Old pits are
being improved. More workmen are being trained in the business of
mining. Hence we may look with confidence to an augmentation of the
output, and to a sufficient supply for the ordinary demands of consumers.
The insufficient profits of former days cannot be attributed to the
unreasonable standard at which wages were maintained. The excessive
competition in the supply of coal was the true cause of the unfortunate
position of the trade. And as in the former period of depression, so in
the sudden and it may be short-lived prosperity of the present day, the
rates of wages must be regarded, not as a cause, but as a consequence, of
an abnormal position of affairs.
Hours of labour.
Complaints have been urged as to the effects of shortening the hours of
labour; and it is certain that if a comparison be made between the amount
raised and the total number of individuals employed, a less quantity is
raised than in former years. It must not, however, be forgotten that
high wages have attracted many untrained hands to the coal pits. It
would be presumptuous in me to express an opinion as to the precise
number of hours, which would constitute a fair working day in a coal pit.
Mr. Macdonald, who has had actual experience as a working miner, declares
that the present earnings could not be obtained with less than eight
hours of work a day, and that no man, who laboured assiduously for that
number of hours could work continuously six days a week at coal mining.
It will be the duty of those, to whom the miners are in the habit of
looking for guidance, to watch with care the course of trade. They know
that the iron manufactures of this country can only prosper, so long as
we are able to sell our iron abroad at cheaper rates than those demanded
by foreign producers.
There are some who think that a limitation of the hours of labour is in
itself an evil. I cannot share in this view. Because some may make an
unwise use of their newly acquired advantages, that is no reason for
returning to a former state of things; when, in the general depression of
trade, an undue pressure was brought to bear upon the working man. ‘No
doubt,’ says Sir Arthur Helps, ‘hard work is a great police agent. If
everybody were worked from morning till night, and then carefully locked
up, the register of crime might be greatly diminished. But what would
become of human nature? Where would be the room for growth in such a
system of things?’
The use of leisure requires education, and that education had not been
freely given to the mechanics, miners, and puddlers, of former
generations.
The double-shift system.
Among the various proposals for maintaining the production of collieries
while conceding to the individual workman the advantage of a reduction in
the number of hours of daily labour, the double-shift system of working
promises a most satisfactory result. When the memorable struggle was
commenced in Newcastle for a reduction in the number of hours, I ventured
to suggest, in an address delivered at Birkenhead, that the solution of
the difficulty, which had arisen in the engineering establishments, might
be found in employing relays of mechanics to succeed each other at the
same machine. When we have to combine human labour with machine power,
we know that it is impossible for the human machine to keep pace with
machinery of brass and iron. But why, I venture to ask, should not a
machine, which never tires, be tended by two or three artisans relieving
each other as one watch relieves another on board ship? In driving the
machinery of steamships, it has been found necessary, on long voyages, to
have three sets of engineers and firemen. Why should not the day be
divided into three periods of eight hours, or the working day be extended
to sixteen hours, two sets of men being employed? The change, arising
from the increasing use of machinery, seems to render corresponding
modifications in the application of labour essential. My friend Mr.
Elliott is pushing the system of a succession of labour in collieries
with very advantageous results to all parties concerned. Comparing a
Durham colliery, worked on the double-shift system, with a colliery in
Glamorganshire, worked by one set of miners, he ascertained that twice
the quantity of coal per day was being raised in Durham. The prejudices
of the miners in South Wales against the double-shift have presented a
serious obstacle to its introduction, but Mr. Elliott hopes that this may
eventually be overcome by the influence of Mr. Macdonald and other
representatives of the men, whose superior intelligence will enable them
to appreciate more readily the advantages of new and improved systems of
working.
Coal-cutting machines.
Among various improvements, which may tend to reduce the price of coal,
we may look with confidence to the increased use of coal-cutting
machinery as a substitute for manual labour; and to the discovery of
methods by which the consumption of fuel may be reduced. The
experiments, which have been tried with the machines invented by Captain
Beaumont, R.E., and others, have been eminently satisfactory; and these
machines are now being made in large numbers in Glasgow and Birmingham.
Waste of coal in domestic consumption.
