The New York Herald Newspaper, June 1, 1874, Page 8

NEW YORK HERALD, MONDAY, JUNE 1, 1874.—TRIPLE SHEET, TRADE UNIONS. The Origin of Trade Unions and Strikes. FREE TRADE CONTESTS, The Duty of Governments—A Novel | Standard of Wages. | Trade and Capital in Part- nership. | 3 ts onlywhen the supply of Isbor keeps equal | pace withthe separate demands of the agricul- ‘ural and manufacturing interests that a just | equilibrium can be maintained in the labor mar- | Ket. But statistics of immigration show that | ‘while the increase of skilled labor connected with | our growing manufactures has been greatly in | excess of what is needed, the supply of help to tme agricultural portions of the country is far | below that which could be profitably employed. | Somehow or other people seem to shrink from she healthy and remunerative pursuit of agricul- | ture, and prefer to hang about the large cities, fm hopes of becoming suddeniy rich by some lucky | turn of fortune’s fickie wheel, rather than to dash | Out Doldly to the forest or prairie and carve for themselves an independent home from the na- onal domain. It is easier for emigrants to reach @ur shores [rom the manufacturing than from the agricultural aistricts of Europe. For this reason ‘We have a surplus of tradesmen and not enough @f farmers. The looseness of American trade regu- Jations has been eagerly laid hold of, both by Mative and foreigner, as afortunate circumstance | Which enabies the lazy laborer to become, without @ny previous apprenticeship, a machinist, shoe- maker, carpenter, blacksmith and jeweller AT HIS OWN GOOD PLEASURE. ‘This has occasioned an undue drawing off of yse- fal hands from agriculcure and a consequent rowding of inexpert operatives into the mecnan- ‘cal branches of industry. When the crash came Jast year, thousands of inefficient tradesmen were thrown out of work, while those who knew their business weil remained employed the whole time. ‘The past panic developed, onder one form or another, a number of important questions between the opposiog interests of capital and labor, Em- Bloyers thought the occasion a good one to profit by and compel a return to the old ten hours’ rule of labor, while the workingmen, recognizing the disadvantage at which they were taken, still @esolved to fight the struggle out. A cry was raised against trade unions, and their opponents @id not hesitate to inmate that society men are Mttie else than Communists or Internationalists in Giaguise, In retauation the friends of the anions @banted their old slogans against “‘bioated capital- iets,” “upstart aristocrats” and “oppressive monopolists,” At this writing the trade ‘Unionists have rather the better of the battle with their employers, The best contested struggle last winter was the capmakerws’ strike, which terminated In a com- Promise that was bighly favorable to the trades- men. Although the cigar-makers’ strike, which ®oon followed, may be looked upon as a drawn Dattle, still in many shops the operatives got their Prices, and those of them who refused to again | Work at old rates succeeded in establishing a co- | @perative factory, which is reported as doing well. | ‘The dock and other laborers on the Erie, Pennsyl- ‘Vania and Pennsyivania Centra! railroads com- | Bletely failed in thear efforts to keep up the old | Fates of wages that had prevatied until last Novem- ber. Want of organization among themselves was | the cause of their defeat. Encouraged by this sig: | mal failure of the werkingmen the building and | g@ome other trades represented by empioyers who | ere affiliated with the Mechanics and Traders’ Ex- ehange of tuis city resolved, on the 7th of last month, to return to the ten-hour rule on and aiter ‘the 4th inst. THIS WAS THE ALARM NOTE fer the society men, and they showed such a @mited and determined front that the contractors aad others who had signed the resolution were ,mmable to enforce it, and continue now, much against their inclination, to accept eight hours’ ‘tame ag a day’s work. As the question of labor’is one of the most im- portant that can engage public attention, and | must be of especial interest to the political econo- | mist and the legislator, 1t may'be worth while for | the readers oi the HERALD to retrace at this time gome of the antecedents andwuost notabie doings | of trade unions, as well as tos glance over a num- | Der of remarkable facts conne ted with a few weil | Femembered labor strikes. | The question of labor is in imately connected | avitu that of the tarif. Now, Emglish proiection- fate say that free trade brings tte price of wheat @own to zero and ruins the proit# of cultivation. Artisans think that cheap foreign manu- | factures mean less labor anc lower wages, | and complain that they «ie driven to | the wall by free importation of foreign | moods. Nevertheless, so long asthe fountains of | industry remain cnimpaired there 1* nO eXternal | ealamity which can seriously retar' the progress of population, nor diminish its numt ers, especially | mong the working classes, During‘ the twenty- | two years between 1792 and 1815,)apwards of | {000,000 of Frenchmen alone died ict campaign, | et the popniation of France, which iM 1789 was | (400,000, reached 28,500,000 in 1816, In\the same wiod the census of Engiand showed ant advance | wm 13,400,000 to 18,700,000. The reasoja’ for this ounding result ia that the destractiou of full- ‘wn laboring men ie fully compepsate 4 for in a udcondiuon of sectety by the enha.uced im- | e expertenced in the labor market, If ten | ‘3 work can be done by three @ rise 41m the ‘8 of labor follows. HIGH WAGES INDUCES MARRIQGES | g the working classes, and their tmproved jon and more comfortable circumstances them prolific in proportion > the fa- > change in their condition, During the \tion of a protracted war the maumber of | oy) ),. ,men may decrease, but the pumber of | will not. It was, theredore, the Rirst Na- | inability to recrait his armies whic, more | Y other cause, contributed to his fall; yet ber of children born during his wars 2 of the first Frepen Republic was such | population of France increased from | in 1789 to 33,500,000 in 1837. Tht, U only happen ia a healthy state of ssoct- Ameri¢a had to wait to receive her © irom the laps of New Engisnd | ir looms, forges and factories would. 