It is evident that within no long time a day's
labour for a. skilled artizan will, in England, mean nine hours. The engineers have carried their point, and at a meeting of delegates from the Trade Societies, held on Saturday at Blackfriars, firms were named by the dozen, engineers, shipbuilders, and builders, which had conceded the demand. In fact the only point the masters seem able to raise is the date at which the reform shall begin, the men contending for January 1 and the employers for Jell- 1. The reform, if it becomes universal, will, we firmly believe, reduce greatly the sum of human misery without costing anybody a penny, as the work willingly done in nine hours will be more than the work wearily done in ten. We mentally prostrate our- 'selves, therefore, at the feet of Mr. Burnett, to whom the 'success is mainly due, and ask him if he cannot protect ,a very weary and helpless class of mankind, London householders with good incomes. They, poor fellows, have to employ men every now and then for small repairs—pipes burst, cisterns cracked, And drains out of order—and they are invariably swindled. Whether a job takes one hour or five, they are equally charged half a day ; and, as a rule, every job, whatever it be, takes two men a day each, the wasted time being generally occupied in making . jobs for the future. That strikes us as very hard upon a "suffering class, who are, moreover, told by Mr. Lowe that they are ..to pay for all wars, and by all persons interested in parochial
plunder that they do not pay half enough. Could not Mr. Burnett organize a good solid strike of the rich ?
Previous page