Our domestic consumption is undoubtedly wasteful; and the inventor of an
effective improvement in the form of grate in common use will be a real
benefactor to his fellow-man. Already we have, in the cooking-stove for
yachts, the invention of Mr. Atkey, of Cowes, a highly successful
apparatus. A letter from Mr. Vale, Ex-President of the Liverpool
Architectural Society, addressed to _The Times_ in August last, describes
a cooking stove for a party of nine persons and a crew of thirteen men,
which measured only one foot four inches by one foot four inches in area,
and one foot nine inches in height, the actual fuel-space being less than
one cubic foot. The fuel required in his yacht for one day’s consumption
was forty-seven pounds of coke at twenty shillings a ton, and the cost
per head per day amounted to less than one farthing.
Captain Galton’s fireplace.
In his lecture, delivered at Bradford during the meeting of the British
Association in the present year, Mr. Siemens described Captain Galton’s
ventilating fireplace as a most valuable invention.
‘The chief novelty and merit,’ he said, ‘of Captain Galton’s fireplace
consists in providing a chamber at the back of the grate, into which air
passes directly from without, becomes moderately heated (to 84° Fah.),
and, rising in a separate flue, is injected into the room under the
ceiling with a force due to the heated ascending flue. A plenum of
pressure is thus established within the room whereby indraughts through
doors and windows are avoided, and the air is continually renewed by
passing away through the fireplace chimney as usual. Thus the
cheerfulness of an open fire, the comfort of a room filled with fresh but
moderately warmed air, and great economy of fuel, are happily combined
with unquestionable efficiency and simplicity; and yet this grate is
little used, although it has been fully described in papers communicated
by Captain Galton, and in an elaborate report made by General Morin, le
Directeur du Conservatoire des Arts et Métiers of Paris, which has also
appeared in the English language.’
Mr. Bessemer’s inventions.
But economy in the consumption of coal, in the manufacture of iron, is a
far larger question than economy, however desirable in itself, in the
consumption for domestic purposes; and, as an illustration of what may be
achieved in this direction, I will quote some extracts from a letter from
Mr. Bessemer, detailing the results, which have actually been attained
through his most valuable discoveries.
The average quantity of coal required to make a ton of pig iron is about
two tons of coal to a ton of pig; and, as pig iron forms the raw material
for the several processes of manufacturing both malleable iron and steel,
we may treat the pig simply as the raw material employed, and consider
only how much coal is required to make a ton of finished rails. About
two tons of coal are required in order to convert pig iron into iron
railway bars.
To produce one ton of steel rails by the old process of making steel in
Sheffield, a total consumption of ten tons eight cwt. of coal is
required; and the conversion of iron bars into blistered bars occupies
from 18 to 20 days.
To make Bessemer’s steel from pig iron into steel rails requires about
five cwt. of small coal, in the form of coke, to melt the pig iron in the
cupola; two cwt. to heat the converting vessel and ladle; two cwt. for
the blast engine, which converts five tons of pig iron into fluid cast
steel in twenty minutes; and, lastly, for rolling the ingots into rails,
sixteen cwt. of coal, making a total consumption of twenty-five cwt. of
coal, in producing one ton of Bessemer’s steel rails from pig iron.
Thus, common iron rails take two tons of coal; Sheffield cast steel
rails, ten tons eight cwt.; Bessemer’s steel rails, one ton five cwt.
But we must also consider other points in connection with these figures,
in order to arrive at a correct estimate of the saving of coals, effected
by the introduction of steel, as a substitute for iron.
Although the cost of Sheffield steel entirely shut it out of the market
for rails, it must be borne in mind that it was extensively used for
wheel tires, slide bars, piston rods, and other parts of locomotive
engines; and here a saving of over nine tons of coal per ton of steel has
been effected. Further, it must be borne in mind that at stations where
rails are rapidly worn, the saving by the use of steel, as a substitute
for iron, must not be simply estimated as a saving made on one ton of
each material. For instance, at the London and North-Western station, at
Crewe, the iron rails are so rapidly worn, that they require to be
reversed every four months, each rail being completely worn out in eight
months. Bessemer’s steel rails were first used at this station, and
after being in constant use for seven years, they were removed in
consequence of rebuilding the station; one side only of the rail having
been used, and this was not quite worn out. During the seven years,
therefore, that those rails were down, one ton five cwt. only of coal had
been employed in the production of each ton of rails used at this
station; whereas ten sets of iron rails would have been entirely worn out
in that period, each set consuming two tons of coals in its manufacture,
or equal to twenty tons of coals for iron rails, as against one ton five
cwt. of coals for steel rails; and these, when turned, would be equal to
another seven years’ wear on the side not used.