0e come, | savage’s capital is the weapon with which he | the man who employs to ask a day | strikes, they will, at tl oe Moment; for if the societies put the price of labor above the rate at which apt al may profitably empioy it, the y of Britiah Manutacturing interests mi be en- dangered, Bu an—particulariy British jour- vid languaye tie evil conse- capitalist : rican wor! Many times ireer than th peoples, privileges.” Four france a day are good wag pri ‘our france @ day @ French mechanic; six shillings @ fair rem’ on lor a British tradesman; but Americune are dissatisfied with three doilars. It is to be hoped that no Amerieau tradesman will pave to work ior @ lower figure, and that their ioreign fellow-crafta may get ap advance on ny ; bat at the same time if 18 an estal fact that no strike in acountry where the standard .of wi is low, can bring rates up to those of where prices are better, Workingmen are apt to look capital their creature, and oxhaustiess. is igea is not Weil foanded, and any ill-considered attack upon tue just prerogatives of capital would be like attempting to Kill the goose jor the sake of her Unlaid goiden eggs, It ls equally true that capital as 0) jons to comply With as weil as rights to clan. bounteous gifts of nature, which come from the hand of God, are the first capital; aud every man Who produces more than he consumes is, a8 lar a8 his savings go, a capitalist. Out of such savings the laborer’s bire must The brings down his prey; that of ctvilized man the seed he has saved an works preduced by his wilng hands. When toe man who has not saved asks him who bas ior something to do, then LABOR AND CAPITAL ARB BROUGRT IXTO CONTACT, and their interests are of an opposing nature. Here it would seem that ne who has ot saved should subordinate his demands to the conditions of be who nas, and can give him food and rat- | 9; ment. but it would be unjust and oppressive for 3 Work for & bandsul of corn; rather he should aliow his depend- eut brother the fu'l value of his labor, after deduct- img trom the whole proits the just earnings, With interest, of his own capital The great abundance of land with which our jorious Union is biessed ieaves us with but very we how have, of nearly 40,000,000. 14s very dil- ferent in burope, where the occupation the | land by the lew makes tts acquisition nearly im- ee to the many, and these are therelore poor | ough no fault ol their own, but are SLAVES TO CIRCUMSTANCES growing out of the ancient right of conquest, which laic the Weak atthe mercy of the stroug, and passed the inhabitants of @ province under the power of the conquered, like so many yoke oxen to tie plouga. Between the years 1830 and 1848 the question | mostly discussed by soctalists was that the gov- | ernment’s duty is to find work and pay for every One among the governed, whetuer or not the rni- img power migui need nis labor. In 1844 a book on the union Of working people was publisbed in | France and attracted great attention. It had ior | dts object that of uniting 5,000,000 of French la- borers—men and women—by each one subscrib- {ing two francs a year towards the erce- | tion of @ iaborer’s’ union palace. When | the socialists came into power in France alter | the Revolution of 1548 an attempt was made to estabitsh national worksoops, where needless work was irequently.done at & premium rate of ; Wages lor ignorance. ‘These wages were to be paid | by @ tax levy upon agricuiture; bat this utopian scheme soon coliapsed by the weight of its own clumsiness and died the death of Fourterism, So- cialism, Cabetism aud st. Simonism. The organi- zation of labor was eloquently and ably advocated by M. Louis Blanc, one of the provisional govern- ment that preceded the eiection of the Prince | President to office. Blanc thought that money | should be raised by the government for tie estab- | lishment of social workshops, where operatives of botn sexes and approved moral character might | be employed in ali branches of industry and paid tuon. He argued tuat ALL COMPETITION 13 WRONG IN PRINC! because one laborer was obilged to nnderoid an- other ana one employer to undersell his fellow. ‘he government pan was to destroy competition | and every workman shouid receive the same pay, no matter what his indiviauai capacity might ve, | The earnings of these workshops were to be an- nuaily divided into three paris; one for equal dis- | trioution among the operatives; another to sap- | ports the aged and sick and to provide for contin- | @encies; the tnird to be set apart for the purchase of tools, maciinery, &c, As has been said the | Whole system sei to the ground. | It may te conceded that nnionists and capital- | ists mean the one to give and the other to get ‘a Jair day’s work for a lair day’s wages;” but it is the misunderstanding between them ag to what constitutes te une or the other that leads to all the coniusion, and the bulk of society is deeply interestea to kuow now the difficulty will termin- ate. Should the laborers completeiy prevail society will m the end have to pay the difference between current 1ates and those that may be struck 10r; and ii the capitalists finally gain the day prices will be flat, and operatives must remain in no better condition than they are bow, accept what they can get or “go West.” A“lock out’? is the ouly reply that employers can give to men who by comoination in their own department of indust:y | Beek to Impose prices at or beyond paying rates to the Capitalist. ‘The cupitalist’s next move in the | exercise of an undoubied right is to send to sone | other labor market ior hands, A case ts on record | Where tue tailors of Belgium and Germany reiusea } going to Kngiand, even at higher wages than the received in their respective countries, From suc! Maniliest sympathy in strikes by the laporers of different nauious A COSMOPOLITAN ORGANIZATION OF LABOR is proved, This 18 right enough, so long as the Members of different societies abstain from using toreats or violence towards outside operatives who do not choose to jo their organizations, Also, they should not adopt any ruie that would Operate a8 an obstucie to goou workmen earning tue bighest wages, and not the worst or most in- efficient, us unionists seem to demand. The first preachers of untonism wanted to benefit tneir | adberents without injuring outside pon-society men, but the trace unionists, as a body, care little what may happen to the rest of the laboring world, provided they earn good wages and aon’t | work too hard for them. A strike obliges tne | employer either to lock out bis hands or comply Witn their demands for an tncrease of pay; out .in any case he wiil try to save himself, and a rise in his hue of goods wiil juliow an increase on bis payroll. Other trades will have to give a higher price 1or goods advauced by the strike, and they, in turn, must sufer or strike in -seif-deience, und even when, in the end, ali the trades succeed in he clone of the year, be nearly as badly off a8 belore the strike. Wuen a man earns $2 50 a day and can purciase with it hail @ berrel of four, he is as weil of as if he earned $4 a day and couid buy with it oniy tue same amount oi provisions, According to this theory, 1f a general success O! strikes Were possi- be, it would amount to notiing more than a general rise in prices, Competition of tue working- men against the other classes brings about re- taliation irom these, John Ruskin wants to establish a uniform rate of Waxes, and says that their intrinsic va.ue cao be Teauily ascertasned as the amount of powder ne- cessary to carry a ball of a given weight a certain distance; and that it is the value of the quantity of food and air wuich will enable a man to per- form @ given Javor task without eventu- ally losing desh or energy by it. But this Standard must differ ta different countries, The | Jaborer in warm climes does not néed so much | Jood to jake oil sor tae lamp oO! life ag im the cold latitudes. ‘tue Hindoo 1s happy on six cents a day; | the Britisher grumb es on seventy-five cents, wile | the American is miserable on $3. Ruskin Wants | hali @ dozen of paysicaps—though he torgets that here would begin & war of tue ’pathies—to deter- line the kind and quantity of jood and space of | dodging requisive to a healthy aife of tae laborer | | Ona given lactory, and the number of hours he | Muy work at fis trade without curtailing his probabilities of life, aud the resuit would show | What ought to be paid ior bis services. Al em- | | Pioyers suould be bound to give their men a choice | | of an order for the fixed quantity of food and id ewiployed at a period when it fitable. If W poor people compared to the population which | | the highest rates allowed under private competi- | and past earnings will compe! you to do us jnstice, | an we pat ieere work Stltgrether rope oer 4 labor market is sach Taat ven cannot sapply our | ud cases of this kind employers cannot accede to the men’s demands. ‘Their dcing so would entail serious loss by closing Up factories snd. workanepe and leaving invested | capital, which should be all the ome oy 4 } to | pro’ . master builders under such cir- | Cumstances employed less skilful labor at old rates bas would still be strikes Were local, employers might let their men go and fill their places trom otner localities; but employers im such cities as Boston, Philadel phia or Chicago would compete with the New York | Contractors and not let the tradesmen come here | to the prejudive of those places, believing that capitalists there could afford to pay as much a8 their competitors in New York. Hence it must be | conclusive that a well organized strike will give laborers higner wages whenever exceptional cir- cumstances enhance employers’ proilis to any considerable exteat, If the workingmen did not ; Combine capitalists need not give uny advance Upon current rat ind, therefore, secure to thein- Selves ail the adv: o1 trade, which would be | @ great injustice to the lavorer, Employers can- Rot resist & Strike without positive loss; but ifthey | consent to rise in wages their losses are owly reiative, for they still possess the profits of an im- | | proved basiness, the difference being (hat, iD | Place of pocketing ali the gains themselves, they are obliged by combination to share them with the | workiognien: When circumstances do not justly | @ stril THE MAN THEMSELVES ARB THE PRINCIPAL SUP- FERERS, Their savings in common are spent, and the | losses infiictet upon capital redound against the operatives, Time and experience will teach s0cl- mmen when to risk and when to avoid the sac. rilices Mecessary to carry on @ strike. Strikes serve a8 @ pretext to denounce their leaders as desiguing rascals; but mere sccusations unsup- Ported by facts prove bothing. A principal objec- | ton against strikes is that they require thousands to sacrifice their individual interests blindly for | the sup good of others; but such sa rifice is of the first necessity to the ends of combination. | This argument, then, amounts to saying that | stnikes are wrong because they are well orgul- | ised, Tne friends 0! Capital irequently assume | that strikes never accomplish anytuing, or bring w>out a rise in wages, and cases oj latlure are prominently paraded before the public, while suc- | cesses of the workingmen are carefully hidden out | 0: Sight; so that Ree unacquainted with the | subject are generally of opinion tnat strikes must | always fail in their object. That is not the case, a8 can be proved by a long series of success{ul strikes, | both in the United States and Europe. In the | great Preston strike of 1854 17,000 men subsisted jor thirty weeks at the rate of $1 a week each. The sum of $480,000 was collected and distributed for their support, yet they failed to obtain an ad- | vance of wages, and went to work at old prices, after loaing $1,250,000 in the ay gate. Buc they Inspired Capitalists with such a wholesome re- spect ior the power of that combination which | a haa displayed that employers would pause | and count tue costs before again consenting 0 & lockout, Every now discovery and invention has the | effect of cheapening the article which it affects: | but, for all that, employers would not alter their prices, only jor tne influence of competition. borers know all alterations in prices, and, with past experiences before them, would hardly ven- | ture upon.tie bardships ol a strike without good reason, STRIKES WILL NOT CONTINUE to be used ; for, being injurious alike to employers and employed, when it shail be acknowledged that organization enables workingmen to claim wiat is their due, and these shall have learned by expe- Tience just how much to expect, the capitalist ava the tradesman wiil mutually act upon such an equitabie line of conduct as may ‘make them more like partners than anything else. Capitalists might scout this tdea of partnership with their men, but it has been tried with eminent success io France and other places. The effect was that the identity of interests created between employ- ers and employed wrought a complete change tor the better in the demeanor and actions o1 the lat- ter, who, contrary to former habits, were Dow | careiul, earnest and diligent at work. Such part- | nership has also been tried among the miners in cornwall, The aggregate earnings of capital should be di- vided into two equal halves; one for the capitalist and the otner tor the laborer. The aim and ovject of strikes are to make capitalists divide more equally than heretofore with the laborer. Wien @ depression of trade happens, laborers and | employers suffer togetner, Should so great a change come about in the workingman’s condition as would enable him to save and Work at the same time, he would in bis own person be capitalist and workman, @ condition that must be looked forward to witu lervent hopes by every lover of repuolican institutions. Toe establishment in several parts of England of co-operative flour and cotton mills, grocery and other stores, and their excel- lent results, prove how much the working- Men of that country—who are far inferiorly situated when compared with our own—can accomplish. ‘these establishments have done business to the amount of $5,000,000, and | earned profits at the rate of thirteen and a half percent. it may, thereiore, be asserted inat in co-operation labor and copie wor, together MosteMciently and with the utmost attamaple economy. Intelligence among the laborers pro- duces combination, and this again brings about a community of interest or partnership between the two forms of capital represented by employers and employed. THE POINT BREEZE STRIKES. Attitude of the Coopers and Stev:dores Towards the Jobbers—A Combination in Oil— The Police Called In to Pre- vent Disturbance. | | | PHILADELPHIA, May 80, 1874. ‘The affairs of the coopers and stevedores at Point Breeze, who have now abstained irom all work during a period of several weeks, are rapidly be- coming as dangerous as they are complicated and pecultar. The companies claim that those out of employ insist that others shall not work; thata party from Pittsburg was met, bribed and paid money to return home, and that two men, afew evenings since, were waylaid by a gang of seven, were assaulted by slung shota and “black jacks” and almost beaten to death, And yet these coopers anc stevedores ARE NOT ON A STRIKE, for they are satisfied with the wages paid them, but refuse to work on very unusual and previously unheard of grounds, The story, briefly, 1s this:— The