LORD DERBY ON CAPITAL AND LABOR.

Grey River Argus, Volume XII, Issue 1393, 17 January 1873, Page 4

LORD DERBY ON CAPITAL AND LABOR.

Lord Derby spoke at some length at the agricultural dinner at Bury, on the subject of strikes and the general demand for higher wages on the part of the workmen. Having remarked that there were now two masters to one man, and that in every employment, farming included, wages were rising, the noble Earl went on to express his doubt as to the permanence of this condition of things : — The simple explanation of the economical condition of things around us was that the demand- for labor in all industrial pursuits at present exceeded the supply. But suppose for argument's sake that a million or even half a million of working men could be suddenly added to the population, he apprehended that we should see a rapid change. There would be no more talk of strikes and higher wages. An increase of population could not happen all at once, but it was a question whether there would not be a rapid increase in a few years. Judging from former experience, high wages among the population inevitably led to early marriages and increased births. Probably the same causes would still have the same effect.. In addition to that, the tendency of greater comforts being attaiued by the poorer masses would be to check emigration. With respect to sanitary improvethere would be a great diminution of infant mortality among tbe working classes. In the United States and the colonies there would be increased foreign competition, and in some at least of the rural districts the advanced rate of wages might lead now, as they did 300 years ago, to a substitution of pasture for tillage, especially if the price of m«=at continued high. It was then uncertain whether the present condition- of the labor market would be permanent, and those who might seek to have tlie command of the market would now do well to use their power with moderation. On the other hand, those who were inclined to complain would do well to think twice before they gave up the game. If he were now talking to agricultural laborers meditating either a strike or a demand for a considerable increase of pay, he should try to impress upon them, in their interests, that it did not necessarily follow because they could pretty well make . their own terms in harvest time that they would be equally able to do so in the winter months. They could not at the same time stand upon their extreme rights and extort from their employers things which were not a matter of bargain, but of favor. But if he were talking to employers he would tell them that the very essence of competition was that every man, within recognised limits/ had a per- , feet right to struggle for his own success, even at the expense of inconvenience or failure to others Assuming, however, that the present demand, weg excessive there were perfectly legitimate and unob- ' jechonable ways in which the demands might be met, like that of the people who ' resolved to abstain from meat while it was dear. So, if labor was at famine '' price 3, let them reserve it as far as they could for necessary use. . Waste in all '' things was an English-fault; and retrenchment, when possible, was always wise.