The above is, no doubt, an extreme case, but the same sort of thing goes
on everywhere where steel is used, though in a lesser degree. It has
indeed been admitted by competent persons, that the rapid destruction of
iron rails would have caused a complete collapse of the Metropolitan
railways by continued interference with the traffic, while removing the
worn-out rails, had not steel been employed.
It should further be borne in mind that the extra strength of steel over
iron admits of a reduction of one-third of its weight in all structures,
previously made in iron. Thus, a further saving is effected in the fuel
consumed for a given work.
The rapidity, with which Bessemer’s steel is coming into use, will be
appreciated, when it is stated that the report of the jury at the London
International Exhibition showed that the entire production of steel in
Great Britain, prior to Bessemer’s invention, amounted to 51,000 tons per
annum; while the quantity of Bessemer’s steel, made in Great Britain
during the twelve months ending June 1873, amounted to 481,000 tons, or
nearly ten times the amount of production prior to the invention. Had
this quantity of steel been made by the old Sheffield process, it would
have consumed, according to the foregoing figures, 4,401,000 tons more
coal than was actually employed in its production. Should this enormous
increase in the manufacture continue, as it at present promises to do, in
another five years, we may have treble the quantity of steel made in this
country with a corresponding saving of fuel.
Reduced consumption of coal in steamers.
In steam vessels a remarkable economy of fuel has of late been attained.
In his lecture at Bradford, Mr. Siemens said, ‘A striking illustration of
what can be accomplished in a short space of time was brought to light by
the Institute of Mechanical Engineers, over which I have at present the
honour to preside. In holding their annual general meeting in Liverpool
in 1863, they instituted a careful inquiry into the consumption of coal
by the best engines in the Atlantic steam service, and the result showed
that it fell in no case below 4½ lbs. per indicated horse-power per hour.
Last year they again assembled with the same object in view in Liverpool,
and Mr. Bramwell produced a table showing that the average consumption by
17 good examples of compound expansive engines did not exceed 2¼ lbs. per
indicated horse-power per hour. Mr. E. A. Cowper has proved a
consumption as low as 1½ lbs. per indicated horse-power per hour in a
compound marine engine, constructed by him with an intermediate
superheating vessel. Nor are we likely to stop long at this point of
comparative perfection, for in the early portion of my address I have
endeavoured to prove that theoretical perfection would only be attained
if an indicated horse-power were produced with 1/5.5 lb. of pure carbon,
or say ¼ lb. of ordinary steam coal per hour.’
Inventions of Mr. Siemens.
The furnace invented by the Messrs. Siemens is another highly successful
contrivance. In melting one ton of steel in pots, 2½ tons of coke are
ordinarily consumed. In Messrs. Siemens’ furnace, a ton of steel is
melted with 12 cwt. of small coal.
When such results as this have been secured by a few inventors, what may
we not venture to expect from the concentration of many ingenious minds
on the important problem of economising coal?
Substitution of peat for coal.
As it is, I fear, certain that coal will never fall below fifteen or
sixteen shillings a ton at the pit’s mouth, we ought not to neglect any
possible source of supply. It has been suggested that the time has come
when the peat bogs of these islands should be turned into coal and
charcoal; and I am informed that the cost of the process does not exceed
five shillings a ton. If these anticipations are verified, the drain on
our coal-pits will be materially lessened.
General prospects of the iron trade.
It remains to consider how far the apprehensions, entertained in many
quarters for the future of the British iron manufacture, are justified by
actual experience. When we look back upon the past, the growth of
British commerce cannot fail to reassure those, who are most inclined to
look doubtfully on the future of our industry. Some statistics of the
increase in the exports of iron and steel were given in a recent number
of ‘Iron,’ from which I quote the following figures. Our exports of iron
in 1840 amounted to 268,000 tons, of the value of £2,526,000. The
quantity in 1850 was 783,000 tons; in 1860, 1,442,000 tons; and in 1870,
2,716,000 tons. The value in the latter year amounted to £21,080,000.