supply of coal oll from Petrolia and other wells in Venango county became greater than the de- mand, Tue ofl brokers had litule or no opportunity for speculation, and a combination was effected, the oil wells suspended and the market left unsatisied. A company of seven oil brokers met in @ little room in this city, and agreed to withhold the oil from the mar- Ket at home and abroad and thus tncrease its price. This combination extended to New York, that city and this being the two principal ports from which petroleum is shipped. By and by the oll wells of Venango were utilized again; but thousands upon thousands of barrels were held here from market and stored away forsale keep- ing. ‘Then the price of oli of course increased. A LARGE DEMAND WAS MADE space of lodging, or the market price for that par- ticular amouat of work. bir. Mili, who ratuer favurs \ue uuonists, thinks taem wiser than their | ‘8, ancl Says that they perceive a man does | not jave ior limseli alone, nor for his lamuy omy, | but fer ail. Ii @manby working over time and | being cleverer than bis fellows absorbs twenty per | cent more wazes than the average of them, why, | THEY WILL BE SO MUCH THE WORSE OFF. | If there are two citizens over a job, Is it not, op | the whole, better and more desirable that they should get $7 50 # Week apiece all round than that of | one of them showld carry off $15, and tous leave the othere with only @ little over $6? wider diffusion of prosperity in one than in the other Case, abd is it not, above ail tings, the diffusion of prosperity and happinees which every one of us, Without any thought about mankind, 14 Is it not a supplied. hen such @ drain op she takes piace in a declining conditien of | sighing for? Yet, notwithstanding the prettiness there is # diminution in the demanal | oi Mr. Mills" theory, not even the unionists them- ined to a decreased vigor in the minds | selves would be prepared to act upon it. There of men, quite a diferent aspect of are some causes in wiiah strikes ought hardly to be ented. | tolerated. Take, for instance, the employ¢s ot and transportation questions have | railroad companies. AS they owe @ duty to the relations (© each otwer and to toe ople in adduson to their contract with the sbare- ome Americans, in al! ehades of pol- Roiders, ought they aot to be responsible to the ree trade, while a nelarious system | government, whicn represents the people, as well \opolies, by unreasonably high rates as to their immediate eapioyers, for any sudden on, practically render Western agri- | wterruption of public travei on their account ¢ herative to the farmer, who is un- Kelore the time 91 railways, reading rooms and ‘produce In @ foreign market un- | cheap literature, the working classes were help- ' pays raulroad companies ior ab- | less and ignorat now they area power in that fits. Free trade by diwcouraging | country Where the light of etvilization haa pene- Tes retards immigration, and by | trated, and especially here ta our own land of employment to foreign workmen | luminous progress. We have pow more labor 8 and improving their condition | done tv the man thar formerly, the competition in the increase of population and cainmerce is sharper and this exerts @ constant tent of our vast labor fields all | tendency to reduce the profits,of different trades ? . It decreases the earn- | toa commonrate. In New York the wage fund is ard ions and pre- | conetantiy increasing ig such ratio that an in- ease. repeal of the | crewse of the amount of labor to be done and a , overated like @ bribe upon | riseof compensation may take place together. ing States, so as to stave off | Strikes tend towards equalizing wages jn tue dil- t manufactures, properly en- | ferent branebes of industry. A ris# in wages omically directed, could com- | cwnsesan increase in the price of products, and { tradesmen. Jt is time now | the profits of one business cannot remain perma- end our manufacturing imter- | nently itigher than those of another, A sudden in- 0 American coffers the enor- | crease of prosperity in the building trade, nitherto iverting raw material into | doing wet cacugh, gives cause for the workman wor jor idle tradesmen, keep | to ask mare Wages, as his employer's business Ow,ID a short Ume an annual | profits ore larger. He is met with a refusal on the r Credit. | ground that wre of English origin, ana | ve HE CANNOT DO WITHOUT Work, or fifteen years they were | bot comyination with bis fellows, by leaving the | terica, A pretty general | employer without hauds, would compel tne i@tter among the working Classes | todo justice to the Inborer. Sudden pertodieel e formation of societies | prosperity m any trade enriches the ¢ nploy ep vject that of enhancing te | engaged in it, without benefiting t laborer. wor capital, lney put the | When jabor is Organized the workingmen are en- \ artisan and laborer | avied to say imtieir employersi—“We kvow your | others of numerous con- prices, and you are able to raise our wages and wiand the guesuon is OMe | yet Make Money. Ii you don't our combinations | from abroad for shipments, and the oll specula- | tors found it to their advantage to hurry it off at once. Thus it was that tuey advertised for coop- ers. The advertisement was answered and the ofer made to each applicant was $18 per week. It was a low price; but times were hard, the community was suffering from a_ panic, and the terms had to be complied with. The companies, or rather these speculators, then said to their men, “ere, we wish assurance that our interests shail not be impeded by ‘strikes’ or reements Of any kind. To convince us | that nothing like this shall occur you must give us a certain percentage of each day’s wages until the gum amounts to $30, This sam we snail hold, sub- Ject to any just reason why it sail not be returned to you.’ The men regarded tpese as UNJUST AND UNGENEROUS CONDITIONS. But alter they were assurea that, in case any one wished to leave on reasonable grounds, te money would be promptly given back, they went to work. Itso happened that two of them in alittle while bad an offer which was more re- munerative and which called their energies to an entirely diferent occupation, These two men went to the oil brokers and told them of their offer, asking them at the same time tor the money which had been withheld irom thelr daily Wages. The cil brokers refused to return it to them, aa they feared that the | departure of the twain would lead others, periaps all their empioy¢#, to tollow ther exampie. ; Hence arose the difficulry. The coopers, never | having bad any “union” whatever, formed one at | once, not because they were dissatisfied with their wages, but because of the action on the part of the brokers reierred to above. Tne brokers at once tried to engage other men, when the steve. dores joived the coopers avd refused to handle | any barrels made ready for shipment by parties who were not connected with The newly lormed anion. | | The coopers and stevedores, numbering several | bundred, have held a jomt meeting, aud seem to | insiat upon we following:—Ihe wages of $18 per week were low aud unsatisfactory to begin with. The demand of a forieit from each day's earnin was both uogenerous aud unjnat. By refusing to return this forieit to certain