Lancashire is threatened with a grave calamity. The masters in
the cotton trade contend, we think reasonably, that profits have so declined that unless wages can be reduced they must stop, and have given notice of a ten-per-cent. reduction. The men contend that the loss of profit is the masters' own fault, that they cannot submit to such a reduction—equivalent to an income-tax of two shillings in the pound—and that the masters ought to go on half-time. This the masters refuse, as half-time does not lessen any of their fixed expenses. The men, accordingly, though with obvious reluctance, resolved to strike, drawing out the hands gradually, so as not to destroy the Benefit Funds, but the masters threaten to meet this by a general lock-out. It is believed, though the holiday-time suspends operations, that the strike has begun, and that next week there will be in the districts of which Burnley is the centre 120,000 operatives out of work. We think, upon the published evidence, that the trade is in a depressed state, that the strike cannot be maintained, and that both parties should seek a compromise at five per cent. There are signs that this will be attempted, but a strike even of a month will be a heavy blow to war which may interrupt half the markets of the world.