In 1872 the quantity was 3,383,000 tons, the value of £36,000,000. We
are sometimes assured that Belgium threatens our ironmasters with serious
competition; but in Belgium the ore must be carried 100 miles or more to
be smelted. The coal-pits are worked in many cases with considerable
difficulty, and a Belgian workman does little more than half what an
Englishman can accomplish in the same space of time. Sometimes we are
told we shall lose our position in the Russian market. The Russian
Government are doing their utmost to encourage the manufacture of iron at
home; though there is little demand for pig iron in that country. Few
Russians have had any experience in puddling. Skilled mill and forge men
are scarce. Few of those obtainable have had any experience in the use
of mineral fuel, and great difficulty is experienced in consequence of
the objection of the Russians to piece-work. Lastly we are threatened
with competition from the United States. The production of pig iron in
the States may now be estimated at 2,500,000 tons, an increase of
1,000,000 tons on the production five years ago, and yet the ironmasters
of the United States, who are protected by a duty of nearly £3 a ton on
railroad iron, have hitherto been unable to supply the entire demand at
home. There cannot be a doubt as to the ultimate consequences of the
comparative exhaustion of our supplies of raw material at home; but we
may hope that the tariffs, which now throw obstacles in the way of
legitimate trade, will in time be removed, and that, as Mr. Mattieu
Williams has suggested, we may be enabled to avail ourselves of the
natural resources of America for obtaining our supplies of raw material,
just as we already derive large supplies of hematite iron ore from
Bilbao.
American competition.
At the present time, the United States, not content with their natural
advantages, impose an almost prohibitory tariff on our exportations.
There is a party in America opposed to protection, but hitherto the
superior organisation and greater determination of the manufacturers
interested in the maintenance of the tariffs has overpowered all
opposition. At the last annual meeting of the American Institute of
Mining Engineers at Philadelphia, the Honourable D. Kelley, who delivered
the opening address, asserted that, by its dereliction of duty in not
protecting the labourer of Great Britain against competition, the
Government of this country have fostered anarchy in Ireland, while the
life of the labourer in England and Scotland has been robbed of all its
joys. ‘The millions of sturdy men,’ he declared, ‘represented by
Bradlaugh, Odger, Joseph Arch, and the travelled and humane patrician,
Sir Charles Dilke, know that the world owes every man a living, and that
it is only by protection that the means of living can be secured to the
people.’ So long as such a feeling prevails, there is little hope of our
ironmasters obtaining free access to America.
The progress of the American iron works is the more creditable, because
great difficulties are experienced in obtaining a sufficient supply of
labour. Men come over from England, having had their expenses paid, on
condition of taking an engagement for a period of five years. As soon as
their bargain is performed, they generally find it impossible to resist
the attractions of an independent farm in the Far West. Their places
must be supplied by other workmen, obtained by the same costly means from
the mother country. The difficulty of obtaining skilled workmen has had
a great effect in America in stimulating the invention of labour-saving
machinery; and as scientific manufacturers, the American ironmasters can
doubtless hold their own against the world. In finished iron the
Americans have been highly successful. Bridge-work, locomotives, wheels
and tires, and machinery, are produced at prices, which may compare not
unfavourably with our own. As an illustration of American ingenuity and
enterprise, which came under my immediate notice, on the occasion of a
recent visit to the States, I may point to the Peabody Rifle Company’s
establishment at Providence, Rhode Island. During the Rebellion the
Company was fully employed in the manufacture of small arms. The
cessation of the struggle put an end to the demand for rifles; but, with
the fertility of resource which distinguishes American industry, the
manual skill of a large body of workmen especially apt in the production
of tools or machinery, composed of numerous small and interchangeable
parts, and the valuable and ingenious plant belonging to the Company, are
now employed in the production of sewing machines. Three hundred
machines are turned out every day, and the sale is constantly increasing.
The wages of the 500 operatives employed are most liberal. The monthly
pay-sheet amounts to 25,000 dollars, giving an average of 40_s._ a week
throughout the factory. The leading workmen, five or six in number, to
whom the work is let by the piece, or rather by sub-contract, earn nearly
£600 a year. The superior mechanics earn 12_s._ to 14_s._; labourers
4_s._ to 6_s._ a day. The supply of highly-skilled labour is limited,
but ordinary mechanics can always be obtained. On an average, one
skilled mechanic a day makes application for employment.