parties whose inter- | est called them elsewhere the speculators broke thelr strict aba honest agreement, while the inter ‘| est upon aii this great amount’ of torieits was | used by the jobbers themselves. Thus far public opinion is with the men. The terme of the oli jobbers were, in the judgment of all, both rigorous and cruel, nor have iuese jobbers | ever given any satiaiactory reason to their em- | | an act of those who are Mayor for protection, and a squad of police was detatied ry peice recurs the eat. white asi them to protect their wor! them nothing whatever to As was hinted above, uj coopers from Pittsbu Point Breeze approached each and the arrival of Dew he former ol ing wron; done. bers then in- formed yee the uni bd coopers were stopping upon the road all who were tou works. ad Qpencnnee. jo ann gues 8 coopers, and, arm cooper hg tools, on foot to Point Breeze. Von- to what was expected, they ound that they could go whereve: Sor wished with periecs iree- the men ASSEMBLE UPON THE ROAD In ig true, but the police have seen no violence used, nor have they made any arrests. + mounted squad is scouring the roads and dispers- ing all who congregate upon the A few evenings since, a8 men! above, one of the union men, now idle, went to the boarding house oi two others, nou-uvion men and at work, and invited them to walk with bim. It is said that | he tried to get them to abstain from their lapor, but, failing, bid them good night. The two thea sat down at the roadside end 0 totalk. About twenty minutes after the union man had gone seven parties suddenly rushed upon, abused and severely Deat the two sitting dow! breaking the bones of the band of one an badly injuring the other, The jobbers claim that iy Was the union men who did this; but, while there may be grounds for believing them, there are none which would warrant any arrest or which would lead to conviction, while if may have been determined to place the parties now idle in the worst possivle light, ‘The jobbers have given the men until Monday the privilege of coming back upon the same terms. After Monday they say they will reengaze none. Yhe men say buey will not comply. A police squad is present to preserve order, and in this painful situation all things appear suspended, THE OOOPERS’ STRIKE. Letter from an Operative. To THE EpiToR OF THE HEEALD:— I see in your tesue of to-day some remarks very injurious to the journeymen coopers now on strike, which would lead persons not acquainted with the matter to think that the men, through necessity or weakness, are returning to work in such numbers as to virtually bring the strike to an early close. 1 have no doubt but your reporter has been so informed by some of the **nosses,”” who are using every subterfuge to dishearten the men; such as trausierring the men they have working irom one yard or shop to anoiher; making it appear to the men on strike that their places will soon be occupied if they do not return of themselves. This is not fair dealing, and the men feei very sore over its being putin, as they think they have only a | gwee chance in getting tbe press tocontradict it. I hope, sir, that you will remove this doubt by publishing this letter. We don’t deny that the “bosses” have got some men to work, and they ought to feel grateful. It ts cer- tainly a great chauge tor men that formerly re- ceived Kicks ana buffets, who are now receiving board and lodging, as is the case with some of those who are now praised by their employers. New Yorg, 20, 1874, A COOPER, THE STRIKE OF THE STAGE DRIVERS, ‘The stage drivers on sirike met yesterday after- noon at No. 216 East Forty-first street. it was de- termined to hold out to the last, and if the stage companies do not accede to their demand they (the drivers) will seek other employment. Last evening the proprietors of the various lines offered to pay $2 75a day, but the men on strike would not accept the offer. The drivers allego that the companies are iosing heavily in horse- flesh and damages by employing green hands. Everytning is. very quiet at the stables of the com- pene One ol the managers of the Fourth avenue line says that there has been no strike, The men bad only failed to put in appearance, and accord- ingly tue company bad hired new drivers, THE STAGE DRIVERS AS IMITATORS OF SANBORN, {From the Louisville Courter-Journal.) The truth is the New York stage drivers have for many years been working under @ kind of moiety system. They received nominally $1 75 per day, but they had @ contract for enforcing the payment of passengers’ fares, and so, like some gentlemen of recent celebrity who are operating in a larger fleld, they faithfully collected all that was due irom the passengers and regularly de- ducted forty per ceut commissions, As to the origin o1 the practice, as little was Known as about the origin oi the faw whiol threw its generouscioak over the Sanvorn contracts. Every passenger koew when he handed up his dime that four cents of the amount went to the driver, just as the victimized merchants knew that a moiety of the large sums wrung out of them by Sanborn and Jayne went to line the pockets of those energetic administrators of the law. As the bosses were not such dullards as composed the late succession of secretaries of the Treasury, they knew what was going on and squared the arrangement by keeping down the nominal wages. It was not a moral thing, but it seems to have been understuod and winked at all round. “THE DELIGHTFUL ODEUB D’APRIQUE.” [From the Atianta Commonwealth.) ‘The legai monstrosity has passed the Senate. It will not have a tendency to elevate the black. but will only have the possibility of debasing the white. Itopens the door to miscegenation, and legalizes the hybridizing of the nation, It mixes the children of our public schools in beautiil order, and will perfume our churches, theatres, hotels and-sleeping cars with the delightful odeur a@ajrique, It sweeps away, at one vroad sweep, the last vestige of States Aights, and makes the Federal Congress the regulator of the social affairs of the State, peg te reece eee es LIVINGSTON, THE NEW YORK PORGER, His Peccadilloes in Chicago—Convicted in New York and Pardoned Out—Letter from His Wife. The Chicago papers allege that Livingston, wnose failure to secure $200,000 in Chicago last week on a torged check was announced in the HERALD of Saturday, is the same individual who in 1869 ob- tained at the City National Bank in this city, by forging the name of Commodore Vanderbilt, the sum of $75,000. He was arrested in Illinois for that offence, convicted in this city and sentenced, but pardoned under the velief thai he was insane, The Chicago 7ribune says of his late expleit:— A singular circumstance connected with Liv- ingstou’s career since he has been living in Chi- cago is taat, although very destitute all winterand obiiged to ask for assistance Oi the KRellef and Aid Society, he turned up just previous to the last ior- gery at a prominent hotel arrayed in a costly suit ol clothes aud laving the pemoree ol @ gentie- man. This significant fact brings up the inguiry, “Who is backing him ?’ since he could not have thus appeared nuless furnished funds, As he nas been discharged, it is doubtiul if the public are ever iniormed who the individual is that was to bave had a share 1n the booty. A SLIGHT CORRECTION, To tae Epitor or rue Unicaco Tripunk :— ‘Asso Many untrue statements have appeared in the apers concerning my unfortunate husband, Mr. Rlenry Livingston. I take this opportunity of correcting some of them. in the first place, my husband is nota sou of Mr. Johnstone Livinustone, of New York city: his father was ee Henry Livingston, of Claverack, Colum- bia count having married the daughter ot, Judge Wiliam W. Van Ness, of the saine place. “My husband is only a second or third cousim of Sr. Johnstone Living- stone. You say Mr, Trusdell says we have imposed upon him several times during the winter. ince, and once only, has, Mr. Trusdell assisted us, and that was last weck. He gave the suin ot 8! and Lad It not been for our starring and suffering con: dition on that day we would not have asked that Ilitle hele trom him, Mr. Trusdell never gave us_any money pejore or since that day, and then it was $10. By pub- lishing this you wul confer a great favor on an untortu- nate and suffering tumily. (the truth is bad enough without any prevarication, You state we reiused to go back to New York, There is where [ wished to go, and there I could take care of my poor unfortunate husband and little children. “Respectiniiy, RACHEL A. LIVINGSTON, 139 Halsted street, GERMAN-AMERICAN FINANCES, Impression Produced by Grant’s Veto in Frankfort. OPINIONS OF FRANKFORT BANKERS. United States Railroad Loans in Germany. CAUSE OF FRANKFORT DISTRUST The Bankers Themselves Greatly to Blame. EMIGRATION—KAPP’S REMARKS. FRANKFoRT, April 26,1874. The impression produced among the Frankfort bankers by President Grant's veto of the further issue of currency promises, was an exceedingly good one. The telegram containing the news ar- rived just a8 the midday Bourse was closing, and though no immediate effect was produced pablic confidence in American affairs in general, whica has been shaken here during the past year or two, was greatly restored, Repudiation the Frankfort bankers did not fear, but they Jook forward to the resumption of specie payment, and the placing of the commercial relations between Germany and the United States on a sound valuation basis. One would think that to European bankers the issue of & paper expansion, giving room ior increased speculation, would be very welcome. But in tnis case it waa notso. The bankers with whom I con- versed during the course of the afternoon spoke | all in one tone. Mr. Seligmann of the firm of Seligmann & Shettheimer, the pmncipal dealers in American securities here, said “The impression produced by the veto was very good. The act of the President was a very rational one and he deserved the thanks of the bankers in Germany for it, He considered it a great fortune for America, for the fear of constant expansion | which would have been excited by any new issue | was thus allayed.” M. Seligmann spoke at length of the commercial relations of the two countries, which are constantly growing in importance and which can be placed on a solid Jooting only on the basis of @ gold valuation. While | sat conversing with M. Seligmann, Baron Erlanger was an- nounced, who, in the course of the conversation, corroborated what I had just heard. In his short, emphatic sentences, he said, ‘The veto produced a very good impression—an excellent umpression, President Grant has done himself and his country | great honor. The act will prove of vast impor- tance to the country.” Conversations with the bankers Grunelius, Smith and Andree con- firmed the above expressions. They all spoke of the excellent impression produced by the veto. An American banker of the city spoke in the same strain, and called my attention tothe two European States, where constant ex- pansion of the currency was resorted to, Austria and Italy—whose credit on the German bourses ‘was 80 depreciated thereby. He thought that the Frankfort bankers had not feared so much the issue of a few millions of dollars as the establish- ing of aprecedent the end of which none could see, unless in the financial history of bankrupt Austria and Italy. AMERICAN RAILROADS IN GERMANY. In my conversations with the gold men of Frank- fort 1 was struck with the extreme distrust that prevaiied respecting American railroad ponds. State repudiation and the failure of railroad com- | panies to pay their debts were themes which | all the bankers slided to. No new rail- road bonds are being introduced here at | present. It wouid bea difficult thing to place even @ good loan on this market, tor the simple reason that the bankers here have suffered immense losses on their raitrosd speculations during the lsst two years. Holders of good bonds are fearful. ‘There 1g Just nows large demand for Missouri Pacifics, which are being bought up at a low rate here and sold to advantage in New York. “You may just as well talk of flying as atvempting to sell new raiiroad bonds here,*’ said the American banker, Mr. G—, to me. “Even the old estab- lished railroad companies would not be able to dis- pose of their bonds, because confidence in ail 1s destroyed.” Why confidence in American railroad bonds is destroyed may be seen in a recapituiation of some facts. First, the chief matelactors—the ratiread companies. Taking a stock exchange unes 10 something like the following strain :— THE ROLL OF MISFORTUNE. The Central Pacific stood at ninety; they are now seventy-nine. Then the California extension bonds. This railroad is run by the Central Pa- cific; but people do not know what is the matter with it, and they have gone down as low as thirty, although the Central Pacific paid the interest, Inquiries addressed to the Central Pacific are un- answered, and this is the reason why these bonds, which once stood at eighty, are now down to | thirty. The Pacific and South Pacific, of Missouri, | went down very much because of the State want- ing to annul the sale of the roads and retake pos- | session of them. The bonds never wouid react, | because the suit is still pending. The United | States Circuit Court decided against the State; but | the Senate passed a resolution to take the case up to the United States Supreme Court. The | seven per cents of the Kansas Pacific were ninety, now they are thirty-six. The Chicago Northwestern (second emission), guar- snteed nominally by the Chicago and Rock Island Company pays no interest, and the guaranteers refuse to pay because they say the road does not earn anything. The Montclair and | put into list, Mr. G—— ran down the catalogue of misiort- { aera the establishment of lasting eonidendp and good frith. As for the Frankfort losses im State loans we do not think much can be said in our tavor. The catalogue of State defections peruene best unrecorded here. —_. bonds in pretty good credit here, St. Louis and Ohi city maintata good figures, so does New York, bu Washingtun City, some time ago at 95, stand now at 77, on account of jears of repudiation. The German bankers must sdmiy when th an nkers refer to our railroad companies, that their 4 lations in native enterprises have been ate years equally disgusting. The Vienna crash re- vealed a terrible rottenness in the state of Den- mark. The German Discount Society, which paia dividend last year of twenty-five per cent and itood at 335 Is t 138 The company has now lured @ dividend of thirteen per ce! the stock went Up Lo 170, but sank immediately to 160, because the directors tailed to publish a statement fairs, The Dortmund cs Mining Boctesy's 3 stand at present at 63, and have been as low ag 45. 