The success of the Peabody Company affords significant evidence that the
cost of production is not augmented in equal proportion to the high rates
of pay. At the time of my visit, they were negotiating a contract for
the supply of 100,000 rifles to the Roumanian Government, at the rate of
63_s._ per rifle; and they had to compete for the contract against all
the makers of Birmingham and Liège. This Company had also in prospect an
order for 200,000 rifles, from the Turkish Government. The success, with
which the Americans have reduced the cost of production by the invention
of machinery, gives us ground for caution, lest our old supremacy be
shaken by the energy and talent of the New World; while it also gives us
reason to hope that the effects of the exceptionally high rates of wages
now prevailing may be mitigated by substituting, wherever it is possible,
mechanical for manual labour.
A monopoly of the iron trade impossible.
I can only repeat once more that, in the present condition of our trade,
there is nothing to justify serious misgivings as to our power of
continuing a successful competition with foreign producers. It does not
follow that, because we have lost a monopoly of a particular branch of
trade abroad, the skill of the English workman must have deteriorated, or
the cost of production have been unduly enhanced by the rise of wages.
Foreign countries may have imported from us a particular commodity at a
former time, solely because they were entirely inexperienced in its
manufacture. When my father was executing the Rouen and Havre Railway,
he imported the rails from England, although he had to pay an import duty
at the French Custom-house, amounting to a considerably larger sum than
the selling price of the rails at home. The almost incredible difference
between the price of English and French rails at that time no longer
exists: because that special branch of industry is now as well understood
in France as in England. So, too, in the case of the employment of
English contractors for the execution of public works on the Continent.
An opportunity was offered to them in the origin of the railway system on
the Continent; because in those early days of railways there were no
native contractors, sufficiently acquainted with the art of making
railways to venture to compete with the English invaders. Their
intelligent observation of our methods of construction soon enabled the
contractors on the Continent to tender in competition with the English;
and for many years past all the railway works in France have been carried
out by Frenchmen. It does not follow that the English contractor has
lost his former skill. The true inference is, that the French, who had
been previously in a position of inferiority solely from lack of
experience, were enabled, as soon as they had gained that experience, to
execute the works required, without the assistance of foreigners.
The development of our commercial relations with France, since the
negotiation of the Treaty of Commerce, affords convincing proof of the
great capabilities of our manufacturing industry. Since 1860, the
exportation of iron, wrought and unwrought, to France has increased in
value £540,000.
Looking therefore to the present condition of our iron trade, there is
nothing to justify serious misgivings. According to the last report of
the Commissioners of Customs, the average value of the pig iron exported
in 1870 was £2. 19_s._ 2_d._ per ton; in 1871, £3. 1_s._ 8_d._; in 1872,
£5. 0_s._ 11_d._; and yet the demand for pig iron continued unchecked.
The increase in the quantity exported in 1872 over 1871 was 28 per cent.
The increase in the price ranged as high as 108 per cent.
While the export of pig iron attained to the figures I have quoted, the
total increase in the exports of iron and steel manufactures did not
exceed 6.7 per cent. Indeed the manufacture of steel actually fell off
from a value of £683,000 in 1871, to £623,000 in 1872; a result the more
remarkable as compared with the increase in pig iron, because the price
of steel had not advanced in the same proportion as the rise in pig iron.
The price of the latter article had risen, as I have said, from £3. 1_s._
8_d._ to £5. 0_s._ 11_d._ per ton; while unwrought steel had only
advanced from £30. 12_s._ 3_d._ to £32. 18_s._ 7_d._ per ton, and steel
manufactures from £52. 8_s._ 1_d._ to £55. 4_s._ 10_d._ per ton.
Hence it would appear that a demand once created for an article of the
first necessity, such as iron, is not easily checked, even by a very
marked advance of price.
It must, however, be remembered that, when the course of trade has been
changed, and consumers, alarmed by the high prices in our market, have
been taught to look for their supplies in another, the position once lost
is not easily recovered. The superiority of our artisans in skill and
industry has assisted our manufacturers to compete successfully in the
past. The same success will not be maintained in future, unless our
employers and workmen continue, as before, to use their united efforts to
reduce the cost of production.
Shipbuilding.
Perhaps no branch of industry has been more successfully prosecuted in
this country than shipbuilding; and the extensive use of iron for ships
of the largest type makes it a point of great interest to ascertain how
far the cost of building ships has been affected by the recent advance of
wages. I am informed by an eminent firm of shipbuilders, that at the
close of 1871, shortly after the reduction in the hours of labour from
fifty-nine or sixty hours a week to fifty-four, an agitation was
commenced amongst all classes of men for an advance in their rates of
wages, which has been, in some shape or other, conceded to them, to the
extent of from 7½ to 15 per cent. In reality, this was the natural
consequence of the reduction in the hours of labour; although, at the
outset the leaders of that movement professed that they had no desire to
raise the rates of wages.
The reduced hours of labour increased the cost of production of all
articles, and led to the necessity for an advance in the rates of wages.
In point of fact, the advantage of the reduction in the hours of labour
being conceded, on social and moral grounds, the necessity for some
corresponding advance in wages followed as a matter of course, and was
perhaps not unreasonable. The two causes combined have resulted in an
increased cost of production, so far as labour is concerned, of from 20
to 25 per cent. The cost of building first-class steamers and
first-class marine engines has, in consequence of the rise in wages and
materials, been increased from 30 to 40 per cent.
The actual diminution, by the nine hours’ movement, in the amount of
work, turned out with a given plant, should, in theory, be only in
proportion to the reduced number of the hours of work, or, say, about
one-tenth. It is in reality from 15 to 20 per cent.
From an eminent firm on the Clyde, I learn that on riveters’ and smiths’
piece-work there has been an increase of 20 per cent. and 10 per cent.
respectively, in the last two years; on the other hand, in fitters’
piece-work there has been a decrease of 10 per cent. The price of
first-class steamers in 1871 was about £24 per ton. At present the cost
would be from 30 to 35 per cent. higher. While the building of sailing
ships decreased in 1871 and 1872, in 1873 there has been an increase in
the number built. The building of steamers has not been so brisk in 1873
as in 1871 or 1872; a marked falling-off in orders having taken place
since the beginning of this year.
On the Thames I find that piece-work is at least 15 per cent. dearer now
than in 1869 and 1870. The operatives, employed in attending to large
self-acting machines, which require little manual labour, are only
working fifty-four hours instead of sixty hours. Again, there has been a
large increase of overtime, since the nine hours’ movement commenced.
Wages for overtime are higher than for ordinary time. An hour and a
half’s pay is given for every hour’s work, and many men refuse to work
unless a certain amount of overtime is given to them.
With these recent reports from shipbuilders it may be useful to compare
the general progress of shipbuilding in the United Kingdom, in the last
ten years. The tonnage of the ships built increased from 328,000 tons in
1867 to 475,000 tons in 1872. There has been no increase in the
registered tonnage in the interval, but the vast increase in the
proportion of steam to sailing vessels will fully explain the apparently
stationary condition of the mercantile marine, if tested solely by the
amount of tonnage. It is equally reassuring to find that, in the
estimation of foreigners best qualified to form an opinion, the extent of
our merchant navy excites profound admiration. M. Bal, director of the
Bureau Veritas, in giving evidence before the French Parliamentary
Commission of inquiry into the condition of the French Mercantile Marine,
said that to him it seemed almost incredible that England, which has only
27,000,000 inhabitants, had 6,903,000 tons of shipping, whereas all the
other maritime Powers combined had only 6,648,000 tons.
In the United States, until the quite recent, and still but partial,
revival of the trade, the decline of shipbuilding had been very
remarkable. In a country possessed of less natural resource, the
suffering, which would have been entailed on the particular industries,
would have been almost insupportable. According to Mr. Wells, 15,000 men
were employed in New York, in 1860, in building and repairing marine
steam engines. In 1870, fewer than 700 found employment in the same
branch of industry.
In France, it would seem, from the report of Mr. West, that a wooden ship
costs from £3 to £4 a ton more than a similar ship built in England or
Canada; and in regard to iron steamers, the price of wrought iron in
France for shipbuilding purposes is so much higher than in England, as to
make competition impossible.
Amid the many difficulties of the present time, English employers may
perhaps take comfort by looking abroad, where they will generally find
that the same problems, with which they have to deal, are presenting
themselves, and often in a still more aggravated form.
The engineering trade.
Passing from shipbuilding to engineering, I have ascertained that in an
establishment on the largest scale, in which the cost of production has
been minimised to the utmost, the increased cost of production in 1871
over 1870 was, for wages, 2.73 per cent., and for materials, 2.59 per
cent. Again, the increase in 1872 over 1871 was, for wages, 7.97, and
for materials, 7.94 per cent., thus showing that the most liberal
application of capital, the most ingenious machinery, and skilful
administration, had failed to compensate for the great advance in the
rate of wages.
I may also quote the following details from a report received from an
engineering establishment with which I am connected.