0y, Atod fear ao a8 872 thalers. Tne Credit Actien Bankers Com- any of Austria were 360; now 200. ‘The uk society, worth @ capital of sold its bonds a year ago at 180, can now be purchased two or three cents on the dollar, aud no buyersat that. This was one of the grand- ext bubbies ever burst in Germany, The company purchase: some two English squ: mies ter- ritory a league distant irom Frankfort, to erect there a Dew suburb or @ new City. Quis torp paid for this land (500 or 600 acres) about 000 forins put it into the firm 01 Quistor; for 2,009,000 of florina, Quistorp & 80! the same fand ag.in tu the Quistorp Building and Saving Association for 4,000,! florins. ‘Ail these were the transactions of M. Quistorp m the shore. space of threy weeks, The company sold their shares in Beriin a¢ 120, and drove them up to 185, The collapse cume wito the Vienna crisis, before M. Quistorp coul: save bimself. Ths gentleman js now engaged in settling up the affairs of tho company at # salary of 100 thalers @ week. Hundreds of similar bubbies exploded «in Germany atter the crisis, It 18 a remarkable fact, powever, taut Beriin suffered much more severely ot the time toan Frankfort, where there was not a single failure during tne crash, while Berlin houses crumbled in by the score, EDITORS. The Ohicago and Rock Island Railroad trouble seems to iucrease, ‘The German bondholders formed a committee some time ago lor the purpose of proceeding ugainst the road, and despatched an agent to Kock Island to examine and report on the state Of affairs there, The agent is a certain Dr. Eastermouutain, the editor and proprietor Of & ree parasitic journal published in this city, who syatematically cries down ail American enterprises the market anless his mouti Ue Judiciousiy stopped. Satd journal is advertise as baving 3,510 subscribers. A recent. law- suit developea that this journi has searcely 300 subscribers, and yet bankers anc companies are ioolish enough to believe that it has influence. During the palmy days when Boss ‘Tweed ruled in New York this journal hada sud- den increase oi circulation amounting to some 4,000, this number being ordered by [weed ai $1 20 for a quarter of @ year for publish his Jame and uame in Germany. This fact ald never have come to hight but for an interesting occurrence, Said Dr. Kastermountain’s agent in New York received the amount of subscription in gold, but attempted to pay over the sum to his master in currency. Dr. stermountain, a man with a Jacial hang jor filthy lucre, would pot staud this, and consequently the facts re brought to light, Supposing a new raliroad bond 43 brought out here, the first thing the sanker knows 18 @ Call Irom the editor of tne Weekly Parasite, woo, not having received any advertising, brings tue information thas he has been piaced in possession of fects which, if pub- lished, would materially damage the prospects 0: said vond in Germany. These dangerous tact | can be bought trom the possessor at & moderate sum, ranging from $50 to $200, This sum does not last loug, however, “It 1s easy enough to buy up the editor of the ? gaid a banker to me, “but it 18 Very difficult to make him stay bought.! Weil, this gentioman is ere this in Rock island, and we would ouly urge Mr, Cable not to believe: too much m the influence of the parasite editors! reat journal in Germany. The Parasice hag no. influence, because it has no circulation, and pa ct: culation because it has no influence, and th sooner bankers take a Otm standagainst ali black- Mailing journalists the betier it will be for them. selves and tue credit of journalism, EMIGRATION. Mr, Allardt, the emigration agent for the of Michigan, passed through Frankfort a lew day: ago, en roule lor Switzeriand, having been exik irom ‘ony without trial. The case first was brought to public attention afew months ago im the correspondence between Mr. Allardt and Mr. Bancroit, at Berlin, published in the columns; of tue HERALD. Emigration fs stilla troublous sore to the Prussian government, In the debate in the German Keichstug of the 17th two Deputies made statements to the effect that the percentage ol young persons liable to military duty who emigrate last year, Without permission, was twenty-two per ut of all the young men able to mijMary duty. Earher the percentage had been but nine. 1862 the numberof young men who “secret! emigrated” was 1,500; last year it was 10, Deputy Von Denzin proposed. an amendment to the government law on emigration, whereby the “attempt” should be made to inflict severe punish- “ment on all young wen who while between tne ages of seventeen and twenty-one should attem) to leave tite country; im other wo to place the youth of Germany len the immediate oversight of the police. Deputy Frederick Kapp, “a digappointed returned Germans Alerican politician,” asa Frankiort paper styles bim, again distinguished himself for bis “overfoaming” patiotism, He ed that the sons of German-Americans who had had th good fortune to ve born in Germany suould be ned as lable to military duty and the ‘“scapegoate'' (Sctlingel) should not be excused on the gro that they were citizens of & foreign country. suppose Herr Kapp referred only to the sons of Geriman-Americané (born in Germany) who are sent in such Bumbers to Germany in order to"pro- cure an educativu. He cannot nave made such & | fool Of bimset! as to assert that the sons of a man) American citizens rier | abroad (that is in America) suould be considered laple to military Guty in Germany, after tney, with their eel have become citizens, Very nataraly, now thal the stream of emizration is beginning to ooze out of every pure on the German shores we shall ex- pect to hear more such iuterestingly insane utter« ances Irom German Deputies in the Reicistag, Speaking of fiom hates) reminds me of a story in circulation on the Frankfort Bourse, in referen to tue Caliiorma and Oregon bonds, which stan: at filteen per cent. One day a witty speculatot | entered the Bourse and seeing a number of friendly | brokers approached them with a serious visage | and asked them i they could-keep a secret. Under | promise irom them to Keep any hint’he might give them private and to speculate on the good news only among themselves, he related :—‘Tbis morn. ing,” he said, “as | was coming through the Gal- lusgasse I called in at H——’s cigar store, which, as you Know, ts run in connection with an emigration agency. Whiie there 1 overheard an emigrant Making negotiations to proceed to Callforni Now, gentlemen, as that emigrant will, have to pasa over the Oregon road we may expect that dividend will be tortucoming next year, thay the mdividua) completes his negotiations,” fun sounds ulmost too American to be native to soll here; but f give it as original, and trust. it may pags current a3 such, THE CiVIL RIGHTS BILL, The Death of the Republican Party. {From the Atlanta Constitution.) We know not what Grant’s action will be. He New York Oswego Railroad burst, Oregon Califor- | nia burst, Peninsula and Michigan burst, doing | nothing and waiting for something to turn up. | Rockford Rock Island burst for the second time; | bonds iseued at 70and stand at 15. St. Louis | Southeastern burst. The Alabama Chattanooga, issued in 1869 by Erlanger at 8544, stands now at | 15. The Chicago Burlington Quincy, the oldest | bond on the list, stands av 70, It isa four anda | half per cent bond and the highest we have here, The Georgia, Brunswick and Albany, guaranteed by the State of Georgia, are quoted at three cents on the dollar. The Rockford Rock Island has be- come a bj word in Germaffy for promises unfulfilled | and abuse of its creditors. WHO 18 TO BLAME? } A perusal of this list may enlighten us as to the se Of the lack Of confidence which now pre- | is in Frankiort about American railroad”bonds, | may seize the glorious opportunity of sending Sumner’s legacy atter the testator, or he may ap- prove the bili, thus making it odious law. Be it so. It will bus hasten the overthrow of the party of hate, tue perpetual incendiaries of fraternal fellow- one and the sleepless agitators of discord? meer will not allow the passions, prejudices and ei ties of the past to die, and #0 the people, yeai jor peace and complete fraternization once as in the oiden, halcyon time,-have willed that $1 radical party shall die—and die a death whic! heaven grant, may know no political resurrection. . Breaks Down the Public Schools. [From the Mobile Register.] It breaks down the public schools of Mobile ant | turns upon the streets the children of both whttes and biacks, simply because they do not sit in the same schoolroom or upon the same bench. At is: the most infamous bill that ever disgraced a civil~ | colored woman whose chief offence consistea in pioyes why the jnst wages of the men were Wtbheid, The Job! Immediately applied to the. Who is to blame? The Frankfort bankers charge | ized and enlightened people, It attacks honorable our rairoad companies With imposing bad roads | prejudices which have their birth in the instincts, on the German market, ‘Ine charge 18 to some ex- | of nature, and destroys great Charitable instita~ tent crue; but the Frankiort bankers have no oue | tions in order to obtain favor for the hour with a, but themselves to blaine. They bought and placed certain number of votes. Whom the gods would! on the market railroad ponds, knowing well | destroy they first make mad, enough the unpromising character of the under- | takings, y did not ask, “Is the road a good | An Outrage on “Prejadice.” [From the Baltimore Gazette.) police upon one whose misfortune it was to‘be | one?’’ but ‘How cheap can we get it? Suizvach | bought the Oregon road tor 50 or thereabout b What must.be the inevitable effect ? No one can for a moment doubt it. The white audience would cognizant of a brutal exercise of power. While | and qineae the bonds on the market at over 70 | walking through Broome street a few evenings | peat of eee have been ruined by this on my way home I saw a policem: ; Single speculation, and, thougy the banker Clevred ago 24 y * ; po an enters | an fnmense profit; 1am told That he tae 0,000 | Withdraw in disgust, never to return while this, house, and with the utmost violence drag outa ‘ outrage on decency or “prejadice” continues, and ers “placed”’ bonds here oi roads which couid not having the temerity to express the absurd idea | be sold in New York and which the London bankers pritybet reat Mince we fe waghieg st, 95 pe! that she could with propriety converse with her | refused to touch, and which no one in the world | Poor manager is raine, ie Rope, for the sake of he would not be justiled in arresting ner forthe , roads passed expected would ever pay—or, at jing this vile law, if it be > same. In reply to her repetition of this least, not for years to come, London 1s Stil a food H pitive are ¥ ry much afraid that the chief Of the opinion one of the officers kindiy suggested market for respectabie American enlerprises, | punt, Mr. Frelinghuysen, and his whippere-io Cuicaco, May 28, 1874. ANOTHER POLICE OUTRAGE, To THe EpiTor oF THB HERALD:— I beg leave to call your attention to another un- | provoked assault committed by one of our model | | Worth of stock stillon hand, Tne Frankfort bank- brother, who was standing on the walk, and that | who understood the country through which the | mnocent amusement, there may be found some to the other that he would “break open | because the baukers there have shown sagac! i} ay ecole ular her damned skull.” The prisoner-scalled my | and honesty in their dealings; and if Praoniore te | te Cee ine somes: ir. pe geeniee attention to this remark and } told her | closed to American railroad enterprises the | in live, at least the latter part of it—ratse thia per- that Lheard it. This was the ouly remark that I | Frankfort bankers, wio have been accustomed to | picjous funeral pyre on bis fresh ara and think made aller the arrest; but It was sudiclent to | reap rich harvests tht ereirom, are the cause, ior they cau propiviaie his spirit by seth e it on fi cause the policeman to raise his locust and deal | the simple reason that thelr enpidity got the Me @ poweriul biow from behind on my leit arm, | better of their honesty. They did Toe cal, they did | Having been an attentive reader of yourvaluabie | not care, how the roads prospered 0 long as they | paper, 1 Knew that silence was thé only course | could dispose of the bouds at a profit of ten to consistent with a sound body. In the station | twenty and twenty-five per cent. 1 think that the —— house to which I beat a hasty retreat the police- | Fraukiort bankers should consider, white they {From the Mobile Register. men attempted to pat me out, until reproved by | complain of us so loudly, their own conduct in the | ‘& le Reg! ‘4 the Sergeant. Is there no redress for such abrutal | matter and ask themselves thé question, “Why is | The bulk grain movement from St. Louis to attack Upon an unotfending eitizen? Is @ police. | London’ still @ good market for American railroad | wurope is now a steady, persistent and constantly man’s will the ultima thule? It may be said that l | bonde, and in Frankfort bonds fo & beg, De ot ten | pccurring fact. Th hi from the was only clubbed once; but when it ts taken into | or fifteen per cont of thelr nominal Hue?” The | Teeurring fict. This process of change consideration that lam @young man in precarious ; auswer we can give them, and which they must be old routes via Now York and other Atlantic sea health, that tue left side ‘Struck is the seat of the | conscious of the truth thereof is, that American | board points to the Gulf and Mississippi River le Most uciite rheumatism, One can readily believe | railroad stock would still find @ place in the Frank- now going steadily forward, and mot a to f that that one blow was aa Cysastrous as the usual | fort market if the Frankiort bankers had exer. barges uow ieaves St. Louis for New Orleans amount dealt out to citizeng, F, STANLY, | cised and would exercise In the futuro that | goes heavily [reighted with rain in bmi. daa NBW YORK, May 30, 1874, amount of discretion and honesty Which are neces: | Jor Kawisly pare no matter whom or What it may scorca, or wbat explosion 1t May some day cause, WHAT NEW YORK Is LOSING.